历史上的世界文明史（美国网友提问道）

现如今的主流西方史学界上，大多数人都认为中国的历史，至多只有三千年。美国耶鲁大学历史系教授韩森，编撰的一本书叫做《开放的帝国.1600年前的中国历史》，这本书在耶鲁大学流传甚广，被作为讲义。几乎可以代表西方人的历史观念。从公元前1200年写到公元1600年，也就是说记载了从商代到明代的具体故事。

在这本书中，西方史学界将清代从中国古代史中划了出来，独立定义为古代和近代的一个特殊过渡时期，从某种意义上和日本史学界上定义的“崖山之后，再无华夏”之邪说，有不谋而合之处。在美版知乎quora上，美国网友提问道：中国所谓辉煌的古代文明史是一场骗局吗？这个充满偏见的问题引起各国网友的围观和热议，其观点有的大相径庭，但也不乏可取之处。

问题：中国古代文明是否是一场骗局？

德国网友Ishtevan Peter的回答

Why did you ask such a question? Do you take it from the bottom of your heart as a way to insult the Chinese people. You're basically asking, "how dare the Chinese boast about 5000 years of history? Doesn't American history start with the Indians?"

你为什么会提出这样一个问题？你是否从心底把它当作侮辱中国人的一种方式。你基本上是在问，“中国人怎么敢吹嘘5000年的历史，那美国的历史岂不是要从印第安人算起了？”

Aside from the obvious defects in this statement, China's historical heritage is unique in addition to its pure antiquity.

撇开这一说法中的明显缺陷不谈，中国的历史遗产之所以独特，除了其纯粹的古代性。

Continuity/连续性

Chinese people are the same group who have lived on the same land since the Shang Dynasty. Most places and surnames have even remained unchanged, which is one of the most important symbols of the continuation of civilization for anthropologists.

中国人是自商朝以来一直生活在同一片土地上的同一个群体，大多数地方和姓氏甚至保持不变，这对人类学家来说是文明延续的最重要标志之一。

Originality/独创性

The Chinese created the written Chinese language from scratch. Few civilizations on earth can have such creativity. In addition, only two are still in use: Hebrew and Sanskrit. All other written languages still in use today are derivatives of the ancient language of "alien civilization".

中国人白手起家地创造了汉语书面语，地球上很少有文明能有这样的创造性，除此之外只有两种仍在使用：希伯来语和梵语，今天仍在使用的所有其他书面语言都是“外星文明”古老语言的衍生物。

Some people may mention Japan and South Korea. Even if South Koreans can prove the pure originality of their characters, they still use a large number of Chinese loanwords. Japanese Kanas are derivatives of Chinese radicals, either printed (Katakana) or cursive (Hiragana).

有人也许会提及日本和韩国，即使韩国人能证明其文字的纯粹原创性，它仍在使用大量的中文借词，日语假名都是中国部首的派生词，要么是印刷体（片假名），要么是草书体（平假名）。

Prominence/重要性

Chinese civilization, whether under the rule of Han or non Han, has almost always been one or two of the most prosperous, developed and technologically advanced civilizations on earth. Only in the past 300 years has western civilization decisively surpassed Chinese civilization in technology and economy.

中国文明，无论是在汉族还是非汉族统治下，几乎一直都是地球上最繁荣、最发达和技术最先进的一个或两个文明，只有在过去300年里，西方文明在技术和经济上才决定性地超过了中国文明。

Why do Westerners feel strange or even ignorant of Chinese civilization?

西方人为什么会对华夏文明感到陌生甚至无知呢？

Western China is covered with ice and snow, with an average altitude of 3500 meters. The southwest is a dense rainforest. In the northwest, you can see endless deserts and uninhabited grasslands, while in the northeast, Siberia is also vast, cold and uninhabited. In the East, China faces the ocean and the vast Pacific Ocean full of storms and dangers. Therefore, China is geographically completely isolated from the birthplaces of other civilizations.

中国西部冰雪覆盖，平均海拔3500米，西南部是一片茂密的雨林，在西北部，你可以看到一望无际的沙漠和无人居住的草原，而在东北部，西伯利亚同样广阔、寒冷、无人居住。在东方，中国面临着海洋和充满风暴和危险的广阔太平洋。因此，中国在地理上与其他文明的发源地完全隔绝。

Such a steep and closed terrain makes it difficult for Chinese people to communicate with foreign countries. For example, Emperor Alexander's eastern expedition did not reach China. Therefore, the closed geographical environment has created China's historical independence and cultural heritage. Even the nomadic peoples (Huns, Turks, Mongols and Manchus) who invaded China many times in history finally accepted Chinese culture and integrated with the Han nationality.

如此险峻封闭的地形使中国人很难与外国交流。例如，亚历山大皇帝的东征没有到达中国。因此，封闭的地理环境造就了中国的历史独立和文化遗产。就连历史上多次入侵中国的游牧民族（匈奴、土耳其人、蒙古族、满族）也最终接受了中国文化，并与汉族融合。

As a result, a single nation-state was established (as were South Korea and Japan in East Asia). The idea of "Chinese" self-consciousness has existed since the separation of culture. Therefore, under this understanding, China has been forming a super civilization for thousands of years.

结果，建立了一个单一民族国家（东亚的韩国和日本也是如此）。“中国人”自我意识的思想自文化从未分离以来就一直存在，因此，在这种认识下，中国历史几千年来一直在形成一种超级文明。

I have been to Egypt, where the civilization is older than that of China. I am shocked by the Giza pyramid. Unfortunately, Egypt's advanced civilization has not continued. Most of its culture disappeared due to the invasion of Greece, Rome, Arabia, France and Britain.

我去过埃及，那里的文明比中国的文明更古老，我对吉萨金字塔感到震惊，不幸的是，埃及的先进文明并没有持续下去。由于受到希腊、罗马、阿拉伯、法国和英国的入侵，它的大部分文化都消失了。

Today's Egypt has lost the good memory of the past. They can't understand the words and thoughts of ancient thinkers. In China, they can still read the words and poems of ancient Chinese before 2000, making Chinese people proud of their heritage, such as the Terracotta Army of Xi'an, the Great Wall to the north, the Grande Canale through Hangzhou and Beijing of the Forbidden City, standing in the long river of history for thousands of years.

今天的埃及已经失去了过去的美好记忆，他们无法理解古代思想家的话语和思想。在中国，他们仍然可以阅读2000年前的古代汉语单词和诗歌，令中国人自豪的遗产，如西安的兵马俑，长城到北境，大运河通过杭州和紫禁城的北京，在历史的长河里屹立千百年。

The following can be added to the newly unearthed remains of the early stage of civilization in China.

下面可以补充一下中国新近出土的文明初期的遗存。

1.贾湖版画/Jia Hu engrave

It appeared at Jiahu Site in Wuyang City, Henan province more than 8000 years ago (9000-7800 years ago), and a number of carved symbols called Jiahu carved symbols were unearthed. Some scholars think it's just a carved symbol, while others think it's text. Rao Zongyi of the University of Hong Kong, China once conducted an in-depth study on the Jiahu inscription and proposed that the "Jiahu inscription" provided new information for the key issues of the origin of Chinese characters.

它出现在8000多年前（9000-7800年前）的河南省舞阳市贾湖遗址，并出土了一批被称为贾湖雕刻符号的雕刻符号。一些学者认为这只是雕刻的符号，一些人认为这是文字。中国香港大学饶宗颐曾对贾湖碑文进行了深入的研究，提出“贾湖碑文”为汉字起源的关键问题提供了新的信息。

2.双墩人物/Shuang Dun characters

More than 7000 years ago, more than 630 inscriptions were found in Bengbu Shuangdun site, with rich and diverse contents. They are very rare both at home and abroad. The diversity and content of symbols are unmatched by other websites in the same period. The functions of double piers can be divided into three categories: ideograph, seal and counting. Shuangdun carving reflects the lifestyle of Shuangdun ancestors in the early stage. It has the nature of primitive characters and is one of the sources of Chinese characters

7000多年前，蚌埠双墩遗址发现了630多处碑文，内容丰富多样。同时就国内外文物而言，它们是非常罕见和惊人的。符号的多样性和内容是同时期其他网站无法比拟的。双墩的功能可分为三类：表意文字、图章和计数。双墩雕文反映了早期双墩祖先的生活方式，具有原始文字的性质，是汉字的来源之一。

3.半坡符号/BANPO symbol

半坡陶符

About 6000 years ago, 20 or 30 symbols, namely Banpo pottery symbols, were engraved on the mouth of the pottery bowl at Banpo site of Yangshao culture. Yu Shenggu believes that "some simple characters come from the stage of character origin", some of which are numbers.

大约6000年前，在仰韶文化半坡遗址的陶碗口上刻着20或30种符号，即半坡陶符号。余胜谷认为“一些简单的文字产生于文字起源阶段”，其中一些是数字。

4.桃丝红字/Tao si red text

According to radiocarbon dating and correction, the age of Taosi site in Xiangfen County, Shanxi Province is about 2500-1900 BC. In 1984, archaeologists found a fragment of a flat pot at the Taosi site. The stubble was painted red. There are two words on the fragment, translated by experts, one is "Wen", the other is "Yao", "Yi", "Ming", etc.

根据放射性碳年代测定和校正，山西省襄汾县陶寺遗址的年代约为公元前2500-1900年。1984年，考古学家在陶寺遗址发现了一个扁锅的碎片。麦茬周围涂上了红色。碎片上有两个字，经专家翻译，一个是“文”，另一个是“姚”、“易”、“明”等。

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美国网友Eric Ruck的回答

It's not a hoax, but it's definitely exaggerated. "Five thousand years of Chinese history" is a phrase that all Chinese and overseas Chinese keep repeating and remembering. Somehow, we always naturally believe that China has a richer history than other places. In any case, this is a somewhat strange concept. Whether you want to define "history" from written records or from the emergence of "civilization" seen in the first batch of large settlements, 5000 years is wrong.

不至于是一场骗局，但绝对被夸大了。“中华上下五千年”，这是一个所有中国人和华人华侨不断重复和记忆的短语。不知何故，我们总是自然而然地相信中国比其他地方拥有更加丰富的历史。无论如何，这是一个有点奇怪的概念，不管你想把“历史”定义为从书面记录开始，还是从第一批大型定居点中看到的“文明”的出现开始，五千年都是错误的。

The Shang Dynasty (built around 1600 BC) in the Yellow River Basin in northern China can be traced back to the first batch of written evidence and solid archaeological evidence. Before that, history was broken down into myths, but even if you accept the Xia Dynasty as a starting point, it will only bring you back to about 2000 BC.

中国北方黄河流域的商朝（建于公元前1600年左右）可以追溯到我们有坚实的考古证据和第一批书面记录的确凿证据。在此之前，历史就分解为神话了，但即使你接受之前有些神话色彩的夏朝作为起点，它也只会让你回到公元前2000年左右。

In terms of the length of time, civilizations in other parts of the world preceded China. The writing system in Egypt and Mesopotamia was a thousand years earlier than that in China. The world's first city, Uruk, is located in today's Iraq, dating back to 7000 years ago.

就时间长度而言，世界其他地区的文明先于中国。埃及和美索不达米亚的书写系统比中国的书写早一千年。世界上第一座城市乌鲁克位于今天的伊拉克，可以追溯到7000年前。

Even compared with Europe, China is not so old. The life of Confucius overlaps with that of Pythagoras and Socrates. In 221 BC, a century after Alexander the great established the Greek Empire, China was unified for the first time, only a few centuries from the peak of the Roman Empire.

即使与欧洲相比，中国也没有那么古老，孔子的生活与毕达哥拉斯和苏格拉底的生活重叠。公元前221年，亚历山大大帝建立希腊帝国一个世纪后，中国首次统一，距离罗马帝国的巅峰只有几个世纪。

Nearly 4000 years - of course, it's old enough. Does it really matter whether China has a history of 5000 years? Yes, this is really important, not only because it is annoying that such inaccurate descriptions are widely publicized as disgusting historical facts, let alone the hypocrisy of beautifying history but preserving history so badly.

将近四千年——当然已经足够古老了，中国有没有五千年的历史真的重要吗？是的，这确实很重要，不止是因为这种不准确描述被当作令人厌恶的历史事实而大肆宣扬是令人恼火的，更不用说美化历史却又如此糟糕地保存历史的虚伪了。

The 5000 or 6000 year long historical myth is important because it infers that China is a unique ancient country, so it deserves special attention, which will have direct consequences in real life. When dealing with Chinese people - whether trying to do business or political exchanges - this means you need to be more patient and just wait a while. After all, this country has thousands of years of history.

绵延五六千年的历史神话之所以重要，是因为它推断中国是独一无二的古老国家，因此值得特别关注，这会带来现实生活中的直接后果。在与中国人打交道时——无论是试图做生意还是进行政治交流——这意味着你需要更加耐心，只需再等一段时间，毕竟，这个国家有几千年的历史。

In 1991, former US President Richard Nixon told his biographer, "within 20 years, China will move towards the same democracy as the United States", and explained that the United States needs patience: "you can't urge them. The Chinese people are used to looking at history and the future with the vision of hundreds of years, thousands of years rather than decades. We don't have such long-term thinking."

1991年，美国前总统理查德·尼克松（Richard Nixon）告诉他的传记作者，“二十年内，中国将走向和美国一样的民主政体”，并解释了美国需要耐心：“你不能催他们，中国人习惯用几百年上千年而不是几十年的眼界看待历史和未来，我们不具备这样的长线思维。”

In addition to its pure age, China is often considered unique as the "longest lasting civilization". The idea of treating Chinese civilization as an eternal whole is another myth. It has changed people's views on China's past, present and future.

除了其纯粹的年龄，中国作为“持续时间最长的文明”常常被认为是独一无二的。将中华文明视为一个千古不变的整体的想法是另一个神话，它改变了人们对中国过去、现在和未来的看法。

Sometimes, a lie is not only an odd narrator, but also the basis of the narrative. Martin Jacques's 2009 bestseller when China rules the world is a good example. Jacques repeated that China is special because of its antiquity and continuity, and added his own view: China is a "civilized country", not a nation-state.

有时候，谎言不仅是古怪的旁白，也是叙事的基础。马丁·雅克2009年的畅销书《当中国统治世界》就是一个很好的例子。雅克重复了一句话，即中国因其古老性和连续性而具有特殊性，并补充了他自己的看法：中国是一个“文明国家”，而不是一个民族国家。

He saw a rising China ruled by Confucian authoritarianism. As it became stronger, the ancient sense of superiority was restored and tributary relations with smaller countries were restored. Such comments belittle the Chinese people and make them passive victims of history.

他看到了一个由儒家威权主义统治的崛起的中国，随着它变得更加强大，古老的优越感得到了恢复，与较小国家恢复了朝贡式的关系。这种评论是对中国人民的贬低，使他们成为历史的被动受害者。

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