Comparing Asian Nationalities | Asian American Poll

COMPARING ASIAN NATIONALITIES
(Updated Wednesday, Jan 22, 2025, 04:39:09 AM to reflect the 100 most recent valid responses.)

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WHAT YOU SAY

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One Korean Man--

While we are going on about the subject of Korean/Vietnamese relations, I think that the one of the more "real" reason why Korean Americans and the Vietnamese Americans get along is the fact that Vietnamese Americans tend to be anti-communist. Go talk to a middle aged Vietnamese man, who probably served in the South Vietnamese army before he fled to the U.S., and he might not have a terrible opinion of Koreans. In fact, he might have fought side by side.

Yes Koreans did some horrible things and the fact that the South Vietnamese army was doing the same doesn't justify Korean army's behavior. I'm just trying to clarify some misconceived notions that all Vietnamese Americans love uncle Ho. Vietnamese Americans would suredly be strongly proud of Vietnam, but suredly some might disdain communism. Of course even Vietnam is shifting away from communism and achieved some great progress.

I know that Korean president has apologized for Korean involvement of the Vietnam war, and for a large part the Vietnamese people have forgiven the Koreans--certainly Vietnamese people have been magnanimous in considering how positively they receive Korean pop culture. I just hope that Korean people can get over all their misconceived ideas that Southeast asia is somehow backwards.
ka Wednesday, May 29, 2002 at 07:33:19 (PDT)

to General Viet, tri, gk:

about the origins of the hmong (miao in chinese), here is what I know:

according to legend, the hmong originated somewhere near the Yellow River basin (in northern China), where they were allied with the tribes that later merged to form the Han Chinese nationality.

the hmong resisted assimilation by the Han Chinese, and fled towards the south.
it is known that for some period, they occupied the middle Yangtze River valley (in the modern province of Jiangxi), and later fled towards the mountainous regions of southwestern China (inc. modern Guangxi, Guizhou and Yunnan provinces).

many of the hmong still reside in this region up to this day (i have visited one of the areas with the largest concentration of Hmong people, in eastern Guizhou Province).

from what i saw, the hmong are physically indistinguishable from the Han Chinese (they resemble the Han Chinese in the surrounding areas), so it makes sense that they are closely related to the Han Chinese.

about the different theories that have been proposed for the origins of the hmong people, the theory of Chinese origin seems to be the most convincing. I really doubt the theory of Mongolian origin, as the physical features of the Miao in no way resembles that of modern Mongolians or other related peoples.

ABC who knows China Wednesday, May 29, 2002 at 02:54:25 (PDT)

I notice alot of people on this site make a big deal about the differences within the Chinese people. To tell you the truth, the majority of Chinese percieve themselves as one people under one culture regardless of the dialect or province. When HongKong was handed back to China, there was joyous celebration all over China even though Hongkong speaks the Cantonese dialect. With mass media and the Internet, Chinese mainlanders are exposed to all facets of Chinese life in the provinces. Old "stereotypes" about the each other no longer applies. Many Chinese are proud of their national heroes who came from all provinces of China.

Sometimes people think that since China has so many dialects, it lacks unity and conhesion among its people. False! The reality is, Chinese take pride in all its dialects because each one has some connection to the original speech of the ancients called Archaic or Old Chinese by linguists. Similar to what happened to Latin in Europe, Old Chinese morphed into the multitude of today's dialects. Each one is vital to China's ancient cultural heritage. If you visit the capital Beijing, you will find people from all the provinces living in harmony with each other. There are restaurants that serve dishes from all the provinces each with unique culinary pleasures. Beijingers don't mind if you hail from Harbin, HongKong or Yunnan, to them you are "joong-gwa-ren" or "people of the Middle Kingdom" in Mandarin.

My guess is the petty arguments on which type of "Chinese" is better seems to come from ignorant young ABCs (American-Born Chinese) or those that were raised in the USA. Listen, you brats, go to China and you will see the respect and unity among the true Chinese. It's funny when I tell my Chinese friends what goes on in Goldsea and they were shocked to learn that you people were actually discussing which "Chinese people" have the best facial features, tallest, skin, etc. They wondered why you kids have so much time in your life to think about such trivial matters and why aren't you doing something more productive. True Chinese would NEVER insult their own bethren over ridiculous claims of provincial superiority. Wise up to this fact: All Chinese people have Han blood in various degrees. Because of this, Chinese people are forever connected to each other no matter what you look like.
Exchange Student in China Wednesday, May 29, 2002 at 01:44:35 (PDT)

Were there really Chinese people who settled in Xinjiang and beyond in Central Asia during the Han and Tang Dynasties?

The modern Uigur people would not want to admit any of it, but, it seems like there are some Han in them (not necessarily from mixing with the Hui).

Now, I have read that esp. during the Tang Dynasty, numerous pilgrims, merchants and soldiers built garrisons and lived along those silk routes connecting Central Asia with the Middle Kingdom (China)? Then, later this region (as was Guangdong) was a dumping ground for convicts and political exiles. I read somewhere (correct if I am wrong) that one town in Xinjiang (Kucha) was entirely formed through Han Chinese convicts from Tang with the local Tocharians and northern Indian Buddhists. Later, the Turkic Uigurs came to this region and Islamicized and Turkified all the differing groups living there at that time.

Still, even during the Genghis Khan's invasion of Central Asia and the Near East, it is recorded that they still found colonies of Han Chinese living near the old Tang garrison towns in Xinjiang. Some were even found as far as Samarkand as wage laborers and merchants. More even came after the Mongols swept through these oases regions.
tri Wednesday, May 29, 2002 at 00:52:23 (PDT)

Rude Cantonese:
"Many Northerners, Mandarin Speakers and Hakkas who come to HK looking for employment are often harass and emotionally abused by the Cantonese speakers due to their inability to speak the local dialect."
Yeah, believe me, I know. When I first got to HK I still had a Hakka accent. People just kinda stared at me all confused when I opened my mouth (cuz I'm half-Chinese and look Iranian or something, they can't figure out why I talk like some hick from the mountains), over the phone I always got treated like crap, until I figured out what was going on. But on the other hand, I have friends who study in Northern China who claim the only other people who are friendly to them there are the immigrants from the provinces who also have trouble speaking Mandarin. All of us are xenophobic to a certain degree ...

One Korean Man:
"It's those Western scholars who seem to have a trouble with [theory of Altaic language family]. I don't understand why..."
And some ultra-nationalist Japanese scholars who don't wanna be associated to Koreans at all ...
T.H. Lien Wednesday, May 29, 2002 at 00:39:07 (PDT)

I don't know if this topics fit under this thread, but have any of you read the research and work of Dr. Michael Xu in Texas?

He provides ample and clear evidence that the Olmecs of ancient Mexico has clear connections with the Shang people of China.

When Shang kingdom fell, many of its surviving princes fled east.

Some may have made their way to the Americas (circa 1200 BCs).

Just wondering?
Joey Wednesday, May 29, 2002 at 00:32:39 (PDT)

Any of you know the origins of the Chu state during the warring state periods in China? Was the Chu people more closer to the Yueh in terms of race and language?

They invaded northern China many times but then lost to the Qin eventually. But, one of their generals, Xiang Yu soon revolted and fought for the throne with a peasant Liu Bang.

The Chu lost and the Han became China's next dynasty for the past 4 centuries. The Chu people and language gave way to the Han.
cassy Tuesday, May 28, 2002 at 23:18:17 (PDT)

Hafti, Annam Guy, General Viet and other Vietnamese friends:

It is sad to hear of what the Chinese did. My mom and dad would always tell me as a child that when China went to war with any nation, it was for self-protection. They told me that lands like Tibet, Mongolia, etc. would benefit under Chinese rule.

But, hearing the pain from the postings here made me realize that even China was not always as benevolent and righteous as my parents said.

We always wondered why the ancient Viets and Coreans would so adamantly resist Chinese rule when China was the most richest and glorious nation back then. It is one word: PRIDE.

Chinese friend Tuesday, May 28, 2002 at 23:13:49 (PDT)

General Viet,

I heard one of the Miao people's folktales. Many of them talk of snow in these stories. The present lands of Miao people have no snow. It is most likely they lived in northern China among the Han people before being pushed south.
tri Tuesday, May 28, 2002 at 22:37:19 (PDT)

Discovery Channel,

In the 4th cent. AD, native Korean kingdoms were already established in Korea. There were no Huns.

The European Huns are descended from the northern half of the Xiongnu (a proto-Turkic confederation) in the northwestern borders of China (western parts of modern Mongolia). They were wiped out by the armies of Han commander Ban Chao. A few survived on the steppes and made their way into eastern Europe. Xiongnu is pronounced "Hung-no" in the Cantonese dialect, so I assume this was closer to the Han Dynasty pronunciation than it is with the modern Mandarin one. It is without doubt that the Huns are connected to the Xiongnu (Hung-no).

The Uigurs as well as many Han Chinese in northwestern China are the direct descendants of the Xiongnu. They disappeared into and among these groups.
Gav Tuesday, May 28, 2002 at 22:35:30 (PDT)

To my Vietnamese friends and brothers,

The Cantonese, Fukienese people would never give up their lands. We are part of the Chinese nation and history. Whether we have Yueh ancestry or not is irrelevant. Even so, the Yueh who remained in southern China chose to become Han Chinese (we call ourselves Tang people). It is just like telling Mexicans to recover their native American Indio roots. It's not going to happen because it's impossible.

And, I hope the Chinese remaining in Vietnam can receive equal and better treatment.
not going to happen Tuesday, May 28, 2002 at 22:29:28 (PDT)

T.H Lien,

You are right. Not exactly all the Chinese loan words among Japanese and Korean sound more closer to Cantonese and Hakka. There are some that still sound closer to Mandarin.

It all depended on what time era and what region of China did the Koreans and Japanese come to study and borrow from.

For example, during the 3 kingdom period, Korea has hostility with the Wei kingdom of Chao Chao in northern China, so they established relations with the other 2 southern kingdoms in southern China. Of course, the southern culture must have entered Korea through this relations as well.

Karate and Zen Buddhism entered Japan through the Chinese southern provinces (Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Fujian). Most of the Chinese merchants who settled in Japan came from these provinces as well.

Regarding Tang language. We will never know how it really sounded like. Its supposedly closest descendants (Cantonese, Hakka and Min) might even have features from the earlier Yueh languages that diluted the original Tang. We'll never know.
refargo Tuesday, May 28, 2002 at 22:15:13 (PDT)

Rude Cantonese scum,

The prejudice against Toisan speakers among the HK Cantonese is just as bad as that against Hakka and Chiu-Chou. Toisan people and language are also seen as coming from backwater regions.

Even though my heritage is Toisan, I must admit that it is quite annoying and sometimes animating to see elder women cussing and using foul language towards each other in the dialect. Or, even when they are arguing each other in loud voices. I somehow get the feeling that Toisan language is the ebonics of Cantonese.

Anyways, I like to know what type of Cantonese (Sam-yup or Sze-yup?) do the people in Guangxi province speak? My dad says that his ancestors (actually, great-great grandfather) migrated from Guangxi to Toisan.
Hoisan yin Tuesday, May 28, 2002 at 22:06:35 (PDT)

Thais are racially related to Chinese...probably some of them are related to the southernmost chinese, but it's hard to think they are related to chinese in general.
chinese Tuesday, May 28, 2002 at 21:02:20 (PDT)

["If you know that in Mandarin and even in Cantonese, there are quite a few words that end in "R."]

Actually, in Taiwanese Mandarin, we hardly use the "R" sound. The only words I can think of that use the "R" sound are "daughter", "son" and "two." Maybe there's more words that I just can't think of off the top of my head. Even though I'm an ABC (American Born Chinese) who's never lived in Asia, I've had a lot of contact with FOBs and AAs. I've definitely noticed that people from the mainland(China) definitely seem to use the "R" sound considerably more.

NY Homeboy,

In Mandarin mom can be pronounced
"mama" or "liang". Dad is pronounced
"baba" or "dieh." BTW, I thought the word "apa" meant "older sister" in Hindi or Urdu, not dad.

aa Tuesday, May 28, 2002 at 20:02:13 (PDT)

I'm glad to see some strong and intelligent inputs and opinions expressed/shared on this forum by my SE Asian friends, specifically those of Vietnamese descent. After reading many Vietnamese language-related and ethnology-related posts -- although I take some of them with a grain of salt just like many other posts
-- now I feel like I know a lot about Vietnam/Vietnamese, more than I've ever known in my entire life!

In general, I can understand the frustration and even some anger felt by Vietnamese posters who might feel their proud history/heritage/culture/etc., and their ever-growing presence in this country still being slighted/negleted, often ignored, by other nationalities, speicifically by so-called East Asians.

Hey, I feel for you! Sometimes we Koreans also get no respect/love from our own fellow East Asian brothers. You know, Koreans are like those underappreciated/underrecognized middle children who don't seem to stand out from either their oldest siblings(aka Chinese) or the youngest ones(aka Japanese). Of course, this is a very very broad generalization...

Oftentimes, we have to struggle/fight mightily hard to assert our own ethnic identity to the rest of East Asian people.

Anyway, I wondered why many Koreans are
guilty of holding some prejudiced views towards Vietnamese/other SE Asians as someone pointed out.

I don't want to upset anybody, but this is how I see. I like to share some of my own personal experiences:

1)first, it comes from ignorance;

there had been virtually no historical relationship between Korea and Vietnam until 1960s or early 1970s. Almost all of ancient Korean history had been closely intertwined with those of China and Japan. Through these interactions going back thousands of years,
we Koreans had developed certain mentality/psyche as to how to relate/react/behave/treat our fellow East Asian people. Sometimes with measured respect and sometimes with outright contempt and scorn. We're not too curious about each other since we think we know each other reasonably well enough...

And when Korea finally
got to know Vietnam in 1960s, as you can imagine, the impression we got from Vietnam experience was overwhelmingly negative. For one thing, I remember when I was a little little boy growing up in Seoul,Korea, when kids would make fun of a fellow dark-skinned Korean boy by calling him "a Viet Cong" or "a blackie"(African negro). Furthermore, whenever one of my own uncles, a Vietnam vet, visited our house, he even jokingly
called my kid sister by that name, "a Viet Cong", over and over,
becase she was somewhat dark-skinned. He loved to tease my mother and kid sister like that. Anyway, I was too little to know what a Viet Cong really was, or what Vietnam meant, but I came to a belief that it meant something ugly and shameful...

How ironic seeing that Korea also went through same kind of civil war in 1950-1953, the peninsula painfully divided to this day and technically still at war...and I bet most of ally nations/soldiers who had participated in Korean War had left Korea with same kind of prejudiced views or distorted
opinions as Koreans did from duties in Vietnam 20 years later.
Just look at M.A.S.H...

2)It comes from arrogance being the newly rich;

today Korea(the southern half) is the 2nd largest economy in Asia behind Japan and the 11th overall in the world.
Its per capita GDP is around $16,000. We see all these Korean-made cars (although relatively cheap compared to Japanese- or German-made automobiles), electronic equipments/home appliances/etc., flooding into US markets. We hosted the Olympics in 1988. And over next month, we are cohosting the World Cup along with Japan.
Koreans finally have "arived", you know.

In comparison, Vietnam(and SE Asians)
is not doing so well. I don't know too much about present-day Vietnam, but it's very poor and severely underdeveloped.
Its per capita GDP
is hovering around only $500 or so.

Today's Koreans don't know what the poverty is unlike most of their parents who experienced it to a varying degree.

And Korean Americans? They are doing even better than their compatriots back in Korea. K-As are actually one of the most successful minority groups
in US along with C-As, J-As, and yes, Indian Americans, not to mention the all-mighty, ubiquitos Jews.

Once again, the three East Asian groups stand out from the rest of fellow Asian Americans.

Of course, there are some very successful Vietnamese Americans in this coutry. I know of many doctors, dentists, engineers who are of Vietnamese descent.
But, as a group, V-As and other SE Asian descent lag far behind the people of three East Asian ancestry all across the board.

Back in Asia, all the advanced and affluent countries are of Korean, Japanese and Chinese origins...

No wonder why many Koreans, along with the other East Asian nationalities, feel superior towards SE Asian counterparts.

In final analysis, it seems like Koreans have a short memory. Only a generation or two ago, we
weren't much different from what SE Asia is like today...

3)It could also come from "looking different"; I don't wanna spend too much time on this topic. But, even my white friends notice some of the obvious difference in physical traits
between East Asians and SE Asians in general.
Unfortunately, we tend to discriminate against those who "look different" from us, you know.

What can we do about all these discrepancies/prejudice/differences/etc.?

Patience, perseverance and time.

I'm very moved by the story of those Korean families, as some poster wrote about; although I feel betrayed(just kidding!), I think it's great that these descendants of Prince Ly's are doing whatever they can to give back to their impoverished fatherland -- despite the fact that it's under a communist regime.
I don't think these Korean families are any richer than other "pure" Koreans per se. But, when an average Korean guy is almost 40 times richer than an average Vietnamese person, the finacial resources/entrepreneuship/etc.
engineered/pooled together by a group of determined people can make some difference in a country like Vietnam. Hey, if these Korean families who have been separated from Vietnam for more than 700 years are going back to Vietnam, and helping out its people, etc., why can't some of successful V-As do the same? I bet they can do a lot more than these descendants of prince Ly's.
Maybe they are doing exactly that...

Eventually there might come a time when Vietnam becomes as prosperous, powerful and influential as the East Asian nations on a regional or world scene.
Same goes true for V-As living in this country. When that inevitably happens, I bet most of this prejudice held by Koreans or other East Asian nationalities will disappear.

Also, looking tall/big and strong can't
hurt, either, through a better diet/nutrition/exercise/whatever...
Although it seems like there is a certain degree of genetic factor governing the height of SE Asian descent -- mainly because American-born Vietnamese are still shorter than American-born East Asians by several inches -- it's also true that Koreans and other East Asian nationalities have been enjoying a better overall nutrition/food qualities
than SE Asian nationalities at least for the past 35-40 years or so. Maybe at
least in America, the gap can be narrowed and will be eventually equalized in next generation or so...

Yes, we Koreans went through same kind of prejudice/developmental process/growing pain that many of V-As might be facing right now. I hope V-As will eventually get their well-deserved share of appreciation and recognition from American people, not to mention from their East Asian brothers/sisters, in due time.

From my personal encounters with some
V-As in this country, I've had nothing but good and positive experiences to report.
They were all hard-working, highly-motivated, friendly,
intelligent and humble people...

Whoever that compared Koreans to Vietnamese:

I see some similarities. And I don't mind about being compared to Vietnamese. Or vice versa, I assume.

But, you went on and compared Chinese to southern Italians? Hmm...Very interesting...Typical of a Chinese(are you?) poster...

BTW, many Westerners like to compare Koreans to the Irish and oftentimes to the Jews(we've been called "Kews" by some people) for obvious reasons. I guesss it makes it easier for them to understand us from Occidental perspective/viewpoints if nothing else...

Regarding the possibility of SE Asians migrating to Korea/Japan:

It's speculated that in ancient times
Japan had some significant number of migrants from Southeastern Pacific parts of Asia, specifically Philippine Islands, etc., because some Japanese clearly show some Malay-looking physical features. Korea too, but to a lesser extent. In any regard, Korean and Japanese ancestors primarily came from Northeastern part of Asia, distinct from Han Chinese ancestors.
Again, as some of you might already know, a great great number of people went over to Japan from Korea. Some studies have shown that between 70-80% of Japanese people are descended from early migrants who came over from Korea. I was somewhat surprised at such a high percentage. Of course, Japanese don't believe it and I don't blame them...

My last word:

I don't know too much about Sino-Tibetan languages and SE Asian languages, but from what I've heard, Vietnamese in particular sounded awfully close to Chinese(no, I can't tell the difference between Mandarin and Cantonese). And I gather that Vietnamese and Cambodian(Khmer?)
are linguistically related.

It may be true that
Vietnamese/Cambodian languages
had a
different origin apart from Chinese, but over the centuries, it seems as though they have become greatly sinified at least in tone/sound/pitch/pronunciation. And this is what makes me wonder.
I can understand how certain loanwords in Vietnamese might sound similar to Chinese. But, the tone and pitch of Vietnamese and Chinese
languages make me suspect of sharing same common ancestor in the distant past. Just a speculation...After all, didn't we all come from Adam and Eve?

One Korean Man Tuesday, May 28, 2002 at 19:41:30 (PDT)

Hakka people, aka ke jia ren, what about those folks? According to Hakka lore, they're supposed to be a northern peoples from provinces such as Shandong, etc. Funny thing is that Hakka culture hadn't even been claimed to exist until 1808 by a single individual (who was probably stoned out of his mind from opium).
Truth be told, there had never been a separate entity until that time. The distinctions that can now be identified seem to have come about during the 16th century, when settlement of Fujian province was greatly encouraged by the government. Hakkas are also the main constituents of Taiwan, whom reputedly consider themselves descendants of northern peoples. Sorry to break the news to you, but unless you came along with Jiang Jie-shi and the nationalist crew, you are not distinct from any other nanfang ren. When it was noted that Hakka was spoken nowhere else in China, the Hakka's claimed that it was because they were the true Chinese, keepers of an ancient northern tradition. This air of superiority seems quite comical now, considering the fact that the Hakka language could not be differentiated from Guangdong hua until the settlement of Fujian.

The Toisan Cantonese call themselves Tang ren because it was during the Tang dynasty that Guandong was finally sinicized. Ironically, this was also about the time that relatively recent Hakka lore mentions the first wave of northern immigrants to the south. What does this seem to indicate? Well, plain and simple, that Hakkas are simply southerners like everyone else there, and that neither the Cantonese nor the Hakka are more Chinese than the other.

Why did I bother to mention this? Well, to be quite frank, the cultural superiority complex held by hakkas, especially towards their fellow southerners, needs to be in check.

FYI: What is the Mandarin word for Vietnam? Yue nan, which literally translates to really really far far south.

And to Muslim Indonesia: thanks for ransacking my southern Chinese cousins. It's great that you vent your jealousy of their socio-economic success in such low-brow wanton fashion.

The same goes for Muslim Malaysia. That's why Singapore was established. I love how you make us feel like the Jews of Asia.

chinatown Tuesday, May 28, 2002 at 16:42:24 (PDT)

To One Korean Man and gk,

I have read somewhere and this confirmed that one of the king of the Ly dynasty in Vietnam, I m not quite sure who, was exiled from Vietnam for political reason on a boat which drifted to the Korean peninsula. If this is correct then he would have landed in Trieu Tien (Korea) in late 12th early 13th century as a political refugee. One of the president of Korea claim to have Vietnamese blood in him, I don't remember who. The last name Lee of Koreans originated from the last name Ly in Vietnamese. I m not very familiar with Korean history so can somebody expand on this or correct any errors I've made.

VAM Tuesday, May 28, 2002 at 16:02:36 (PDT)

To gk;

The korean viets are going back to vietnam? That's HARSH. Shouldn't they stay loyal to a nation they stayed in for a few millenias already? But it could be the viet blood that is too strong and pure to stay in a nation that they accidentally came to.

Hafti Tuesday, May 28, 2002 at 14:46:04 (PDT)

To Le Loi;

The theory of which the vietnamese came from is very blunt. It isn't very clear. The chinese scholars consider us the pure descendents of the Yueh, because the Yueh were pushed down and their history was never recorded again, but instead a new history was born, history of the vietnamese. The chinese consider us the Yueh, who in many battles fought the Han off very well until they were ultimately outnumbered and failed to defend.

But there is evidence that civilization was around in the Red River Delta of vietnam even before civilization was around in China. Archaelogical evidence versus extremely accurate historical annals.

So from this many scholars today, refer to the vietnamese as having two ancestors. The Yueh who were then assimilated into the Dong Son Culture, but both the Yueh tribes and the Dong Son civilization. History says that the viet ancestors stretch from SouthEast China to the South where north vietnam is today, so indeed they must have been related. The vietnamese today are considered to be the purest of the ancient viets descendents, of both the Yueh and the Dong Son of the Red River Delta.

To don;

I believe that the HoaBinh Culture of vietnam were the first rice cultivating civilization of east asia, some say that agriculture came to the areas of the red river delta before it did with the mesopotamians, but archaelogical evidence can be distorted, thus the evidence supporting the vietnamese first having it isn't welly known as a rival to the mesopotamians. The Hoa Binh Culture is ancestor to the Dong Son Culture and a whole bunch of other cultures like the Yueh and many other ethnics.
To Rick;

The Laotians, Thais, and Tibetans i don't believe have been recorded to have been a break off from the Yueh tribes (chinese recorded history of vietnam) or the Viet tribes (direct descendents of the Hoa Binh Culture, which is supported by archealogy). They were supposed to have been from Yunnan i think, or some other West or Southwestern part of china. Again i don't know this much, but i think i read it somewhere.
General Viet Tuesday, May 28, 2002 at 14:43:19 (PDT)

"Cantonese and southern Italians share many characteristics"

LOL...ok chink whatever you say.

italian stallion Tuesday, May 28, 2002 at 14:06:20 (PDT)

Cantonese and southern Italians share many characteristics

True...but other Southern Chinese groups act more like the Jews than the Italians.

1)Hakkas - emphasis on education, usually interested in politics, and successful as intellectuals. Very scattered throughout the world. Have a tendency to intermarry natives including those of Black ancestry.

2)Teochews - money hungry and very clannish, many millionaires and billionaires in HK and Southerast Asia are of Teochew ancestry. They dominate much of the commerce in HK and Southeast Asia.

3)Taiwanese - cunning, ambitious, and very into higher education. They hold the most PHDs of all of the Chinese groups, and many hold positions in top/elite universities.

4)Shanghainese - probably the most "Jewish" of all of the Chinese. Stereotyped as shrewd business people (more so than the Teochews), they dominate much of the commerce in the 1900's before HK and Southern China ever became "real" business centers. Many wealthy Shanghainese at that time had Jewish friends such as the Sassoons, Jardines, and Rothschilds, who nearly destroyed Southern China with their opium trades. Expect Shanghai once again to surpass HK in business and finance in the next few decades. Charles Wang of Computer Associates is of Shanghainese descent.

Remember Jews and Italians share similar traits

1) Jews are voluble like the Italians (look at Jerry Seinfeld vs Ray Romano)

2)Jews are very family oriented, family is more important than Judiasm to many Jews.

3)Jews were involved in organized crime, and were better at it too(wealthier).

However, what makes Jews different from the Italians?

1) Heavy emphasis on education, Jews dominate just about every freaking institution in America.

2) Practice politics as a way to gain respect and power in America.

3) Control many facets of the American society.

4) Affluent group in America

5) Profession-oriented..Lawyers, Doctors

Southern Chinese Tuesday, May 28, 2002 at 10:59:40 (PDT)

Can someone please explain to me what the Corean language is a mixture of? I know that they borrow some of the Chinese calligraphy many, many years ago, although in the 14th or 15th century the Coreans wrote their own alphabet.
chinalova Tuesday, May 28, 2002 at 10:20:24 (PDT)

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