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Why is "buy things" in Chinese spoken as maidongxi (buy east and west), but not mainanbei (buy south and north)?
One theory (假说) says maidongxithe five elements (要素): jin (metal), mu (wood), shui (water), huo (fire) and tu (earth). In Chinese culture, the four directions have to do with these elements. East matches wood, west matches metal, south matches fire, and north matches water.
If someone carries nan (south) and bei (north) in a basket, it means to carry water and fire, which is not even possible. But if one puts dong (east) and xi (west) in one's basket,they can carry metal and wood.
There are also more common explanations.
One says that in the Tang Dynasty (唐代), there are two popular markets in Chang'an, the capital of China. One was called the East Market, and the other was called the West Market. When shopping, people usually went to the East Market first, and then went to the West Market., people started to describe shopping as "buying east and west".
The last theory is about China's trading history. Around the 15th century, China began trading with the world, and most of its foreign goods (货物) happened tothe east (Japan) and the west (Arabia). Markets sell "things from the east and the west". It was short for "east and west" later.
Which theory do you prefer?
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