晚清时期的“海防”与“塞防”之争及清政府在新疆建省的决策,应该放在近代世界和中国发展的特殊历史背景之下进行理解,才能更准确地把握这一争论的实质,即在西方主导下以民族国家为主体的近代国际关系体系的冲击之下,传统中国如何实现向近代中国的转型。也就是说,国家的整合应该从何处着手?作为国家权力表征的国防如何重构? The controversy between “coastal defense” and “blocking defense” in the late Qing period and the Qing government’s decision to build a province in Xinjiang should be understood under the special historical background of the modern world and China’s development, so as to grasp this debate more accurately In essence, under the impact of a modern system of international relations dominated by the West and dominated by nation states, how can traditional China achieve the transition to modern China? In other words, where should national integration begin? How to reconstruct national defense as a symbol of state power?