The story of 東

east

東 depicts a package of a traveller. Since there is no electricity in ancient China, with a view to fully utilizing the natural light, people traveled in the early morning when the sun had just risen from the east, so the picture of a package is used to represent the meaning of the direction of east. 東 also has the meaning of host because of the significance of the sun. On the other hand, please be noted that 東 and 束(mean bind or bunch) came from the same origin.