There are still many words with the word "Yi", such as unbelievable, dangerous into Yi, Qianyi, Lingyi, Contempt, Dangerous Ruyi, Zunwang Zhiyi, Yixia, Yidi, Dongyi, Nanyi, Siyiguan, Huaiyi, Wenshanyi, Huayi, Yiyi, Yiren, Mingyi, Siyi, Yiyi, Yiyi, Yiyi,
Yi (pinyin: yí) is a sub-common word in modern Chinese, first seen in the Jin script. From the big from the bow. The original meaning is to seek peace and tranquility. From the definition of peace and peace, it is extended to remove, destroy, etc., from bulldozing to flat meaning, and from flat to peace, peace and other meanings. Ancient Oriental tribes were good at using bows and arrows, and also used "Yi" to refer to eastern tribes.
The following word is said to be the "Yi" character of the bone inscription, which is a person carrying a bow, and this bow may have a branch, and this branch is used to carry the bow on the shoulder. The ancient character for "Yi" consists of a bow and a ya, and the bow and arrow are related to the Dongyi people.
Yi characters, oracle bones, and gold scripts are all hieroglyphs. The figures are a combination of a man and a bow and arrow. The actual meaning is "man with a bow and arrow on his back", and the root of the word is "person", so the ancients also read "person" or "benevolence". ”
Xu Shen of the Eastern Han Dynasty", "Commentaries on the Interpretation of Texts": "Yi, from the great from the bow, the people of the East also." Zhu Junsheng of the Qing Dynasty", "Speaking of Texts and Characters": "The Eastern Yi people are warlike and hunter-hunting, so the characters are from the big bow, and they will understand." Big, people too. That is to say, the original meaning of yizi is a person who holds a bow.
In addition to the extended meaning of "ping" as "yi", we seem to be able to summarize it like this:
1. The original meaning of "Yi" is "the people of the East", "the people of the East", "the land of the East";
2. Yi has some connection with the bow;
3. Yi has the custom of being called "benevolence";
4. Yi is related to the Beast of Liberation (i.e., Liberation), which in turn has some connection with litigation and the killing of the Division;
V. Confucius, a descendant of the Yin people and founded the doctrine of "benevolence", once longed for Yidi, and seems to have revealed the plot of Dongyi hidden in his heart.
In short, Xu Shen's summary represents the understanding of "Yi" by Scholars of the Han Dynasty and provides important clues for our research today.
In addition, perhaps because "the bow and arrow are destroyed", it represents a strong fighting force, so yi also leads to the meaning of crusade and peace. In the "Explanation of Words and Characters", it is also said: "Yi, Pingye." The Yi zhou shu Ming Tang records: "It is the Zhou Gong Xiang Wu Wang who cut down the silk and determined the world." Therefore, Zhou Gongdan assisted King Wu of Zhou in his crusade against the King of Shang and pacified the world.
Therefore, in the oracle bones, this word is most likely to refer to the Yi state, yi state is hou yi sealed, the Shang dynasty existed before, the later Yi dynasty Xia less recovery state liquidated the Han family, but the Yi state should survive, Xia was overthrown by the Shang after the Xia royal family fled to the north and south, the merchants were not able to occupy the original Xia controlled Shandong region, so that the Shandong region formed a power gap, Yi state is likely to take this opportunity to grow, developed to the whole territory of Shandong, and became a country that can compete with Yin Shang, this is the origin of Dongyi, Yifang in the Shang Dynasty may refer to Yiguo.
Archaeologically, Dongyi refers to the bearer of the Houli culture from 8300 years ago, through the Beixin culture, Dawenkou culture, Longshan culture, and Yueshi culture. The title is a general term for the Yi people Fangguo such as Fengyi Yiyi Yangyi, a descendant of the Baoxi Taihao Fuxi clan in the lower reaches of the Yellow River Basin, and a general term for various ethnic groups in the East. Early Dongyi was one of the ethnic groups of the Huaxia people. Archaeologically, Dongyi culture originated in the Taiyi Mountains, is one of the important sources of Chinese civilization, from the beginning of the Neolithic Era to the end of the middle of the Western Zhou Dynasty, Dongyi and its ancient culture in the origin and exchange of ancient culture in Asia are in a more important position.
After King Wu of Zhou destroyed shang and established Zhou, in order to consolidate his power, he divided the princes. At the beginning of the Zhou Dynasty, 71 vassal states were successively divided, of which the small feudal states in Shandong included this Yi state. The "Shiben" says: "Yi, the capital of the ancient Yi kingdom, in the west of present-day Jimo County, Shandong, yi is the state of the surname of You, and in ancient times Yi was mostly used as a generic name, which is a special reference." This means that during the Western Zhou Dynasty, a person with the surname of Yu was divided into seals in Jimo and established the Yi State. Later, the monarch surnamed Yu was awarded the title of "Count" by King Wu of Zhou. Thereafter, for about 300 years, the country was unknown. According to the Zuo Biography, in August of the year 722 BC of Lu Yin," "the capital city was in present-day Shouguang, Shandong) and the people were destroyed." In other words, Yiguo passively fought a war with Ji Guo. In this war initiated by Ji Guo, who won and who lost was not recorded in the history books, but after the war, the Country of Yi was still there, but the State of Ji was destroyed by Qi.
Later, in the late Qing Dynasty, there were also foreigners protesting, let's take a look:
Foreigners said that the word "Yi" made them very bored when they read it, and demanded that they should not be allowed to use it in the document, so that China should not use "Yi" to refer to them.
The word "Yi" has many meanings, it is the meaning of peace, such as "to turn danger into Yi", but also the meaning of flat, such as "Raz to the ground", in ancient China there is a "Yi ethnic group", it is also a surname, in the Qing Dynasty also refers to foreigners or foreign countries, there are "Yichang", "Yiguan" saying.
Originally, "Yi" represented those barbaric eastern peoples, as well as uncivilized people, and it could be said that it was not a good word, but with the development of history, the meaning of this word also changed, it was a neutral word, there was no bad meaning, just an ordinary Chinese character.
In the late Qing Dynasty, people began to use "Yi" to refer to foreigners, but there was no "insulting" meaning. When the British signed the treaty with the Qing Dynasty, they were very unhappy after reading the drafted treaty, and after reading the English version of the treaty, they angrily approached the Qing Dynasty, saying that the word "Yi" was an insult to them and strongly demanded that it be changed.
Originally, when the translator translated, the "Yi" was translated as "barbarian", which means "barbarian", strictly speaking, the Chinese character has this meaning, the translation is not wrong, in ancient China there was indeed the meaning of barbarian, but later this word has been rid of the negative meaning. At that time, when the Qing Dynasty used this word, it was only when it was a geographical concept, a place of origin, which meant "foreigner", but the British saw this word and said that they could not stand it, were very bored, and felt that they had been insulted. When the two sides signed the treaty, the British deliberately added this statement to the treaty, they said that the Qing Dynasty could not use "Yi" to refer to Britain, clearly stipulated that in all diplomatic documents of the Qing Dynasty, "Yi" should not be used, and informed the whole country. Later, the Qing Dynasty used the word "foreign" to refer to foreigners, such as "foreigner" and "foreign milk powder", which is still used today.