古代中国是超级大国吗？

Pun Anansakunwat, Read Chinese history for 17 years 学些中国历史17年

China has been a global superpower in almost every historical period.
The only exception was the century of humiliation (1850–1949), or during the imperialism era.
In Pre-Qin dynasties, China was ruled (nominally) by Shang and Zhou rulers. Their territories, despite being small compared to present-day China, was larger than its contemporary civilization, such as ancient Greece and ancient Egypt. The technology was at least equal to both civilizations. Almost every nomadic tribe in China proper was subjugated by Chinese states under the Zhou dynasty. The tribal people were sinicized, and became “Chinese.” During this age, Chinese culture flourished. Many ideological groups (Confucianism, Legalism, etc.) spawned in this era.
Chinese civilization in the Spring-Autumn period.
Chinese civilization in the Warring States period, notice that the entire territory of Chinese civilization increased because of the colonization of the outer areas by states, especially Qin and Chu. Qin defeated as many as 25 tribes, and annexed the areas once controlled by nomads.
In Qin dynasty and Han dynasty, China became a unified, centralized empire (completely in the reign of Emperor Wu of Han). China became the end destination of the silk road. Trade and economy were flourished. Unlike Rome that was defeated by the nomads, Han Dynasty managed to defeat the mighty Xiongnu confederacy at its homeland, and repelled these nomads from the Chinese border. Furthermore, the eastern part of Central Asia, and Korea was conquered by Han Dynasty as well.
Map of Han Dynasty: National Geographic Magazine. Han Dynasty later defeated the Yue people in Fujian, and sinicized them.
China (In red) had a large economy since antiquity. Notice that the share of world GDP decreased sharply during the century of humiliation (1849–1949), which paralleled to the imperialist era. The only country that had a larger share of world GDP in antiquity than China was India. However, since AD1, ancient India was not united into a single state as China (Han Dynasty). The closest ones were the Gupta Empire (320CE–550CE).

中国几乎在历史的每一个时期，都是全球超级大国。
唯一的例外是1850年到1949年屈辱百年，或者说帝国主义时期。
先秦时期，中国的统治者是商和周（名义上），他们的领土虽然比现在的中国小，但比同时代的其他文明，如古希腊文明和古埃及文明，都要大得多。（当时中国的）科技水平，与这两个文明古国水平差不多。在周朝时期，几乎所有的游牧部落，都被周朝征服，这些游牧民族被华夏化，成为“中国人”，在这个时期，中国文化蓬勃发展，许多思想流派（儒家、法家等等）都是在这个时期产生的。
春秋时期的中华文明。
战国时期的中华文明。
请注意，中华文明疆域的增加是由于国家对外围地区的扩展，特别是秦国和楚国的拓张。秦国打败（灭亡了）多达25个小国家，吞并了曾经由游牧民族控制的地区。
秦汉时期，中国成为一个统一的中央集权帝国（在汉武帝统治时期达到顶峰）。贸易和经济蓬勃发展，与被游牧民族打败的罗马不同，汉朝成功地击败了强大的匈奴，并将这些游牧民族从中国边境赶走，此外，中亚东部和朝鲜也被汉朝征服。
汉代地图：来源于国家地理杂志。
汉朝后来在福建地区击败越国，并将他们华夏化。
中国自古以来就是一个经济大国。请注意，在1849年到1949年这一百年的屈辱时期，（中国占）世界GDP的份额急剧下降。在古时期，印度是唯一一个，在世界GDP中所占份额比中国更高的国家。但是，自公元元年之后，古印度并没有像中国（汉朝）那样，成为一个统一的国家，古印度最接近统一的是笈多帝国（公元320年至公元550年）。

Pothiraju Seetharam
The superpower era only began in the latter part of the 20th century, when a large nuclear arsenal, the ability to project power through an army and/or navy and a large economy was possessed. I''d say they can be called super powers only in the globalised era which is fairly recent.

超级大国时代始于20世纪下半叶，一个国家拥有大型核武库，有能力通过军队或者庞大的经济实力投射力量，（才能被称为超级大国）。我认为，只有在全球化时代，他们才可以被称为超级大国，而全球化时代离现在很近。

Sun Scott, studied Interdiscplinary (2004)
From the first Shang Dynasty all the way to the current People’s Republic of China, only three dynasties stood out to the world that were close to qualify as world power, the Han Dynasty, Tang Dynasty and the Song Dynasty (China’s zenith period), before Mongol annihilation. Only these three Chinese dynasties can closely characterized as regional power. The rest of the various dynasties were either simply too weak, too isolated or too poor to be considered a world power.
This is a historical fact and obxtive reality about China’s history.
The following were historical Superpowers before the United States, in chronological order:
Mesopotamia
Egyptian Empire
Indus Valley empire
Shang Dynasty (limited influence)
Persian Empire
Greek Empire (including Alexander’s empire)
Han Dynasty (there you go China. Yet, still limited in influence)
Roman Empire
Tang Dynasty
Song Dynasty
Mongol Empire
Mughal Empire
Spanish Empire
British Empire
United States of America
These were the major powers throughout World history.
But, if we are to be true to the real definition of a Superpower, only two countries came close to world domination in history, that is the British Empire (UK) and the United States. The other country that qualifies to this definition is the Spanish Empire.
*United States of America (The Current lone Superpower)

从商朝开始，一直到现在，只有三个中国朝代接近世界强国的位置，即汉朝、唐朝和宋朝（中国的鼎盛时期）。只有这三个朝代才能被描述为地区强国。其他各朝代要么太弱，要么太孤立，要么太穷，不能被视为世界强国。
这是中国历史的历史事实和客观现实。
以下是美国之前历史上的大国，按时间顺序排列：
美索不达米亚
埃及帝国
印度河流域国家
商朝（影响力有限）
波斯帝国
希腊帝国（包括亚历山大帝国）
汉朝（中国，但是影响仍然有限）
罗马帝国
唐朝
宋朝
蒙古帝国
莫卧儿帝国
西班牙帝国
大英帝国
美利坚合众国
这些都是世界历史上的大国。
但是，如果我们要真正理解超级大国的定义，历史上只有两个国家接近世界统治地位，那就是大英帝国和美国，另一个符合这个定义的国家是西班牙帝国。
而美利坚合众国，是目前唯一的超级大国。

Scott Tyler, B.Ed. Education, University of Western Ontario (2004)
No, China has never been a superpower. A ‘superpower’ is a country that has influence globally, and China’s influence has only ever been regional. In fact, beyond Korea, Mongolia and Vietnam, China has had no colonies or protectorates. Sure, it influenced Japan, but never occupied it.
Also, China has often been invaded and ruled by foreigners: Mongols, Manchus, and Jin ruled China for centuries. Then there were long periods when China was divided into 2, 3, 6, 10 or more separate kingdoms.

不，中国从来都不是超级大国。“超级大国”指的是一个在全球有影响力的国家，而中国的影响力只是区域性的。事实上，除了朝鲜、蒙古和越南，中国没有殖民地和保护国。当然，它影响了日本，但从未占领过日本。
此外，古代中国朝代更替经常被侵略和统治：蒙古人、满族人和女真人统治了中国几个世纪，还有，中国还有很长的时期分裂成2个、3个甚至多个独立的王国。

Daniel Wong
The term “superpower” that is used in the present context has a very specific meaning and that is a country that can project power and influence across the world. If that country cannot project its power and influence across the world but only in a particular region, then that country is a regional power.
In ancient times, no country even knew that the world was round much less travelled around the world much less project its power and influence across the world. Hence, no. China was not a super power in ancient times and neither was any other country including the older civilizations of Egypt, Persia and India. At best, these were regional powers.

在目前情况下使用的“超级大国”一词有着非常具体的含义，它是一个能够在全世界投射力量和影响力的国家。如果该国不能将其力量和影响投射到全世界，而只能投射到某一特定区域，那么该国就是一个区域大国。
在古代，甚至没有一个国家知道地球是圆的，更别说周游世界和向全世界展示自己的力量和影响力了，因此，古代中国不是一个超级大国，其他任何国家也不是，包括埃及、波斯和印度的文明古国。这些国家，充其量，只能算是地区强国。

Mark Dallas, Professor,Political Science & Asian Studies,unx College NY
In my opinion, terms like “superpower” and “globalization” are inappropriately used with reference to ancient time periods. None of the great ancient civilizations had a global reach, and there was relatively sporadic and infrequent contacts between them, so you can think of the world as divided into regions, and each region may have had its own local “superpower” civilization at different points in time. The truly trans-regional empires (like the Mongols or the Macedonians under Alexander), generally did not last very long, partly because of their inability to create large-scale organizational capacities to rule. They could conquer, but not rule.
Globalization (in both economic and political terms) did not really become a phenomenon until European colonization. This does not deny that other civilizations had global trading routes prior to and during European colonization, but as far as I am aware, there was not nearly as much state-sponsored colonization. This is the beginning of the very first era of globalization.

在我看来，像“超级大国”和“全球化”这样的术语在古代是不恰当的，伟大的古代文明，没有一个是全球性的，它们之间的联系也相对零星而不频繁，所以你可以把世界看作是不同地区，每个地区在不同的时间点可能都有自己地方的“超级大国”文明。真正的跨地区帝国（如蒙古帝国和亚历山大帝国），一般不会持续很长时间，部分原因是它们没有大规模的组织能力来进行统治，他们可以征服，但不能统治。
（在经济和政治方面的）全球化，直到欧洲殖民化后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有全球贸易路线，但据我所知，几乎没有国家发起过殖民，这是全球化开始的标志。

Steve Cai, Developer at Morningstar (2013-present)
As you konw, the ancient china is only 5 to 10 provinces than now China.
Some many nationality nearby china invade china and !!!!
Sucessfully Invade china and gover people.
But, they often to be one of chinese now. Because Calture! Chinese ancient calture can make any people conquested!
This is the super power of china from ancient to now I belive.

如你所知，古代中国只有现在中国5到10个省那么大。
古代中国朝代更替。
但是，他们现在是中国人，因为文化！中国古代的文化可以征服任何人！
我相信这是中国从古到今都是超级大国（的原因）。

Peter Yan, studied at Student for Life
The concept of “Super Power” is a relatively recent one in history As others have pointed out, China certainly was a great “regional” power during much of her history. To the extent that modes of transportation in ancient time limited the extend of reach, I do not think global power existed anywhere in the ancient world.
About 300–400 years before Industrial Revolution, General Zheng He of Chinese Ming Dynasty led an expeditionary journey of what was then the largest armada in the world with his largest ship stretching 120 meters (more than 390 feet) in length. He reached S Asia, SE Asia, through (modern names) Strait of Malacca, Sri Lanka, Gulf of Oman, Arabian Sea, Gulf of Aden, Red Sea, back down to sail the east coast of Africa. In his journey, he did not take any land for his Emperor.
China had never been a consistently and outwardly aggressive invader throughout much of her history. It was more a wall-building (to wit - The Great Wall of China) sovereignty-defender, rather than an aggressive territory-taker. Its aggression were mostly for defensive needs to prevent bothersome intrusions from one of its many neighbors, such as Vietnam from the south.

China had, indeed, been invaded, and occupied, by foreigners. However, all of these foreigners were unable to rule over a Chinese people united by their culture for long. It is a culture that emphasis benevolence (仁), doing the right thing (義) and morality (道德). The Mongolians lasted for less than 100 years. The Manchurian did better, but was ultimately driven out also.

Chinese Emperors tended to rule by emphasizing moral authority, even doing so while being corrupt. Their corruptions, together with the closing of its borders to the outside world after the aforementioned He expedition, were the major reasons why China could not sustain its strength continuously throughout history and into modernity. Their rules were by no means perfect. However, Chinese atrocities from these Emperors were mostly directed inwardly, seldom outwardly, including the most recent one called Cultural Revolution. However, Cultural Revolution was not based on Chinese philosophies historically. The theory of Communism can ultimately be traced back to the theory of never-ending conflicts proposed by German philosopher, George Hegel.
The idea of a “Super-Power” globally never existed in Chinese history.
America, from early days of its history, was intent on being dominant. Its doctrine of “Manifest Destiny” was the philosophical foundation to justify the killings of North American natives and the robbing of their lands. When its own country was strong enough, it came up with a “Monroe Doctrine”.When Cold War ended, and most Americans were expecting prosperity from “peace dividends”, its military-industrial complex, with collusion of its government, came up with the idea of “Exceptionalism with Missionary Obligation”.
The resistances from those who do not want to be dominated are truly the causes of the chaos we see in the world today.
I, like most residents of this world, would prefer to live in a world of harmonious existence wherein all are EQUAL. American needs to learn that acceptances of differences among cultures and respect of human rights have to be universally applied, not only in America.

“超级大国”的概念，在历史上来看是一个相对较新的概念，正如其他人所指出的那样，中国在其历史的大部分时间里，肯定是一个伟大的“地区”大国。古代的交通方式，限制了实力的延伸，我认为古时候的任何地方，都不存在全球性势力。
大约在工业革命前300到400年前，中国明朝的郑和将军，率领着当时世界上最大的无敌舰队远征，他的舰队中，最大的战舰长达120米（390多英尺），他到达了南亚、东南亚，经过了马六甲海峡，到达斯里兰卡、阿曼湾、阿拉伯海、亚丁湾、红海。在他的旅途中，他没有为他的皇帝占领任何土地。
在中国的历史上，中国从来都不是一个侵略者，它更像是一座长城，而不是一个侵略性的领土占领者，它的进攻主要是为了防御需要，以防止来自其众多邻国令人不安的入侵，例如来自南部的越南。
古代中国确实被外国人侵略和占领过，但是，所有这些外国人，都无法长期统治由中华文化团结起来的中国人民，这是一种强调仁爱、道德的文化。蒙古人只统治了中国不到100年，满洲人做得更好，但最终也被赶了出去。
中国历史上从未出现过“超级大国”的概念。
而美国，从其历史早期开始，就致力于成为主导（世界的国家），美国的“天定命运论”，是杀戮北美土著人和掠夺他们土地的哲学基础，当这个国家足够强大时，它提出了“门罗主义”。当冷战结束，大多数美国人期待从“和平红利”中获得繁荣时，军工巨头与政府勾结，提出了“（美国）例外论”的构想。
那些不想被统治的人的反抗，才是我们今天所看到的世界混乱的真正原因。
我和世界上大多数居民一样，宁愿生活在一个人人平等的和谐世界中。美国人需要知道，接受不同文化间的差异并尊重人QUAN，必须得到普遍适用，而不仅仅是在美国。
【译注：“天命论”是19世纪美国人的一种信条，认为对外扩张是美国的天命。】

Tomy Chan
Before the industrial era there was no superpower. The most powerful empire only attained the level of regional power.
take example Roman Empire or Tang dynasty, their action only affected their surrounding civilization. Since we are talking about China, we’ll talk about Tang Dynasty.
If we count superpower by the power of destruction that empire has, Tang dynasty most deadly weapon is crossbow, spear, bow. These weapon has a relative small destruction power compare to later weapon. In this respect no Tang dynasty can not be compare with the current destruction power weapon.
Also during Tang Dynasty, the Japan, Korean did learn and adopt many things from it. A lot of middle east trader did trade in Tang dynasty capital Chang an, But Tang dynasty influence has not reach the entire globe. The Maya or Aztec civilization probably never heard of Tang dynasty. Europe only seen China through it’s silk and porcelain.
The Tang dynasty even lost war with the Arab, in central Asia, this means the stretch of military power is limited to the sorrounding region.
In this respect Tang Dynasty was not a world power let alone superpower. The next dynasty is quite similar with Tang Dynasty.
So no…. China has never been a superpower.

在工业时代之前，是没有超级大国的，那时候最强大的国家，也只能算地区强国。以罗马帝国或中国的唐帝国为例，他们只影响到了周围的文明。既然我们谈论的是中国，我们来谈谈唐朝吧。
如果用帝国的毁灭力来衡量计算超级大国，那唐朝最致命的武器是弩、矛、弓。这些武器，与后来的武器相比，破坏力相对较小。在这方面，任何唐朝的武器都比不上现在的毁灭性武器。
唐朝时期，日本、韩国也从中国学习和吸收了许多东西，很多中东商人在唐朝都城长安进行贸易，但唐朝的影响并没有波及全球，玛雅文明或阿兹特克文明可能从来没有听说过唐朝，欧洲也只有通过丝绸和瓷器，才能了解一下中国（唐朝）。
唐朝输掉了与阿拉伯在中亚的战争，这意味着它的军事力量延伸，仅限于它周围的地区。
在这方面，唐朝不是世界强国，更不是超级大国，（唐朝）下来的朝代和唐朝很相似。
所以，我的答案是：不是！中国从来就不是超级大国。