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四海(sìhǎi)

全國各地或世界各地。古人認為中國的疆域四面環海，各依方位稱“東海”“南海”“西海”和“北海”，合稱“四海”。它蘊含著遠古中國人關于中國和世界的地理圖景：“九州”居“天下”之中，“天下”由“九州”及其周邊“四海”組成，中國是“海內”，外國則是“海外”。在古人那里，“四海”大多統指天下，并不確指某個海域，有時用來指陸地四周的海，有時又指“四海”所環繞的陸地。

Four Seas

Four Seas refer to the territory of China or the entire world. The ancient Chinese believed that China was a land surrounded by Four Seas – the East, West, North, and South seas. The term suggests what the ancient Chinese conceived to be the map of China and the world: Nine zhou (regions) were located at the center of tianxia (all under heaven). Tianxia consisted of nine zhou and its surrounding Four Seas. China was within the Four Seas, while foreign lands were outside the Four Seas. In ancient China, Four Seas referred to all under heaven in most cases, and did not denote a specific body of water. Therefore, the term was used sometimes to mean the seas surrounding the land, and sometimes to specify the land surrounded by the Four Seas.

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【引例】

君子敬而無失，與人恭而有禮，四海之內皆兄弟也。(《論語•顏淵》)

A man of virtue always does things conscientiously without making any mistakes and treats people respectfully and appropriately. Then all within the Four Seas will be his brothers. (The Analects)