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英国网友问:为什么古代中国没有殖民扩张?

欧洲国家数百年来的殖民史血债累累,许多欧美历史专家和网民为这段殖民史大力辩解甚至转移话题,英国网友在海外问答论坛Quora上提问道:为什么强大的古代中国没能像欧洲国家那样殖民世界?这引起了各国网友的围观和热议,海外历史专家结合相关史实进行了解答。

英国网友问:为什么强大的古代中国没能像欧洲国家那样殖民世界?

问题:为什么强大的古代中国没能像欧洲国家那样殖民世界?


英国网友问:为什么强大的古代中国没能像欧洲国家那样殖民世界?

历史专家Pablo的回答

Because ancient China advocated the positive and active development of diplomatic relations with vassal states, adopted a “non occupation” attitude towards neighboring countries, backed by force, and strive to subdue the states in a way that does not use war.

因为中国古代倡导积极、主动发展与藩国的邦交关系,对周边国家采取“不侵占”的态度,以武力为后盾,力争以不动兵戈的方式实现威服众邦。

Over the years, many historians have tried to figure out why China is unwilling to colonize the world because it has a lot of resources, manpower and technology to achieve this goal.

多年以来,很多历史学家试图弄清楚为什么中国不愿意殖民世界,因为她有大量的资源、人力和技术来实现这一目标。

In the Tang Dynasty around 600 A.D., China’s shipbuilding and navigation technology was already very developed, and it was able to explore and discover the Western Hemisphere and the Australian continent across the Pacific Ocean.

在公元600年前后的唐朝时期,中国的造船和航海技术就已经十分发达,绝对有能力跨越太平洋探索发现西半球和澳大利亚大陆。

During the northern and Southern Song Dynasties, when trade flourished and maritime navigation was frequent, China established a huge trading fleet with tens of thousands of ships, which could easily travel through the South China Sea and the East China Sea.

在贸易繁荣、海上航行频繁的北宋和南宋时期,中国建立了一支庞大的贸易船队,船只数量达数万艘,可以轻松地在南海和东海穿行。

Ancient Chinese dynasties attached great importance to overseas trade, so that in Chinese history, the Southern Song Dynasty from the 11th century to the 12th century built its capital on the coast for the first time, which was located in the modern port city of Hangzhou. Before and after that, the capitals of all dynasties in China were located inland, far from the coast, such as Kaifeng, Xi’an and so on.

中国古代王朝很重视海外贸易,以至于在中国历史上,公元11世纪到12世纪的南宋王朝首次在沿海建都,就设在现代港口城市杭州。在此之前和之后,中国所有王朝的首都位于内陆,远离海岸,比如开封、西安等。

The following is a Model replica of a Southern Song Dynasty ship, which was built in the 11th century. It is larger and more advanced than any ship built in the world at that time. These ships have huge rudders and separate sails that are effectively fixed with the wind, which is no less than the Spanish galleons used by Europeans for exploration and colonization in the 16th and 16th centuries.

下面是一艘南宋船的模型复制品,它建造于公元11世纪,比当时世界上建造的任何一艘船都要大,技术也更先进,这些船有巨大的舵和有效地随风固定的分帆,与欧洲人在16世纪和16世纪用于探索和殖民的西班牙大帆船相比也不遑多让。

英国网友问:为什么强大的古代中国没能像欧洲国家那样殖民世界?

南宋船只模型

China’s navigation technology reached its peak in the Ming Dynasty in the early 14th century. At that time, Emperor Yongle appointed the trusted eunuch Zheng He to lead the “treasure fleet” to show the world China’s strength and wealth. As far as I know, Emperor Yongle is the only Chinese emperor since the Tang Dynasty who has paid attention to marine exploration as the main tool to expand China’s influence and invested a lot of resources to achieve this goal.

中国的航海技术在14世纪初的明朝达到了顶峰,当时永乐皇帝任用深受信任的太监郑和,带领“珍宝舰队”,向世界展示中国的力量和财富。据我所知,永乐皇帝是自唐朝以来唯一一位重视将海洋勘探视为扩大中国影响力的主要工具,并投入大量资源实现这一目标的中国皇帝。

These “treasure fleets” set out from Nanjing, the capital of the Ming Dynasty at that time, crossed the Indian Ocean, and some reached the coast of East Africa all the way. They carried out seven expeditions from 1405 to 1433.

这些“珍宝舰队”从当时的明朝首都南京出发,穿越印度洋,有的一路抵达东非海岸,1405年至1433年间共进行7次探险。

英国网友问:为什么强大的古代中国没能像欧洲国家那样殖民世界?

舰队旗舰

The giant ship above is one of the flagship ships of Zheng He’s “treasure fleet”, which sails from China to Indonesia and then to India.

上图这艘巨轮是郑和“珍宝舰队”的旗舰之一,该舰队从中国航行到印度尼西亚,再航行到印度。

In 1498, the Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama sailed near the Cape of good hope at the southern tip of Africa on his way to “discover” India. The much smaller ship below is the European flagship, whose construction technology is at the forefront of European sailing technology. A comparison between the two shows the great difference in technology.

1498年,葡萄牙探险家瓦斯科·达伽马(Vasco Da Gama)在前往“发现”印度的途中,曾在非洲南端的好望角(Cape of Good Hope)附近航行,而下图这艘小得多的船就是这艘欧洲旗舰,这艘旗舰的建造技艺处于欧洲帆船的技术前沿。两者一对比就可以看出技术上的巨大差异。

英国网友问:为什么强大的古代中国没能像欧洲国家那样殖民世界?

A whole “treasure fleet” sailed at sea. Each fleet had hundreds of ships and hundreds of people on each ship. One fleet would have about 20000 people, which made this fleet as populous as modern cities and became the largest fleet in the world at that time.

一整支“珍宝舰队”在海上航行,每个舰队有数百艘船,每艘船上有数百人,其中一支舰队将有大约2万人,这使得这支舰队与当代城市一样人口众多,成为当时世界上最大的舰队。

These fleets sailed thousands of miles at a time, compared with Vasco da Gama’s fleet of four small boats and up to 170 people in 1498.

这些舰队每次航行数千英里,相比之下,1498年瓦斯科·达伽马的舰队有四艘小船,最多170人。

Therefore, if China competed with Europe as a colonist in the early 14th century, it would be almost nothing to beat Europe.

因此,如果中国在14世纪初以殖民者的身份与欧洲竞争,那么击败欧洲基本不在话下。

But after the death of Emperor Yongle in 1424, China began to isolate itself from the outside world. Later, the emperor of the Ming Dynasty demolished the huge ship of the “treasure fleet” and used the huge funds originally used for maritime exploration and diplomacy to build the expensive great wall and form and maintain a huge army to resist the frequent attacks on Mongolia on the northern border.

可自1424年永乐皇帝去世后,中国开始与外界隔绝。后来的明朝皇帝拆毁了“珍宝舰队”的巨轮,并将原本用在海上探索和外交的巨额资金用于建造造价高昂的长城,以及组建和维护庞大的军队,以抵御北部边境上频频袭扰的蒙古。

For China, this is a bad time to cut off its ties with the outside world. In the 16th and 17th centuries, Europe began to achieve leapfrog development in technology, ideology and culture. It was colonial rule and the continuous competition it fostered among small European countries that led to these technological leaps.

对中国来说,这是一个切断自身与外界联系的糟糕时期,正值16、17世纪,欧洲开始在技术和思想文化上实现跨越式发展。正是殖民统治,以及它在欧洲小国之间所培育的持续竞争,导致了这些技术的飞跃。

It is the centralized power system of China in history that leads to China’s failure to explore, colonize and expand outside the sphere of influence in East Asia under its direct control.

正是历史上中国国家的中央集权体制,导致中国没有在受其直接控制的东亚势力范围之外探索、殖民和扩张。

Due to the high centralization of state power, any decision made by the imperial court will either promote or stop projects that may lead to colonization. If Emperor Yongle’s “treasure fleet” continued for another 100 years after 1433, perhaps one or two legislative officials or emperors would think that seizing some land and colonies was a good idea, and all the money and trouble they spent on these large-scale maritime expeditions would be worth it.

由于国家高度集权,朝廷做出的任何决定都会要么推进,要么停止可能导致的殖民化的项目。如果永乐皇帝的“珍宝舰队”在1433年后再延续100年,可能期间一两位立法院官员或皇帝会认为,夺取一些土地和殖民地是一个好主意,他们在这些大规模海上探险上花费的所有金钱和麻烦也就值得了。

Unfortunately, after 1433, the Ming Court became very conservative and focused on the ethnic minorities in the north. After 1644, the Qing Dynasty continued to pursue the same land-based foreign policy, completely ignoring the development of maritime technology.

不幸的是,1433年后,明朝朝廷变得非常保守,将精力集中在北方少数民族身上。1644年后的清朝继续奉行同样的陆基外交政策,完全无视海上技术的发展。

The governments of the Ming and Qing Dynasties were still deeply uneasy about overseas trade. They regulated and controlled it with a strange anti alien paranoia, so that foreigners and Chinese businessmen were closely monitored and restrained. This is an almost 180 degree policy change, which is completely different from the openness, trade friendliness and cosmopolitanism of the Southern Song Dynasty.

明朝和清朝政府仍然对海外贸易深感不安,以一种奇怪的反外来者妄想症对其进行监管和控制,使外国人和中国商人受到严密监视和约束。这是一个几乎180度的政策转变,与南宋开放、贸易友好和世界主义完全不同。

Due to political differences, Europeans did not face the problem of excessive concentration of exploration and colonial decision-making power like China.

由于政治上的差异,欧洲人没有像中国那样面临勘探和殖民决策权力过度集中的问题。

Christopher Columbus is a good example.

克里斯托弗·哥伦布就是一个很好的例子。

Columbus was a fanatical colonist. In order to spread the legend of gold and spices, he raised funds from the monarchs of Portugal, Britain and other European countries, and was rejected five times.

哥伦布是一个狂热的殖民主义分子,为了满地黄金与香料的传说,他曾向葡萄牙、英国等欧洲各国君主筹措资金,五度遭到拒绝。

Finally, she had to go to the Spanish court to Visit Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand. Isabella was still skeptical, but Ferdinand was quite interested in it. Columbus finally persuaded the king, and the king persuaded his wife. In 1492, Columbus crossed the Atlantic Ocean with his ships and money and treasure and discovered the new world.

最终不得不到西班牙宫廷拜访皇后伊莎贝拉和国王费迪南德,伊莎贝拉仍然持怀疑态度,但费迪南德对此却颇感兴趣,哥伦布最终说服了国王,国王又说服了他的妻子,1492年,哥伦布带着组建的船只和金钱财宝横渡大西洋发现了新大陆。

英国网友问:为什么强大的古代中国没能像欧洲国家那样殖民世界?

印第安人

Even if Columbus failed before the Spanish monarch, he could still appeal to other countries and convince the kings of France, Scotland, the kingdoms and rich city states of Italy, the Pope, the king of Denmark, the Holy Roman emperor, and the kingdoms and city states of Germany.

即使哥伦布在西班牙君主面前失败了,他仍然可以诉诸其他国家并说服法国国王、苏格兰国王、意大利的各个王国和富裕的城邦、教皇、丹麦国王、神圣罗马皇帝,以及德国的各个王国和城邦。

In other words, Columbus can be said to have many choices in finding his “venture capitalist”. His goal is to make a deal with a monarch and succeed in overseas exploration.

换句话说,哥伦布可以说在寻找他的“风险投资家”方面有很多选择,他的目标是与一位君主达成交易,并在海外探索中获得成功。

Imagine if in China, a Columbian Explorer with crazy exploration ideas can only ask the imperial court for permission. If the emperor refuses him, the story will end and he has no choice.

想象一下,如果在中国,一个有着疯狂探险想法的哥伦布式探险家只能请求朝廷拨款允准,如果皇帝拒绝了他,那么故事就到此为止了,他别无选择。

Therefore, it was this high degree of centralization of feudal state unification that stifled all Chinese interest in exploring overseas and subsequent colonization.

因此,正是这种封建国家大一统的高度集权扼杀了中国人对探索海外和随后的殖民地化的所有兴趣。

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文章名称:《英国网友问:为什么古代中国没有殖民扩张?》
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