清末民初,中國社會處于從傳統王朝國家向現代民族國家轉型時期;與此同時,各界人士傳統的天下觀逐漸轉向現代民族國家觀。知識精英與政治精英利用西方現代政治概念和理論,重塑中國傳統的"天下""民族""國家"等觀念,提出"中華民族"概念和建立現代民族國家思想。這一思想轉變先后經歷了傳統社會"天下觀"消解和朝貢體系解體,到"中華民族"概念和現代民族國家觀念的初步形成幾個階段。

In the late period of the Qing dynasty and the early period of the Republic of China, Chinese society accelerated its transformation from the traditional dynastic state to a modern nation-state. The intellectual and political elite adopted the modern political concepts and theories of the West and transformed the traditional Chinese concepts of "world", "nation" and "state", and put forward the concept of "Chinese nation" and the idea of establishing a modern nation-state. This ideological transformation went through such stages as the dissolution of the "world view" in the traditional society and the disintegration of the tributary system as well as the initial formation of the concept of "the Chinese nation" and the concept of a modern nation-state.