ABSTRACT
In this Chapter I propose a new take on the much studied and controversial topic of the concept of ‘others’ in pre-Qín texts and argue that the narrative of otherness changed from warfare to culture around the beginning of the Warring States period. The new set of terms referring to non-Zhōu others as ‘civilizationally inferior others’ or ‘barbarians’ that emerged in the Warring States period became a central component of the ruling elite’s burgeoning understanding of itself as a ‘civility/civilization’ (wén). Analyzing structural changes in paradigms of ethnonyms (rather than focusing on semantic changes in individual terms), I show how the term yí 夷 emerged as the default term for ‘civilizationally inferior others’ or ‘barbarians.’
