Naturally, it is impossible to see the broad sweep of history by taking two small slices of the past cut across the grain of time. But since in this century everyone has the millennium in common, there is still much to be gained by using it as a springboard to examine China's past.
在歷史的縱深之中，抽刀斷水，硬切出個千禧年的橫剖面本是不可能也不必要的，但歷史講因果、重承襲，即將前來的千禧年之慶是東西融合百年後產生的人類共同話題，而檢視中國過去的兩個千禧前後也確實收穫良多。