近代民族国家史建构中的“中国文明唯一延续论”

On the Continuity of Only Chinese Civilization in the Viewpoint of the Modern National History Construction

"中国文明是世界诸古代文明中唯一延续至今的文明"似乎成为中国史学界,乃至全社会的共识。但文化是人类主动适应环境的一种方式,随环境的变化而变化,人类创造的一切文化都处于不断的变化之中,历史上的中国文化也不例外。考古学发现所展示的中国古代物质文化演变史和有关的历史学研究,都显示中国文化既是多元的,也是多源的,这才是中国文化保持生命力的秘密之所在。在形成"中国文明是唯一延续至今的古文明"这一印象的过程中,祖先崇拜思维与共同祖先认同、修史修谱传统、悠久的汉语言文字系统、"旧瓶装新酒"式的思想文化创新方式等因素都发挥了重要作用。尤其是近代以来,受民族主义思潮影响,为满足民族国家"历史记忆"需要而构建的民族国家史叙述给我们带来了"中国文明具有唯一延续性"的强烈印象,并培养了我们具有共同历史的情感认同。

Although the opinion that Chinese Civilization among all of ancient civilizations in the world is uniquecontinuous civilization seems be the common view in the Chinese historical academia and in China society,the theoriesfrom anthropology and culturology show that culture is the method that human being actively adapt the surroundings,keeping consistence with environmental change.The Chinese culture is not exceptional.The archaeological discoveriesand historical researches show Chinese culture affected by different original cultures is multiple and continuouslychanging and developing in history.The reasons that resulted to the impression of Chinese Civilization among all ofancient civilizations in the world being unique continuous civilization include the ancestral worship,the identity tocommon ancestors,the Chinese age-old tradition of history,the Chinese character system and the Chinese traditionalthought creative way through interpretation of the Confucian Classics,especially the reconstruction of the Chinesenational history for national memory in modern China.