Edwin G. Pulleyblank
The "Yi" ("Barbarian") had both specific denotations (e.g., "Huaiyi" 淮夷 "Huai River barbarians" and "Xiyi" 西夷 "western barbarians") and generalized references to "barbarian" (e.g., "Sìyí" "Four Barbarians"). The sinologist Edwin G. Pulleyblank says the name "Yi" "furnished the primary Chinese term for 'barbarian'," but "Paradoxically the Yi were considered the most civilized of the non-Chinese peoples."