For about 100 years a core question in the theory of the Chinese nation has been on how modern China can inherit the historical vast territory and build a great nation state which can mobi⁃lize the resources effectively over a long period of time. Different answers to this question form the root cause of many differences concerning the theory. In this regard, a political reconstruction of the theory of the Chinese nation is not directed against the theory of national equality and national compensation policy, but to establish a theory of the state on the issue of nationalism. This theory of the state requires an addition of an individual dimension which the traditional theory of the nation lacks, a theoretical way of transforming the cultural orientation to a political one in the construction of nationality, and an improvement in political efficiency so as to provide a fundamental guarantee for the enrichment of polit⁃ical scale. In essence, the theory of the Chinese nation is not the claim of the “ethnic groups”, but a theory of the “nation”.%百年来，中华民族理论试图回答的核心问题是：现代中国如何继承历史形成的广阔幅员，建立长期高效调集资源的超大民族国家。对此问题的不同解答，是造成中华民族理论诸多分歧的根本原因。就此而言，中华民族理论的政治重建，并非针对民族平等理论和民族补偿政策，而是要在民族主义的问题上建立国家学说。这种国家学说要求增加传统民族理论缺乏的个体维度；扭转国族建设的文化本位为政治本位；提高政治效率，从而为充实政治规模提供根本保障。从本质上讲，中华民族理论不是“民族”的主张，而是“国家”的理论。
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