為什麼中國不像歐洲一樣四分五裂？相比歐洲，為什麼中國可以一直保持統一？

01-29

原問題：Why didnt China break up like Europe? What makes China stay united compared to Europe?

譯者註：上圖為作者基本信息，文中內容及使用圖片不代表本人政治立場。個人認為作者所述的觀點比較客觀，可供參考。

環境（特別是地理）因素！！！

Environmental (particularly geographic) factors!!!

其他答案回答了政治和文化因素，而我更強調地理因素對中國周期性的統一歷史影響的底層邏輯。

While political and cultural factors are being discussed in other answers, I would like to emphasize the geographic factor underlying China』s recurrent unification throughout history.

首先，讓我們看看歐洲的地形圖（帶有等高線）

First, let』s look at the topographical map of Europe (with elevation indicator):

再看中國的：

And China:

發現什麼要點了嗎？

Notice anything significant?

中國和歐洲有多個顯著的地理差異：

There are multiple significant geographical differences between Europe and China:

1、因為歐洲大量的面積是島嶼和半島，所以土地被天然被分割開。諸如大不列顛群島，伊比利亞半島，斯堪的納維亞半島，亞平寧半島和巴爾幹半島。而另一方面，中國的島嶼和半島的面積遠遠無法和歐洲的相比，造成了她更加容易統一的歷史。

1.Europe is naturally scattered because a significant amount of land area of Europe are islands and peninsulas, such as the British islands, the Iberian Peninsula, the Scandinavian Peninsula, the Apennines Peninsula, and the Balkan Peninsula. On the other hand, the islands and peninsulas surrounding China are incomparable to those of Europe both in size and amount, making it more of a unified territory.

2、歐洲被群山環繞。在歐洲自西向東的主要山脈是：比利牛斯山，阿爾卑斯山，亞平寧山脈，斯堪的納維亞山脈，喀爾巴阡山脈，高加索山脈，最後是烏拉爾山脈。群山再一次把歐洲分割成一個個小塊。雖然中國的地理也很多樣性，但是她的整體領土被分割成大的子板塊，像蒙古-新疆戈壁沙漠，青藏高原和東部平原等等。

2.Europe is mountainous. Major mountains in Europe (from west to east) are the Pyrenees, the Alps, the Apennines, the Scandinavians, the Carpathians, the Caucasus, and finally the Ural. Mountains, again, scattered Europe into relatively smaller parts. China is geographically diverse but its overall territory is divided into big sub-regions such as the Mongolian-Xinjiang Gobi desert, the Tibet Plateau, and the Eastern Plains etc.

這種比較的結論是：歐洲土地被天然分割開，而中國沒有。這種地理差異使中國更容易被統一，而歐洲更容易被分裂。

A direct conclusion of such comparison is that Europe is naturally scattered while China is not.

And this geographical difference made China prone to unify while Europe prone to split.

為什麼會這樣？

How so?

因為一個強大的古代帝國是建立在大規模的農業生產之上的（否則無法維持大量的軍隊和長期的戰爭），中國的地理特徵使她比歐洲更容易在政治上和軍事上被統一。

Since a strong and powerful ancient empire has to be built upon massive agricultural production, (otherwise it won』t be able to support a huge army and prolonged wars), the Chinese geographical feature made it much easier for political-military factions to conquer and control China than in Europe.

這個推理如何成立？

How』s that reasoning?

中原(東部平原)，由華北平原和長江流域組成，是中國最大的農業生產區。

The Central Plains, constituted of North China Plain and Yangtze River Basin, is the greatest agricultural production region in China.

被歷史學家稱為"中國本土"而不是"中國邊疆"。這個區域是地勢平坦不被分割的平原，被兩條大河（黃河與長江）穿過，是溫暖濕潤的季風氣候。

Historians used to call it the 「China Proper」 as opposed to the term 「China Frontier」. This region is a flat, uninterrupted plain with two humongous rivers running through and with warm & humid climates.

非常適合農業生產。

It is perfect for agriculture.

因此，在歷史的長河中，這個地區是中國人口最多，佔耕地面積的一半以上的地區。成為了中華文明的經濟和文化中心地帶。這個地區的生產力更高，文明程度更高，人口比附近任何地區都要多。

Therefore, during most time in history, this region was home to the majority Chinese population and account for more than half of arable land, and thus became the cultural and economic center of Chinese civilization. This region is more productive, culturally advanced, and more populous than any region nearby.

它在經濟上的比較優勢，周邊的其他地區無法相比。

Its comparative advantage of on economy is not match by any other regions nearby.

但是，這也有一個問題：這個區域沒有天然的屏障。

But there』s one problem of it: no natural barrier.

對於游牧民族的騎兵軍隊，這個定居農業的區域是他們的獵場。可悲的是，這個區域缺乏良好的牧場和馬匹。（北部蒙古高原很荒涼，但是他們有馬匹和草原）。

To any army equipped with cavalries, this region is like a slaughter house on sedentary agricultural residents. And sadly, it is a region lacking good pastures and horses. (Mongolian plateau on the north was bleak and desolate, but they have pastures and more horses. )

因此，經濟強大而軍事虛弱的中原地區容易被具有強大軍隊的軍事集團所征服。

注釋：關隴（西周、秦、隋）、山西（唐）、河北（東漢）、漢中（西漢）、東北（清）、蒙古（元）等板塊的軍事集團相繼入主中原，中原（西晉、北宋）、江東（明）也曾統一全國。

注釋插圖

So, being economically significant but militarily weak, the Central Plains of China could be easily taken by a political faction equipped with a strong army.

一旦這一軍事集團吞併了這個地區，並維持了有效的治理，它將比鄰近地區建立起顯著的軍事經濟優勢。

And once that faction annexed this region into its map and maintained an effective governance on it, it would establish a remarkable military-economical advantage upon nearby regions.

以強大的軍事和經濟實力為後盾，中國很容易被統一在一個旗幟下。
With mighty army and strong economic backup, China is fairly easy to consolidate under one flag.

這就是中國具有統一趨勢的原因。

That is why we see a tendency of unification in China.

然而歐洲走向了不同的道路。

Europe, however, headed for a different destination.

如上所述，歐洲天然被分割成一個個小塊。在每一個子區域內，都有不錯的農業生產和不同的文明。

As mentioned above, Europe was naturally scattered into multiple small sub-regions. And within each sub-region, there are agricultural production and civilizations flourished.

因此，歐洲的任何地區都沒有經濟軍事上的比較優勢，使「征服中國的一部分（中原），便更容易征服其他地區「的規則很難出現在歐洲。

Thus, there isn』t an economic or military advantage granted to any part of Europe, making the 「conquer one part of China makes it easier to conquer other places」 rule unrealistic in Europe.

歐洲很難被征服
Europe is drastically more difficult to conquer.

而且，在歐洲被群山和海洋環繞的子區域很難被征服。想像一下，如果你試圖征服整個大陸，即使你只是在軍事上實現它，你也必須翻過無盡的山脈，橫渡大量的海峽。然後你再考慮如何實現政治治理。鑒於古代文明的技術，當你坐在倫敦的宮殿里時，根本不能有效地統治俄羅斯。

Furthermore, the mountains and seas surrounded sub-territories of Europe is very hard for an army to conquer. Imagine the endless mountains you have to cross and the straits you have to navigate if you try to conquer the entire continent, and even if you would achieve it militarily, then imagine that you would govern it. It』s simply not possible to govern Russia effectively while you sit in the palace of London, given the technology in ancient civilizations.

因此，影響兩個地區不同歷史趨勢的最強因素是地理差異，而不是其他差異。

So,

The strongest factor influencing the two region』s different historical tendency is the geographical difference, not other ones.

統一的中國深深根植於她的地理環境中。

Unification of China is rooted deeply in her geography.

關於不認同地理因素起決定作用的問題，我統一解釋如下：

重點在於與歐洲相比，地理因素上中國軍事的統一條件比歐洲好得多。當然，在文化上作用也是非常大，中國有統一的文字和文化，而歐洲沒有。軍事政治文化三者統一，才有長久統一的局面。實現統一的次序是：先軍事統一，再政治統一，最後文化統一。彼此之間相輔相成，共同促進。在歷史上，只有古羅馬是最接近於統一歐洲的帝國，軍事上差點統一，政治上算是統一，但是還是敗在沒有實現文化統一。而在中國，秦始皇時期就實現了三者統一。限於古代有限的管理技術，地理因素深刻影響統一的實現。比如說藏南地區地理上在喜馬拉雅山南麓，在對印自衛反擊戰期間被解放軍收復，但是卻不得不放棄。這是為何？因為這一地區，離印度核心區太近，而離中國本土太遠。解放軍在後勤無法保障的前提下，無法防守住後勤方便的印度軍隊的進攻消耗。否則會孤立無援而被消滅的事情再一次發生。金門戰役失敗，全軍覆沒就是前車之鑒。所以地理因素才起決定性作用。