<P> Dikötter explains the close association between nature and nurture . "The shengfan, literally' raw barbarians', were considered savage and resisting . The shufan, or' cooked barbarians', were tame and submissive . The consumption of raw food was regarded as an infallible sign of savagery that affected the physiological state of the barbarian ." </P> <P> Some Warring States period texts record a belief that the respective natures of the Chinese and the barbarian were incompatible . Mencius, for instance, once stated: "I have heard of the Chinese converting barbarians to their ways, but not of their being converted to barbarian ways ." Dikötter says, "The nature of the Chinese was regarded as impermeable to the evil influences of the barbarian; no retrogression was possible . Only the barbarian might eventually change by adopting Chinese ways ." </P> <P> However, different thinkers and texts convey different opinions on this issue . The prominent Tang Confucian Han Yu, for example, wrote in his essay Yuan Dao the following: "When Confucius wrote the Chunqiu, he said that if the feudal lords use Yi ritual, then they should be called Yi; If they use Chinese rituals, then they should be called Chinese ." Han Yu went on to lament in the same essay that the Chinese of his time might all become Yi because the Tang court wanted to put Yi laws above the teachings of the former kings . Therefore, Han Yu's essay shows the possibility that the Chinese can lose their culture and become the uncivilized outsiders, and that the uncivilized outsiders have the potential to become Chinese . </P> <P> Interestingly, after the Song Dynasty, many of China's rulers in the north were of Inner Asia ethnicities, such as Qidan, Ruzhen, and Mongols of the Liao, Jin and Yuan Dynasties, the latter ended up ruling over the entire China . Hence, the historian John King Fairbank wrote, "the influence on China of the great fact of alien conquest under the Liao - Jin - Yuan dynasties is just beginning to be explored ." During the Qing Dynasty, the rulers of China adopted Confucian philosophy and Han Chinese institutions to show that the Manchu rulers had received the Mandate of Heaven to rule China . At the same time, they also tried to retain their own indigenous culture . Due to the Manchus' adoption of Han Chinese culture, most Han Chinese (though not all) did accept the Manchus as the legitimate rulers of China . Similarly, according to Fudan University historian Yao Dali, even the supposedly "patriotic" hero Wen Tianxiang of the late Song and early Yuan period did not believe the Mongol rule to be illegitimate . In fact, Wen was willing to live under Mongol rule as long as he was not forced to be a Yuan dynasty official, out of his loyalty to the Song dynasty . Yao explains that Wen chose to die in the end because he was forced to become a Yuan official . So, Wen chose death due to his loyalty to his dynasty, not because he viewed the Yuan court as a non-Chinese, illegitimate regime and therefore refused to live under their rule . Yao also says that many Chinese who were living in the Yuan - Ming transition period also shared Wen's beliefs of identifying with and putting loyalty towards one's dynasty above racial / ethnic differences . Many Han Chinese writers did not celebrate the collapse of the Mongols and the return of the Han Chinese rule in the form of the Ming dynasty government at that time . Many Han Chinese actually chose not to serve in the new Ming court at all due to their loyalty to the Yuan . Some Han Chinese also committed suicide on behalf of the Mongols as a proof of their loyalty . We should note that the founder of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang, also indicated that he was happy to be born in the Yuan period and that the Yuan did legitimately receive the Mandate of Heaven to rule over China . On a side note, one of his key advisors, Liu Ji, generally supported the idea that while the Chinese and the non-Chinese are different, they are actually equal . Liu was therefore arguing against the idea that the Chinese were and are superior to the "Yi ." </P>

What is the origin of the term barbarian