The South China Sea Islands have been China's territory since ancient times.
—President Xi Jinping
那到底什麼是"自古以來"呢?
So when exactly is "since ancient times"?
大家都知道海南島是中國南海上最大的島嶼。海南島,是秦代象郡的外檄,西漢的珠崖和儋耳,歷史上也屬於嶺南。2000多年前,這裡出產的珍珠、玳瑁、犀角等奇珍異寶,曾是秦漢中央宮廷奢侈品的主要來源。
It is said that Hainan Island is China's second largest island after Taiwan. It is situated in the South China Sea facing Guangdong Province across the Qiongzhou Strait. As part of the Xiang prefecture of China's Qin Dynasty, Hainan Island was also called Zhuya prefecture and Dan'er prefecture during the Western Han Dynasty. It also belonged to the Lingnan region. More than 2,000 years ago, Hainan produced priceless treasures including pearls, hawk bills and rhinoceros horns and was once a main source of luxury items for the imperial court of the Qin Dynasty.
Note: Lingnan is a geographic area referring to lands in the south of China's Nan Mountains including Dayu, Qitian, Dupang, Mengzhu and Yuecheng. The region covers the modern Chinese provinces of Guangdong, Guangxi, and Hainan as well as Hong Kong and Macao.
但是,到漢元帝時期,由於帝國在海南經略的行政成本大幅提高。公元前46年,西漢王朝聽從建議罷棄珠崖,對海南進行名義上的遙領。自此之後的幾百年間,海南島一直孤懸海外,中央王權再未在海南設立治所。
Due to the increasing administrative cost of managing Hainan Island, the Western Han Empire abandoned the Zhuya prefecture in 46 B.C and nominally owned Hainan Island. Since then, Hainan Island was isolated from the central government of ancient China and no local government administered it.
然而到了公元6世紀,情況發生了變化。
However, things changed in the sixth century.
當時嶺南一帶俚人聚居,遠離中原發達地帶,文明尚未開化,生產力極為底下,民風彪悍,《隋書》記載俚人"好相攻擊"。這給當時嶺南一帶的管理者帶來了很大難題。
Since the 500s A.D., people of the ethnic Li people inhabited Lingnan which was uncivilized and far away from the developed Central Plains with less developed productivity. In the Book of Sui, it is recorded that Li people were "aggressive". It caused a great challenge for the administrator of the Lingnan region at that time.
這時粵西俚人出現了一位女首領,這位出生南越首領世家的女孩自幼賢明,能行軍用師,壓服嶺南諸越。作為俚人,她還對本民族進行一場內部革新,平息內鬥,推行中原教化。她以德服人,個人威望還一度傳到了瓊州海峽的對岸。隋書記載,當時的海南儋耳,歸附者千餘垌。
Then, a female leader of the Li people rose to power in West Guangdong. Born in a family which was the hereditary leader of their tribe, this lady was "bright and able since she was a child. When she was living at her parents' house, she was able to pacify the people and soldiers and was capable of using the military in a strategic way," according to the Book of Sui by Wei Zheng in the Tang Dynasty (618-907). She also carried out reforms in her tribe, quieted down internal conflicts, and promoted education and technology from the Central Plains. She won people over by her virtue and her prestige spread far and wide to Dan'er across the Qiongzhou Strait. According to the Book of Sui, more than one thousand ethnic groups from Dan'er came and submitted to her rule.
直至今日,海南民間還在口口相傳這位偉大的女首領率軍抵達海南在此駐紮並平定了整個海島的故事。
Even to this day, the people in Hainan Island still talk about this great lady who led an army to pacify Hainan Island and remain garrisoned there.
"夫人多所規諫,由是怨隙止息,海南、儋耳歸附者千餘洞。"
—《隋書》卷八十列傳第四十五
She expostulated and remedied grievances so that more than one thousand ethnic groups from Dan'er came and submitted to her.
— The 45th biography of the 80th Volume of the Book of Sui
2015年4月3日，海南瓊海市萬泉鎮「鬧軍坡」巡遊車隊從街頭駛過。新華社發（蒙鍾德 攝）
Photo shows Junpo Festival celebrated in Qiongzhou, Hainan on April 3, 2015. (Xinhua: Meng Zhongde)
公元540-541年,南朝梁大同年間,女首領上書梁朝廷在海南島建置"崖州"。自西漢罷棄珠崖郡以來,時隔近600年海南與中原重新恢復了直接聯繫,從此再未脫離中央王權。每年春節後,為紀念這位維護國家統一、領土完整的女首領,海南當地居民至今還保留著"鬧軍坡"的風俗,軍坡節至今世代相傳了上千年的歷史。
Around the year of 540-541 A.D., during the reign of Emperor Xiao Yan of the Liang Dynasty, this female leader pleaded in the imperial court to set up Yazhou in Hainan Island. Since then, Hainan returned to the motherland after being away from the central government for nearly six hundred years. Every year after Spring Festival, the local people in Hainan keep the thousand-year-old custom of the Junpo Festival which is held to commemorate this woman who safeguarded the country's territorial integrity and national unity.
這位女首領就是冼太夫人。
This woman was named Lady Xian.
如果說,南海是一塊貝殼,那海南島就是"貝殼"上的珍珠。
If the South China Sea is a sea shell, then Hainan Island is the pearl inside it.
自平定海南島之後,冼夫人在南海的身影還不止步於此。歷史記載,從南北朝到隋唐,南海貿易中始終都有嶺南大族的身影,冼夫人便是其中的典型代表。
After Hainan Island was pacified, Lady Xian visited the island more than once. According to historical records, notable families from Lingnan were involved in maritime trade on the South China Sea from the Northern and Southern Dynasties (420-589) to the Sui and Tang Dynasties (581-907). Lady Xian and her family were one of the representatives.
冼太夫人居住在現今粵西茂名一帶。茂名面朝南海,得天獨厚的地理優勢給當地的海上貿易創造了天然條件,往來的海上貿易也給嶺南社會帶來了繁榮。
Lady Xian lived in what is now Maoming in West Guangdong. Facing the South China Sea, Maoming enjoys geographical advantages for maritime trade which brought it prosperity during the Lingnan era.
冼太夫人在南海貿易的身影給自身積累了大量的財富。歷史記載,冼太夫人當初進貢給陳後主,在陳亡之時又被陳後主當作信物返還的扶南犀杖,出產自當時的扶南古國。那扶南國是在哪兒呢?
Through her participation in maritime trade on South China Sea, Lady Xian amassed great sums of wealth. It is recorded that the Funan cane made of rhinoceros horn was given to Emperor Chen Shubao of the Chen Dynasty (557-589) by Lady Xian and was produced by the ancient state of Funan. So where was Funan located?
扶南國,是曾經存在於古代中南半島上的一個古老王國名。其轄境大致相當於當今柬埔寨全部國土以及寮國南部、越南南部和泰國東南部一帶。是歷史上第一個出現在中國古代的史籍上的東南亞國家,也是中國古代史籍中經常出現的東南亞國家。
Funan (or Phù Nam) was once an ancient kingdom located in the ancient Indo-China Peninsula. Its jurisdictional region covered what is now Cambodia, southern Laos, southern Vietnam, and southeast Thailand. It was the first and frequently visited country from Southeast Asia recorded in the historical records of ancient China.
如果說,南海是一塊貝殼,那海南島就是"貝殼"上的珍珠。海南島是南海上的一顆"珍珠",冼太夫人在1500年前將南海最大的島嶼和平收復,這一歷史意義不言而喻。其藉助粵西臨海的地理條件以及海南島得天獨厚的島嶼優勢,從南海去到東南亞等地進行海上貿易,也是中國踏上海上絲綢之路的先行者。那麼這樣看來,馳騁南海這件事,廣東冼太夫人"自古以來"就這麼做了。
If the South China Sea is a sea shell, then Hainan Island is the pearl inside the shell. Lady Xian peacefully recaptured the pearl of Hainan, the biggest island in the South China Sea more than 1,500 years ago, which is of historical significance. She also took advantage of the geographical conditions of West Guangdong and Hainan Island and carried out maritime trade with Southeast Asian countries and regions. Therefore, she was the pioneer of China's Maritime Silk Road, and she safeguarded the South China Sea in ancient times.
The first heroine of China.
– Zhou Enlai, former Chinese Premier and former Minister of Foreign Affairs
冼夫人生活在中國歷史上最為混亂的南北朝時期。她一生經歷梁、陳、隋三代。作為嶺南地區領袖,她畢生竭力維持國家安定和民族融合,極大促進了嶺南地區的政治、經濟、文化、生產的發展。
Lady Xian lived during the Northern and Southern Dynasties, the most chaotic period in the history of ancient China. She was a heroine that lived through the Liang Dynasty (502-560), the Chen Dynasty (557-589) and the Sui Dynasty (581-618). During her life, Lady Xian strove to safeguard the country's territorial integrity and national unity, maintain stability and peace in the Lingnan region, promote local development of the economy, culture, science, technology and its trade with ancient Maritime Silk Road countries in Southeast Asia.
她提倡的開放與融合是今天嶺南文化生成的重要因子;她的忠君愛國、"唯用一好心"也是中國國家大一統傳統的重要精神源頭。
She advocated openness and harmony which are important components of Lingnan culture. Her loyalty, devotion and kindness are the significant spiritual origin of China's tradition of grand unification.
每年的新年伊始,冼夫人總要把歷代中央王朝的御賜物品一一陳列於庭院。從南北朝的梁朝、陳朝到隋朝,三朝數位皇帝對冼夫人都多有封賜。對每一件物品的來歷,冼夫人都爛熟於心,這是她一生平定嶺南,維護國家統一的珍貴回憶。
Every New Year, Lady Xian displayed all the gifts she received from the emperors of all the dynasties in her courtyard. She remembered each of them which were the precious memories of her lifetime in pacifying Lingnan and maintaining national unity.
"汝等宜盡赤心向天子。我事三代主,唯用一好心。今賜物具存,此忠孝之報。"
—《隋書》卷八十列傳第四十五
You should be loyal to the emperor. I have served the emperors of three dynasties with the same good heart. Now all the gifts are here, which is the retribution of loyalty and filial piety.
— The 45th biography of the 80th Volume of the Book of Sui
"唯用一好心"是她對子孫的訓導,也是她人生智慧的結晶。"唯用一好心"穿越歷史,跨越地域,不分黨派和宗教,具有極大的普適性,對今天的世界和平、社會和諧、家庭和美、人類和合都具有不可替代的現實價值。
"唯用一好心" means with the same good heart, which was Lady Xian's motto to her descendants as well as the quintessence of her wisdom. It transpires history and crosses regions with universality and without partisanship and religionism. It has irreplaceable realistic value for the harmony of the world, the society, the family and mankind.
為弘揚冼夫人"唯用一好心"的可貴精神,讓世界了解更多的中華優秀傳統文化,現向全球公開徵集集中體現冼夫人精神用語"唯用一好心"這一中文表達的英文翻譯。本活動設立總值5萬元的大獎,頭獎高達3萬元!
We are holding a global solicitation with huge prizes for the English translation of "唯用一好心", which represents the spirit of Lady Xian. This activity is to carry forward the precious spirit of "唯用一好心" of Lady Xian and the excellent traditional culture that unites people. A total of 50,000 yuan will be awarded.
還有最後15天就結束,還在等什麼,掃碼參加我們活動贏大獎吧!
What are you waiting for? There are still 15 days before the cut-off date of this solicitation. Scan the following QR code to win this grand prize!