China's ancient frontier policy played a unique role in promoting the development and growth of a unified multi-ethnic China. Strengthening the study of China's frontier policy in history is of reference significance to the governance of contemporary China's frontier. Frontier Policy: The product of special national conditions is vast in territory and abundant in resources, with a large population, a long history and splendid culture, which China people have always been proud of. If we do a little cognitive sublimation and philosophical thinking about this, then they refer to two unparalleled historical heritages left by our ancestors: a vast and unified multi-ethnic country and a populous and diverse Chinese nation, in short, unity and multi-ethnicity. This is a special national condition that distinguishes China from any other country in the world. After a long and tortuous development process, China, a unified multi-ethnic country, has basically formed a modern country. Although this process is very long, complicated and tortuous, the general trend is that from the pre-Qin period, a core area began to form on the territory of modern China. Although this area is not static, it is roughly in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River to the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. In this central region, there are both Huaxia and Yi areas, both Han and ethnic minorities. In the process of national development, the development of border areas is an integral part of it. The state of national development determines the development level of border areas and has an important impact on national development. Chinese nation is not only a national concept, but also a national concept. "Multiple integration" is the embodiment of the national development trend of the Chinese nation with both individuality and individuality. In the historical development of the Chinese nation, "pluralism" refers to the "individuality" and "particularity" of all ethnic groups in the process of forming a unified multi-ethnic country, that is, the diversity of language, region, economy, culture and psychology and the particularity of expression. The characteristics of "integration" refer to the identity characteristics and "integration" trend of * * * in the process of its development. In the process of the formation of the Chinese nation, there are cohesive characteristics from pluralism to unity from beginning to end: first, many tribes distributed in the Yellow River Basin have merged with each other to form the Chinese nation; Later, the Huaxia ethnic group merged into several ethnic groups, such as Northern Emperor, Dongyi, Xirong and Nanman, and formed the Han nationality. As the core of the Chinese nation, the Han nationality has a strong attraction to many ethnic groups around it once it appears. They are closely linked in politics, economy, culture and other aspects, and they are constantly integrated, forming a whole in which you have me, I have you, and no one can live without anyone. This is the Chinese nation. The pluralistic Chinese nation has two characteristics worthy of attention. The first is the local characteristics in pluralism. Although the Chinese nation has been formed by the continuous integration of many ethnic groups for thousands of years, most of these ethnic groups, whether they disappear in history or exist in real life, were born and raised in this vast land of China, and even the ancestors of some ethnic minorities were formed through the continuous integration with various ethnic groups in China; Second, in the struggle against foreign aggression, the cohesion of the Chinese nation has been constantly sublimated. All ethnic groups within the Chinese nation, including those who have disappeared in history, have had conflicts, but after thousands of years of continuous blending, they have become a unified whole, and China has become their common activity area and their common home. Modern times were invaded and carved up by imperialist powers, and the cohesion of the Chinese nation was released unprecedentedly. In the historical evolution, a unified multi-ethnic country and a pluralistic Chinese nation are interdependent, mutually promoting and developing simultaneously. The unified multi-ethnic China and the pluralistic Chinese nation have developed simultaneously and become a unique landscape in the history of the world. The implementation of the frontier policy with China characteristics is an important reason that makes this synchronous development possible and realistic. The basic task of frontier policy is to hold a line (border line) and manage a piece of land (border area), which actually contains two elements: things and people. It can be said that frontier management is a social system engineering with the goal of comprehensive management of people and things. In a unified multi-ethnic China, the border areas are the main areas where ethnic minorities thrive. Therefore, one of the most important contents of frontier policy is to handle ethnic relations well. Only by mobilizing the enthusiasm of the upper-class ethnic groups in the frontier and creating a stable social environment for the majority of ethnic groups can we promote the benign development of a unified multi-ethnic China and a pluralistic Chinese nation. Frontier Policy: Connotation, Extension and Function No matter which generation in China's history, it is faced with frontier problems. The rulers have also formulated frontier policies and launched frontier strategies to consolidate their rule. Frontier strategy is the development and management of frontier areas by successive dynasties. Frontier policy is the guiding principle and concrete measure to implement frontier strategy, and the concept of border management is one of the important prerequisites to formulate frontier policy. Whether the frontier policy is correct or not, whether the frontier strategy is successful or not, and whether the idea of governing the frontier conforms to the trend of the times not only directly affects the rise and fall of a dynasty, but also has a great influence on the overall formation and development of China, a unified multi-ethnic country. The frontier policy of China's feudal dynasty was formed at the beginning of Qin and Han Dynasties. After being enriched and perfected by many unified dynasties such as Sui, Tang, Yuan and Qing Dynasties, it formed a complete system, which is quite distinctive in the history of countries all over the world. China's ancient frontier policy contains rich connotations, including the management system from the central government to the frontier region, the administrative system of the frontier, the frontier policy, the ethnic policy, the religious policy and the economic development policy, as well as the modern foreign policy related to border negotiations, which constitutes a complete system of ancient frontier policy. The extension of China's ancient frontier policy should include world outlook, national outlook, national outlook, traditional frontier policy, the study of people, things, places and things related to frontier policy, and the comparative study of frontier development in different periods, types and countries. In a word, the basic contents of China's ancient frontier policy are as follows: 1. Jimmy and Huairou. Liberation, that is, contact and containment, is a policy often adopted by the rulers of the central dynasty in the history of China to govern the border minority areas. This policy attempts to strengthen the political, economic and cultural ties between the mainland and the border areas, strengthen the influence of the Central Plains on the border areas without changing the internal structure of the original political entities in the border areas, and promote the integration process between the mainland and the border areas, thus consolidating and strengthening the unified country. The Tang Dynasty is a representative dynasty in Chinese history. In the second year of Tang Wude (6 19), in February, emperor gaozu Li Yuan issued an imperial edict: "Painting wild areas is divided into Xinjiang, and mountains and rivers are limited to its inside and outside; Distant and desolate, criminal politics is different from believing in summer. It is because the king ruled the world in the past, and it was gentle and far away, and righteousness was in its infancy. " (Book House Yuan Gui, Volume 170, Emperor's Department came to the hospital) Li Yuan clearly pointed out that the situation in frontier ethnic areas is different from that in the mainland, and the policy of imprisonment should be implemented. The core of Jimi policy is the moderate rule of the central government over the border ethnic areas, which is embodied in the establishment of Jimi government in the Tang Dynasty. Along with Jimmy's policy is the Huairou policy. As early as the Qin Dynasty, the law stipulated the titles of Wang and Chang, the leaders of frontier ethnic groups, and gave them preferential treatment. After the Han Dynasty, the feudal dynasty pursued this ruling policy, and the rulers of the Qing Dynasty innovated and reformed this policy, making it more perfect and becoming the basic policy for governing the frontier nationalities. 2. Administrative and military deployment. The central dynasties all had institutions to manage border affairs. In the Qin dynasty, the central government had two institutions, namely, Canon Branch and Canon State. In the Han Dynasty, the central government set up the Dahonglu, which "unified the vassals and surrounded the barbarians" and "surrounded the barbarians" (Book of the Later Han Dynasty, volume 35, Guan Bai Er). The guest and guest department of the Sui Dynasty Ritual Department and the Split Temple were responsible for the management of frontier ethnic affairs; During the Tang Dynasty, there was a ceremony department in the central government, including the ceremony department and the guest department, which was responsible for handling ethnic affairs in the border areas. In the Yuan Dynasty, the central government set up internal affairs offices, courtyards and other institutions to manage ethnic affairs in the border areas, while in the Ming Dynasty, it set up official departments, ritual departments, military departments, prefect Siyi Pavilion, crack hon temple, step department, monk record department, and governor's office of the Fifth Army to manage ethnic affairs in the border areas. By the Qing Dynasty, the central government had set up Fan Liyuan to deal with Mongolian and other ethnic affairs. While strengthening administrative management, the central dynasties of past dynasties also strengthened the governance of border areas through garrison. Originally, "loving the people" was the usual method of China rulers, especially in frontier ethnic areas. Military deployment is the embodiment of strength and the policy of "deterrent force". 3. From consanguinity to marriage. In the history of our country, the rulers of the central dynasty often adopted the measures of affinity or marriage in order to consolidate the political alliance with the upper class of ethnic minorities in the border areas, strengthen the rule over the border areas, or achieve the stability of social order in the border areas. In this respect, Han, Tang and Qing dynasties are representative. For example, in the Han dynasty, it was mainly with Xiongnu in the northern frontier and Wusun in the northwest frontier. From Emperor Gaozu to the early period of Emperor Wudi, there were five imperial daughters and pro-Huns in the Han Dynasty. After the middle period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, in order to unite Wusun to fight back against Xiongnu, the Han Dynasty shifted its focus from Xiongnu to Wusun, and three princesses, two ladies-in-waiting and Wusun, Qiuci and Shanshan appeared successively. Another example is the marriage in the Qing Dynasty, which was mainly conducted between Manchu nobles and Mongolian princes. Including two aspects: first, the rulers of the Qing Dynasty chose concubines from Mongolian princes; Second, the rulers of the Qing Dynasty married the princess to the Mongolian maharaja. Huang taiji has 15 queens, 7 of whom are Mongolians. The two Empresses of Huang Taiji, Empress Xiao Duan and sourdrang queen, and Chen Fei of Guansui Palace, are from Horqin Department of Inner Mongolia. There are 19 queens in the emperor shunzhi, six of whom are Mongolians. Of the 40 empresses of Emperor Kangxi, two were Mongolians, and there were Mongolians among the empresses of Emperor Qianlong. From the early Shunzhi period to the middle and late Qianlong period, the 13 princesses married by Manchu nobles were all the emperor's own daughters, and their marriage scope also developed from southern Mongolia to northern Mongolia and western Mongolia. According to incomplete statistics, there are more than 2,000 princess descendants Tai Chi and in-laws Tai Chi under King Horqin Khan, more than 500 princess descendants Tai Chi under King Tuxietu, 600 under Aohan Banner and 170 under King Bahrain. Emperor Qianlong once wrote a poem: "Although Mu Sai is far away, marriage is recent" (Zhang Mu: Mongolian Nomads, Volume I). In the process of development and change, Manchu-Mongolian marriage in Qing Dynasty gradually formed various systems, mainly including the system of salary and satin, the system of pilgrimage to Beijing, the system of giving titles to children and the system of consolation and sacrifice. Of course, the limitations and inhumanity of this policy are also obvious. Taking the marriage in the Tang Dynasty as an example, the marriage between Tang Fan (Tubo) and his relatives, especially Princess Wencheng and Tubo's relatives, has become an eternal story, but we should objectively evaluate the practical role of the marriage between Tang Fan and his relatives in the overall development of bilateral relations. Princess Wencheng spread culture and planted friendship on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, which was revered by the Chinese and Tibetan people. However, after the death of Songzan Gambu, Princess Wencheng could not reverse the deterioration of the relationship between Tang and Fan. As for the tragic color of their personal fate and the destruction of human nature by political marriage in feudal society, it should be whipped. 4. Economic development. Economic development and social stability are the premise and foundation of frontier governance, so an important content of frontier governance is economic development. There were two main forms of economic development in China's border areas during the feudal period: one was the reclamation of state behavior; Second, the central government takes effective measures to promote non-governmental exchanges between the border areas and the mainland. Reclaiming wasteland and guarding the border is also called reclaiming wasteland and guarding the border. Historically, all dynasties took stationing troops to defend the frontier as an important measure to develop and consolidate the frontier defense. When Qin Shihuang became the first emperor, he began to farm and defend the frontier. Since then, the central governments of past dynasties, especially the unified dynasty, have followed suit and become an important part of the border management policies of past dynasties. Taking Xinjiang as an example, judging from the development history of wasteland reclamation in Xinjiang, the Western Han Dynasty, the Tang Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty were large-scale and achieved remarkable results, which were developed on the basis of the previous generation. As early as around 105 BC, the Western Han Dynasty began to reclaim land in Xuanlei (now Yili Valley), with the aim of uniting Wusun to defend the Huns. But the real large-scale reclamation was after 69 BC. Reclaiming farmland can not only solve the supply of food and other materials, but also become an important force to defend and maintain social stability in the western regions, so this measure has been used in successive dynasties since the Han Dynasty. If the rule of the Tang Dynasty in the Western Regions was counted from 630 AD to the end of the 8th century, it lasted for more than 160 years. "Since Tang Wude, the frontier has been opened up, and even the western regions have set up governors, satrap, prefectures and counties. In the early years of Kaiyuan, the envoys of Shuofang, Longyou, Hexi, Anxi and Beiting were appointed to unify. When Shandong Ding Zhuang was a garrison soldier, silks served as military assets, plowed fields for food, kept livestock and horses, and the military city served as a garrison, facing Wan Li "(Zi Jian, volume 223). Judging from the development history of Xinjiang's reclamation in Qing Dynasty, Xinjiang was the most developed area in China at the beginning of Qing Dynasty, and its reclamation achievements in Qing Dynasty were even more remarkable, mainly as follows: First, a large area of cultivated land was reclaimed, which promoted Xinjiang's social and economic development. At the beginning of Qing Dynasty, the soldiers and civilians of all ethnic groups reclaimed 3010.9 million mu; Second, it completely solved the commissary and reduced the financial burden of the country; Third, it has promoted the development of cultural and educational undertakings in Xinjiang; Fourth, it provides a solid logistical support for the stability of Xinjiang. It must be pointed out that the frontier policy in history has distinct class attributes, and its direct purpose is to serve the political interests of several generations. However, from the background of unifying the development trend of multi-ethnic countries, its historical positive role is self-evident. In a word, firstly, it has promoted the consolidation and unification of multi-ethnic countries; Second, it coordinated ethnic relations and promoted the evolution of the pluralistic and integrated Chinese nation; Third, the orderly development of the frontier economy has promoted the historical process of the integration of the frontier and the mainland.