现代的民族国家, 究竟是一个政治共同体, 还是历史文化共同体?关于这一问题, 是目前国外知识界讨论的焦点问题之一, 在中国现代思想史上, 也曾经有过两条相应的思想脉络。继承晚清梁启超民族主义思想的不同路径, 在民国时期自由主义思想家中, 张佛泉代表了具有共和主义取向的政治爱国主义, 张君劢体现了带有社群主义色彩的文化民族主义。他们虽然都重视民族的复兴, 但对如何形成现代民族国家、公民的认同是什么以及何为公共文化等基本问题, 具有深刻的分歧。这些有价值的思想分歧, 体现了现代民族主义思潮的内在紧张和张力。

Is a modern nation-state a political or historicalcultural community? This is now one of central questions discussed in international intellectual circles.Actually, in response to the question, we may identify two corresponding intellectual threads in the history of ideas in modern China.One was republicanism-oriented political patriotism represented by Zhang Foquan, and the other, represented by Zhang Junmai, was cultural nationalism with communitarianist characteristics.Carrying on Liang Qichao's nationalist thought in the late Qing Dynasty, they both belonged to liberal thinkers in the period of the Republic.Despite their emphasis on the national rejuvenation, they disagreed profoundly on questions of how to construct a modern nation-state, what the citizen's identity should be, and what public culture is.These conflicting ideas are important, demonstrating the divergence and tension within the modern Chinese trend of nationalism.