法国著名汉学家谢和耐说：“十三世纪的中国在现代化方面取得了巨大的进步，例如它独特的货币经济、纸币、流通证券和高度发展的茶盐企业……在社会生活、艺术、娱乐、制度、工艺技术等各个领域，中国无疑是当时最先进的国家，它完全有理由将世界其他地方仅仅看成是一个蛮夷之邦。”而在美版知乎Quora上，韩国网友提问道：在古代中国算是一个大国吗？这引起各国网友的关注和热议，我们看看他们的观点。
问题
罗马尼亚网友安拿奎德的回答
China has been a global superpower in almost every historical period. The only exception is the humiliating century (1850-1949), or the era of imperialist colonial expansion.
中国几乎在每个历史时期都是全球超级大国。唯一的例外是屈辱世纪（1850-1949），或被称为帝国主义殖民扩张时代。
In the Pre Qin Dynasty, China was ruled by the Shang and Zhou rulers. Although their territory is small compared with today's China, it is much larger than its contemporary civilization (such as ancient Greece and ancient Egypt). Under the Zhou Dynasty, almost all the nomadic tribes in China were conquered by the Chinese state. The tribal people were sinicized and became "Chinese". In this era, the vigorous development of Chinese culture has spawned many ideological groups (Confucianism, Legalism, etc.).
在先秦王朝，中国由商周统治者统治。他们的领土，尽管与今天的中国相比很小，但比其当代文明（如古希腊和古埃及）要大得多。在周朝统治下，中国本土几乎所有的游牧部落都被中国国家征服。部落人民被汉化，成为“中国人”。在这个时代，中国文化蓬勃发展，催生了许多思想团体（儒家、法家等）。
During the Warring States Period, the territory of Chinese civilization was increasing due to the expansion of foreign countries, especially the Qin and Chu States. The State of Qin defeated as many as 25 tribes and annexed areas once controlled by nomads.
战国时期的中国文明，由于各国，特别是秦国和楚国对外部地区的扩张，中国文明的领土都在增加。秦国打败了多达25个部落，吞并了曾经由游牧民族控制的地区。
In the Qin and Han dynasties, China became a unified centralized empire . China has become the end of the Silk Road. Trade and economy are booming. Unlike Rome, which was defeated by nomads, the Han Dynasty successfully defeated the powerful Hun Alliance and drove these nomads back from the Chinese border. In addition, the eastern part of Central Asia and Korea were also conquered by the Han Dynasty. The Han Dynasty later defeated the Yue people in Fujian and made them Chinese.
在秦朝和汉朝，中国成为一个统一的中央集权帝国。中国成为丝绸之路的终点。贸易和经济蓬勃发展。与被游牧民族打败的罗马不同，汉朝成功击败了强大的匈奴联盟，并将这些游牧民族从中国边境击退。此外，中亚东部和朝鲜也被汉朝征服。汉朝后来打败了福建得越人，并将他们汉化。
China (red) has had a huge economy since ancient times. It was not until modern times (1849-1949) that the share of world GDP declined sharply. In ancient times, India was the only country whose share of world GDP was larger than that of China. However, since the first century AD, ancient India has not been unified as a country like China, and the Gupta Empire (320CE – 550CE) is the closest to unification. Therefore, it is difficult to call ancient India a power because it is fragmented and frequently invaded by other nationalities.
中国自古以来就拥有庞大的经济。直至近代（1849-1949年），所占世界GDP的份额才急剧下降。古代唯一曾在世界GDP中所占份额大于中国的国家是印度。然而，自公元一世纪以来，古印度并不像中国那样统一为一个国家，最接近统一的是笈多帝国（320CE–550CE），因此支离破碎且频繁被异族入侵的古印度很难被称为强国。
中国网友郭晓明的回答
The concept of "super power" is a relatively new concept in history. As others have pointed out, China has been a great regional power for most of its history. As the ancient means of transportation limited the scope, I think there was no global driving force anywhere in the ancient world. From ancient times to the present, China has been modest until it did not claim to be a "superpower".
“超级大国”的概念在历史上是一个相对较新的概念，正如其他人所指出的，中国在其历史上的大部分时间里都是一个伟大的区域性大国。由于古代的交通方式限制了范围，我认为在古代世界的任何地方都不存在全球行力量。从古代到现在，中国一直谦逊到没有声称自己是“超级大国”。
About 300-400 years before the Industrial Revolution, General Zheng He of the Ming Dynasty led the world's largest fleet on an expedition. His largest ship was 120 meters (390 feet) long. He reached South and Southeast Asia through the Strait of Malacca, Sri Lanka, the Gulf of Oman, the Arabian Sea, the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea, and came to the east coast of Africa. During his journey, he did not seize any land for the emperor.
大约在工业革命前300-400年，中国明朝的郑和将军率领当时世界上最大的舰队远征，他的最大船只长达120米（390多英尺）。他通过马六甲海峡、斯里兰卡、阿曼湾、阿拉伯海、亚丁湾、红海到达南亚、东南亚，来到非洲东海岸。在他的旅程中，他没有为皇帝夺取任何土地。
For most of China's history, China has never been a consistent and seemingly aggressive aggressor. It has done more to build walls (in other words, the Great Wall of China), a staunch defender of sovereignty than an aggressive territorial aggressor. Its attacks are mainly based on defensive needs to prevent troublesome invasion from one of its many neighbors, such as Vietnam from the south.
在中国历史上的大部分时间里，中国从来都不是一个始终如一、表面上咄咄逼人的侵略者。它做得更多的是筑墙，一个坚定得主权捍卫者，而不是侵略性的领土侵略者。它的攻击主要是出于防御需要，以防止来自其众多邻国之一的麻烦入侵，例如来自南方的越南。
In fact, China was once invaded and occupied by foreigners. However, none of these foreigners can rule the Chinese people united by their culture for a long time. This is a culture that emphasizes benevolence, doing the right thing and following morality An inward looking culture - first strict with itself, then others, as taught by the three pillars of its philosophical foundation: Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism. The Mongols lasted less than 100 years. Manchurians did better, but they were eventually driven away.
事实上，中国曾被外国人入侵和占领。然而，所有这些外国人都无法长期统治由他们的文化团结起来的中国人民。这是一种强调仁爱的文化, 做正确的事、遵循道德. 一种向内看的文化——首先严格要求自己，然后要求别人，正如其哲学基础的三大支柱：儒学、佛教和道教所教导的那样。蒙古人持续了不到100年。满洲人做得更好，但最终也被赶走了。
Chinese emperors tend to rule by emphasizing moral authority, even in the decadent era. Their corruption, coupled with, for example, the closure of borders after Zheng He's expedition, is the main reason why China cannot maintain its strength throughout history and modern times. Their rules are by no means perfect. However, the atrocities of these emperors mostly point to the inside, and rarely point to the outside. The idea of a global "superpower" has never existed in Chinese history.
中国皇帝倾向于通过强调道德权威来统治，甚至在腐朽没落的时代也是如此。他们的腐败，再加上例如在郑和远征后对外关闭边境，是中国无法在整个历史和现代中持续保持实力的主要原因。他们的规则绝非完美。然而，这些皇帝的*行暴**大多指向内部，很少指向外部。全球“超级大国”的想法在中国历史上从未存在过。
Who is the typical superpower? From the early days of its history, the United States has always wanted to dominate the fate of the world. Its "manifest destiny" theory is the philosophical basis for defending the killing of North American aborigines and the plundering of their land. When its own country was strong enough, it put forward a "Monroe Doctrine" and basically claimed that the whole of South America was his backyard, affected and protected by him without the consent of the countries concerned. When the Cold War ended, most Americans expected the prosperity brought by the "peace dividend". Their military industrial complex, in collaboration with the government, came up with the idea of "exceptionalism with missionary obligations".
谁才是典型的超级大国呢？美国，从其历史的早期，就一心想主导世界的命运。它的“显明命运”学说是为杀害北美土著人和掠夺他们的土地辩护的哲学基础。当它自己的国家足够强大时，它提出了一个“门罗主义”，基本上在没有得到有关国家同意的情况下，声称整个南美洲是他的后院，受他的影响和保护。当冷战结束时，大多数美国人都期待着“和平红利”带来的繁荣，其军工综合体在政府的勾结下，想出了“具有传教义务的例外主义”的主意。
The boycott of those who do not want to be dominated by the United States is the real cause of the world chaos we see today.
那些不想被美国支配的人的*制抵**，才是我们今天看到的世界混乱的真正原因。
Like most residents in the world, they prefer to live in a harmonious world where everyone is equal. Americans need to understand that accepting differences between cultures and respecting human rights must be universally applied, not just in the United States. Any country has the right to claim that it is an exception. However, it is never right to attack those who disagree and force them to agree.
像这个世界上的大多数居民一样，他们更愿意生活在一个人人平等的和谐世界中。美国人需要了解，接受不同文化之间的差异和尊重*权人**必须得到普遍应用，而不仅仅是在美国。任何国家都有权声称自己是例外。然而，攻击那些不同意迫使他们同意的人永远是不对的。
The term "superpower" implies the existence of a single global system of relations between countries and/or a single global economy. In my opinion, terms such as "superpower" and "globalization" were inappropriately used in ancient times. No great ancient civilization has global influence, and their contacts are relatively sporadic and infrequent, so you can divide the world into multiple regions, and each region may have its own "super power" civilization at different time points.
“超级大国”一词意味着存在一个单一的全球国家间关系体系和/或单一的全球经济。在我看来，像“超级大国”和“全球化”这样的术语被用于古代并不恰当。没有一个伟大的古代文明具有全球影响力，它们之间的接触相对零星且不频繁，所以你可以将世界分为多个区域，每个区域在不同的时间点可能都有自己的“超级大国”文明。
The trade routes of the Silk Road hardly had enough goods to be counted as "global" trade. Real trans regional empires (such as Mongolians or Macedonians under Alexander's rule) usually did not last for a long time, partly because they could not create large-scale organizational capacity to rule. They can conquer, but they cannot rule.
丝绸之路的贸易路线几乎没有足够的货物可以算作“全球”贸易，真正的跨地区帝国（如亚历山大统治下的蒙古人或马其顿人）通常不会持续很长时间，部分原因是他们无法创造大规模的组织能力来统治。他们可以征服，但不能统治。
Chinese scholars generally believe that there was no superpower before the industrial age. The most powerful empire only reached the level of regional strength.
中国学者一般认为，在工业时代之前，没有超级大国。最强大的帝国只达到了地区实力的水平。
Take the Roman Empire or the Tang Dynasty for example, their actions only affected the surrounding civilization. Since we are talking about China, we will talk about the Tang Dynasty.
以罗马帝国或唐朝为例，他们的行为只影响了周围的文明。既然我们在谈论中国，我们就要谈论唐朝。
If we use the destructive power of the empire to calculate the superpower, the most lethal weapons of the Tang Dynasty are the crossbow, spear and bow. Compared with the later weapons, the destructive power of this weapon is relatively small. In this respect, no Tang Dynasty can compare with the present destructive weapons.
如果我们用帝国的毁灭力来计算超级大国，唐朝最致命的*器武**是弩、矛、弓。与后来的*器武**相比，这种*器武**的破坏力相对较小。在这方面，没有一个唐朝可以与现在的毁灭性*器武**相比。
Also in the Tang Dynasty, Japan and Korea did learn and adopt many things from it. Many Middle Eastern businessmen did trade in Chang'an, the capital of the Tang Dynasty, but the influence of the Tang Dynasty has not reached the global level. Mayan or Aztec civilization may have never heard of the Tang Dynasty. Europe only saw China through silk and porcelain.
同样在唐朝时期，日本、朝鲜确实从中学习并采纳了许多东西。许多中东商人在唐朝首都长安做过贸易，但唐朝的影响力还没有达到全球。玛雅或阿兹特克文明可能从未听说过唐朝，欧洲只通过丝绸和瓷器看到了中国。
The Tang Dynasty even lost the war with the Arab countries in Central Asia, which meant that the extension of military power was limited to the surrounding areas.
唐朝甚至输掉了与中亚阿拉伯国家的战争，这意味着军事力量的延伸仅限于周边地区。
In this regard, the Tang Dynasty was not a world power, much less a superpower. The Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties are very similar to the Tang Dynasty, so ancient China was never a superpower.
在这方面，唐朝不是世界强国，更不是超级大国。宋元明清与唐朝非常相似，所以古代中国从来都不是超级大国。
Globalization (in terms of economy and politics) did not really become a phenomenon until the European powers colonized. This does not deny that other civilizations had global trade routes before and during European colonization. However, as far as I know, the number of colonies sponsored by various countries was almost less than that of Europeans, and certainly not as successful. Europe is the starting point of the era of globalization.
全球化（在经济和政治方面）直到欧洲列强殖民化才真正成为一种现象。这并不否认其他文明在欧洲殖民之前和殖民期间都有全球贸易路线，但据我所知，各国家赞助的殖民几乎没有欧洲人那么多，当然也没有欧洲人那样成功，欧洲才是全球化时代的起点。
For most of the ancient and early modern times, it was the most populous, technologically advanced and wealthy country on the earth,. Early China (such as the Han Dynasty) was comparable to the Roman Empire in terms of geography, wealth, population (generally around 60 million) and technology. After the fall of the Han Dynasty in 220 AD, China split into several regimes and warlords, which was similar to the situation in Rome shortly after.
在古代和现代早期的大部分时间里，它都是地球上人口最多、技术最先进、最富有的国家，。早期的中国（比如说汉朝）在地域、财富、人口（一般在6000万左右）和技术方面与罗马帝国相当。公元220年汉朝灭亡后，中国分裂成多个政权和军阀，这与罗马不久后的情况如出一辙。
At this point, it is hard to say that "China" was always a superpower until the Sui Dynasty unified the country in the 58s. At that time, China regained its position as the most powerful country in the world (by the 12th century, its population exceeded 100 million) until it was taken over by the Mongols, but this lasted only a hundred years until the Chinese re established the Ming Dynasty, which was replaced by the Qing Dynasty.
在这一点上，很难说“中国”一直是一个超级大国，直到隋朝在58年代统一了这个国家。那时，中国恢复了世界上最强大的国家的地位（到12世纪，人口超过1亿），直到被蒙古人接管，但这只持续一百年，直到中国人重新建立明朝，而明朝又被清朝取代。
During this period, they were either the most powerful countries in the world, but around the seventeenth or eighteenth century, things changed. China's technology has lagged behind, and the strength of smaller but more advanced countries has eclipsed it. In the 19th century, China completely succumbed to the loose alliance of small countries on the other side of the globe.
在这期间，他们要么是世界上最强大的国家，但在十七或十八世纪左右，情况发生了变化。中国的技术落后了，规模较小但技术更先进的国家的实力让它黯然失色。到了十九世纪，中国完全屈服于地球另一边的小国松散联盟。
Although China is indeed strong, it is also subject to certain restrictions. A large part of its power is built on a huge basis and can mobilize the surplus of a large population. Although its technological advantages do exist, they have not surpassed those of other regions. China's military capabilities are also underdeveloped; The order loving Confucians who ruled China did not like soldiers, and they were willing to spend millions of dollars on tribute rather than defense.
虽然中国确实强大，但也受到一定的限制。它的很大一部分权力是建立在庞大的基础上的，能够调动大量人口的剩余。它的技术优势虽然确实存在，但并没有超越其他地区。中国的军事能力也不发达；统治中国的热爱秩序的儒家不喜欢士兵，他们很乐意把数百万美元花在朝贡上，而不是花在防御上。
Its vast border means that it faces multiple potential threats, which often weaken its strength. China also shows the same long-term weakness when dealing with the heavy army of grassland live horse archers that troubles other settled societies.
其广阔的边界意味着它面临着多重潜在的威胁，而这些威胁往往削弱了它的实力，而中国在对付困扰其他定居社会的草原活马弓箭手重兵时也表现出了同样的长期弱点。
China can muster an army larger than anyone they can fight, but it may have to fight on multiple fronts. Similarly, their naval capabilities, both militarily and commercially, were underdeveloped due to their size, especially in the Ming and Qing dynasties.
中国可以集结一支比他们可能战斗的任何人都大的*队军**，但可能必须在多条战线上作战。同样，他们的海军能力，无论是在军事上还是在商船方面，都因其规模而不发达，尤其是在明清时期。
Before Europeans sailed the "Seven Seas" and described the world in detail on the map, no one knew what the whole world was like. Only the British navy was able to project power anywhere in the sea. They may be called the first naval superpower.
在欧洲人航行“七海”并在地图上详细描述世界之前，没有人知道整个世界是怎么样的，只有英国海军有能力在海洋的任何地方投射力量。他们可能被称为第一个海军超级大国。
China's famous Zheng He's voyage happened to contact quite small powers along the coast of Southeast Asia, the Indian Peninsula and parts of East Africa. Of course, it was the most powerful fleet at that time, but it was not a world-famous fleet.
中国著名的郑和航程碰巧与东南亚海岸、印度半岛和东非部分地区的相当小的强国接触。当然，它是当时最强大的舰队，但不是全球知名的舰队。
The era of superpowers began only in the second half of the 20th century, when there was a large nuclear arsenal and the ability to project power through the army and/or navy and large economies. I want to say that they can only be called superpowers in the era of globalization.
超级大国时代只在20世纪后半叶开始出现，当时拥有一个大型核武库，拥有通过陆军和/或海军以及大型经济体投射力量的能力。我想说，他们只有在全球化时代才可以被称为超级大国。
Superpower is a subjective name and status. In any case, it is used to describe some countries that have at least global influence. Powerful countries, including ancient Chinese dynasties, certainly do not meet the standard.
超级大国是一个主观的名称和地位，无论如何，它是用来描述某些起码拥有全球影响力的国家的，包括古代中国王朝在内的强国当然不符合标准。