在美版知乎Quora上，網友們熱議：為什麽中華文明這個現存最古老的文明沒有像其他古老文明一樣湮滅？我們看看他們的結論。
問題：為什麽古文明中只有中國文明沒有湮滅？
海外網友亞歷山大·譚的回答
I see many people mistakenly focusing on who is the earliest civilization.
我看到許多人錯誤地關註誰是最早的文明。
But what I want the questioner to mean is, why was China able to survive among the oldest civilizations?
但我想提問者的意思是，為什麽中國能夠在最古老的一批文明中生存下來？
This viewpoint comes from Arnold Toynbee.
這一觀點來自阿諾·湯因比。
In fact, this is caused by inconsistent standards.
事實上，這是由不一致的標準造成的。
Chinese people are centered around cultural identity, and as long as they identify with Chinese culture, they are Chinese.
中國人以文化認同為中心，只要認同中國文化，就是中國人。
After the establishment of Chinese civilization, it has only undergone dynastic changes, and language, culture, and major ethnic groups have always been in the same lineage.
中華文明建立後，只經歷了朝代更替，語言、文化、主要民族始終一脈相承。
Ancient Egypt was completely destroyed by Arabia.
古埃及被阿拉伯徹底淪陷。
Sumer was killed by Akkad a long time ago.
蘇美爾很早就被阿卡德殺害了。
The ancient Indian civilization (Harappan civilization) was destroyed by the Aryans.
古印度（哈拉帕文明）文明被雅利安人摧毀。
There are significant differences in the main languages, cultures, and races on this land.
這片土地上的主要語言、文化和種族差異很大。
We know that there is no evolutionary relationship between ancient and modern Indian script.
我們知道古印度文字和現代印度文字之間沒有前進演化關系。
Chinese civilization is like a melting pot. The Xiongnu, Di, Jie, Qiang, Xianbei, Khitan, Mongolian, Jurchen, and others successively entered China, but most of their cultures have disappeared, and many ethnic groups no longer exist.
中華文明就像一個大熔爐。匈奴、狄、揭、羌、鮮卑、契丹、蒙古、女真等相繼進入中國，但他們的大部份文化已經消失，許多民族也不存在了。
Every dynasty in China has written records and clear historical chronologies. Four regions, including ancient Egypt, ancient Greece, ancient Türkiye and ancient Persia, did not have any written records after the invasion.
中國每個朝代都有文字記載以及清楚的歷史年表。包括古埃及、古希臘、古土耳其和古波斯在內的四個地區在入侵後沒有任何書面記錄。
Over a period of approximately four to five hundred years, people gradually lost their knowledge and understanding of their own writing. Writing ability.
在大約四五百年的時間裏，人們逐漸失去了對自己寫作的知識和理解。寫作能力。
Today, Chinese people use characters that were already used during the Shang Dynasty.
今天的中國人使用商朝時期就已經使用過的文字。
In terms of writing, they have evolved from oracle bone script to regular script.
在文字方面，它們已經從甲骨文演變為楷書。
When we read Chinese poetry from three thousand years ago (some early poems from the Zhou Dynasty in the Book of Songs), we will find that they still rhyme. Their cultural vitality is too strong.
我們現在讀三千年前的中國詩歌（【詩經】中的一些周代早期詩歌），會發現它們仍然押韻。
Moreover, we are not looking at why Chinese civilization has continued, but rather at why other ancient civilizations have disappeared.
而且，我們不是要看中華文明為什麽傳續，而是要看其他古文明為什麽湮滅。
One is geography. Geographically, the Chinese civilization has taken possession of the land that can be cultivated and the water system related to farming. The Yellow River, the Yangtze River and the the Pearl River, the three major rivers, have always been firmly in control. They have expanded around the irrigation area to occupy all favorable terrain. Form a permanent residential area.
一個是地理。 在地理上，中華文明已經將能耕種的土地，以及與耕種有關的水系通通拿到手裏，黃河，長江，珠江，這三條大河，一直牢牢掌控，以他們灌溉區為核心向四周擴張，占據所有有利地勢。形成永久居住區。
One is population. Developed traditional Chinese medicine theories and farming techniques ensure population growth. In fact, the suffering of ancient people has always been determined by the contradiction between population and land. The growth of arable land was not considered stagnant until the Ming Wanli year, while population growth has been accelerating until nearly a decade in modern times.
一個是人口。發達的中醫理論，以及耕種技術保證了人口增長。其實古人的苦難一直都是人口與土地之間的矛盾所決定的。 耕地的增長一直到明萬歷年才算停滯，而人口增長則一直在加速，一直到現代近十年才停滯。
One is error correction ability and learning ability. There were twenty-four dynasties in ancient times, with Hu Fu, cavalry, and archery, as well as hardships and hardships. A nation that constantly learns advanced technology and ideas from other ethnic groups cannot be defeated, and at most, it will rise again after a few hundred years of silence.
一個是糾錯機能與學習能力。古有二十四個王朝，有胡服騎射，有臥薪嘗膽。 一個不斷學習他族先進技術，思想的民族，根本不可能被打敗，最多沈寂幾百年又會再次崛起。
The Chinese nation does not give any opportunity for other foreign civilizations to rise. The Xiongnu, Turks, Dali, Bohai, and Goryeo, these foreign civilizations, were either annexed by the Chinese civilization early on, or completely defeated by centuries of continuous aggression. In the face of foreign enemies, Chinese civilization has never peacefully coexisted or appeased. They will perish if they do not submit, there is no second path to take, and there is no equality to speak of.
中華民族 根本不給其他外族有任何崛起的機會，匈奴，突厥，大理，渤海，高麗這些外族文明要不早早被中華文明吞並，要不就是持續幾百年的攻伐將其徹底打垮。在面對外敵面前，中華文明從來沒有和平共處，或者是綏靖。他們不臣服就是滅亡，沒有第二條路可走，沒有平等可言。
美國網友占士·奧林斯凱的回答
China is not the oldest civilization: there were also Sumerians (including other Mesopotamian empires), the Indus River basin, and Egypt before it.
中國不是最古老的文明：在它之前的還有蘇美爾人（包括其他美索不達米亞帝國）、印度河流域和埃及。
These civilizations have not been "eliminated", and the Assyrians and Dravidians (believed to have established the Indus Valley civilization) as well as the Egyptians still exist.
這些文明都沒有被「消滅」，亞述人和德拉威人（人們認為他們建立了印度河流域文明）以及埃及人仍然存在。
However, assuming that your meaning is the oldest existing civilization, referring to the longest lasting "local culture", while the other three civilizations have been completely transformed by foreign forces, I can simply answer:
然而，假設你的意思是現存最古老的文明，指的是是持續時間最長的「本土文化」，而其他三種文明已經被外國勢力徹底改變，我可以簡單回答一下：
Firstly, let's talk about three ancient civilizations (I will only mention Sumerian, Egyptian, and Indus). Under the external impact, the Sumerians lost the local Mesopotamian culture to the Persians, followed by the Greek Macedonian Empire, followed by the Arabs, who completely Islamized the region, followed by the Turks, and finally Iraq and Syria were divided into two countries by Britain and France.
首先，我們來談談三個古老的文明（我只說蘇美爾、埃及和印度河）。外來沖擊下，蘇美爾人將當地的美索不達米亞文化輸給了波斯人，接著是希臘-馬其頓帝國，接著是阿拉伯人，他們將該地區完全伊斯蘭化，接著是土耳其人，最後伊拉克和敘利亞被英國和法國分裂成兩個國家。
Egypt is also a similar story: the native culture lost to the Persians, then the Greeks, then the Romans, then the Arabs, then the Turks, then the British. The Indus civilization is more direct: Indian civilization and culture had to restart after the mysterious disappearance of the Indus civilization.
埃及也是一個類似的故事：本土文化輸給了波斯人，然後是希臘人，然後是羅馬人，然後是阿拉伯人，然後是土耳其人，然後是英國人。印度河文明更為直接：印度的文明和文化在印度河流域文明神秘消失後不得不重新開始。
Next, let's talk about the changes in Chinese culture; Only two external forces have truly conquered China: the Mongols and the Manchus.
接下來，我們來談談中國文化的變遷；只有兩個外部勢力真正征服過中國：蒙古族人和滿族人。
However, later on, the Qing Dynasty took the opportunity to occupy the struggling territory of the Ming Dynasty, and the Manchu people were already heavily influenced by Chinese culture. As the Ming Dynasty expanded northward to Manchuria and conquered the Manchu people, the Qing Dynasty's rule over China did not have a significant impact on Chinese culture, and the changes were far less significant than the Caliphate's conquest of Egypt.
然而，後來滿清趁機占領了境況不佳的明朝疆域，滿族人已經嚴重受到中國文化的影響，因為明朝向北擴張到滿洲地界，因此滿清統治中國並沒有對中國文化產生重大影響，變化遠不如哈裏發征服埃及那麽大。
And then there are the Mongols. The epic story of the great battle between China and the nomadic tribes in the north originated before the Qin Dynasty, when the Great Wall was being built to keep the Mongols out. Before the conquest of Mongolia, there was a thousand and a half years of war and negotiations between the Central Plains and Mongolia, which led to significant cultural exchanges between China and Mongolia. When the Mongols went south, similarly, Chinese culture did not undergo earth shattering changes.
再就是蒙古人。中國和北方遊牧民族之間的偉大戰鬥的史詩故事起源於秦朝之前，當時正在修建長城以將蒙古人拒之門外。在蒙古征服之前，中原和蒙古之間發生了長達一千年半的戰爭和談判，這使得中國和蒙古進行了巨大的文化交流。當蒙古人南下時，同樣，中國文化並沒有發生翻天覆地的變化。
The other reason why foreign influence in China is more limited than other ancient civilizations is due to geographical reasons. China is surrounded by the Gobi Desert and the Qinghai Tibet Plateau, preventing intruders from the West and South. The Pacific is in the east, preventing invasion from the east. The neighboring countries of ancient China in the past were Mongolia, Tubo, Junggar, Korea, Japan, Vietnam, and Siam, all of which had their cultures severely sinicized, making it impossible to significantly change Chinese culture. The great civilization closest to China is India, but they are separated by the the Himalayas and the Qinghai Tibet Plateau, which makes cultural exchanges difficult.
外國在中國的影響力比其他古代文明更有限的其他原因是地理原因。中國被戈壁灘和青藏高原包圍，阻止了來自西方和南方的入侵者。太平洋在東方，防止了東方的入侵。古代中國的鄰國過去都是蒙古、吐蕃、準噶爾、北韓、日本、越南和暹羅，所有這些國家的文化都被嚴重中文化，因此無法顯著改變中國文化。最接近中國的偉大文明是印度，但它們被喜馬拉雅山脈和青藏高原隔開，這使得文化交流變得困難。
海外網友Shannon Fu的回答
In terms of race, the same people occupy the same area. Chinese civilization originated between the Yellow River Basin and the Yangtze River Basin. The main ethnic group, the Han ethnic group, was named after China's second unified dynasty and has remained relatively stable for over 2000 years of history. Through over 10000 years of written and archaeological records, it is possible to reliably trace the main ancestors of the Han ethnic group back 2000 years.
在種族上，同樣的人占據了同一個地區。中華文明起源於黃河流域和長江流域之間。主要民族漢族，以中國第二個統一王朝命名，在2000多年的歷史中基本穩定。透過一萬年以上的文字歷史記錄和考古記錄，可以可靠地將漢族的主要祖先再往前追溯2000年。
An endless stream of written language. Written Chinese was extensively compiled into legal codes in the 2nd century BC and has been in use ever since. The origin of Chinese written language can be reliably traced back to two thousand BC.
延綿不絕的書面語言。書面漢語在公元前2世紀被大量編纂成法典，此後一直在使用。中國書面語言的起源可以再次可靠地追溯到公元前兩千年。
Continuously inheriting cultural customs. Ancestral worship and cultural customs such as the Chinese calendar (including various Chinese festivals such as the Chinese New Year) can be traced back at least 3000 years and have remained largely unchanged. The main lunar calendar in China can be traced back to the Zhou Dynasty in 1000 BC and remained largely unchanged for the next 3000 years.
傳承不斷的文化習俗。祖先崇拜和中國歷法（包括各種中國節日，如中國年）等文化習俗至少可以追溯到3000年前，基本上沒有變化。中國的主要農歷可以追溯到公元前一千年的周朝，在接下來的3000年歷奇本保持不變。
Continuous religious and philosophical practice. Confucianism is a set of governing philosophy established by Confucius in the 5th century BC, which has become the undisputed foundation of imperial governing philosophy and academic class for over 2000 years. Even in today's modern government, it follows the main principles. Taoism, established roughly simultaneously with Confucius, continues to support the general understanding of the supernatural and spiritual world among the Chinese people. When Chinese people talk about saints, immortals, ghosts, and elves, they largely follow Taoist traditions.
持續的宗教和哲學實踐。儒家思想是孔子在公元前5世紀建立的一套治國哲學，在2000多年的時間裏成為無可爭議的帝國治國哲學和學術階層的思想基礎。即使在今天的現代政府中，也遵循著主要原則。與孔子大致同時建立的道教，繼續支撐著中國人對超自然和精神世界的普遍理解。當中國人談論聖人、神仙、鬼魂和精靈時，他們在很大程度上遵循道教傳統。
I believe that geography is closely related to Chinese history. The land occupied by the Han ethnic group is mainly fertile, with the east and south being oceans, the north being grasslands, and the west being deserts and the Qinghai Tibet Plateau. In this relatively safe geographical environment, Chinese people are able to develop their civilization relatively unaffected by external forces. Chinese people were fortunate in history, unlike other ancient civilizations, and it was not until modern times that they truly faced the threat of Westerners tempered by the industrial revolution.
我也相信地理與中國歷史有很大關系。漢族占據的土地主要是肥沃的土地，東部和南部是海洋，北部是大草原，西部是沙漠和青藏高原。在這種相對安全的地理環境中，中國人能夠相對不受外部勢力幹擾地發展自己的文明。中國人在歷史上是幸運的，與其他古代文明不同，直到近代，他們才真正受到經過工業革命淬煉的西方人的威脅。
So think about it, the Chinese have a civilization of 5000 years, until the 1860s, when they fought and lost to the British, they never faced enemies who were equal to them in military and cultural terms. They have fought multiple times, sometimes losing to grassland nomads, but the latter often only have the upper hand in military affairs. It is interesting that people often succumb to the rule of nomadic peoples such as barbarians, rather than fighting until the last drop of blood, despite being restrained by foreign rulers, their cultural identity has not been lost.
所以想想看，中國人擁有5000年的文明，直到19世紀60年代，當他們戰鬥並輸給英國人時，他們從未面對過在軍事和文化上與他們平等的敵人。他們曾多次戰鬥，有時輸給了草原遊牧民族，但後者往往只在軍事上占據上風。有趣的是，人們往往屈服於野蠻人這些遊牧民族的統治，而不是戰鬥到最後一滴血，盡管被外國統治者節制，可他們的文化身份並沒有喪失。
They are indeed fortunate that no intruder has a cultural level higher than Han culture, or at least belongs to a culture that is equal to themselves. More likely, once the conquest is over, the temptation of Chinese civilization and power will overwhelm the invaders over time, ultimately leading them to identify with themselves as Chinese in terms of mentality and culture. Of course, it took thousands of years for this identity and soft power to develop and reach a mythical status. But once established, it proves itself superior to any armed force and continues to exist throughout the existence of the people.
他們確實很幸運，沒有一個入侵者的文化層次高於漢文化，或者至少屬於與他們自己平等的文化。更有可能的是，一旦征服結束，中國文化的文明和力量的誘惑就會隨著時間的推移壓倒入侵者，最終他們在心態和文化上都認同自己是中國人。當然，這種身份和軟實力花了數千年的時間才發展並達到神話般的地位。但一旦建立起來，它就證明了自己優於任何武裝力量，並在人民存在的過程中持續存在。
Other ancient indigenous civilizations were not given a barrier to perfect their cultural spirit, so they were not so lucky. There were more kings and princes coming and going in Mesopotamia than historians can count. Egypt survived for a period of time, but obediently surrendered to the Greeks, then Rome, and later to Islam. Its ancient culture was completely overshadowed by the sand of time.
其他古老的土著文明當然沒有被賦予完善自己文化精神的屏障，因此就沒有那麽幸運了。美索不達米亞來來往往的國王和王子比歷史學家所能統計的還要多，埃及存活了一段時間，但順從地屈服於希臘人，然後是羅馬，後來又屈服於伊斯蘭教，其古老的文化完全被時間的沙沙所掩蓋。
The Indus River Basin is an interesting example because its heritage elements, especially religious practices, have existed to this day. However, even in modern times, India itself has never truly established a unified culture or politics. Even today, there are still 22 recognized official languages using 13 different scripts. People can reasonably prove that India was not a truly unified political entity until modern times. The Minoans collapsed and burned with the collapse of the late Bronze Age, and never recovered. Their remnants may have sparked civilization in Greece or other parts of Asia Minor, but their connections are fragile and unconfirmed.
印度河流域是一個有趣的例子，因為它們的遺產元素，尤其是宗教實踐，一直存在到今天。然而，即使在現代，印度自己也從未真正建立起統一的文化或政治。即使在今天，仍有22種公認的官方語言使用13種不同的文字。人們可以合理地證明，直到近代，印度才是一個真正統一的政治實體。米諾斯人隨著青銅時代晚期的崩潰而崩潰和燃燒，再也沒有恢復。它們的殘余可能在希臘或小亞細亞的其他地方引發了文明，但它們之間的聯系是脆弱的，未經證實。
After the glory of Alexander, Greek classical civilization slowly declined, and Hellenistic culture flourished on the basis of Roman inheritance, then declined for thousands of years until it was rediscovered during the Renaissance.
在亞歷山大的榮耀之後，希臘的古典文明慢慢消亡，希臘化文化在羅馬人傳承的基礎上蓬勃發展，然後衰落了數千年，直到文藝復興時期才被「重新發現」。
The Persians can also claim that they have a glorious ancient history spanning nearly 1500 years, from the Medians of the 6th century BC to the Achaemenids, Seleucids, and Sassanians. They only unfortunately faced an enemy that was on par with them in terms of military and cultural aspects in the 7th century AD. After that failure, ancient culture, religion, writing, and customs completely disappeared, and Iran's medieval and modern history had to be interpreted in terms of Islamic culture and history.
波斯人還可以聲稱，從公元前6世紀的米迪亞人，到阿契美尼德人、塞琉古人和薩珊人，他們擁有輝煌的古代歷史，綿延近1500年。他們只是不幸地在公元7世紀面對了一個在軍事和文化上與自己不相上下的敵人。在那次失敗之後，古老的文化、宗教、文字和習俗完全消失了，伊朗的中世紀和現代歷史不得不從用伊斯蘭文化和歷史來解讀。
On the other end of the world, the Mayans, Aztecs, and Incas may have had the opportunity to unfortunately encounter conquerors in the 16th century, and their history and culture will once again be completely destroyed. Except for China, no major civilization that can be traced back to the Christian era can claim any continuity before modern times.
遠在世界的另一端，瑪雅人、阿茲特克人和印加人可能有機會在公元16世紀不幸遭遇征服者，他們的歷史和文化再次被徹底摧毀。除了中國，沒有任何一個可以追溯到基督時代的主要文明能夠聲稱在現代之前有任何延續性。
Of course, ancient history cannot prove superiority, as evidenced by the struggles in China during most of the 19th and 20th centuries. However, I believe it is not difficult to acknowledge a certain uniqueness of Chinese culture, as its long and enduring history is truly unique.
古老的歷史當然不能證明優越性，19世紀和20世紀大部份時間中國的鬥爭就證明了這一點。然而，我認為不難承認中國文化的某種獨特性，因為它的悠久和持久確實獨一無二。
