寻找一个新世界：中国近现代对“世界”的理解及其变化

尽管当代中国往往被当作世界社会中的一个“例外”，在实践中中国人民通常认为中国近现代的发展乃是人类普遍历史进程的一部分。基于对中国近现代“世界观”的变化的梳理，本文提出三个假设：第一，在19世纪末期，对自我的对象化和对世界的外化（即把“世界”想象成一个外在实体）是一个关键的转变，这可能比“国族”观念取代“文明”或者“王朝”概念更为重要。第二，冷战时期的“三个世界”理论提供了一个新的理解，把世界想象成为要主动争取的对象，认为国族建设是为了实现更大革命目标的一个手段；但是这也导致了不切实际的“革命天下”的想象。第三，在改革时期，我们对世界的理解反而趋于单一化，同时对自己的理解也趋向于内化和简单化。文章最后呼吁发展一个“去中心”的对世界的想象。

Searching for A New World: Changes in the Notion of "World" (shijie)in Modern China

Despite the fact that modern China has often been regarded as an ＂exception＂, Chinese people firmly believe that their practices have been part of the universal human history. Based on a historical-sociological review of the notion of shijie （the world） in modern China, this article proposes three hypotheses： （1） the establish- ment of the perception of the world as embodiment of the universal, along with the relativization of the self, was a critical shift at the end of the nineteenth century - probably more critical and fundamental than the replacement of the tianxia （all-under-heaven） imagination with the modern nation-state notion. （2） The ＂three worlds＂ theory during the Cold War represented a new understanding of the world as a fragmented arena for struggles. （3） In the post-Cold War and reform era, the public perception of the world ironically became simplistic again. The world is seen as an ontologically empty space to be filled by activities of market and military competitions. In the end, the article urges for a new, de-centered political imagination of the world.