An old general term for Non-Chinese tribes, especially of the southeast, or the eastern tribes of the “four barbarians”. In the Western Zhou (Xizhou 西周) period, the population settling in the region from the mouth of the Yellow River down to the Yangtse mouth are called Yi, Zhuyi 諸夷, Dongyi 東夷 “Eastern Yi”, Jiuyi 九夷 “Nine Yi”, or else. The oldest word for these eastern Non-Chinese tribes is Hao 皞. Gao Yao (not Gao Tao!) 皋陶, a minister of the mythical ruler Yu the Great 大禹, is said to be an Yi. The mightiest tribes of the Western Zhou period were the Huaiyi 淮夷 and Xuyi 徐夷 from the River Huai 淮水 resp. Xuzhou 徐州 area in modern Jiangsu and the Laiyi 萊夷 in modern Shandong. These tribes had often been attacking the Shang (hence called Yifang 夷方) and Zhou territory. The Spring and Autumn period (Chunqiu 春秋) saw the foundation of some smaller states by the Yi tribes, like Ren 任, Su 宿, Xugou 須句, Zhuanyu 顓臾, Tan 郯, Liu 六, and Liao 蓼. By the unification of China by the First Emperor of Qin 秦, the Yi had merged with the Chinese. Later, Yi was a general term referring to Non-Chinese, or “uncivilized” people. The aboriginal population of northern Japan, ancestors of the Ainu, were called Yi, as well as the Mongols (compare the dictionary Huayi yiyu 華譯夷語) and the Western merchants.