On the Chinese Nation's Pursuit of National Unity from the Perspective of the Unity of Chinese Civilization

General Secretary Xi Jinping's important speech at the Symposium on Cultural Heritage Development comprehensively, systematically and profoundly reveals the "five prominent features" of Chinese civilization, providing a fundamental guide for the study of fine traditional Chinese culture in the New Era. Many important elements of fine traditional Chinese culture together shape the prominent features of Chinese civilization. The Chinese nation has a historical and cultural tradition of great unity. "Great unity" is a main thread running through the political structure and thought and culture of Chinese history.

习近平总书记在文化传承发展座谈会上的重要讲话，全面系统深刻揭示出中华文明的“五个突出特性”，为新时代的中华优秀传统文化研究提供了根本遵循。中华优秀传统文化的诸多重要元素，共同塑造了中华文明的突出特性。中华民族具有大一统的历史传统和文化传统。“大一统”是贯穿中国历史政治格局和思想文化的一条主线。

The term "all under heaven" (tianxia) already appears in the "Announcement of the Duke of Shao" chapter of the Book of Documents, indicating that the concept of "all under heaven" existed at the latest by the early Western Zhou period. The Zhou dynasty implemented a hierarchical system of enfeoffment based on patriarchal clan rule to consolidate political power, maintained a unified order, and emphasized the promotion and reinforcement of the concept of unity, thereby initially fostering a consciousness of great unity within society. The Zhou people believed that the Son of Heaven, as the "eldest son" of Heaven, represented Heaven in ruling all under heaven and possessed supreme ruling status. The territory and all the people under heaven were under the rule of the Son of Heaven, as the "North Hill" section of the "Lesser Odes" in the Book of Poetry states: "Under the vast heaven, there is no land that is not the king's land; to the shores of the four seas, there is no one who is not the king's subject." The Western Zhou concept of all-under-heaven as a single entity of great unity already contained the seeds of thought about a unified multi-ethnic state. To strengthen the consciousness of all-under-heaven unity, the Western Zhou rulers put forward the concept of "China" (Zhongguo). The inscription on the He Zun bronze vessel from the time of King Cheng of Zhou reads: "When King Wu had conquered the great city Shang, he then made a announcement to Heaven, saying: 'I will reside in this China, and from there govern the people.'" The Zhou people established their capital at Luoyi, calling it "China," which contained a consciousness of unifying the four directions geographically, politically, and culturally. The Western Zhou also promoted the spread of the ritual and music culture of the ancestral Zhou through the enfeoffment system. When the enfeoffed lords went to their fiefs, they took with them officials such as invocators, astrologers, and scribes, Zhou dynasty texts, and various ritual vessels bestowed by the Son of Heaven. The spread and recognition of this ancestral Zhou ritual and music culture in various regions promoted the development of the Huaxia community. After the Huaxia ethnic group in the Central Plains continued to grow and expand, "China" gradually became a substitute name for the Huaxia state, nation, culture, and the Central Plains region, indicating that the consciousness of political, cultural, and ethnic unity was constantly developing during the Western Zhou. At the same time, Zhou culture, in the process of spreading to various parts of Huaxia, integrated with local indigenous cultures, forming during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods regional cultures such as Qi, Lu, Jin, Chu, Yan, and Wuyue. These regional cultures incorporated many elements of Zhou culture while each having its own characteristics, thus forming a cultural pattern of Chinese civilization characterized by diversity within unity.

《尚书·召诰》中已出现“天下”一词，表明最迟在西周初期已有“天下”的观念。周王朝实行层级分封的宗法统治巩固政权，维系一统秩序，重视宣传和强化一统观念，从而在社会中初步孕育了大一统意识。周人认为，天子作为天之“元（长）子”，代表天统治天下，拥有至高无上的统治地位。天下的疆土与万民皆在天子的统治之下，即《诗经·小雅·北山》所谓“溥天之下，莫非王土；率土之滨，莫非王臣”。西周天下一体的大一统式天下观，已包含多民族统一国家思想的萌芽。为了强化天下一统意识，西周统治者提出了“中国”这个概念，周成王时期的何尊铭文：“唯武王既克大邑商，则廷告于天，曰：‘余其宅兹中国，自之乂民。’”周人建都洛邑，称之为“中国”，就包含有从地理、政治、文化上统摄四方的一统意识。西周也通过分封制促进了宗周礼乐文化的传播。受封诸侯前往封国时，带去了祝宗卜史等官吏、周朝的典籍以及各种天子赏赐的礼器等。这些宗周礼乐文化在各地区的传播和认同，促进了华夏共同体的发展。中原地区华夏族不断发展壮大后，“中国”逐渐成为华夏国家、民族、文化、所居中原地区等的代称，这表明西周时期政治、文化、民族一体性认同在不断发展。同时，周文化在向华夏各地传播过程中，与当地土著文化相互融合，在春秋战国时期形成了齐文化、鲁文化、晋文化、楚文化、燕文化、吴越文化等地域文化。这些地域文化既融入了大量的周文化要素，又各具特色，从而形成了华夏文明多元一体的文化格局。

By the latest in the Eastern Zhou period, the Flame Emperor (Yandi) and the Yellow Emperor (Huangdi) were already revered by the various Xia (Huaxia) as common ancestors. The "Discourses of Zhou" in the Discourses of the States records that Crown Prince Jin of King Ling of Zhou mentioned that some feudal states "are all descendants of the Yellow Emperor and the Flame Emperor." During the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, integration through forms such as population movement and economic exchange among various ethnic groups reached new heights, and incessant warfare and annexation also made social elites realize that only unity could promote economic development and stable life for the people. "Great unity" gradually became the hope of society and the ideal of the elites. As the Gongyang Commentary on the Spring and Autumn Annals says, "Why speak of 'the king's first month'? It is great unity." And Xunzi said that if one could "unify all under heaven, manage all resources, nourish and raise the people, and benefit all under heaven," then a peaceful world could be established. Mencius straightforwardly explained that all under heaven would "be settled in unity." The proposals of these thinkers reflected the common aspiration of the people: to establish a unified and stable central government.

至晚至东周时期，炎帝、黄帝已被诸夏尊奉为先祖。《国语·周语》记载，周灵王太子晋提到一些诸侯国“皆黄、炎之后也”。春秋战国时期，各族群人员往来、经济交流等形式的融合达到历史新高，无休止的战争、兼并也使社会精英意识到唯有统一才能促进经济发展和人民生活安定。“大一统”逐步成为社会的期盼和精英的理想。如《春秋公羊传》所言，“何言乎王正月？大一统也”。又如荀子说，倘若能“一天下，财万物，长养人民，兼利天下”，就能建立一个太平世界。孟子则直接解释，天下将“定于一”。思想家们的主张反映了民众的共同愿望，就是建立一个统一且稳定的中央政权。

After Emperor Wu of Han ascended the throne, in order to strengthen centralization of power, he accepted Dong Zhongshu's proposal to "dismiss the hundred schools of thought and revere only Confucianism," replacing the dominant position of Daoism with Confucian thought. In his policy responses, Dong Zhongshu stated: "The great unity [expressed in] the Spring and Autumn Annals is the constant norm of heaven and earth, and the common principle of past and present." By the time of Emperor Xuan of Han, Wang Ji further proposed to carry out planned and step-by-step educational work to transform customs, so that the entire realm's government decrees and regulations would be unified. Hence, the "Biography of Wang Ji" in the Book of Han states: "The reason why the Spring and Autumn Annals emphasizes great unity is that the six directions have the same customs, and the nine provinces share the same standards." This concept of "great unity" promoted the formation of a unified situation.

汉武帝即位后，为了加强中央集权，接受了董仲舒提出的“罢黜百家，独尊儒术”的思想，以儒家思想取代道家的统治地位。董仲舒在对策中指出，“《春秋》大一统者，天地之常经，古今之通谊”。到汉宣帝时，王吉又提出要有计划、有步骤地进行移风易俗的教化工作，使整个天下政令法规贯通。因此，《汉书·王吉传》有“《春秋》所以大一统者，六合同风，九州共贯也”。这个“大一统”理念推动形成了统一的局面。

Sima Qian of the Western Han, in writing the Records of the Grand Historian, described the Flame Emperor and the Yellow Emperor as common ancestors of the Huaxia, the Xiongnu, the Yue, and other peoples. Chu Shaosun, in his supplement to the "Genealogical Tables of the Three Ages" in the Records of the Grand Historian, stated: "Shun, Yu, Qi, and Houji are all descendants of the Yellow Emperor." It can be said that the concept of "descendants of the Flame Emperor and the Yellow Emperor," or the identification with the Flame Emperor and the Yellow Emperor as ancestors, had already formed. During the Sixteen Kingdoms and the Northern Dynasties period, the concept of "common ancestors the Flame Emperor and the Yellow Emperor" was accepted by many border ethnic groups; some rulers of border ethnic groups who entered and controlled the Central Plains actively placed themselves within the legitimate historical sequence of "China." Historical texts such as the Spring and Autumn Annals of the Sixteen Kingdoms, the Book of Jin, the Book of Wei, and the Book of Zhou record that rulers of the Sixteen Kingdoms and the Northern Dynasties regarded themselves as descendants of the Flame Emperor and the Yellow Emperor, representing the formation of a profound sense of cultural community. In October 1995, a Sino-Japanese academic expedition to the Niya ruins in Minfeng County, Xinjiang, discovered a piece of brightly colored brocade in a Han dynasty tomb at the Niya site. Amid the colored patterns on the brocade were eight seal-script Chinese characters: "When the five planets appear in the east, it is beneficial for China," showing that the Central Plains dynasties already had very close ties with the Western Regions.

西汉司马迁撰《史记》，将炎帝、黄帝描述为华夏和匈奴、越等民族的共同祖先。西汉褚少孙补《史记·三代世表》，称“舜、禹、契、后稷皆黄帝子孙也”。可以说，“炎黄子孙”观念，或者说炎黄祖先认同早已形成。十六国北朝时期“炎黄祖先”观念被诸多边裔民族接受，一些入主中原的边疆民族统治者，主动将自己纳入中华“正统”历史序列。《十六国春秋》《晋书》《魏书》《周书》等文献记叙十六国北朝君主自认炎黄苗裔，代表着一种深刻的文化共同体意识的形成。1995年10月，中日尼雅遗址学术考察队在新疆和田地区民丰县尼雅遗址的一处汉代墓葬中发现了一块色彩鲜艳的织锦，在织锦的彩色纹样间，有8个篆体汉字“五星出东方利中国”，可见中原王朝与西域已有非常紧密的联系。

Throughout Chinese history, two concepts coexisted: the distinction between Hua and Yi, and the unity of Hua and Yi. The concept of distinction between Hua and Yi held that the Huaxia ethnic group was the main body, while the Rong, Di, Man, Yi, etc., were non-main ethnic groups; the concept of unity of Hua and Yi emphasized that both the Huaxia and non-Huaxia ethnic groups were under the rule of the Son of Heaven and all identified with Huaxia culture. Since the pre-Qin period, when the understanding that cultural identity was higher than blood identity had basically formed, the idea of "Hua and Yi as one family" gradually became the mainstream of society. Rulers of various dynasties actively promoted the concept of Hua and Yi as one family and identification with Huaxia culture in order to consolidate their rule. For example, Emperor Taizong of Tang said: "Since ancient times, people have valued the Central Huaxia and despised the barbarian Yi, but I alone love them equally." Another example: after the Shatuo people moved into the Daibei region during the late Tang period, they attached great importance to identification with the Han people and Han culture, adopting Han surnames and claiming Han places of origin. For instance, the Shatuo surnames Liu, Yang, Guo, Qu, Zhang, Bai, etc., were all Han surnames obtained after entering the Central Plains. The Shatuo also commonly intermarried with Han people, and by the middle to late Song period, there were no more records of the Shatuo, indicating that by then they had completely merged with the Han people. The Yuan dynasty was a "great unity" dynasty established by northern nomadic peoples; it chose the reign title "Yuan" by "following the Spring and Autumn Annals in rectifying the beginning and embodying the great Qian Yuan of the Book of Changes." Although the Ming dynasty was predominantly Han, by that time the Han group included not only Han people who had migrated south from the Yellow River basin since the Eastern Jin, but also ethnic groups such as the Xiongnu, Xianbei, Jie, Di, and Qiang who had entered the Central Plains, as well as the Khitan, Jurchen, and Mongols and Semu people who had stayed in the Central Plains and were considered "Han" by the Yuan. All ethnic groups in China were deeply integrated, intermingled with each other. After the Qing dynasty consolidated its rule, successive emperors paid attention to ethnic unity. The Kangxi Emperor emphasized "no distinction between inside and outside, viewing them as one body"; the Yongzheng Emperor stated "all under heaven is unified, Hua and Yi are one family"; the Qianlong Emperor said: "All under heaven is the world of all the people under heaven, and cannot be privately owned by north or south, central or peripheral." According to the actual conditions of various ethnic regions, different administrative systems were implemented: for example, the province system was used in Han areas; in the Northeast, the general system was adopted initially; in Mongolia, the league-banner system; in Xinjiang, the beg system; and in Tibet, the system of integration of religion and state, etc. These measures properly handled ethnic relations. After establishing the Republic of China, Sun Yat-sen also proposed to build China into a unified state of "five ethnic groups as one family" and "five ethnic groups in one republic." He said: "Now the five ethnic groups are one family, standing on an equal footing; the problem of ethnic inequality has been solved, and the problem of political inequality has also been solved simultaneously, so there will never again be disputes. What I hope is that from now on, the five great ethnic groups will work together with one heart and mind to promote the progress of the state, so that China may become a leading civilized power in the world. This is the great responsibility that our five ethnic groups jointly shoulder." This concept of emphasizing integration rather than distinction promoted identification among all ethnic groups.

我国历史上长期存在华夷之辨、华夷一统两种观念。华夷之辨观认为华夏族是主体民族，戎、狄、蛮、夷等是非主体民族；华夷一统观强调华夏族与非华夏族皆在天子统辖的天下之内，皆认同华夏文化。自先秦开始基本形成文化认同高于血缘认同的认识后，“华夷一家”思想逐渐成为社会的主流，各朝统治者为巩固统治，都积极推动华夷一家、认同华夏文化。如唐太宗称“自古皆贵中华、贱夷狄，朕独爱之如一”。又如晚唐时期沙陀人内迁至代北后，很重视对汉族、汉文化的认同，改用汉姓以及籍贯汉地，如沙陀人的刘、杨、郭、瞿、张、白诸姓，都是进入中原后所得的汉姓。沙陀人还普遍与汉族人通婚，到宋代中后期便不再见有沙陀人的记载，说明此时沙陀人已完全与汉人融合在一起。元朝是北方游牧民族建立的“大一统”王朝，其定国号为“元”，乃“法《春秋》之正始，体大《易》之乾元”。明朝虽然以汉人为主体，但此时的汉人群体不仅包括东晋以来北方黄河流域南迁的汉人，也包括进入中原的匈奴、鲜卑、羯、氐、羌等民族，以及被元朝认为是“汉人”的契丹、女真和留居中原的蒙古、色目人等。中华各民族深度融合，你中有我、我中有你。清代政权稳固后历任皇帝都注重民族团结。康熙强调“无分内外，视同一体”，雍正称“天下一统，华夷一家”，乾隆说“夫天下者，天下人之天下也，非南北、中外所得私”。根据各个民族地区的实际状况实行不同的管理体制，如在汉地实行行省制，在东北早期实行将军制，在蒙古实行盟旗制，在新疆实行伯克制，在西藏则采取政教合一制度等，较好地处理了民族关系。孙中山在建立中华民国后也提出要将中国建成“五族一家”“五族共和”的统一国家，他说：“今者五族一家，立于平等地位，种族不平等之问题解决，政治之不平等问题亦同时解决，永无更起纷争之事。所望者以后五大民族，同心协力，共策国家之进行，使中国进于世界第一文明大国，则我五大民族公同负荷之大责任也。”这种强调融合而非差别的民族观念，促进了各民族间的认同。

The sentiment of "family-state all under heaven" advocated by the Confucian "great unity" thought is an important cornerstone for consolidating national unity and ethnic solidarity. This sentiment of family and state, fused into the bloodline, is an important thread running through traditional Chinese culture. For example, the Analects says: "Those who possess states and families do not worry about scarcity but about inequality; they do not worry about poverty but about instability." Mencius says: "The root of all under heaven is the state; the root of the state is the family; the root of the family is the individual." The Great Learning further extends this into the notion of "cultivate the self, regulate the family, govern the state, and pacify all under heaven": "The ancients who wished to manifest bright virtue to all under heaven first governed their states; wishing to govern their states, they first regulated their families; wishing to regulate their families, they first cultivated their selves." After the Han dynasty, the order of family-state isomorphism formed on the basis of these important ideas became the governance model followed by successive dynasties. The family is the foundation of the state, and the state is the extension of the family. In the spiritual lineage of the Chinese people, the state and the family, society and the individual, are an inseparable whole.

儒家“大一统”思想倡导的“家国天下”情怀是凝聚国家统一、民族团结的重要基石。这种熔铸于血脉中的家国情怀，是贯穿中国传统文化的一条重要脉络。如《论语》说：“有国有家者，不患寡而患不均，不患贫而患不安。”孟子说：“天下之本在国，国之本在家，家之本在身。”《大学》进一步引申出“修齐治平”的说法：“古之欲明明德于天下者，先治其国；欲治其国者，先齐其家；欲齐其家者，先修其身。”汉代以后，基于这些重要思想而形成的家国同构秩序，成为历代王朝奉行的治理模式。家是国的基础，国是家的延伸。在中国人的精神谱系里，国家与家庭、社会与个人，是密不可分的整体。

General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "From a historical perspective, the excellent elements of traditional Chinese thought and culture, including Confucianism, have played a very important role in the formation and continuous development of Chinese civilization for thousands of years without interruption, in the formation and maintenance of China's unified and cohesive political situation, in the formation and consolidation of China's multi-ethnic integrated family, in the formation and enrichment of the Chinese national spirit, in inspiring the Chinese people to safeguard national independence and resist foreign aggression, and in promoting China's social development and progress and the balancing of social interests and social relations." All ethnic groups have formed a strong cultural identity through ethnic integration, forging a national spirit that pursues unity and solidarity. The reason why the more than 1.4 billion Chinese people are so cohesive is that we possess a broad and profound Chinese culture, and the firmness and perseverance for national unity are deeply embedded in the blood of our people. This is the source of our cultural confidence.

习近平总书记指出：“从历史的角度看，包括儒家思想在内的中国传统思想文化中的优秀成分，对中华文明形成并延续发展几千年而从未中断，对形成和维护中国团结统一的政治局面，对形成和巩固中国多民族和合一体的大家庭，对形成和丰富中华民族精神，对激励中华儿女维护民族独立、反抗外来侵略，对推动中国社会发展进步、促进中国社会利益和社会关系平衡，都发挥了十分重要的作用。”各民族在民族融合中形成了强大的文化认同，铸就了追求团结统一的民族精神。14亿多中国人民凝聚力这么强，就是因为我们拥有博大精深的中华文化，我国人民血脉中融入了对国家统一的坚定与执着，这是我们文化自信的源泉。

(The author is Director and Researcher of the Institute of History, Anhui Academy of Social Sciences)

（作者系安徽省社会科学院历史研究所所长、研究员）

Online editor: Huihui

网络编辑：慧慧