Abstract:
Although the original meaning of “Da Yi Tong” is related to its extended meaning, its connotation is different. The former means “emphasize one regime marked by the beginning of time”, while the latter means “largescale unification”.Gong Yang Xue’s（公羊学） classics,“Da Yi Tong” and “Tong San Tong”（通三统） are important parts of the Confucian political theory of “San Tong”（三统）.During the Qin and Han Dynasties, the theory of “San Tong” could not reasonably explain the historical development since the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, nor it could meet the practical needs of the changes in the political system.At the same time, there exists inconsistency within the theory, so it was replaced by the theory of Five Elements Circulation(五德终始说) with more explanatory power. The theory of “Da Yi Tong” in the sense of Gong Yang Xue’s classics then was in decline for over one thousand years, and became an empty ideal of some politicians and thinkers. Since the Yuan Dynasty, and especially since the late Qing Dynasty, under the background of realizing the unification of multiethnic countries and safeguarding the territorial sovereignty integrity, the concept of “Da Yi Tong” has been endowed with new connotation and has become a landmark concept to prove that the Chinese nation has a long tradition and historical basis of national unification. Every kind of historical cognition is the result of the fusion of horizons between the comprehender’s situation and the text’s situation. It can neither be absolute truth nor be without merit. The extended meaning of “Da Yi Tong” can not be simply understood as “semantic error”, but has its rationality in its the original meaning.
