The Dual Illusions of Imperial Politics

帝国政治的双重幻象

Archer Hong Qian

2025年9月 · 波士顿Citizen M Hotle

前言 Preface

帝国政治的核心，在于对权力“永恒化”的执念。这种执念表现为两种幻象：

The core of imperial politics lies in its obsession with the “eternalization” of power.This obsession manifests in two illusions:

生命幻象 —— 统治者希望以个人长生来延续权力；

仪式幻象 —— 帝国以阅兵等盛典来展示权力的永恒。

The Illusion of Immortality — rulers hope to extend power through personal longevity;

The Illusion of Ritual — the empire uses parades and grand ceremonies to display the eternity of power.

本文合辑呈现两篇短论：

This collection presents two short essays:

《帝国政治的生命幻像》

《帝国政治的仪式幻像》

The Illusion of Immortality in Imperial Politics

The Illusion of Ritual in Imperial Politics

它们共同揭示了：无论是追求“万寿无疆”，还是沉迷于“盛大仪式”，帝国政治都不过是幻象的循环。真正的出路，只能来自交互主体共生哲学所倡导的生命自组织与文明再平衡。

Together, they reveal that whether in the pursuit of “eternal life” or in the indulgence of “grand ceremonies,” imperial politics remains nothing more than a cycle of illusions. The true way out can only come from the life self-organization and civilizational rebalancing advocated by the philosophy of Intersubjective Symbiosism.

一、帝国政治的生命幻象

From Legend to Science Fiction — The Illusion of Immortality in Imperial Politics

从秦始皇到毛泽东，再到普京，帝国政治始终执念于一个幻象：权力必须伴随个人生命而永生。

From Qin Shihuang to Mao Zedong, and now to Vladimir Putin, imperial politics has always been obsessed with one illusion: power must achieve immortality through the ruler’s personal life.

秦始皇派遣徐福东渡，求取“长生不死药”；

Qin Shihuang sent Xu Fu across the seas in search of the “elixir of immortality.”

毛主席“万寿无疆”口号，政治仪式化地祈愿个人永生；

Mao Zedong’s slogan of “Ten Thousand Years of Longevity” ritualized the wish for eternal life.

当下关于普京的传闻，则是依靠器官移植、基因延寿，甚至“活到150岁”的一尊神话。

Today, rumors about Putin tell of organ transplants, genetic enhancement, and even a myth of “living to 150 years” as the eternal sovereign.

这些不同历史阶段的“长生术”，从方士炼丹到现代科技，形式虽变，本质却未变：都是将个人寿命与帝国权力绑定，以统治延续来抵抗历史的有限性。

Though the forms differ—from alchemists’ potions to modern science—the essence remains unchanged: binding personal lifespan with imperial power, and resisting the limits of history through the illusion of rule without end.

然而，个体的生命终究有限；所谓“永生”，不过是幻象。帝国权力的延寿，往往伴随着对群体生命的牺牲：徭役横征、资源掠夺、福利压抑。

Yet individual life is finite, and “immortality” is nothing more than an illusion. The extension of imperial rule usually comes at the cost of collective life: forced labor, resource extraction, and the suppression of public welfare.

从共生哲学视角看，真正的生命延续，不在于某个“一尊”的寿命能否无限延长，而在于你、我、他的交互生成与共生秩序的延续。家庭、社区、文明的自组织与再平衡，才是人类文明真正的“万寿无疆”。

From the perspective of Symbiosis Philosophy, true continuity of life lies not in whether one supreme ruler can extend his lifespan indefinitely, but in the intersubjective generation and renewal of “you, me, and others” within a symbiotic order. The self-organization and rebalancing of families, communities, and civilizations constitute the true “longevity without end” of humankind.

📎 原文链接：万维读者网 525126

二、帝国政治的仪式幻像

Grand Parade Highlights the Illusion of Imperial Politics

阅兵，不仅是军事展示，更是特权共同体的权力操作。
在帝国政治逻辑中，阅兵的华丽场面掩盖的是内部的权力分配与外部的扩张欲望。

A military parade is not only a display of force but also a manipulation of privileges. Within the logic of imperial politics, its grandeur conceals the internal distribution of power and the ambition for external expansion.

帝国政治的基本特征，是用“公”的名义行“私”的实利：

The essence of imperial politics is to act in the name of the “public” but pursue private gains:

经济上全民所有，实则全民所无；

政治上权力私有化，实行官阶大一统；

文化上公私混淆，以“天下为公”之名结党营私；

组织上黑箱操作，派系轮流坐庄。

In the economy: “owned by all, owned by none.”

In politics: privatization of power, unified hierarchy.

In culture: blurring public and private, using “the world belongs to all” as cover for factional interests.

In organization: factional rotation under black-box operations.

阅兵的光鲜，无法掩盖特权共同体的裸像。所谓“帝国”，只是家国一体的幻象，与现代“主权在民”的共和国毫无关系。

The parade’s glamour cannot conceal the naked image of the privileged community. The so-called “empire” is merely a family-state illusion, unrelated to a modern republic where sovereignty rests with the people.

出路，不在于更好地分配特权，而在于让这种游戏本身不再可能。唯有“我们人民”自组织起来，依托生命共生秩序，才能让帝国政治的企图彻底失效。
The solution does not lie in redistributing privileges, but in rendering such a game impossible. Only when We the People self-organize around a symbiotic order of life can the ambitions of imperial politics become null and void.

📎 原文链接：万维读者网 525088

结语 Conclusion

无论是对“生命不死”的执念，还是对“权力永恒”的迷恋，帝国政治都不过是幻象。
它所延长的，是个人的妄念；它所牺牲的，却是群体的真实生命。

Whether it is the obsession with “immortal life” or the fascination with “eternal power,” imperial politics is nothing more than illusion. What it extends is the delusion of one, what it sacrifices is the life of many.

真正的“万寿无疆”，不是某个“一尊”的延寿，而是你、我、他在共生秩序中的相互成全。
True “longevity without end” is not the lifespan of one sovereign, but the mutual fulfillment of you, me, and others within a symbiotic order.