为什么中国古代不建造城堡呢？ [美国媒体]

Why didn't the Chinese build castles?

为什么中国古代不建造城堡呢？

C.J. Hsu
Chinese do have castles, but in a very small number, and most of them are in rural areas or along with the Great Wall, as garrisons and wall passes.

中国人确实有城堡，但数量非常少，而且大多数是在农村地区，或者在长城旁边，作为驻军或通往长城的要塞。



Gifford Delle
One answer could point to Castle’s being born out of an individualist (feudal) society (Medi Europe) while China historically tended to lean towards a collectivist societal
structure.

我认为可能是社会结构的不同导致的，中世纪的欧洲个人主义社会结构盛行，而中国在历史上倾向于集体主义的社会结构。



During the Middle Ages in Europe castles were mostly built to protect one noble family, from other families with their own private armies. In European history you have a lot of feuds between families and clans, (these kinds of feuds also existed in Japan -> i.e. why they have some more atypical versions of castles) that would create a need for the higher class to build castles. These kinds of feuds weren’t common in Chinese history.

在中世纪的欧洲，城堡主要是为了保护一个贵族家庭，免受其他拥有私人军队的家庭的侵扰。在欧洲历史上，小的家族和大的氏族之间有很多不和(这种不和在日本也存在），这就产生了上层阶级建造城堡的需求。这种争斗在中国历史上并不常见。

Chinese culture is more based on collective society throughout history, which would frown upon the concept of one person building him/herself their own massive fortified
structure. If we look at Chinese history we see a long history of feudalism but within this there a strong focus on the family unit.

纵观历史，中国文化更多的是建立在集体社会的基础上，一个人建造属于的自己庞大的防御结构是不受认可的。如果我们看一下中国的历史，我们会看到悠久的封建历史中，家庭是一个非常重要的组成部分。



Chen Xu
Castles are for protection of strategic point or wealth depot, so cities in China can be seen as another kind of “castle” (or castle town).
Most cities, as long as they’ve any importance, have walls around them, some of these walls are made by stones and bricks, some others, especially in small towns, are made by wood/bamboos or adobes.These cities have same functionality as European castles, but usually in a much larger scale

城堡通常是为了保护战略要地或财富仓库，所以中国的城市可以被视为另一种“城堡”(或城堡城)。
大多数城市的周围都有墙，有些墙是用石头和砖砌的，有些小城镇的墙，是用木材/竹子/土传建造的
这些城市的功能与欧洲城堡相同，但通常规模要大得多



Other answers remind me of one really cool thing.
The Fujian Tulou
It’s a kind of fortress-like building. When the Hakka people immigrated to Southeast China, that was an undeveloped land. They had to unify as many communities to defend
against their enemies, such as the bandits, beasts or even some hostile families. Therefore they build such castles to defend themselves.



其他的答案让我想起一件很酷的事。
福建的土楼
就是一种堡垒式的建筑。
客家人移居到中国东南部时，那是一片尚未开发的土地。他们必须团结尽可能多的人来抵御他们的敌人，如强盗、野兽，甚至是一些敌对的家庭。因此他们建造这样的城堡来保卫自己。

Bryce Emantsal
There was no need. Compared to medi Europe, China was already unified. In the middle ages of Europe, power was extremely decentralized and held by local lords and knights.
Thus, each had the responsibility of defending their own part of the country.
China had nothing to defend against except from the invasions along the borders, especially the northern part by the Manchurians and Mongolians. That is why the Great Wall was built.

没有必要。与中世纪的欧洲相比，中国已经统一了。在欧洲中世纪，权力由地方领主和骑士掌握，极度分散。因此，每个领主都有责任保卫自己的领土。
除了边界附近的入侵，中国没有什么可以防御的，特别是北方的满族和蒙古人，而这就是中国为什么要修建长城的原因。



Ming Chan
Yes we did, and it wasn't called “castle”

是的，我们当然有，只是和欧式城堡不一样罢了。

Castles are a signal of collapse of urban life. In China urban life never really collapsed like in West Europe,
So, since chinese civilization always revolved around cities the military actions revolved around the control of the cities, and they fortified them a lot, like the greek fortified Constantinople (the only city worth taking in Europe during these days).

城堡是城市生活崩溃的标志。在中国，城市生活从来没有像西欧那样崩溃过，
所以，由于中国文明总是围绕着城市展开，军事行动也相应地围绕着城市的控制展开，而且还加强了城市的防御，就像拜占庭帝国的君士坦丁堡(君士坦丁堡是当时欧洲唯一值得攻陷的城市)。