Yan (言) means language, or words. Language is the basic vehicle through which people express thoughts and wishes, and with which they conduct exchanges. There are still debates regarding whether or not language can accurately and completely express thinking. For various reasons, language may be used by people – deliberately or not – to obfuscate or erroneously express ideas. Moreover, yan at times specifically referred to a means by which those in government instructed the populace. Confucians stressed the role of “conveying through words,” while Daoists favored “wordless instruction.”