中国古代神话地域想象与大一统空间意识的建构  

Geographical Imagination in Ancient Chinese Myths and the Building of a Unified Spatial Consciousness

作　　者：向柏松 XIANG Bai-song(Institute for Advanced Studies in Humanities and Social Sciences,Wuhan University of Science and Technology,Wuhan 430081,China)

机构地区：[1]武汉科技大学人文社会科学高等研究院,湖北武汉430081

出　　处：《中南民族大学学报(人文社会科学版)》2025年第3期94-102,185,共10页Journal of South-Central Minzu University (Humanities and Social Sciences)

基　　金：国家社会科学基金重大项目“中华文化认同与中华民族共同体建设研究”(22&ZD208)。

摘　　要：中国古代盘古创世神话、五方神话、禹划九州神话都是关于地域想象的神话,这些神话的地域想象都包含了大一统地理空间的观念。盘古创世神话原本是关于天地万物形成的解释性神话,是关于天地万物形成的地域想象,认为天地源于混沌如卵的一个整体,天下万物皆由盘古化生而成,这就包含了最原始的天下一统的自然地理空间观念。可以说,盘古创世神话萌生了最初的大一统空间观。五方神话则想象天地由五方构成,将大一统的空间结构作了方位的划分,并且在此基础上衍生出五方之民的构想,五方地理空间便融入了五方族群的观念,空间的大一统由此融入了族群大一统的含义。禹划九州神话叙述大禹通过治水划分九州的功绩,同时叙述了九州物产、交通(主要是水路)、风俗、贡赋级别等状况,以表现九州虽各有特点而又自成一统的格局。禹划九州,即禹的足迹遍布九州,在虚实参半的地理空间展现禹的神迹,虽是想象多于实际,但是《禹贡》这种基于禹治水神话的国家地理想象,绘制出了中国大一统国家地理蓝图,对后世产生了很大的影响,以至于后世的大一统政治地理,都不同程度地以《禹贡》为依据。总之,中国神话关于天下地理空间的连续发展的想象,成为中华民族大一统地理观的一道亮丽风景。Ancient Chinese myths such as the Pangu creation myth,the Five Directions myth,and the myth of Yu’s demarcation of the Nine Provinces,all embody geographical imagination that articulates a unified geographical space.The Pangu creation myth,originally explaining the formation of heaven and earth,envisions the universe emerging from a primordial egg-like chaos.It posits that all things originate from Pangu’s corporeal transformation,reflecting the earliest conceptualization of a unified natural geographical space.Thus,this myth sowed the seeds of China’s foundational ideology of unified space.The Five Directions myth structures the world into five cardinal orientations(central,eastern,southern,western,northern),partitioning the unified space while further proposing the“peoples of the five directions”concept.This spatial-territorial framework integrates ethnic unity into geographical unity,enriching the notion of unification with sociocultural cohesion.The Yu myth narrates his achievements in flood control and the territorial division of the Nine Provinces,detailing their distinctive features—local products,waterways,customs,and tribute systems—to illustrate unity amidst diversity.Though mytho-historical,the Yu Gong(Tribute of Yu),rooted in these narratives,outlined a geographical blueprint for a unified Chinese statehood,profoundly influencing later imperial political geography,as subsequent regimes strategically referenced its framework.Collectively,these myths’evolving geographical imagination constitutes a defining feature of the Chinese nation’s unified spatial consciousness.

关 键 词：神话地域想象 盘古创世神话 五方神话 禹划九州神话 大一统地理观 

分 类 号：I207.73[文学—中国文学]