左衽

左衽

1. garment fastened on the left side (a classical literary trope about foreign or barbarian clothing)

   • 夷狄之人貪而好利，被髮左衽，人面獸心。其與中國殊章服，異習俗，飲食不同，言語不通，辟居北垂寒露之野，逐草隨畜，射獵為生，隔以山谷，雍以沙幕，天地所以絕外內也。 [Traditional Chinese poetry, trad.]
     夷狄之人贪而好利，被发左衽，人面兽心。其与中国殊章服，异习俗，饮食不同，言语不通，辟居北垂寒露之野，逐草随畜，射猎为生，隔以山谷，雍以沙幕，天地所以绝外内也。 [Traditional Chinese poetry, simp.]

     From: The Book of Han, circa 1^st century CE

     Yídí zhī rén tān ér hǎolì, bèifà zuǒrèn, rénmiànshòuxīn. Qí yǔ Zhōngguó shū zhāngfú, yì xísú, yǐnshí bùtóng, yányǔ bùtōng, pì jū běichuí hánlù zhī yě, zhú cǎo suí xù, shèliè wèishēng, gé yǐ shāngǔ, yōng yǐ shāmù, tiāndì suǒyǐ jué wàinèi yě. [Pinyin]

     The Yi and the Di people are greedy and desirous of gain; they wear their hair down their backs and fasten their garments on the left; they have human faces but the hearts of wild beasts. Their ceremonial garments differ from those worn in the Central States [of China]; their customs and diet differ from ours; and our languages are mutually unintelligible. They dwell far away, in the cold, on the bare lands of the north, driving their herds in pursuit of pasture, and hunting with the bow and arrow in order to sustain themselves. They are separated from us by mountains and valleys and cut off by the desert. By these means did Heaven and Earth divide inner from outer.