西漢名臣金日磾為本匈奴人，卻在漢武帝的朝廷受到重用，漢武帝一生功業以伐匈奴最為顯著，匈奴既是當時國家的邊患，也可以說是漢武帝的宿敵。但是匈奴人金日磾卻可以在武帝的朝廷中擔任要職，並且在武帝病危時受託重任，與霍光共同擔任輔佐幼帝的重責大任，成為「擬」君王的顧命大臣。金日磾不僅個人成為西漢歷史的傳奇，更促成金氏家族在西漢一朝的權勢傳衍。本文以《漢書》為依據，以史料互證為方法，以文化研究的觀點，考察匈奴人金日磾在進入漢朝之後，其身分消解與轉換的情形及其內在義意，並觀察其家族在漢代社會中對其漢人身份的繼承與延續情形。

Jin Ridi was one of the most important ministers of Western Han dynasty although he was a Xiongnu originally. Xiongnu was the most serious trouble-maker in the frontier of the Western Han. Almost all his life Emperor Han Wudi made his best efforts on the wars against Xiongnu and from the wars he gained part of his great successes which made his name widely known by later people. Contradictory Jin Ridi made his own influence and importance during Han Wudi’s reign although his ethnicity was usually seen as a Xiongnu. When Han Wudi was dying he made Jin Ridi one of regent ministers of his successor, an eight-year-old boy-emperor. According to the biography of Jin Ridi in Ban Gu’s Hanshu, this paper focuses on how Jin Ridi transformed his identity from a Xiongnu aristocrat into a Han Chinese official, how he entered the main centre of political power of early Western Han, and how his descendants succeeded the identity he had constructed.