1, according to the folklore, the emperor asked the same question, and one of his ministers replied to Zhou Yanru: "The south represents fire and the north represents water. If you borrow water and fire from your neighbors when cooking dinner at night, you will definitely give it; Giving can't be called trading, so trading items can only be called things. "
More popular than the first one is that the East stands for wood and the West stands for gold. Wood and gold can be sold in one basket, but water and fire represented by the south and north can't.
3. According to the explanation of "Ci Yuan", "This easy cloud is produced on all sides, and it is said that the four seasons are still remembered, and the spring and autumn period is said." This record explains the works of Liang Zhangju in Qing Dynasty.
Judging from the language handed down by ancestors, "you are really nothing!" " It means you are north and south, and north and south mean fire and water. Scolding you means that your heart is like fire and water This really makes sense. People who do bad things are characterized by immorality, and floods and fires are similar to such people.
4. Five Elements Theory
When describing a year, we will say spring and autumn. As we all know, everything starts in spring and ends in autumn. Spring and autumn are a cycle. Among the five elements, the east represents spring and the west represents autumn, just like saying that everything is one thing and everything has cycles, but this statement does not overlap in vertical etymology.
5. Eastern and Western cities.
Chang 'an, the ancient capital of the Tang Dynasty, is also the seven-point place of the ancient Silk Road. Chang 'an has two major markets: the East Market and the West Market, in which the "East Market" is mainly where celebrities from the upper class go, while the West Market is more common among civilians. However, due to the status of Tang in the world at that time, international businessmen could also be seen. Similar to new york, the gateway to the world, people and businessmen often buy goods in these two markets, and over time, they become shopping.