Why were ancient foreigners called foreigners? What are the allusions?

Europe, America, Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia and other countries.

Foreigners, as the name implies, are people from the ocean, mainly referring to westerners such as Europe and America. China is a country dominated by the mainland. In the historical process of semi-feudalism and semi-colonialism, foreigners basically came from the sea. Therefore, they are called foreigners.

China is located on the continental shelf of Asia, with the sea on both sides. The ancient maritime trade in China was not developed enough, and the concept of local protectionism was deeply rooted. So in order to distinguish foreigners, they are called orientals, westerners and Nanyang people.

Extended data:

Foreigners in a narrow sense:

The word foreigner refers to westerners in a narrow sense. Westerners are synonymous with foreigners because they are more prominent, easier to distinguish and more alienated and different in blood.

Foreigners refer to westerners in China's inherent concept. Westerners are the collective name of white people in Europe and America and black people in Africa.

In particular, in the traditional concept of China people, the north of China is considered as uninhabited and extremely cold, and the north is not near the sea. People from the only country in the north, namely Russia, are also from the west. Their image and appearance are no different from those of westerners, so they are regarded as "westerners" together, so there is no such thing as "Beiyang people".

Baidu encyclopedia-foreigners