贯通、整体与经世:论吴其昌边疆民族研究的思想路径

Coherence, Integrity and Practical Application: Thoughts of Wu Qichang’s Frontier Ethnic Studies

1941年开始,吴其昌在《边政公论》发表关于《历代边政借鉴》的系列文章,其研究内容与学术转向值得深入探讨。吴其昌的边疆民族研究路径,以贯通、整体和经世致用为主要特点。贯通在于其对于历史的长时段把握,把历代边政发展脉络进行纵向的梳理,体现了历代边政实践、认识的延续与嬗变。整体在于其对社会历史发展研究时所具有的横向的宏大视野,探讨历代边政问题不局限于单一视角,将地理、政治、经济、文化、血缘、生活方式、心理等多维因素进行立体式的综合分析。经世致用是其边政研究的重要主旨,表现了民国边政研究与国家、民族命运的交织关系,是当时时代场景下一批爱国知识分子群体关心国家安危、民族命运的一个缩影。他们将学术研究与现实关怀进行了合理的结合,可为后辈学者的研究提供新的视野与思路。

Since 1941, Wu Qichang published a series of articles on Frontier Politics of the Past Dynasties for Reference in Frontier Affairs, whose research content and academic turn deserve further discussion. Wu Qichang’s research on frontier ethnic groups is characterized by coherence, integrity and practical application. Coherence refers to his grasp of the long period of history by combing the diachronic development of frontier administration, which reflects the understanding of continuation and evolution of the frontier administration in the past dynasties. Integrity means his broad horizon in the study on social and historical development. When discussing the problems of frontier administration in the past dynasties, he made a comprehensive analysis of factors from multiple dimensions including geography, politics, economy, culture, consanguinity, lifestyle and psychology without confining himself to a single angle of perspective. Practical application is an important theme in his study of frontier administration that links his research of frontier administration with the fate of China and Chinese people during the period of the Republic of China, which reflects how the group of patriotic intellectuals cared about the destiny of their motherland under the historical context at that time. Academic research and practical concern are reasonably combined together, providing new perspectives and ideas for scholars of later generations.