在美版知乎Quora上，网友们热议：为什么中华文明这个现存最古老的文明没有像其他古老文明一样湮灭？我们看看他们的结论。
问题：为什么古文明中只有中国文明没有湮灭？
海外网友亚历山大·谭的回答
I see many people mistakenly focusing on who is the earliest civilization.
我看到许多人错误地关注谁是最早的文明。
But what I want the questioner to mean is, why was China able to survive among the oldest civilizations?
但我想提问者的意思是，为什么中国能够在最古老的一批文明中生存下来？
This viewpoint comes from Arnold Toynbee.
这一观点来自阿诺德·汤因比。
In fact, this is caused by inconsistent standards.
事实上，这是由不一致的标准造成的。
Chinese people are centered around cultural identity, and as long as they identify with Chinese culture, they are Chinese.
中国人以文化认同为中心，只要认同中国文化，就是中国人。
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.
中华文明建立后，只经历了朝代更替，语言、文化、主要民族始终一脉相承。
Ancient Egypt was completely destroyed by Arabia.
古埃及被阿拉伯彻底毁灭。
Sumer was killed by Akkad a long time ago.
苏美尔很早就被阿卡德杀害了。
The ancient Indian civilization (Harappan civilization) was destroyed by the Aryans.
古印度（哈拉帕文明）文明被雅利安人摧毁。
There are significant differences in the main languages, cultures, and races on this land.
这片土地上的主要语言、文化和种族差异很大。
We know that there is no evolutionary relationship between ancient and modern Indian script.
我们知道古印度文字和现代印度文字之间没有进化关系。
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.
中华文明就像一个大熔炉。匈奴、狄、揭、羌、鲜卑、契丹、蒙古、女真等相继进入中国，但他们的大部分文化已经消失，许多民族也不存在了。
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.
中国每个朝代都有文字记载以及清楚的历史年表。包括古埃及、古希腊、古土耳其和古波斯在内的四个地区在入侵后没有任何书面记录。
Over a period of approximately four to five hundred years, people gradually lost their knowledge and understanding of their own writing. Writing ability.
在大约四五百年的时间里，人们逐渐失去了对自己写作的知识和理解。写作能力。
Today, Chinese people use characters that were already used during the Shang Dynasty.
今天的中国人使用商朝时期就已经使用过的文字。
In terms of writing, they have evolved from oracle bone script to regular script.
在文字方面，它们已经从甲骨文演变为楷书。
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.
我们现在读三千年前的中国诗歌（【诗经】中的一些周代早期诗歌），会发现它们仍然押韵。
Moreover, we are not looking at why Chinese civilization has continued, but rather at why other ancient civilizations have disappeared.
而且，我们不是要看中华文明为什么传续，而是要看其他古文明为什么湮灭。
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.
一个是地理。 在地理上，中华文明已经将能耕种的土地，以及与耕种有关的水系通通拿到手里，黄河，长江，珠江，这三条大河，一直牢牢掌控，以他们灌溉区为核心向四周扩张，占据所有有利地势。形成永久居住区。
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.
一个是人口。发达的中医理论，以及耕种技术保证了人口增长。其实古人的苦难一直都是人口与土地之间的矛盾所决定的。 耕地的增长一直到明万历年才算停滞，而人口增长则一直在加速，一直到现代近十年才停滞。
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.
一个是纠错机能与学习能力。古有二十四个王朝，有胡服骑射，有卧薪尝胆。 一个不断学习他族先进技术，思想的民族，根本不可能被打败，最多沉寂几百年又会再次崛起。
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.
中华民族 根本不给其他外族有任何崛起的机会，匈奴，突厥，大理，渤海，高丽这些外族文明要不早早被中华文明吞并，要不就是持续几百年的攻伐将其彻底打垮。在面对外敌面前，中华文明从来没有和平共处，或者是绥靖。他们不臣服就是灭亡，没有第二条路可走，没有平等可言。
美国网友詹姆斯·奥林斯凯的回答
China is not the oldest civilization: there were also Sumerians (including other Mesopotamian empires), the Indus River basin, and Egypt before it.
中国不是最古老的文明：在它之前的还有苏美尔人（包括其他美索不达米亚帝国）、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.
这些文明都没有被「消灭」，亚述人和德拉威人（人们认为他们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，假设你的意思是现存最古老的文明，指的是是持续时间最长的「本土文化」，而其他三种文明已经被外国势力彻底改变，我可以简单回答一下：
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，我们来谈谈三个古老的文明（我只说苏美尔、埃及和印度河）。外来冲击下，苏美尔人将当地的美索不达米亚文化输给了波斯人，接着是希腊-马其顿帝国，接着是阿拉伯人，他们将该地区完全伊斯兰化，接着是土耳其人，最后伊拉克和叙利亚被英国和法国分裂成两个国家。
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.
埃及也是一个类似的故事：本土文化输给了波斯人，然后是希腊人，然后是罗马人，然后是阿拉伯人，然后是土耳其人，然后是英国人。印度河文明更为直接：印度的文明和文化在印度河流域文明神秘消失后不得不重新开始。
Next, let's talk about the changes in Chinese culture; Only two external forces have truly conquered China: the Mongols and the Manchus.
接下来，我们来谈谈中国文化的变迁；只有两个外部势力真正征服过中国：蒙古族人和满族人。
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，后来满清趁机占领了境况不佳的明朝疆域，满族人已经严重受到中国文化的影响，因为明朝向北扩张到满洲地界，因此满清统治中国并没有对中国文化产生重大影响，变化远不如哈里发征服埃及那么大。
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。中国和北方游牧民族之间的伟大战斗的史诗故事起源于秦朝之前，当时正在修建长城以将蒙古人拒之门外。在蒙古征服之前，中原和蒙古之间发生了长达一千年半的战争和谈判，这使得中国和蒙古进行了巨大的文化交流。当蒙古人南下时，同样，中国文化并没有发生翻天覆地的变化。
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.
外国在中国的影响力比其他古代文明更有限的其他原因是地理原因。中国被戈壁滩和青藏高原包围，阻止了来自西方和南方的入侵者。太平洋在东方，防止了东方的入侵。古代中国的邻国过去都是蒙古、吐蕃、准噶尔、朝鲜、日本、越南和暹罗，所有这些国家的文化都被严重汉化，因此无法显著改变中国文化。最接近中国的伟大文明是印度，但它们被喜马拉雅山脉和青藏高原隔开，这使得文化交流变得困难。
海外网友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.
在种族上，同样的人占据了同一个地区。中华文明起源于黄河流域和长江流域之间。主要民族汉族，以中国第二个统一王朝命名，在2000多年的历史中基本稳定。通过一万年以上的文字历史记录和考古记录，可以可靠地将汉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.
延绵不绝的书面语言。书面汉语在公元前2世纪被大量编纂成法典，此后一直在使用。中国书面语言的起源可以再次可靠地追溯到公元前两千年。
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.
传承不断的文化习俗。祖先崇拜和中国历法（包括各种中国节日，如中国年）等文化习俗至少可以追溯到3000年前，基本上没有变化。中国的主要农历可以追溯到公元前一千年的周朝，在接下来的3000年里基本保持不变。
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.
持续的宗教和哲学实践。儒家思想是孔子在公元前5世纪建立的一套治国哲学，在2000多年的时间里成为无可争议的帝国治国哲学和学术阶层的思想基础。即使在今天的现代政府中，也遵循着主要原则。与孔子大致同时建立的道教，继续支撑着中国人对超自然和精神世界的普遍理解。当中国人谈论圣人、神仙、鬼魂和精灵时，他们在很大程度上遵循道教传统。
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.
我也相信地理与中国历史有很大关系。汉族占据的土地主要是肥沃的土地，东部和南部是海洋，北部是大草原，西部是沙漠和青藏高原。在这种相对安全的地理环境中，中国人能够相对不受外部势力干扰地发展自己的文明。中国人在历史上是幸运的，与其他古代文明不同，直到近代，他们才真正受到经过工业革命淬炼的西方人的威胁。
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，中国人拥有5000年的文明，直到19世纪60年代，当他们战斗并输给英国人时，他们从未面对过在军事和文化上与他们平等的敌人。他们曾多次战斗，有时输给了草原游牧民族，但后者往往只在军事上占据上风。有趣的是，人们往往屈服于野蛮人这些游牧民族的统治，而不是战斗到最后一滴血，尽管被外国统治者节制，可他们的文化身份并没有丧失。
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.
他们确实很幸运，没有一个入侵者的文化层次高于汉文化，或者至少属于与他们自己平等的文化。更有可能的是，一旦征服结束，中国文化的文明和力量的诱惑就会随着时间的推移压倒入侵者，最终他们在心态和文化上都认同自己是中国人。当然，这种身份和软实力花了数千年的时间才发展并达到神话般的地位。但一旦建立起来，它就证明了自己优于任何武装力量，并在人民存在的过程中持续存在。
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当然没有被赋予完善自己文化精神的屏障，因此就没有那么幸运了。美索不达米亚来来往往的国王和王子比历史学家所能统计的还要多，埃及存活了一段时间，但顺从地屈服于希腊人，然后是罗马，后来又屈服于伊斯兰教，其古老的文化完全被时间的沙沙所掩盖。
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.
印度河流域是一个有趣的例子，因为它们的遗产元素，尤其是宗教实践，一直存在到今天。然而，即使在现代，印度自己也从未真正建立起统一的文化或政治。即使在今天，仍有22种公认的官方语言使用13种不同的文字。人们可以合理地证明，直到近代，印度才是一个真正统一的政治实体。米诺斯人随着青铜时代晚期的崩溃而崩溃和燃烧，再也没有恢复。它们的残余可能在希腊或小亚细亚的其他地方引发了文明，但它们之间的联系是脆弱的，未经证实。
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.
在亚历山大的荣耀之后，希腊的古典文明慢慢消亡，希腊化文化在罗马人传承的基础上蓬勃发展，然后衰落了数千年，直到文艺复兴时期才被「重新发现」。
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.
波斯人还可以声称，从公元前6世纪的米迪亚人，到阿契美尼德人、塞琉古人和萨珊人，他们拥有辉煌的古代历史，绵延近1500年。他们只是不幸地在公元7世纪面对了一个在军事和文化上与自己不相上下的敌人。在那次失败之后，古老的文化、宗教、文字和习俗完全消失了，伊朗的中世纪和现代历史不得不从用伊斯兰文化和历史来解读。
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.
远在世界的另一端，玛雅人、阿兹特克人和印加人可能有机会在公元16世纪不幸遭遇征服者，他们的历史和文化再次被彻底摧毁。除了中国，没有任何一个可以追溯到基督时代的主要文明能够声称在现代之前有任何延续性。
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.
古老的历史当然不能证明优越性，19世纪和20世纪大部分时间中国的斗争就证明了这一点。然而，我认为不难承认中国文化的某种独特性，因为它的悠久和持久确实独一无二。
