历史上为什么中国从未建立殖民帝国？ [美国媒体]

-------------译者：卡思-审核者：chuanwuren------------



There is no question that China controls a sort of "economic empire" in today's world but I am curious as to why the Chinese never built a colonial empire on par with that of the British Spanish or even the Dutch in the past. I can see how constant infighting can cause leaders to maintain an introverted political view and how an abundance of resources eliminates that particular need for empire but given how long Chinese civilization has been around and how big the Chinese population is I still find it rather surprising that we have not seen a Chinese colonial empire. What are your thoughts?

毫无疑问，在当今世界中国是一个有强大控制力的“经济帝国”，但我很好奇为什么中国人从来没有像过去的英国人西班牙人甚至荷兰人一样建立一个殖民帝国。我可以看到，不断的内斗导致了领导者保持封闭的政治观点，以及资源的丰富让中国没有建立殖民帝国的野心。但考虑到中国文明的长远，以及中国人口数量的庞大，我仍然感到相当惊讶，我们从来没有看到中国的殖民帝国。你们怎么看？


-------------译者：claak-审核者：chuanwuren------------

Darrell Francis International Administration MA
Written Oct 5 2014
Originally Answered: Why has China never colonized other countries?
In a certain sense they did colonize other parts of the world they just stuck to regions adjacent to the Central Plain where Han Chinese civilization first appeared. From here various imperial dynasties spread Han Chinese culture throughout what we consider China today.

某种意义上说，他们殖民了世界的其他地方，只是他们将其限制在中华汉文明诞生的中原地区附近。随后众多的帝国王朝在我们今天所认为的中国传播了中华汉文化

One of the most recent examples Chinese colonization is Taiwan which until the 17th Century was almost fully populated by Taiwanese aborigines. Today the population is 98% Han Chinese.

中国人殖民的一个最近的例子就是台湾。一直到17世纪，台湾的人口几乎主要由台湾土着人所构成。而今天则百分之九十八的人口是汉人。

As for why China never colonized lands farther afield the main reason was that China didn't need to. China was such a massive and agriculturally productive state that it didn't need to look overseas for resources or places to send their excess population.

至于中国没有在远离大陆的地方殖民的原因，就在于中国并没有这种需求。中国是一个地域辽阔生产力巨大的农业国家，因此他没有去海外攫取资源或安置其过剩人口的必要。

Colonization efforts in Europe grew out of the fact that Europe had been cut off from intercontinental trade by the Islamic states in the Middle East and North Africa. These colonization efforts were often led by small states such as Portugal and the Netherlands which saw their only way of increasing their wealth and influence relative to their much larger neighbors was to establish and control oceanic trade routes.

欧洲努力殖民的原因产生自一个现实，就是欧洲的大陆间贸易被中东和北非的伊斯兰国家所阻断。欧洲之所以往往是由诸如葡萄牙和荷兰这样的小国率先殖民，就是因为他们看到相对于比他们大得多的邻居们，想要增加财富和自身影响力的唯一途径就是建立与控制海洋贸易路线。

 -------------译者：未树oo-审核者：dejin163------------

Scott M. Stolz History Buff / Studied Political Science
Written Apr 10 2015
Originally Answered: Why has China never colonized other countries?
For the most part China (or more accurately Chinese dynasties) conquered nearby regions and made them part of China rather than colonized far away places.

起始的回答，为什么中国从来没有殖民过其它的国家呢？
大多数情况下，中国（或更确切的说是中国的历朝历代）占领附近区域，使它们成为中国的一部分，而不是到很远的地方去建立殖民地。

By the time the Republic of China (ROC) took hold and later the People's Republic of China (PRC) what we consider China today was already quite large consisting of kingdoms previous governments had conquered and incorporated into China.

到中华民国以及现在我们所人为的中国（中华人民共和国）的时候，中国已经相当大，领土涵盖了历朝历代所征服和合并的领土。

By the time the People's Republic of China took over colonization as a means of expanding was becoming less appealing to nation states.  What was more popular was setting up satellite states installing leaders friendly to your regime.  

到中华人民共和国掌管中国的时候，殖民作为一种扩张形式对民族国家的吸引力越来越小。他们更喜欢建立附庸国并扶持对自己国家友好的领导人。

So instead of colonizing Vietnam or Korea they assisted local Communists take over the country.  The USSR did the same thing in Europe.  Instead of colonizing they set up East Germany Poland and all of Eastern Europe as Communist countries all reporting to Moscow.

因此中国没有去殖民越南或者朝鲜，而是帮助当地的共产主义者接管自己的国家。苏联在欧洲也是这么做的，没有殖民，而是把东德，波兰以及所有的东欧国家都建设成共产主义国家，并且向莫斯科报告。

Basically it's a way to assert control over an area while making it look like local leaders are in charge.  Meanwhile behind the scenes they are loyal to whoever their patron country is.

所以这种方式既能对一个地区发挥影响力又能让人觉得当地领导人掌握实权。同时，在幕后，当地领导人忠实于自己的赞助人国。

So the current Chinese government (the PRC on the mainland) never colonized any country primarily because it was no longer the preferred strategy at controlling additional territory.

所以目前中国政府从来没有殖民，主要是因为殖民不再是控制额外领土的优先策略。

-------------译者：№.L-审核者：dejin163------------

Anonymous
upxed Nov 6 2015
Originally Answered: Why has China never colonized other countries?
Every human civilization has colonized another. Even in primitive societies one tribe would often colonize the other. Surprisingly we have also observed chimpanzees doing something similar. Chimpanzees often fought among themselves between different social groups and the victor takes over the territory and "resources" of the defeated group.

首先回答：为什么中国从来没有殖民其他国家？
每个人类文明都曾对外殖民。甚至是一个原始社会的部落也经常对其他部落这么做。令人惊讶的是我们也能从黑猩猩身上观察到相似的事情。黑猩猩们经常种族中的其他不同社会群体进行斗争，胜者将会接管失败者的领地与“资源”。

Colonization and violence are in human nature and the Chinese civilization was no exception. Unlike the empires of Western Europe the empires of China Proper did not colonize territories overseas. Instead it colonized territories part of the mainland continent. In fact Imperial China was one of the most successful colonizers in history because it has fully integrated and maintained control over almost every colony it has established.

殖民和暴力是人类的本能，中国的文明也不能例外。不同于西方欧洲的帝国，中国并不殖民海外。相反它殖民亚洲大陆的一部分。事实上中国帝国是历史上一个最成功的殖民者因为它将曾经建立过的殖民地完整并保持了下来。

South China (fully integrated)
华南地区（充分融合）
The entire present-day South China has been colonized by the Sinitic civilization since almost two thousand years ago.
Qin's campaign against the Yue tribes
Southward expansion of the Han dynasty

现代的华南地区被中华文化殖民于2000年之前。
于秦朝开始攻打越国
在汉朝完成向南的扩张

West China (limited)
The Han and Tang dynasty also conquered the areas in present-day Xinjiang in order to secure the Silk Routes.
Protectorate of the Western Regions
Tang dynasty in Inner Asia

华西地区（有限融合）
汉朝和唐朝为了保护丝绸之路都征服过现在的新疆地区
唐朝在中亚成为西域诸国的宗主国

-------------译者：№.L-审核者：BXHin1995------------

However Tang influence in Xinjiang was temporary and Chinese settlement in the region was limited. The Chinese dynasties that came after the Tang gave up on the Western part and instead focused on sea routes because travel by land was more expensive and the silk routes had by then become unsafe. 

然而，唐朝的影响力在新疆是短暂的，并且中国人定居的区域是有限的。唐朝之后的中国王朝放弃了西方路线转而专注于海上航线，是由于陆路成本更加昂贵，而丝绸之路上也并不安全。

The Western region was put under central rule from China Proper again in the Yuan and Qing dynasties but the monarchies were not Chinese.

西域在元清时期再次置于中国本土的控制之下，但是君主并非中国人。

The Qing Empire
The Qing dynasty conquered Ming China and claimed itself the new ruler of China Proper. In other words the Manchus declared their state the new "China."

清帝国
清朝征服了明朝并宣称其实新的中国本土统治者。换句话说满族人宣称他们的国家是新的“中华”。

Compared to the previous dynasties the Manchus were much more aggressive expansionists only second to the Mongols. They led numerous military campaigns to neighbouring states either to convert them into tribute states or annex their territories and capture their resources. 

相比于早前的朝代，满族人是更具侵略性的扩张主义者，仅次于蒙古人。他们领导许多次对邻国的战役，并将他们化为藩属国或者侵占他们的领土并掠夺其资源。

Ten Great Campaigns
Speaking of these campaigns though the Manchu colonizers also launched something called the Dzungar genocide. After the genocide the Manchu rulers migrated Chinese Hui and Uyghurs along with other ethnic groups to settle Xinjiang. Anyways if you do consider the Qing dynasty "China" then China put under the rule of the followings:
Mongolia under Qing rule
Tibet under Qing rule
Xinjiang under Qing rule
Taiwan under Qing rule

十全武功
在炫耀这些军事成就时然而满族殖民者也在进行着对准噶尔的种族灭绝。在种族灭绝之后，满族统治者将中国的回族和维吾尔族还有其他少数民族迁居于新疆。如果你认为清朝是“中华”的话，那么中国对以下这些土地拥有依法上的依据：
清朝统治下的蒙古
清朝统治下的西藏
清朝统治下的新疆
清朝统治下的台湾

Depending on your perspective these might count as "China's" colonizations. However Mongolia and Tibet were quite autonomous under the Qing and the Qing rule was largely nominal in Tibet.

这些算不算是“中国的“殖民文化取决于你的看法。然而蒙古和西藏在清朝下是相对自治的，西藏更是高度自主的。

Many scholars in the West who study Qing history might hold the view that it's in fact the Manchus who colonized China Proper along with these other pieces but most people in mainland China usually reject this view.

西方许多学者在研究清朝历史也许会持着事实上是满族殖民了中国本土以及其他部分地区的观点，但是大多数中国大陆的人通常反对这个观点。

-------------译者：№.L-审核者：BXHin1995------------

Republic of China vs. People's Republic of China
The Chinese revolutionaries had Puyi transferred the legitimacy of the Qing Empire to the Republic of China by imperial decree and so the new republic legally inherited the territories of the Qing Empire including the land that the Manchus conquered and colonized. 

中华民国 vs. 中华人民共和国
中国的革命者使溥仪下达了转让清朝法统予中华民国的圣旨，而因此新的共和国依法继承了清朝政府的领土，包括征服和殖民的土地。

Meanwhile the People's Republic of China was originally an unrecognized state called the Chinese Soviet Republic but it managed to beat the legitimate Chinese government at the time in a civil war (*cough* limited participation during WWII and *cough* significant interventions of the Soviets). The Republic of China however did not cease to exist because it has retreated to Taiwan. The legitimacy inherited from the Qing is with the ROC but the PRC has assumed "de facto legitimacy." 

同时，中华人民共和国起初是一个不被承认的叫做中华苏维埃共和国，但是在那时它试图在一场内战里击败合法的中国政府。（部分发生在二战期间，苏联进行过多次调停）然而中华民国不再继续存在，因为撤退到了台湾。从清朝继承了合法性的是中华民国，但是中华人民共和国获得了“实际上的合法性”。

However the PRC does not achieve full legitimacy over these aforementioned regions as long as the ROC exists. In a way you could call the CCP control in Xinjiang and Tibet a form of "colonization" if you recognize the legitimacy of ROC over the PRC. The problem though is that the UN seat of the ROC was transferred to the PRC and so PRC is now the legitimate government of China even though the ROC still has inherited these regions based on the transfer from the Qing dynasty...

然而中华人民共和国并没有完全获得前文提及的所有地区的合法性，只要中国民国依然存在。在某种程度上你可以称呼中国共产党控制的新疆和西藏是一种殖民地的形式。如果你认为中华民国比中华人民共和国更具合法性。然而问题是中华民国的联合国席位转让给了中华人民共和国，因此中华人民共和国是现在合法的中国政府，虽然中华民国仍然拥有那些基于清朝转让的地区的继承权。

-------------译者：№.L-审核者：BXHin1995------------

Oscar Zhao read occasionally
Written Aug 4
The bottle neck
There was a time when the Qin people took over China. Although they were despised as “uncivilized aliens” by the central people (Han) they claimed themselves the ruler of “China.” These people were on their way to expanding into surrounding territories in a way today’s people would regard as “colonizing.” However the more territories they acquired the more impossible they found it to govern them. They were excellent fighters and nomads by nature but when it comes to governing they didn’t seem to do very well. The huge land mass now became a burden. When new wars broke out the large stretch of land made maintaining the supply lines almost impossible. The Qin dynasty lasted only a little more than a decade (221 BC-206 BC). Even now most scholars have this shared belief that Qin’s desire to expand killed that empire. In this land whenever a sovereign wanted to grow larger it might have some success in the beginning but further than that it would always get slapped in the face and could do nothing about this bottleneck. They either gave up going further on or fell in their expansion. Almost all dynasties afterwards were cursed by the same bottleneck effect: you can only get this far.

秦人曾掌控了中国一段时间。虽然他们被中原人民（汉人）视为蛮夷，但是他们称自己为“中国”的统治者。秦人用他们的方式对周围的领土进行扩张，在现代某种程度上人们可能会视为“殖民”。然而领土获得得越多，秦人发现他们越难以进行管理。他们是天生的优秀战士和游牧民，但是对于管理他们做的并不在行。众多的人民反而成为了一个负担。当新的战争爆发时大片的土地使得维持补给线变得几乎不可能。秦朝只持续了十数年（公元前221年-公元前206年）。甚至于现在大多的学者都认为秦的扩张欲望毁灭了这个帝国。在这片土地上不论何时的君王都想要将领土变得更大，在开创时期或许会获得一些成功，但是之后总是会被打脸并且对此后的瓶颈无能为力。他们要么放弃要么在扩张中失败。几乎所有的王朝后来都受到此类的瓶颈影响：你只能走到这种地步。

The nation’s needs

国家需求

Apart from the natural ambition of any empire those dynasties had their own practical concerns. They only needed to levy that much tax from their people to keep the nation going on. Why would they have more? Waging war costs money and you have to balance the returns and the costs. Just around the time of the Qin period they drew a line between the emperor’s land and the alien’s land. That line is also known as the Great Wall of China. What Qin did was just connecting the segments previous states had built. Why would any nation with its natural ambition just stop there by fencing themselves in? Because the Great Wall was also a geographical landmark. To the north of the Great Wall the climate was not conducive to growing any crops. Why would an empire acquire such territories?

任何帝国除了天生的雄心壮志也还有着他们自己的现实考虑。他们只需要收取从人民手中征收到的税负就足以维持国家运转。为什么他们要求得更多？发动战争花费金钱并且你必须平衡此项的回报和花费。在秦朝时期他们划出一条划分帝国领土和蛮夷的领土的分界线。这条线也被认为是中国长城。秦朝做的不过是将早前建立的城墙连接到了一起。为什么任何有着雄心壮志的国家只在这里止步并把自己围在里面。因为长城也是一个地理上的分界线。长城北方的气候不适于任何作物生长，那为什么一个帝国非要获得这片领土呢。

-------------译者：№.L-审核者：龙腾翻译总管------------

The mindset that never changes
永不改变的心态
In addition it is also something rooted in this people’s culture. Many Chinese sailed out and settled down overseas. They honestly were hard workers but most of them did their best only to make money but never thought of colonizing that place. The first generations of Chinese immigrants in America were not even interested in the right to vote doing their work and saving up for a better life in China when they got back home while people of other races fought to death for this right. When the Spanish colonists killed their way into the Philippines (one of its many islands) they found some Chinese settlers already there basically doing some farming. There were some ten thousand Chinese there against just 500 or so Spanish. After a quick crossfire (not intended in the first place) however the Chinese began to kowtow to the conquerors. No doubt the Spanish grabbed those Chinese into their pocket without much struggle. At that time those Chinese were happy to be colonized and pay taxes to the authority. With relief they felt that it’s not bad to have a government supervising them eventually. Sending 500 not-that-well-trained troops to a place and harvesting the earnings of 10000 hard-working Chinese that must be a lucrative business. However the game of colonization has never had a place in the mind of those Chinese. They kept their heads down their mouths shut their hands on their work. Certain Chinese dynasties tried to explore outward but they were bound to return to where they started.

此外它扔有着根植于人民文化的某些东西。许多中国人起航并移居海外。他们老老实实的工作但是大部分人只是想要赚钱而并非殖民此地。第一代移民美国的中国人甚至对投票的权利也不感兴趣，他们只是干活存钱，然后回国过上更好的生活，而其他人种为了投票权斗得死去活来。
当西班牙殖民者用他们的方式杀进菲律宾时（其中的一个岛屿）他们发现中国的移民已经在此地进行耕作。那里有着大约上万的中国人而西班牙人只有500人左右。在一次短暂的交火之后（并非蓄意）然而中国然开始向这些征服者卑躬屈膝。毫无疑问西班牙人毫不费力地将中国人的财产掠夺进自己口袋。这时候的这些中国人很高兴的被殖民还向殖民当局纳税。最终他们想有一个政府监管也是不错的。派遣500并非训练精良的军队到一个地方并收割了上万努力工作的中国人的财产，这应该是最赚钱的生意了。
然而殖民游戏并未在中国人的内心里拥有过一点点位置。他们只专注于手里的工作。
某些中国王朝试着向外扩张，但是他们最后都会回到他们起步的地方。

-------------译者：dr_jessie-审核者：BXHin1995------------

Gareth Jones Teacher writer
Written Jun 14
China’s pre-revolutionary government was called in English an “empire” and its head an “emperor.” The distinction between empire and kingdom as well as emperor and king also exists in Chinese languages (e.g. huangdi and wang). It and Russia are the nineteenth-century colonial empires that have managed to hold onto most of their territory into the 21st century although China lost Mongolia and Russia lost lands such as Finland and Ukraine.
Another aspect of the question is that “China” hasn’t always been run by and for the Chinese. Another ethnic group with its own language and scxt ruled it from time to time in true imperial fashion. Once it was the Mongols on top; at another point the Manchus.
In addition Vietnam was for a long time ruled by Chinese Dynasties. The Vietnam history web page on Wikipedia says “…for 1100 years Vietnam had been successively governed by a series of Chinese dynasties: the Han Eastern Wu Jin Liu Song Southern Qi Liang Sui Tang and Southern Han; leading to the loss of native cultural heritage language and much of national identity.”
To this day China is coping with problems presented by its formerly imperial identity. For example according to China’s Education Ministry one third of Chinese citizens don’t speak Mandarin and only 10% of the country speaks it well: (One-third of Chinese do not speak Putonghua says Education Ministry ).
This is written with no attempt to denigrate the Chinese country or people but to assess the difficulty of their task in creating and maintaining a common national identity.

在新中国建立之前，中国的政府被称为“帝国”，最高领导人是“皇帝”。在汉语中，帝国/王国和皇帝/国王这种遣词造句的差异也是存在的。中国和俄罗斯在19世纪是殖民主义国家，他们把大多数领土都占有并保留到了21世纪，虽然中国丧失了蒙古、俄罗斯丧失了芬兰和乌克兰。
另一个方面是”中国“并不是一直都由中国人统治的，有另外的拥有自己语言和文字的种族曾经统治过这个国家。蒙古人曾经统治过他们，另外一个是满族。
而且，越南曾经很长一段时间被中国统治。在维基百科的越南历史中写道”越南曾经被中国各个朝代统治了长达1100年：比如东汉、南宋、隋唐等，使他们丧失了自身文化继承以及国家认同感。“
如今，中国正在应对曾经的帝国历史带来的问题。比如，根据中国教育部统计，1/3的中国人不会说普通话，而且其中仅仅有10%能够说一口流利的普通话。
这些话并不是想贬低或者诽谤中国以及中国人，而是评估他们想创造和维持统一的民族认同感是有多困难。

-------------译者：messiah168-审核者：dejin163------------

Joseph Boyle
upxed Aug 1
Most Chinese states have been land-based oriented towards threatening tribes from Inner Asia and often founded by previous invaders. The land-based states were suspicious of overseas trade and settlement as creating political threats beyond their control.

在中国土地上建立的大部分国家都是以陆基为导向，面对着来自亚洲内陆的部落威胁，而且经常是由之前的入侵者建立的。这些陆基国家不信仰海外贸易和殖民，因为认为所产生的政治威胁会超出他们的控制。

Xi'an starting in the Qin dynasty was a capital founded by western peoples in Guanzhong the first great fertile valley as you come in from the west. Some of the Xi'an based dynasties like Zhou and Han moved slightly east to Luoyang in the North China Plain in their second halves. This pattern took up the first millennium after the Qin unification.

西安是秦朝的首都，他是关中西部的人民建立的第一个伟大的富饶的山谷。一些像周和汉朝这样基于西安的朝代的下半段把首都迁移到华北平原稍微东边的洛阳。秦统一后的第一个千年出现了这种模式。

The route from Guanzhong to south and west sea trade passed through Hubei and Hunan to Guangxi reaching the sea near the later China-Vietnam border. North Vietnam was part of China for most of this millennium and initially several times as populous as the Pearl River Delta.

从关中通往南部和西部海上贸易的线路通过了湖北和湖南，再到达广西，最终抵达后来的中越边境。在这1000年的大部分时间里越南北部都是中国的一部分，而最初其人口是珠江三角洲的数倍。

In the most recent millennium political focus shifted to Beijing at the north edge of the North China Plain and the northern peoples who established themselves there while the Jiangnan region near Shanghai became the economic leader. The southern seaport shifted to Guangdong which the Jiangnan could easily reach via Jiangxi.

在最近的这1000年里，王朝的首都转移到了北京，它处于华北平原的北部边缘，北方民族在那建立了自己的王朝，与此同时在上海附近的江南地区成为经济的领袖。南部海港转移到广东，通过这些海港，江南可以很容易地到达江西。

Southeastern cities were only capitals of regional dynasties in disunified periods except for the initial stage (1368-1403) of the Ming dynasty that launched Zheng He's expeditions (terminated when the capital moved to Beijing) and the last stage of the Song dynasty which lost the north and retreated to Hangzhou. (1127-1276).

东南部的城市一直都是分裂时期的地区王朝的首都，除了明朝初期（1368-1403，当时发起郑和远航，迁都到北京后终止）以及宋朝末期（失去北方，撤退到杭州，1127-1276）。

Even during the Northern Song the Beijing area was under other northern rulers. In the last 1100 years the Ming were the only non-northern dynasty holding it and even they moved to Beijing to face the Central Asian threats.

甚至在北宋时期，北京地区也处于北方统治者的统治之下。在过去的1100年里，明朝是唯一持有它的非北方王朝，甚至他们搬到北京面对中亚威胁。

-------------译者：dejin163-审核者：BXHin1995------------

Historical capitals of China
Chinese states were happy to leave Taiwan unsinicized for millennia letting the Austronesian natives run it as a deer ranch complementary to China’s grain and manufactures. It was Dutch colonial rule of Taiwan that disrupted this overexploiting the deer and bringing in Chinese to grow plantation crops and grain. The Chinese settlement grew and sure enough a Chinese rebel Koxinga soon conquered it finding an overseas Chinese settlement to be a convenient base to oppose the new mainland Qing dynasty. This was exactly what mainland states had feared and why they always suppressed Chinese colonization abroad. Qing attempts to deal with the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ki... were clumsy but when a succession struggle broke out the Qing were able to conquer it in 1683.

历史上的中国首府
几千年来中国政府乐意看到台湾远离中原文化，让南方土着把它作为一个与中国粮食和制成品互补的畜牧场。荷兰的殖民统治者破坏了台湾这种过度出口畜牧制品，引入中国种植作物和粮食的经济方式。中国的反抗越来越强烈，中国的一个反叛英雄郑成功很快征服了台湾，把它作为一个海外华人的定居点，作为反对新的大陆清朝政权便捷的基地。这正是大陆国家所担心的，所以他们总是压制中国在国外的殖民化。清朝试图应对https：//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ki ...虽然很笨拙，但当一场继承斗争爆发的时候，清朝在1683年征服了台湾.