Chinese"aiding and abetting"#02/幇の成り立ちについて、ちょっとだけ考えよう

"中華" began in the middle and lower Huánghé(Yellow River). It is the Zhōngyuán/CHUGEN中原.
The Zhōngyuán/Middle Plains is a vast plain adjacent to the Yellow River. The ancient civilization, which is getting bigger and bigger, has always been "farming". Huge rivers and plains are essential. In the case of the Roman Empire, it was the Po River and the Po Plains, which flowed through the northern part of the Italian peninsula. The Nile and the Tigris Euphrates were no different.
The pre-Qin dynasties, the Xia, Shang, and Zhou, all arose in the Middle Plains, and they ruled over the Middle Plains.
And they all ruled over the Central Plains and called the surrounding area "I am the Chinese" and called it the Four Barbarians. Eastern barbarians, Western barbarians, Southern barbarians, and Northern barbarians.

Nowadays, however, we call not only the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River but also the North China Plain "the Middle Plains". That is to say, it includes the area from the western part of Shandong province to the southern part of Hebei and Shanxi provinces and the eastern part of Shaanxi province.
The reason for this is the "Qin". The Qin Dynasty, the first unified dynasty of China, expanded its territory greatly at the hands of the First Emperor, swallowing the North China Plain and making it its own territory.
Why did the Qin Dynasty not stick to the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River and expand the "Middle Plains"? Because Qin was not a dynasty born in the (original) Middle Plains. Qin was a member of the Western Warriors. They had no attachment to the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River.
The dynasties that were established after the short-lived Qin Dynasty also advocated "I am China", but the "China" they referred to came to refer to the "middle land" that was expanded by the Qin Dynasty.
In a sense, it can be said that this is similar to the Latin people who drew a line between "what is Rome" and "what is Rome".

The rulers of the Middle Plains always referred to the surrounding area as "the four barbarians". Eastern barbarians, Western barbarians, southern barbarians, and northern barbarians were the lands to be ruled or defended. The reason why the lands to be defended were the eastern barbarians, the western barbarians, and the northern barbarians was that the people in these lands were horsemen and hunters, not farmers. This also resembles the relationship between Rome and the Germanic peoples of the East.
The southern barbarians on the other hand...were to be colonized. This also overlaps with the history of the Greeks/Phoenicians in southern Italy who were being ruled by the Romans.

The land of 楚/Chux was the Southern Barbarians. The 閩/荊南/南漢/大長和/交趾も南蛮 were also Southern barbarians.
South China had been a controlled region since time immemorial.
The land of Chuxing was the land of the people who were swept away from the middle land and forced to migrate to other places, losing the land where they were born and raised. Whenever they were swept away and migrated to some place, they recreated their homeland there. Their sorrowful intentions are also described in 旧五代史食貨志(Iwanami Bunko) and other books.
I can't help but think that it was not from these people in South China that the word "幣" was born. The people who "had no gods or principles and were only pursued by the gods" could only rely on the geographical relationship of their blood and hometown.

「中華」は、黄河中下流域から始まった。「中原」である。
中原は、黄河に隣接する広大な平原だ。巨大化していく古代文明は、常に"立農"である。巨大な河と平原を必須とする。ローマ帝国の場合、それはイタリア半島北部を流れるポー川でありポー平原だった。ナイルも然り、チグリス・ユーフラテスも然りである。
先秦王朝である夏・殷・周は全てこの中原に興った。
そして中原を支配した彼らは、何れも「我こそ中華なり」とし、周辺を四夷と呼んだ。東夷・西戎・南蛮・北狄である。

しかし今、我々は黄河中下流域だけではなく華北平原まで含めて「中原」と呼ぶ。すなわち山東省の西部から河北省・山西省の南部、陝西省の東部にわたる地域も含めるのである。
理由は「秦」にある。中華最初の統一王朝である秦は、始皇帝の手によって大きく領土を伸ばし、華北平原を呑みこみ、これをわが領土としたからだ。
なぜ秦は黄河中下流域に固執せず「中原」なるものを拡大解釈したか。秦が(原)中原に生まれた王朝ではなかったからだ。秦は西戎の徒である。彼らに黄河中下流域に対する思い入れはない
短命だった秦王朝の後に成立した諸王朝もまた「我こそ中華なり」と唱えるのだが、彼らが云う「中華」は秦によって拡がった「中原」を指すようになっていった。
ある意味、ラテン人がした「どこまでがローマか」という線引きによく似ているとも云えよう。

中原の支配者は、常に周辺を「四夷」と呼んだ。東夷・西戎・南蛮・北狄は、支配すべき地か防衛すべき地だった。防衛すべき地は東夷・西戎・北狄の三夷だったのは、これらの地に有ったのが騎馬を為す民族であり、立農ではなく狩猟の民だったからである。これもまたローマと東方ゲルマン人との関係によく似ている。
一方、南蛮は・・植民すべき地だった。これもまたローマ人に支配されていく南イタリアのギリシャ人/フェニキア人の歴史がオーバーラップしてしまう。

楚の地は南蛮だった。閩/荊南/南漢/大長和/交趾も南蛮だった。
華南は太古から被支配地域だったのだ。
楚の地は、中原から勢力に押し流され、生まれ育った土地を失い他地への移住を余儀なくされる民の土地だったのである。彼らは押し流され、何処の地かに僑居(けふこ)すると、必ず故郷を其処で再現した。その悲痛な意志は旧五代史食貨志(岩波文庫)などにも綿々と描かれている。
僕には「幣」という拠代が生まれたのは、こうした華南の人々からだったのではないと思えてならない。「神もなく大義もなく、ただ追われるだけの」民が拠るところは、血縁で有り同出身地であるという地縁でしかなかった・・のではないか?そう思ってしまう。