國立臺灣大學政治科學論叢

Abstract / Chinese PDF Download

This article intends to challenge two prevalent views regarding the Chinese ethnicconcepts during the Spring-Autumn period. According to the first view, certain ethnicconsciousness (the “Zhuxia consciousness”) has appeared in the Spring-Autumn period.According to the second view, the main distinction between Zhuxia and Man, Yi, Rong,Di is one between the civilized and the barbarian. Against the first view, the authorargues that the term Zhuxia had little ethnic connotation but instead referred to certainpolitical group. Although members of this political group did have certain concept ofbelonging to the same group, such concept fell short of developing into an ethnicconsciousness. Against the second view, the author argues that the main connotation ofthe terms Man, Yi, Rong, Di during the Spring-Autumn period was “outsiders” ratherthan “barbarians” or “secondary peoples”. To the people of Zhuxia, the majordistinction between Zhuxia and Man, Yi, Rong, Di was not so much that between thecivilized and the barbarian as that between “outsiders” and “insiders”.