Why does Mandarin Chinese words "east&west(dōngxi)" mean thing and stuff？ Where did it come from?

Mandarin Chinese word dōngxi东西 means thing and stuff, this word is formed by two characters, dōng means east， xī means west。When we use it to say directions east and west， the pronunciation is dōngxī，when we use it to say thing or stuff, the pronunciation is dōngxi，the second character will become to a neutral tone.

About origins of dōngxi东西, there are a few different versions. One says it comes from Eastern Han dynasty, there were two busiest and the most prosperous cities back then, Luòyáng & Cháng ān, Luòyáng was in the east so it was also called dōngjīng，Cháng ān was in the west so it was also called Xījīng(compare to dōngjīng)。jīng京 in classical Chinese means capital, today Beijing is the same idea, bei means north. Businessmen needed to travel to dōngjīng or xījīng to do business and purchase different goods, with time, mă dōngxi became a popular expression and dōngxi became a general word for things.

Another version says it is from Tang dynasty, there were two big markets in capital Cháng ān, one was located in the east of the city, it was called dōngshì, the other one was located in the west of the city, it was called xīshì, shì means market. People went to dōngshì or xīshì topurchase different things they needed. So with time, dōngxi became a term for stuff or thing.

The last one says this word came from 5 dynasties and 10 kingdoms(a dynasty between Tang and Song), in many historical records, a word appeared very frequently to uesd to say thing or stuff, dòngshi动使, (it is a classical Chinese word, not being used in modern Chinese language any more), after Song dynasty ended 5 dynasties and cleared all small locality separatist power, the whole country got unified again, and after that, dōngxi started being used to indicate things. Many language experts believe that these two words had the most similar pronunciations in Song dynasty, plus, dòngshi disappeared after dōngxi appeared.

Personally, I prefer the third origin, but for Chinese learners, the most important thing is to figure out how to use it.

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