遼西地區專化遊牧業的起源──兼論華夏邊緣的形成
王明珂
在遼西、燕山地區，由新石器時代晚期到殷商時期，並沒有顯明的華夏與非華夏的生態、文化或政治邊界。在夏家店下層文化中，當地人類行農業並畜豬、狗。到了晚期，因氣候乾旱化，不利於農業發展，人類活動減少，並有武裝化傾向。在經過商周間的調適期後，人們重新利用這地區。此時夏家店上層文化的人們仍行農業，同時畜養更多的草食動物。這種生態適應，使每一人群所需的生態區，都較前期農業人群所需的大了許多，如此造成人群間的衝突與進一步的武裝化。武裝衝突造成更多的人群不願從事農業生產，而依賴畜牧、漁獵與掠奪。
北方人群的移動化、畜牧化、武裝化，反映在中國古史上的，就是戎狄華夏之分的概念出現在南方人群中。西周因戎禍而亡之後，「華夏」這樣的自稱在中國文獻中愈來愈普遍；華夏成為極力維護自身族群邊界，以保護共同資源的人群。華夏愈互保以壟斷南方資源，愈逼使遼西與燕山山地的人群更依賴畜養動物，以及進一步的武裝化、移動化，以向南方侵奪。為了對付南方華夏的凝聚，燕山以北及遼西地區的遊牧人群，起先結成較大的政治群體，東胡。在燕國北征，以及西方匈奴興起，兩方面的壓力下，這地區的人群全面遊牧化，並發展出分散化、平等化的遊牧部落組織（鮮卑、烏桓），以適應新的局面。
Origins of Specialized Nomadic Pastoralism in the West Liao-River Valley --and the Formation of Hwa-hsia Ethnic Boundaries
Wang Ming-ke
Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica
This paper explores the origins of specialized nomadic pastoralism in the West Liao-river Valley and the concomitant emergence of ethnic boundaries between the Chinese and the “northern barbarians” in this area. Archaeological recoveries of the last few decades have demonstrated that from the late Neolithic to the Shang period the people of the West Liao-river Valley were basically farmers who also raised pigs and dogs. In the last stage of Lower Hsia-chia-tien Culture, while the climate became drier and cooler, people adapted to this new environment by reducing farming, and increasing raiding. This finally was followed by period characterized by drastic reduction of human activities in this area. After the period of ‘ interruption’ , this area was re-occupied by the people of Upper Hsia-chia-tien Culture who, compared with the people of the Upper culture, depended less on agriculture and more on herding domesticated herbivores. This adaptive strategy caused incrasing need of wider subsistence niche for every human unit, and caused more fierce competition for resources, and further militarization and mobilization among the people.The more the northern people became pastoralized, militarized, and mobilized, the more they became “barbarous” in the eyes of the sedentary people in the south. It is in this context that the hostile exonym Jung-Ti, as opposed to the autonym Huahsia (ancient Chinese) emerged in historical records. The Huahsia now became a powerful human group for protecting or grabbing living resources in this area. In response to this change the people of the West Liao-river Valley became full nomads. Consequently, the development from the nomadic state Tunghu to the more segmentary and egalitarian Wu-huan and Hsian-pei tribal confederacies marked the finally stage toward specialized nomadism in this area.