How Four Characters—夷·蠻·戎·狄—Quietly Reveal “China’s Map”
People like to remember history as war.
But in a lot of eras, words arrive before swords. And once the words arrive, the map is already half-drawn.
Classical Chinese texts keep throwing the same four labels at the reader: 夷 (Yi), 蠻 (Man), 戎 (Rong), 狄 (Di)—often grouped as “the Four Yi” (Sìyí, 四夷). In older formulations, you even see the clean, compass-like rule: “East is Yi, South is Man, West is Rong, North is Di.” (CText)
And that’s why these terms still feel… prickly.
They are rarely a people’s self-introduction. They’re usually an exonym—a name pinned on someone else.
So the better question is not:
“Were the Dongyi one ethnic group?”
but:
“Why did the center call the East ‘Yi,’ and what did that label do inside the text?”
To follow that question, we’ll use two lenses:
a dictionary that pretends to be neutral while smuggling a worldview—Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)
a history that organizes the outside world into biographies—Hou Hanshu (後漢書) and its “Dongyi” material (CText)
1) The dictionary that draws borders: Shuowen Jiezi as a worldview machine
Shuowen Jiezi was compiled by Xu Shen (許慎) around AD 100. (브리태니카)
It’s often introduced as a character dictionary, but it’s more accurately a classification device—a system that tries to explain the world by explaining how characters “make sense.”
That’s the trick: a dictionary doesn’t look like propaganda. It looks like “definitions.”
But definitions can quietly encode hierarchy:
who gets to name
who gets to be named
whose categories become “natural”
So when Shuowen (and later readers influenced by it) talks about labels like 夷/蠻/戎/狄, it’s not giving you an ethnographic field report. It’s showing you how an educated center sorts the world into drawers.
In other words: the dictionary is already a map. It just pretends not to be.
2) “Moral geography”: when direction becomes personality
The most dangerous part isn’t the label itself.
It’s what happens next: direction turns into character.
Once you accept a neat four-direction grid—East/Yi, South/Man, West/Rong, North/Di—your brain starts expecting the rest: the East is “this kind of people,” the North is “that kind of people,” and so on. (CText)
This is moral geography: the habit of turning a compass into a value-judgment.
And it’s powerful because it feels “objective.” It uses the language of geography (“east, west”) to deliver the effect of ideology (“civilized, uncivilized”)—without ever sounding like a speech.
3) Why “Dongyi = us” (or “Dongyi = barbarians”) keeps exploding
Here’s the common chain reaction:
“Texts say ‘Dongyi’ (東夷).”
“So Dongyi must be one stable ethnic unit.”
“So any group called Dongyi is the same bloodline across centuries.”
In real history, that chain almost always snaps.
Categories like these often function as umbrella labels for multiple groups—labels that can shift as the frontier shifts, or as the center’s interests shift. Scholarship discussing the Huá–Yí (華夷) framework and “Siyi” concepts repeatedly treats these terms as relational categories, not modern identity cards. (SciSpace)
So two opposite overreactions appear:
One side declares: “Dongyi = exactly us, therefore automatic ownership.”
Another side declares: “Dongyi = ‘barbarian,’ therefore automatic insult.”
Both are simplifications—because the real story is not bloodline-first.
It’s classification-first.
“Dongyi” is less like a passport and more like a label-gun.
4) A stronger, safer way to read the four characters
If you want this topic to hit hard (and survive pushback), read it like this:
(1) Ask: Is a dictionary neutral?
Not really. Dictionaries transport worldviews under the disguise of “definitions.” (브리태니카)
(2) Ask: Is a history book a camera?
Not really. Standard histories are compiled, structured, and moralized. When Hou Hanshu frames “outsiders” through categorized biographies, it’s showing you how the center manages the periphery in text. (CText)
(3) Ask: If the category moves, does identity move with it?
Often, yes—because these are center-made bins that expand, shrink, and reassign. (SciSpace)
This framing doesn’t dodge the discomfort.
It upgrades the discomfort into something sharper:
The story isn’t “Who was Dongyi, really?”
The story is “Who had the power to name, and how did naming build a world?”
Epilogue: Words outlive blades
Empires fall. Frontiers change. Fortresses crumble.
But classifications can last.
Because the moment someone is called “夷,” a distance is created before we even ask what language they spoke, what they traded, how they governed, or what they believed.
Dongyi (東夷) isn’t an answer. It’s a lens.
And when you inspect the lens, you start seeing the blueprint—how a center designed its world.
That’s why these four characters are still alive.
Special Feature: Is this usable as a Civilization mod concept?
Absolutely—and it’s refreshing because it’s not “more war.” It’s knowledge-as-power, classification-as-influence, naming-as-empire.
Civ V (BNW) Wonder Concept: Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)
Theme: “The power to define becomes the power to organize.”
Suggested Era / Unlock
Classical → early Medieval vibe (Eastern Han intellectual infrastructure). (브리태니카)
Tech flavor: Philosophy or Education
Requirement: City must have a Library
Balanced Effects (two design options)
Option A — Reliable, empire-friendly
+Science and +Culture (moderate)
+Great Writer points
Completion bonus: one Great Writer or one free Great Work of Writing
Passive aura: Libraries grant a small Culture bonus (empire-wide “classification literacy”)
Option B — Concept-heavy (“The Naming Bonus”)
+Science and +Culture (moderate)
When you first meet a new Civ / City-State: gain a burst of Culture (the act of “naming” the world)
Implementation Note
Most of the structure is straightforward XML (new Wonder, yields, prereqs).
“On completion grant Great Writer” is cleanly handled via Lua event hooks.
Reading List (non-link, source-backed)
Xu Shen and Shuowen Jiezi (compiled around AD 100). (브리태니카)
Classical formulation of the four-direction labels (East/Yi, South/Man, West/Rong, North/Di). (CText)
Hou Hanshu “Dongyi” material as an example of biography-based categorization of the periphery. (CText)
Academic discussion of Huá–Yí (華夷) framing and “Siyi” (四夷) as a relational classification system. (SciSpace)
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