从“恢复中华”到“中华民族命运共同体”——百年来“中华民族”概念内涵演变的历史审视

From “Recovering China” to a “Community with A Shared Future for the Chinese Nation”——A Historical Survey of the Evolution of the Conceptual Connotation of the “Chinese Nation” in the Past 100 Years

中华民族作为一个命运共同体的形成发展历史悠久,但其作为一个整体概念的提出是在近代以后,从晚清到民国,从新中国成立到社会主义新时代,中华民族的内涵不断变化。新时代以来,以习近平为核心的党中央提出了“中华民族命运共同体”的新概念,这是对近代以来关于“中华民族”理论的创造性转化和创新性发展的最新成果。该理论凝聚着以政治认同、国家认同为基础的民族认同文化底蕴与时代精神,是中华民族实现伟大复兴的重要思想基础。“铸牢中华民族共同体意识”的关键在于政治层面上以中华人民共和国宪法为基础,坚持中国共产党领导,在政治一体的前提下,保持文化的多样性和特色性,在多元文化繁荣发展的背景下,实现国家的统一和团结,从而使中华民族内部形成“同呼吸、共患难”“你中有我,我中有你,谁也离不开谁”“一荣俱荣、一损俱损”的命运共同体。

As an objective national entity,the formation and development of the Chinese nation has experienced a very long history. Located in the easternmost part of the Eurasian continent,the territory of the Chinese nation is a geographical unit with a vast space. It is relatively independent,and forms a geographical state that is open internally and relatively closed externally. Since ancient times,all ethnic groups in China have had longterm exchanges and communications within this common space. From mutual economic needs to the mutual influence of institutionalized culture,they have jointly created the Chinese civilization.For thousands of years,this has served as the root cause for the continuation of Chinese civilization and has become the historical basis for the formation of a "community of shared future for the Chinese nation ". The "Chinese nation"as a wholistic concept,however,is a post-modern notion.Since then,the connotation of this concept has constantly changed. On the basis of summarizing the previous studies,this paper intends to elaborate on the emergence,evolution and re-construction of the relevant concepts of the "Chinese nation"during the past 100 years,and to explain the science of the theoretical construction of a "community of a shared future for the Chinese nation"from the dimension of "diversity in unity".The concept of"zhonghua " has existed for thousands of years, but there was no the term"Chinese nation"( zhonghua minzu) in ancientChina. As an ethnological term,"Chinese nation"was proposed in the late Qing Dynasty when the invasion of Western powers inspired a strong sense of national consciousness among the Chinese people.The "Chinese nation",as a unified name for all ethnic groups in China,was first proposed by Liang Qichao( 1873-1929) and was widely recognized by perceptive people in all ethnic groups in China.The Revolution of 1911 overthrew the rule of the Qing Dynasty and ended the more than 2,000 years of a system of monarchy. After the founding of the Republic of China,both the Nanjing Provisional Government and the Beijing Government vigorously advocated national identity which recognized national equality at the national level,and changed the Han chauvinism found in earlier dynasties and the Man( Manchu) chauvinism found in the Qing Dynasty.In the 1930 s, Japanese aggression against China led to hundreds of millions of Chinese people from different ethnic backgrounds becoming patriotic. Chinese political organizations,social groups and people from all walks of life shared a combined identity with the Chinese nation with identity to the state of China,and forged the determination and great will to persist in the war. Chiang Kai-shek strongly advocated the national construction of the Chinese nation,and wrote in the book,zhongguo zhi minyun( The Destiny of China),that "Our Chinese nation is a nation that has been formed bythe merger of a number of ethnic groups for five thousand years". Mao Zedong,also clearly pointed out that "the Chinese nation refers to 450 million compatriots". In this context,the concept of the Chinese nation rose to a higher level,and it underwent a gradual deepening process and shifted from spontaneous resistance to aggression,and to a conscious fight for the survival,development and prosperity of the nation. Just as Sun Fuyuan said in 1939 that " the term Chinese nation has only been used in recent years. There is a saying in the‘March of the Volunteers’( yiyongjun jinxingqu)that ‘the Chinese nation is at its most dangerous time’. And if we look to an earlier date,it would not be earlier than the September 18 th Incident.That is to say,until the entire nation was invaded by foreign aggressors,would we be more clearly and consciously aware that we are truly a nation".When discussing the influence of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression on modern Chinese nationalism, Chen Yishen also stressed that "the biggest gain of China in the Anti-Japanese Aggression War was perhaps not the abolition of unequal treaties,but that the war forged a‘Chinese nation’which shared honor or disgrace,weal or woe,regardless of party,religion region,or race".( Chen,1994: 54)After the founding of the People’s Republic of China,the Communist Party of China and the People’s Government integrated"ethnic equality "into ethnic policies and state governance mechanisms in order to correct the historical ethnic discrimination and ethnic oppression. For example,the work of "ethnic classification"was carried out in order to unify and regularize the confusion over the state of ethnic composition and ethnic names.From the early 1950 s to 1979, China officially confirmed and announced the 55 ethnic minorities,excepting the Han. Moreover,China also implemented a system of regional ethnic autonomy and established local ethnic autonomous administrative units at the level of district,prefecture,and county. During the 1980 s,the policy of "Reform and Opening Up " made it possible to liberate the mind,re-establish ethnic relations,and build anew ethnic theory. The theory of a "pattern of diversity in unity of the Chinese nation"put forward by Fei Xiaotong had an important impact. The term "diversity"means that each ethnic group is a self-contained unit,and there are 56 such ethnic groups in China( including the Han) . "Unity "means that the 56 ethnic groups are interrelated,complementary with and dependent upon each other,thereby constituting a complete "Chinese nation".After the 18 th National Congress of the Communist Party of China,President Xi Jinping successively put forward the new concept of a "community of a shared future for the Chinese nation"and a "community of a shared future for mankind"to improve national governance. This is an innovative continuation and creative development of the theory of ethnic relations over the past 100 years.In the background of the new era,the characteristics of the 56 ethnic groups in China are becoming more and more prominent as a "community of a shared future for the Chinese nation". Therefore,"diversity in unity"and "sharing weal and woe"are the core connotation of the theory of community of a shared future for the Chinese nation. The pattern of "diversity in unity "refers to that: on the political level,based on the Constitution of the People’s Republic of China,under the leadership of the Communist Party of China,a unified community with a shared political future of Chinese nation will be built. At the same time,regional and ethnic characteristics will be emphasized in economic construction and cultural construction.Therefore,during the process of building a community of a shared future for the Chinese nation,the key is to continuously enhance political,state,national and cultural identity. That is,only within the premise of political integration can cultural diversity be maintained,and only within the context of multiculturalism,can the unity and solidarity of the nation-state be achieved. It should be emphasized that the community of the Chinese nation and the community of shared future for mankind is a partial and overall progressive and extended relationship. Starting from "diversity in u-nity",building a community of shared future for the Chinese nation will provide a model for building a community of shared future for mankind,which aims at a peaceful and win-win development.