柯斯莫《中国前帝国时期的北部边疆》述评

A Review on Cosmo's The Northern Frontier in Pre-imperial China

在1999年出版的《剑桥中国先秦史》第十三章《中国前帝国时期的北部边疆》中,柯斯莫的以下基本观点值得肯定:一、从欧亚大陆的游牧文化形成于公元前8世纪左右这一大背景来考察中国北方地带的游牧人群出现。二、由于兼营牧羊业和农业的社会群体在中原和游牧区之间充当"缓冲器",所以中国古籍中到公元前4世纪才出现对游牧人的记载。三、中国北方地带是一个众多考古学文化的发生地和多个族团的栖息地。它的游牧化是一个长期的历史过程。但另一方面,我们对柯斯莫界定的"北方地带"的范围和分期方案有不同的看法,他所臆想的狄人和戎人在北方地带自北向南的大更替、未加具体分析就误判"最早的匈奴式"遗存的做法,以及对战国以前北方地带主体居民为东亚蒙古人种的忽视,都是我们不能接受的。柯斯莫对外贝加尔和蒙古东部地区的独特文化注意不够,而且只谈自西向东的文化影响是有片面性的。

In the chapter thirteen The Northern Frontier in Preimperial China of book Cambridge history of Preimperial China, Some of the Di Cosmo's main points should be confirmed: Firstly, the appearance of the Nomads in Northern Frontier of China should be observed and studied in the background that the nomadic cultures of Eurasia Steppe formed at the eighth century B.C.; Secondly, the mixed shepherds and agriculturalists acted as a buffer between the Central Plain and the nomadic lands, so the reference of nomads in the ancient documents did not appeare until the fourth century B.C.; Finally, many archaeological cultures originated and many ethnic groups lived in the Northern Frontier of China, and their transition to nomads took a long period.On the other hand, we would like to discuss with him on the distribution and periodicity of Northern frontier he proposed in the book. And we disagree his speculation that Rong people was replaced by Di people from north to south, his norm the earliest Xiongnu Remains on some remains without some concrete analysis and his neglecting of the fact that Pre- Warring States the main people lived in Northern frontier was Eastern Asiatic Mongolian. He should put more attention on the distinctive culture in Transbaikalia and Eastern Mongolia. And he laid undue stress on the cultural influence from west to east.