民族是在人类社会中存在的最普遍的社会现象之一。它自产生以来,人们便生活在它的怀抱中,并受它各种要素的影响。但是,民族到底是什么?它对人类有何种作用和意义?曾长期不为人们所知,特别是阶级、国家、政权成为人类社会政治生活的主宰以来,更阻碍了人们对民族真实面貌的了解。我国古代文献中常使用“民”和“族”两个字,但把这两个字组合起来,构成一个名词则是相当晚近的事。有人认为这一词汇最早出现在1882年,象“社会”、“生产”、“电话”等词一样,是从日语借来的外来词。(阿拉坦:《论民族》)也有人认为梁启超首先采用了这个词,时间是1903年。无论如何,“民族”一词是本世纪初起才在 Nation is one of the most common social phenomena that exist in human society. Since its birth, people have lived in its embrace and been influenced by its various elements. However, what exactly is a nation and what role does it have for humankind? It has long been unknown to people, especially since class, state and government became the masters of political life in human society, To understanding. The ancient Chinese literature often uses the terms “民” and “族”, but combining these two words to form a noun is quite recent. Some people think that the term first appeared in 1882, like “social”, “production”, “telephone” and other words, borrowed from Japanese loanwords. (Alatan: On the Nation) Some people think that Liang first adopted the word, the time is 1903 years. In any case, the term “nation” was only available from the beginning of this century