7月6日，中国良渚古城遗址被列入世界遗产名录。至此，中华文明的首个国家城市发展时间，顺利从3500年前的殷墟，上溯到了距今5000年前的良渚古城！
显然，对于中国的“文明发现”，世界是惊叹的：在感慨祝贺之余，国外网友们也讨论发起了一个值得世界深思的问题——为什么中国这个现存的最古老的文明，没有像其他文明一样被灭绝?
一些网友，对同时期的国外文明进行了梳理：
1、Alexander Tan
China is not the oldest civilization: Preceding it were the Sumerians (including the other Mesopotamian empires), the Indus Valley, as well as Egypt.However, under the assumption that you mean oldest existing civilization as the longest continually lasting native culture, and the for a civilization to be wiped out is to have its culture drastically changed by foreign powers, then this is why:
中华文明不是最古老的文明:在它之前有苏美尔文明，古印度文明，以及古埃及文明。但是，如果你指的是现存的，最古老的，未被其他外部势力改变的原生文明，那中华文明当然是的。
2、Handsomeboh
As the source told you, China is generally considered the “longest continuous civilisation” in the world today. The earliest uncontroversially attested centralised Chinese polity was the Shang Dynasty in 1500BC. By this point, Egypt was in its 19th dynasty and the peak of its power, so it’s not unfair to say that China was certainly not the first ‘great’ civilisation. It certainly predates the Romans though, and arguably the Classical Hellenistic civilisation as well.
中国是公认的当今世界上“持续时间最长的文明”。早在公元前1500年的商朝，中国就已经建立了中央集权体制，这一点是毫无争议的。虽然在这个时间点上，埃及已经进入了第19个王朝，并达到了权力的顶峰，但中华文明依然早于罗马以及古希腊文明。
The Chinese civilisation has basically survived unscathed since then, while all the above have been displaced over time.
不同之处在于，从那时起，中华文明就开始蓬勃地发展着，一直延续到今天，而其他的古文明都消逝在了时间的长河中。
3、handsomeboh
That’s true of history.
历史确实如此。
The cultural history of Egypt is one characterised by change. They were aggressively Hellenised by the Ptolemaic Empire, then just slightly Latinised by the Romans, then Hellenised again by the Byzantines, then fully Arabicised by the Caliphate, then they all switched to Shia under the Fatimids, then they switched back to Sunni, then the Mamluks came with their Caucasian and Transoxianan traditions (which Chaney & Blaydes (2012) argues is the most long lasting economic impact), then they were partially Turkicised by the Ottomans (more architecturally than anything), then the French and Brits came.
埃及的文明发展几经变迁。传统的埃及在托勒密王朝建立后开始希腊化,然后又被说拉丁语的罗马人征服,接着又被拜占庭占领,再然后被阿拉伯的哈里发掌控,埃及人在阿拉伯法蒂玛王朝时期短暂地加入了什叶派,然后很快又换回了逊尼派,紧接着，钦察突厥人和高加索人在埃及建立了马穆鲁克王朝,然后他们又被突厥化的奥斯曼帝国吞并，最后又成为了法国人和英国人的殖民地。
Generally speaking, compared with China’s development, Egyptian civilization has long perished!
总的来说，与中国的发展相比，埃及文明早已消亡！
当然，相较于对比中华文明与西方舆论更为关心的“古埃及文明”之间的历史结果，西方网友更愿意站在中国自身文化的角度，试图去解密这样一个“从未断绝”的古老文明。
1、Gwenavere
Chinese culture from the xia dynasty to present. Where you have had invasions, those invaders have adopted Chinese culture and customs rather than adapting the Chinese to their own.
从夏朝至今，中华文明并没有中断的。中国曾经遭受侵略，但这些侵略者接受了中国的文化和习俗，而不是让中国适应侵略者自己的文化和习俗。
I think all this benefits from the strong inclusiveness of Chinese civilization.
我认为这一切都得益于中华文明的强大包容性。
2、Kill Bill
@Gwenavere，I agree with you.
@Gwenavere，我赞同你的意见。
Of course the longevity of the Han can and often is exaggerated. Like all peoples, the defining characteristics of the Han have continually evolved and mutated over the years from both indigenous developments and as inputs from surrounding peoples were adopted; the beliefs and culture of the prehistoric “Huaxia” were very different from the second-century “Hanren”, just as the latter’s is very different from the Han of today or even a century ago.
同其他所有民族一样，汉文化也在不断的演变和革新，既有本土的发明创造，也有向周围各民族的借鉴;举个例子，公元前“华夏”的信仰和文化，与汉朝时期的信仰和文化有很大的不同。
however, in a comparative sense the Han do show a marked degree of continuousness into the distant past to an identifiably ethnic, linguistic, cultural, political, and to a lesser degree religious predecessor of the Han ethnically. In other words, the natural progression of the ancient Huaxia into the Han of today is visible to an extent more so than almost all other peoples.
而汉朝时期的信仰和文化，又与今天甚至一个世纪前汉民族的信仰和文化又存在着很大的不同。然而，汉民族确实可以追溯到遥远的过去，它的前身是一个可辨认的，拥有独立语言、文化、政治和宗教的民族。换句话说，从古代的华夏族发展到今天的汉族，其发展脉络几乎比其他所有民族都更为清晰明显。
I think that thanks to the use of hieroglyphs, he has effectively transcended the differences in language and accent, which is the key to the inheritance of ancient China to this day!
我认为这得益于象形文字的使用，他有效的跨越了语言口音上的差异，这是古代中国可以传承至今的关键所在！
3、KCAugg
Such is the case！
确实如此！
But the critical difference was that the Chinese script was not dependent on pronunciation like their Roman counterpart, and therefore, even as Han’s regional dialects diverged into unintelligible languages communication across the lands could still be easily maintained through the written word.
汉字不像罗马文字那样依赖于发音，因此，即使汉语分化成了各种难以理解的方言，不同地域之间的人们依然可以通过书面文字来维持交流。
Decrees or books emanating from Beijing would read exactly the same to Chinese living in the coastal Guangdong or the oasis cities of Xinjiang, communication across completely different language families was even possible to a lesser extent when the Koreans and Japanese adopted the Chinese script.
对于生活在沿海广东省和新疆自治区的中国人来说，来自北京的法令或书籍读起来完全一样。另外，韩国和日本也采用了汉字，所以尽管几个国家之间语系不同，但通过书面汉字交流还是没问题的
4、Colorful Life
China has a unique philosophical and bureaucratic system, which is a necessary condition for the sustainable operation of the country, but unfortunately, other ancient civilizations that have perished do not seem to have all of this…
中国拥有独特的哲学和官僚体系，这是国家得以持续运转的必要条件，但是很不幸，其他灭亡的文明古国，似乎并不具备这一切…
5、Long live marijuana
You are so foolish!
你们真的太愚蠢了。
om the Chinese parade, we can actually know everything：They pursue collectivism.
从中国的“阅兵”中我们便可以知晓一切：他们追求集体主义！
Also due to collectivism, difference and specialization were embraced instead of feared, balance and compromises were much preferred over extremes and blind resistance. Add to the fact that the Chinese are pragmatic/agnostic, this makes the Chinese civilization extremely adaptable, absorbing every outside influence that came its way and turn them into part of the Chinese culture itself. It doesn’t just “tolerate”, it “absorbs and grows bigger” from outside influences.
由于集体主义，人们会包容彼此的差异，而不是感到恐惧，人们更喜欢平衡和妥协而不是极端和盲目的冲动。再加上中国人是实用主义者和不可知论者，这使得中华文明具有极强的适应力，他会吸收一切外来文化，并将其转化为中国文化本身的一部分。
The Chinese were by definition strategic (originated from collaboration of the “strategic/civilized tribes”). Ultimately, the Chinese adapts to and appreciates reality, while many faded civilizations attempted to bend reality to their ideal image. This “humble” attitude allowed the Chinese civilization to not only survive, but grow stronger the longer it survived.
所以，中国人适应并欣赏现实，而许多衰落的文明则试图把现实改造成他们理想的模样。这种“谦虚”的态度不仅让中华文明生存下来，而且不断发展壮大。
当然，对于这种植根“中华文明”内因的分析，不少外国网友也表示了反对意见，他们试图从“地理论”的角度去剖析中华文明之所以持续存在的根本原因：
1、Aaron Dodo
China’s geological position makes it the most isolated of the four cradles.
中国的地理位置使其成为四个大文明中最孤立的一个。通往中国的道路被世界上最大的山脉完全阻隔。
China’s way over to the east with the world’s largest mountain range blocking it off entirely.So, if Chinese civilization was born in the Mesopotamia, they can not persist to this day!
所以，如果中国文明诞生在美索不达米亚，他们就不能坚持到今天！
2、slvrbullet87
Apart from China, the desert is located at 30 degrees north latitude. They are isolated from the world under the shelter of high mountains. They should be glad that they did not meet Egypt in the Bronze Age in the Stone Age.
除了中国以外，北纬三十度都是沙漠，他们在高山的庇护下与世界隔绝，他们应该庆幸在石器时代没有遇到青铜时代的埃及！
3、watermark0n
Far away from Egypt, Rome, Greece and Babylon is the most correct choice that Chinese have ever made!
远离埃及、罗马、希腊以及古巴比伦，是中国人做过的最正确选择！
4、My life
Look, when the world becomes a whole, the Chinese people are so vulnerable. In the early stage of civilization, this is disastrous.
瞧，当世界成为一个整体的时候，中国人是那么的不堪一击，在文明发育初期，这是灾难性的。
当然，对于这种“地理宿命论”的狂妄，不少国外网友同样表示了驳斥：
1、God bless America
We should be glad that ancient Rome did not meet China, fool! What do you know? When Sparta had only 300 soldiers, China’s war had reached the level of one million!
我们应该庆幸古罗马没有遇见中国，傻瓜！你知道什么？当斯巴达只有300名士兵时，中国的战争已经达到了100万的水平！
2、A Walking Man
@My life，I am embarrassed by your vulgarity and ignorance. In fact, until the 18th century, China’s strength also frightened the West.
@My life，你的粗俗无知使我感到难堪。事实上直到18世纪，中国的实力也吓坏了西方。
3、Anubis
Compared with our mythological history, Chinese history books are accurate to the historical events of year, month and day, which makes me feel shame and despair! Especially when archaeological discoveries corroborate each other!
相较于我们存在于神话中的历史，中国史书精确到年月日的历史事件，让我感到羞愧和绝望！尤其是考古发现与一切互相印证的时候!
Where is our history?
我们的历史又在哪里？
老实讲，对于外国网友Anubis的“灵魂拷问”，老铁也不知该如何回答。
只能说：西方的历史究竟如何，那是西方人自己的事，你狂妄也罢、理性也好，在无数的遗址和出土文物面前，世界不是傻子，人人有一杆秤…
不过，对于中国人而言，“世界唯一延续文明古国”这一顶桂冠，看得见过去固然重要，扛得起未来，才对得起“延续”二字！
