Why is it called buying things, not buying north and south?

The reason why buying things is not called buying north and south is that during the Sui Dynasty, only the east and west cities had goods.

During the Tang Dynasty, the national capital of Chang'an City (now Xi'an, Shaanxi) was nine times the size of today's Xi'an, with a population of more than one million, making it a veritable international metropolis. Chang'an is divided into two markets, east and west, namely the east market and the west market, when the merchants of the two cities gathered, and it was very lively. The dignitaries and dignitaries of Chang'an, the capital, shopped in the East Market, and the common people shopped in the East Market, and only the East and West Cities had goods, so the people called shopping commonly known as buying things.

During the Sui and Tang dynasties, Dongshi was close to Taiji Palace, Daming Palace, and Xingqing Palace, and the fang was a gathering place for royalty and aristocrats.

Xishi, also known as Liren City in the Sui Dynasty, is located in the southwest of the imperial city, with a length of more than 1,000 meters from north to south, a width of more than 900 meters from east to west, and an area of nearly one square kilometer.

The ancients divided the east, west, north and south into four attributes: gold, wood, water and fire, and the ancients used a basket to buy things, and the gold and wood could be packed in the basket, but water and fire would not work, so it was called buying things instead of buying north and south.

The east belongs to wood, the west belongs to gold, the south belongs to fire, the north belongs to water, and the middle belongs to earth. My basket is made of bamboo, it will be burned if it is filled with fire, and it will leak when it is filled with water, and it can only be filled with wood and gold, not to mention soil, so it is called buying things: 135yo:

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The first is the two cities.

Gong Wei of the Qing Dynasty wrote in the "Sequel to Chaolin Writings": "Foolishness set the Eastern Han Dynasty with this language, when the city was prosperous, extravagant east and west, as the saying goes, buy the east, buy the west, and sell the buyer, either east or west, along with the habit for a long time, and take the east and west as the substitute for the goods." The meaning of this passage is that the origin of the word "east and west" is related to the east and west markets of the Han Dynasty.

During the Han Dynasty, the government established two trading markets to the east and west of the metropolis of Chang'an, known as the East Market and the West Market, respectively. Although markets were later established in the south and north, the main ones were in the east and west. This system was followed from the Han Dynasty to the Tang Dynasty.

In this way, if you want to buy something, you must go to the East and West markets. After a long time, going shopping for supplies is called buying something. The term "something", which was originally used only to indicate directions, has also taken on a new meaning, that is, to refer to specific affairs.

The second theory is the theory of fire and water.

In ancient times, people would carry bamboo baskets when they went to the market. According to the traditional Five Elements Doctrine, the East belongs to wood, the West belongs to gold, and things like gold and wood are physical objects that can be packed in baskets. The south belongs to fire, and the north belongs to water, and things like fire and water cannot be put in a basket.

That's why people call going to the market to shop for something, not buying North and South. Later, things became synonymous with objects, and buying things became synonymous with buying things.

Related legends

Once upon a time, an old man went to buy groceries. There was a grocery store at the east end of the village that specialized in groceries, and the old man wanted to go in, but he found that there was also a grocery store on the west side. So the old man stopped hesitantly.

The owner of the grocery store on the east side spotted the old man and greeted him warmly, "Our goods are of good quality and low price, and you will definitely be satisfied." The old man listened and prepared to enter the grocery store on the east side.

At this time, the owner of the grocery store on the west side heard the movement outside, walked out, and found that the old man was about to enter the grocery store on the east side, so he shouted at the top of his voice, "Don't listen to him, his house sells fakes, so come to my house and have a look." The old man was in a dilemma when he heard the words of both sides, and he didn't know which side of the grocery store to go to.

He came up with a solution, saying that he wanted to flip a coin, and buy the east when the era was up, and buy the west when the era was down. Both bosses agreed. At this time, the old man reached out to touch the copper plate, but found that he had no money.

So he turned around and walked back. The neighbor saw him and asked him what he was doing early in the morning, and the old man explained, and a storyteller heard their conversation and incorporated the purchase into the storytelling. Over time, it became an idiomatic term.

1. The ancient "five elements" of wood, gold, water, fire, and earth correspond to the east, west, north, south, and middle.

2. The order of the five elements: one water, two fire, three wood, four gold, and five earth, this order column depends on the earthly branch and the changes of yin and yang.

3. Water is in the northern camp, and the sky is full of water, and the child belongs to the camp, so the water ranks first; The fire is out of position in the south, and the noon is out of place, so the fire is second; Wood is in the east seismic position, and Mao belongs to the seismic position, so the wood ranks third in turn; Jin is in the west, and the unitary is in the position, so gold ranks fourth in turn; The soil is in the Quartet**, located in the root kun position, and the soil is therefore ranked fifth.

4. The "basket" for buying things is made of bamboo, which can only hold wood and gold. That's why it's called buying things, not to mention buying north and south.

According to the Five Elements Doctrine in ancient China, metal, wood, water, fire, and earth correspond to the east, west, south, north, and middle. The east belongs to wood, the west belongs to gold, and all such gold and wood can be filled in baskets; The south belongs to fire, and the north belongs to water, and these kinds of water and fire cannot be filled in baskets. Therefore, you can only buy "things", not "north and south".

This is the ** of buying "things" and not "north and south".

In addition to the Five Elements Theory, another mainstream explanation of the origin of "East and West" comes from the Tang Dynasty's urban planning schemes.

In the Tang Dynasty, Chang'an City was divided into two cities, the east and west markets, the east market mainly sold luxury goods to meet the needs of dignitaries, while the west market was more common, selling all kinds of daily necessities, and there were Hu merchants gathering, so it was also called the "gold market".

Whether it is a high-ranking family or an ordinary person, daily shopping needs to go back and forth between the east and west cities, and over time, people will say that purchasing goods is "buying things".

Of course, there are different interpretations of the "East and West Market", and there is also a view that the "East and West Market" does not refer to the East and West Market, but to the two cities of Luoyang and Chang'an, the east and west.

As early as the Eastern Han Dynasty, merchants often had to travel back and forth between Luoyang, Tokyo and Chang'an, Xijing, when purchasing materials, so people referred to the behavior of purchasing and selling in these two economically developed areas as "buying and selling things", from which the word "thing" also came and developed into a general term for all items.

Related Notes:

There is also a theory that takes into account the imported goods traded in the market, and since ancient times, people have often used "north and south" to refer to goods in addition to "east and west".

During the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, the navigation technology became more and more mature, the maritime control became more and more relaxed, and imported goods from the East and the West gradually became the mainstream of the commodity economy.

These novelties from the East and the West were referred to simply as "things", and with the influx and sale of imported goods, the word "things" spread to all parts of the country along with the vendors, and gradually became a social dialect.

<> "Why is it called buying things, not buying north and south.

1: The Five Elements Theory, the first theory holds that the theory of "things" comes from the theory of the five elements of yin and yang. The ancient Chinese liked to use yin and yang gossip to explain everything in the world.

The Book of Changes believes that the east belongs to wood, the west belongs to gold, the south belongs to fire, and the north belongs to water. Wood and gold are tangible things that can be held in the hand, can be contained, belong to the material, and can be purchased; Fire and water are intangible things that cannot be held, carried, or bought. Therefore, we can only say that we buy things, but we cannot say that we buy north and south.

Two: East and West say that everything in the world begins in spring and harvests in autumn, and spring plowing and autumn harvest are a cycle. Among the five elements, spring corresponds to the east, and autumn corresponds to the west.

In terms of the opposition between time and space, we call time spring and autumn, and all things are naturally called things.

Three: The East City and the West City are rotten acres, which believes that the theory of "East and West" originated from the East and West Cities during the Tang Dynasty. Chang'an, the capital of the Tang Dynasty, was one of the largest cities in the world at that time, where all things gathered, merchants from all over the world gathered.

The Tang Dynasty implemented a strict fang market system, and commerce was mainly concentrated in the east and west markets, so people wanted to buy goods, most of them had to go to the east and west markets, and over time they called shopping "buying things".

There is also a saying that shopping is called "buying things" because of the fact that there are two cities, the east and the west, the goods are complete and varied, everything is needed, everything can be bought, so shopping is called "buying things".