“故塞”“故徼”的由来与秦并天下

The Origin of “Gu Sai”,“Gu Jiao” and the Qin Dynasty’s Unification of the Under Heaven

秦代的“故塞”“故徼”,是秦统一后初期的边界。其内大体是传统的“华夏”地区,其外是“蛮夷”地区。一方面,在理念上,秦统一后将“边塞”“边徼”改称为“故塞”“故徼”,反映出从“有边”向“无边”的转变,彰显出“王者无外”的理念。另一方面,在现实中,虽已不承认“故塞”“故徼”是其边境,但由于尚未消除匈奴、百越等带来的威胁,“故塞”“故徼”仍然承担着军事防御、控制人员出入等边境职能,继续发挥着“严夷夏之防”的现实作用。

“Gu Sai” (“故塞”),“Gu Jiao” (“故徼”) in the Qin dynasty were its early borders after the unification,within the inside was the traditional “ Hua Xia Region” and outside was the“Barbarian regions”.On the one hand,in idea,after the unification,the Qin’s renaming of “Bian Sai” (“边塞”),“Bian Jiao” (“边缴”),into “Gusai”,“Gujiao”,reflected the transformation of “have boder” to “no border”,showing the idea of “no border for the King”.On the other hand,in reality,although the Qin didn’t recognize “Gusai”,“Gujiao”,as its border,with the threat from peoples like the Huns and Nanyue were not eliminated,“Gusai”,“Gujiao” bore functions like military defense and controlling transferring of personnel,continued to play the role of “protecting Xia (夏) from Yi (夷)”.