中华民族何以是一个:顾颉刚中华民族理论新解

On Unity of the Chinese Nation: A New Interpretation of Ku ChiKang's Theory of the Chinese Nation

1939年2月,顾颉刚发表名文《中华民族是一个》。此文既非应景的时务策,也非完全成熟的理论体系,而是一篇承前启后的理论提纲。事实上,关于中华民族的理论思考,贯穿顾颉刚的整个学术生涯。20世纪20年代,顾颉刚中华民族理论的基本逻辑是旧"一"向新"一"的进步。30年代,其理论逻辑转向"多"与"一"的协调。40年代后,顾颉刚试图将上述两个逻辑调和起来,以进步观念阐明中华民族斗争融合的历史过程,并赋予此历史过程以一种共同生活结构,在打破陈腐的华夷之辩同时,防止政治体量的减损。尽管顾颉刚最终没能建构出体系完备的中华民族理论,但他对中华民族理论的历史逻辑和政治属性皆有深入研究。

Ku Chi-Kangs famous article"On the Unity of the Chinese Nation"published in February,1939,.was neither an occasional paper nor rested on a mature complete system.It was rather a theoretical outline that linked the past with the future.In fact,his theoretical thinking about the Chinese Nation lasted through his whole academic career.The basic logic behind his theory about the Chinese Nation changed for several times:transition of unity from traditional to modern in the 1920s;coordination between unity and multiplicity in the 1930s.After the 1940s,he tried to reconcile the two kinds of basic logic in order to explain the historical process of the Chinese Nation's integration and ascribed the historical process to a common life structure.While refuting the old-fashioned argument of Hua-Yi distinction,he prevented the loss of the political attribute.Although he failed to construct a complete systematic theory of the Chinese Nation,Ku Chi-Kang contributed greatly to the theory of the Chinese Nation for his thorough study of the theory's historical logic and political attribute.