“人生天地之间，若白驹之过卻，忽然而已”。2049539转瞬之间，我到中南民族大学工作已经三十五年了。初到民族大学时，二十六岁，如今已年逾花甲，过了正常退休的年龄。从一名地地道道的农民，变成为一名大学的教授和管理工作者，回望这几十年的人生旅程，不由生出许多的感慨。

我不是民族学科班出身，但自从进入民族大学之后，我就有意识地将自己的科研方向与民族问题“挂钩”。学术方向的定位与参与学校学科建设的需要，使我慢慢地进入民族问题的研究领域。在学界专家与学校同仁的支持下，这些年，我先后承担了教育部哲学社会科学研究重大课题攻关项目、国家社会科学基金重点项目、一般项目等国家级、省部级课题十余项，并在《民族研究》、《东欧中亚研究》、《光明日报》等发表与民族问题相关的论文数十篇。回过头来看，虽然这些文章很难称为严格意义上的学术论文，也谈不上对国家与社会有什么实质性的贡献，但它记录了我学习与思考的历程。在临近退休，即将开始一种新的生活体验之际，我将已发表的与民族问题相关的部分文字进行了整理，交付出版。作为一种记忆文本，算是对本人相关研究的一个总结和给自己的一个交代。

本书收录的文章，时间跨度较长，最早的写于20世纪80年代中期，最晚的直至当下。这一时段，正是我国经济社会快速发展，社会变革最为深刻的时期。回过头来审视这期间发表的文字，心中不免忐忑。所幸的是，虽然三十余年过去了，但文章所述的观点，在今天看来尚未过时。一些文章中所分析探讨的问题，虽因社会发展与政策调整，有了较大的变化，但其所论述的角度与作出的判断，今天看来也还有一定的价值。为尊重事实，体现文责自担的精神，在本次整理中，只对个别字句做了订正与修改，基本保持了论文发表时的原貌。书中文章，大多数由我独立撰写，也有若干篇与他人合作完成，对此已在各篇中予以注明。在此，谨向各位合作者表示衷心的感谢！同时，也对发表原文的各刊物及编辑人员表示诚挚的谢意！

民族问题是人类社会与现代国家面临的重大问题。自古至今，因民族之间的矛盾冲突引发的战争、仇杀不计其数，导致的社会动荡和政府更迭，数不胜数。民族作为一种特殊的人类共同体，具有十分复杂的影响因子和内在结构，其形成非短期的人为建构，其消亡也非人力突击可为。有专家认为，随着国家逐渐取代民族成为人类更大共同体，导致民族共同体不断衰落和瓦解，“民族走向衰落是历史的必然”。我认为，民族的衰落与瓦解是一个长期的历史过程，民族的消亡可能是极其遥远的事情，民族还将长期存在下去。只要有民族存在，民族问题也就不可避免。作为多元世界的一种人类共同体，民族以特殊的历史传统和语言文化为特征，其生存发展与各类资源的占有与利益的分配密切相关。在世界人口增长、生态持续恶化、资源危机加剧、国际竞争日趋激烈、各种利益冲突凸显的背景之下，民族共同体甚至有被强化、民族问题有趋于复杂化的可能。看不到这一点，就可能产生对形势的误判，犯原则性、颠覆性的错误。

我国是一个多民族国家。正确地解决民族问题，关乎国家统一、民族团结、社会和谐、经济发展、人民福祉。改革开放以来，我国社会进入深刻的转型期，民族发展、民族关系等出现一系列新情况新问题新挑战。加强民族问题研究，既是应对挑战的需要，也是民族理论工作者的使命与责任。实事求是地讲，近几十年我国的民族问题研究虽取得了重要成就，但也存在不少问题。从问题方面看，既有理论创新的不足，也有研究方法的不适应。新时期的民族问题研究，需要从我国的基本国情出发，拓宽研究视野，增强问题意识。既要重视对民族发展、民族关系、民族地区治理等现实问题研究，也要加强对民族历史文化和民族问题基本理论研究；既要重视国内民族问题研究，也需加强国外民族问题研究；既要发挥民族学、人类学在民族问题研究方面的优长，也要更好地与社会学、法学、政治学、公共管理学、国际关系学等学科协同与互动；既要重视民族学田野方法，也需更好地运用规范分析、比较分析、计量分析、实证分析等方法和现代科技手段。这些算是我对民族问题研究的一点不成熟的建议。

学人常引屈子“路漫漫其修远兮，吾将上下而求索”的名句自勉，却很少关注其“欲少留此灵琐兮，日忽忽其将暮”2049540之句的凄美。而我对这后句（在屈原《离骚》原文中是前句），更有一种特别的体悟。疲惫与惜时，也许古人与今人、圣哲与凡夫是相通的。过去了的事，可以反思，却不能改变；流逝了的时光，可以追忆，却不可以重来。刊出的文字，如泼出去的水。书中错谬之处，敬请读者批评指正。

作者 谨识

2016年8月10日

"Between heaven and earth in life, if the white horse passes, it is suddenly over." 2049539 blink of an eye, I have been working at South-Central University for Nationalities for 35 years. When I first arrived at Minzu University, I was 26 years old, but now I am over the age of retirement. From an authentic farmer to a university professor and management worker, looking back on the journey of life in the past few decades, I can't help but feel a lot of emotion. I am not from an ethnic science class, but since I entered the University for Nationalities, I have consciously "linked" my scientific research direction with ethnic issues. The orientation of academic direction and the need to participate in the construction of disciplines in schools made me slowly enter the field of ethnic issues. With the support of academic experts and school colleagues, over the years, I have undertaken more than ten national, provincial and ministerial projects such as major research projects in philosophy and social science research of the Ministry of Education, key projects of the National Social Science Foundation, and general projects, and published dozens of papers related to ethnic issues in "Ethnic Studies", "Eastern European and Central Asian Studies", "Guangming Daily" and so on. Looking back, although these articles can hardly be called academic papers in the strict sense, nor can they make any substantial contributions to the country and society, they record the process of my learning and thinking. As I approach retirement and about to embark on a new life experience, I have compiled and published some of the texts related to ethnic issues. As a memory text, it can be regarded as a summary of my relevant research and an explanation for myself. The articles included in this book span a long period of time, the earliest written in the mid-80s of the 20th century, and the latest until the present. This period is the period of rapid economic and social development and the most profound social change in China. Looking back at the texts published during this period, I can't help but feel apprehensive. Fortunately, although more than 30 years have passed, the ideas stated in the article are not outdated today. Although the issues analyzed and discussed in some articles have undergone great changes due to social development and policy adjustments, the perspectives and judgments they discuss still seem to have certain value today. In order to respect the facts and reflect the spirit of taking responsibility for the text, only individual words and sentences have been revised and revised in this collation, basically maintaining the original appearance when the paper was published. Most of the Chinese chapters of the book were written by me independently, but several were written in collaboration with others, which are noted in each chapter. Here, I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to all the collaborators! At the same time, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the journals and editorial staff who published the original article! The national question is a major issue facing human society and modern countries. Since ancient times, there have been countless wars and vendettas caused by contradictions and conflicts between ethnic groups, resulting in countless social turmoil and changes of government. As a special human community, the nation has very complex influence factors and internal structures, and its formation is not a short-term artificial construction, and its demise is not a human assault. Some experts believe that as the state gradually replaces the nation as a larger community of mankind, resulting in the continuous decline and disintegration of the national community, "the decline of the nation is the inevitability of history." I believe that the decline and disintegration of a nation is a long-term historical process, and the demise of a nation may be an extremely distant thing, and the nation will continue to exist for a long time. As long as there are nationalities, ethnic problems are inevitable. As a kind of human community in a pluralistic world, a nation is characterized by special historical traditions, language and culture, and its survival and development are closely related to the possession of various resources and the distribution of benefits. Under the background of world population growth, continuous deterioration of ecology, intensification of resource crisis, increasingly fierce international competition, and prominent conflicts of interest, the national community may even be strengthened and ethnic issues may become more complicated. If we fail to see this, we may misjudge the situation and make principled and subversive mistakes. My country is a multi-ethnic country. Correctly resolving ethnic issues has a bearing on national unity, ethnic unity, social harmony, economic development and the well-being of the people. Since the reform and opening up, China's society has entered a period of profound transformation, and a series of new situations, problems and challenges have emerged in ethnic development and ethnic relations. Strengthening the study of ethnic issues is not only the need to meet challenges, but also the mission and responsibility of ethnic theorists. Realistically speaking, although important achievements have been made in the study of ethnic issues in recent decades, there are also many problems. From the perspective of problems, there are both insufficient theoretical innovation and inadaptability of research methods. In the study of ethnic issues in the new period, it is necessary to proceed from China's basic national conditions, broaden the research horizon, and enhance the awareness of problems. It is necessary to attach importance to the study of practical issues such as ethnic development, ethnic relations, and governance of ethnic regions, and also strengthen the basic theoretical research on ethnic history, culture and ethnic issues; It is necessary to attach importance to the study of ethnic issues in China and strengthen the study of ethnic issues abroad; It is necessary not only to give full play to the advantages of ethnology and anthropology in the study of ethnic issues, but also to better coordinate and interact with sociology, law, political science, public administration, international relations and other disciplines; It is necessary to pay attention to ethnological field methods, and also need to make better use of normative analysis, comparative analysis, econometric analysis, empirical analysis and other methods and modern scientific and technological means. These are some of my premature suggestions for ethnic studies. Scholars often quote Qu Zi's famous phrase "The road is long and long, and I will seek it up and down", but they rarely pay attention to the poignancy of his 2049540 sentence: "I want to keep this spirit less trivial, and the day will be flickering". And I have a special understanding of this latter sentence (the previous sentence in Qu Yuan's original text). When we are tired and sad, perhaps the ancients and the present, the sages and the mortals. What has passed can be reflected, but it cannot be changed; The time that has passed can be remembered, but it cannot be repeated. Published words, like splashed water. Please criticize and correct the errors in the book. Author: August 10, 2016（AI翻译）