本文选择“少数民族”和“胡人”两个概念,就学术研究对以唐朝为核心的古代社会中的民族群体如何表述和描写的问题提出看法。作者认为,“少数民族”的概念是中国大陆1949年以后针对汉族以外的55个民族就其人口数量、政治地位、国家法定公民等属性进行规定之后形成的概念,具有新时代的特征,其内涵和外延具有与过去类似民族群体相互区别的特点,且具有稳定性,属于时代的产物。因此,在面对历史上的类似民族群体时,为表述的清楚起见,作者不主张径直采用“少数民族”这一词汇称呼,最佳的方式是采用传统中的中性词汇,如“匈奴(人)”、“突厥(人)”、“吐蕃(人)”等等,这样的词汇也具有历史的时代性,以示与今天有所区别,显示出历史研究中的严谨态度。作者还对历史时期中的“胡人”概念进行研究,在王国维、陈寅恪、吕思勉 This thesis selects two concepts, “minority” and “barbarian”, and puts forward some views on how academic research describes and describes the ethnic groups in the ancient society centered on the Tang Dynasty. The author believes that the concept of “minorities” is a concept formed by mainland China after 55 years of ethnic groups other than the Han nationality stipulated by its population, political status, statutory citizenship and other attributes after 1949, and has the characteristics of a new era. Its connotation and extension have the characteristics of distinguishing each other from the similar ethnic groups in the past, and they are stable and belong to the product of the times. Therefore, in the face of similar ethnic groups in history, for the sake of clarity of expression, the author does not advocate the straightforward use of the term “minorities”. The best way is to adopt the traditional neutral words such as “Huns (people)”, “Turks (people)”, “Tubo (people)” and so on. Such terms also have the historical era in order to show that they are different from today and show that historical studies In the rigorous attitude. The author also studies the concept of “barbarian ” in the historical period. In Wang Guowei, Chen Yinke,