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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To ka and One Korean Man,

Let me tell you what I think of Koreans in Korea and America from my point of view.

The Koreans in Korea are a divided people. There are two Koreas the North and South which, for political reasons, would not cooperate or work out their differences so that the country could be united again. The North with a communist government is a like a third world developing countries with an economy still growing at a slow rate and people with empty stomachs. The governement turned away, denying that the country need immediate aid from foreign allies. Meanwhile, the South is wealthy, ranked among the top nations of the world in GDP, standard of living, the highest per capita income with the help by Japan in restructuring the economy following the Japanese footsteps. I want to point out that Korea could not solve its domestic affairs but turn to other countries to do it for them with no satisfactory results accept for the Japanese copied market economy reformed.

On the other hand, the Korean-Americans I admit are successful in all aspects, in business, law, engineering, medicine, etc. They had a long history in migrating to the US, more time to getting used and adjust so they are more well-off than other Asian newcomers from Southeast Asia (Vietnam, Philippines, Laos, Cambodia, etc) who are still arriving at a steady rate, while East Asians have declined. Ironically, as a country modernized it is more stable and the people do not have to move abroad, but once they have made it they would work hard to become successful in their new homeland. The KA have gotten the American dream but at the price of reduction in immigrations, and reduction in pure Korean population due to intermarriages with non-Koreans as with the fate with the Japanaese-Americans. The intermarriages with the non-Koreans I guess are due to more exposure with non-Koreans brought about by having been assimilated into mainstream American society.

va Thursday, May 30, 2002 at 05:26:52 (PDT)

http://vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn/2001-02/03/Stories/28.htm

hm..i've just stumbled upon this page..interesting..it is said Prince Ly came to Korea to preserve the Ly lineage when the Tran Dynasty usurped the Ly. the point is if he flee to Korea, it would be harder to preserve the family lineage i guess???
gk Thursday, May 30, 2002 at 03:03:39 (PDT)

Hmong don't look like Mongolians at all.
the word Hmong mean FREE.
g Thursday, May 30, 2002 at 02:43:27 (PDT)

VAM: I think Lee is both a vietnamese and chinese name.

hm... Yuenan is vietnam in mandarion. Could it be possible Vietnam is related to chinese province Yunnan?

gk Thursday, May 30, 2002 at 02:39:44 (PDT)

Haftie:

That may sound pretty absurd but it's TRUE!

In 1226, Ly Long Tuong fled exile to Korea by boat with his wives, offsprings and servants. Living there he was deeply nostalgic. I heard he went regularly to a mountain and looked towards the South, to where his coutry was and cried. reason why the mountain was called NOstalgy mountain (if i'm not wrong). after dying he made careful recommendations to his offsprings that the lineage log book must be kept and they would never be able to forget their roots. Vietnamese has a tradition of keeping lineage log book. which is why korean people with vietnamese blood can trace back to the roots of their ancestor. I heard his descendants are now living in both North and South Korea. I never heard about a korean with vietnamese blood became korean king though.

I'm not sure after going to Korea these vietnamese intermarrige widely or not but within 8 centuries, the blood isn't pure anymore. However, they still feel vietnamese. Culturally they don't forget their roots although genetically they are not totally vietnamese. It may sound harsh but that's the truth.

Lee Chang Kun (25th generation descendant of Prince Ly) went back to live in Vietnam with his family in 2001. not sure if he will stay there all his life. SOme descendants of Prince Ly in Korea are now learning Vietnamese to be able to communicate w/ viet people when they go there. Through generations, they still keep their vietnamese values and taught their children so which is why those koreans still think about their very old roots.

hm...i will come up w/ more stuff if i find something new.

gk Thursday, May 30, 2002 at 02:35:02 (PDT)

Of the 56 national minorities in China, more than half of them are located in southern China.

Most of them are acculturated with their Han neighbors, but cling on to their minority status because of better benefits. There are more tribes (or madeup ones) waiting to receive full government recognition nowadays. Some of these tribes can be as few as 50 people.
tri Wednesday, May 29, 2002 at 21:14:47 (PDT)

Are the Zhuang people of Guangxi related to the Hmong, or are they really the Yueh descendants? I heard that they easily assimilate and amalgamate with the Han Cantonese in Guangxi in large cities.

They are the most numerous minority group in China, and Guangxi is named an autonomous province for them (although the Cantonese and Mandarin speakers of Guangxi are by far still more in the majority).

How about the "boat people" (Tanka) in Hong Kong? There are 2 theories as to why they live in boats and not on land.

1) They are the descendants of Yueh people who got driven off their land.

2) They are Cantonese who refused to pay taxes and so they instead lived off of boats instead of land.
in search of the Yueh Wednesday, May 29, 2002 at 20:59:34 (PDT)

chinalova,

Other than Chinese, no other language has had any major influences on Corean, although Japanese and English has added some modern term daily words.

As to its mixtures?

It is a unique language and its native vocabulary has no direct relatives. Let us leave at that. It is an independent language group, although many would add that Japanese is its closest in terms of similar features (though no solid relation to put one coming from the other).
ethnic languages Wednesday, May 29, 2002 at 20:43:49 (PDT)

More fascinating story I discovered (thanks to that google/yahoo search!) since the last post(regarding the Indian princess who married a certain Korean king):

I first heard about this somewhat mythtical fairy tale through three of my old MIT friends -- who, BTW, had different surnames from each other, i.e., Kim, Lee and Huh; and yes, they all claimed to have directly descended from this Korean king and his mysterious Indian princess. And because of this unique bonding, my three friends treated each other as a member of "one big family." They even told me that the people bearing their surnames from common ancestry do not marry one another because it's considered to be incestuous, and more importantly such a marriage/union is strictly forbidden by Korean civil laws. One guy in particular, was extremeley proud of his heritage, and often in jest, attributed his hirsuteness (he was one of the most hairy Korean males I've ever encounterd in my life) to his old Indian grandmama.

I'm not sure whether this story actually belongs on this forum, but I've come to discover that there are many teenagers of Korean descent visiting this site. For their educational benefit, FWIW, here it goes;

It turns out that this Indian princess did actually come from a northeastern part of ancient India, called Ayuta Empire in year A.D. 48, almost 2000 years ago. I haven't been able to verify whether such kindgom really existed in old India. In any regard, just looking at where she originated from and her royal rank/status, it can be deduced that this particular princess was most likely of a fair-skinned, often light-eyed Aryan racial stock rather than a dark-skinned Dravidian background as I first erroneously wrote.

Anyway, hur husband, King Kim Suro, the very first king of Kaya kingdom which was located in southeatern part of Korean peninsula/present-day Kimhae province, was constantly praying to God for his future bride while stubbornly refusing to even look at some of the most beautiful Korean girls that were presented to him. King Kim figured that since God made him a ruler over His divine land, God might as well provide him with a proper bride. This persisted for 7 years.

Then, one night, King Kim Suro had a dream in which God basically told him that his prayer of many years would be fulfilled, and He would grant the pious king his wish by sending him a beautiful bride in near future. Next morning, King Kim Suro ordered some of his subordinates to keep a close/constant watch at the seashores on the southeastern side of the kingdom.

Then, one day, lo and behold, there surely comes a ship bearing red ensigns/flags at the mast from the southwestern direction. When the ship finally reached the shore, greatly-anticipating Kaya people begged the Indian princess and her people on board to promptly come out of the ship and land on the ground. However, she refused.

When informed of a delicate situation, king Kim Suro rushed to the shore himself and gladly welcomed the Princess with longing open heart. Only then, the Princess and her people would oblige, come out of the ship and accompany the king and his people back to the palace.

The Princess told the king a very interesting story. Her parents, king and queen of Ayuta Empire, seemed to have had a same dream that the king Kim Suro had. In the dream, the king and queen of Ayuta empire were told that a certain king from a far away land in some eastern country badly needed a wife, and they should send their beautiful daughter to be his lawfully-wedded wife, and so. So the king and the queen ordered their daughter to pack up and immediately set sail in search of that unknown eastern kingdom and find the king, and marry him!

Well, the king Kim Suro and the Indian princess (her Korean name = Huh Hwang Ok) did get married and had 10 sons and 2 daughters. Their oldeset son did inherit the throne and kept the last name Kim. However, the 2nd and 3rd sons, did adopt their mother's last name, Huh or Hur depending on how it's spelled, upon the queen's insistence/plea. The queen wanted to pass on her native Indian heritage/identity by at least giving her last name to two of her sons. (Later on, one branch of Huh clan changed the last name to Lee). What happened to other sons?

The 4th son through the last, 10th, went to Mount Jiri, became Buddhist priests, and after decades of diligent study, spritual exercise/enlightenment, etc., eventually became Buddhas themselves. A great Buddhist temple was built and rebuilt (after some big fire) on Mount Jiri to honor and commemorate the great deeds of Queen Huh's illustrious/erudite sons, and it still exists to this day. Of course, these sons left no known offsprings.

Queen Huh is credited for bringing or at least greatly elevating the appreciation of Buddhism in Kaya kingdom. Also, it's been said she brought many different kinds of highly flavorful native Indian teas to Kaya. Her grave still exists today in Kimhae province and around her grave are these old monuments watching over the gate with some kind of very unique fish emblem/symbol sculptured in. The fish emblem/symbol can be exclusively found only in the ancient site of Kaya kingdom on Korean peninsula, but it is very prevalent in northern India, even to this day.

When Kaya Kingdom fell after a several hundred years, some of Kaya people -- maybe even some of Queen Huh's direct descendants -- and many Paekje kingdom refugees fled to Japan.

In any regard, Queen Huh's descendants through her three married sons had multiplied/bred like rabbits (just look at India! Haha...) in the past 2 millennia -- even though being heavily discriminated due to their Kaya heritage in subsequent dynasties. And because of this political persecution, not many of his descendants really distinguished themselves for much of Korean history since 6th century on. Presently they consitute a major major part of Korean population and can't be taken lightly at all... IMO, demographically "at least" 10% of whole Korean people will claim their roots back to this Indian-born queen...

Current Korean President/Nobel peace prize laureate Kim Dae Jung is said to have descended from a direct lineage of King Kim Suro and Queen Huh's first son...

ka:

Thanks for your new information. Also I wholeheartedly agree with you on many points. I didn't know about Korean pop culture making such a splash in Vietnam. Although it seems like corruption/bureaucracy/bribes are rampant in low-trust developing countries (I've heard of some absolute horror stories about Korean businessmen getting cheated out of their life savings/funds by mainland Chinese schemers, etc.), but I also wish more Korean businessmen/manufacturers/entreppreneurs explore Vietnamese markets. To me at least, Vietnam seems like a very friendly and cordial country although it's still a communist regime. Of course, I don't know too much about Vietnamese society or its current cultural/economical environments...

At any rate, I think that all-out anti-communist sentiment is definitely more prevalent/pervasive among the recent immigrants or international students, you know. Yes, I'm a staunch defender of democracy/freedom/liberty/free market/capitalist society/Christian beliefs, and all, but,I've come to separate my hatred/disdain towards a communist regime vis a vis my genuine sympathy for "innocently" suffering civilians, such as my North Korean brethren. I had to be deprogrammed somewhat. Haha...I'm sure you feel the same way. Now I'm almost moved to the point where I can start contributing to North Korea Relief Fund/etc., given that whatever I contribute go directly towards the people under some reliable supervision -- without contradicting my own personal ideology/conviction at all (well, if I have any that is. Actually, I'm pretty nonchalant when it comes to political issues. Shame. Shame...) You know, I do have some old relatives in North Korea after all... Anyway I think most of them are dead by now...BTW, you're doing a great job on that Corean Reunification forum; I'd like to participate more, but I'm not really an "intellectual" regarding some issues being discussed there... so...I immensely like your style, however, and of others...

T.H. Lien:

Isn't that sad? What can I say...Maybe we should put Japanese language under an umbrella of Indo-European super-family if it will make them happy...They are so superior over us Koreans...

One Korean Man Wednesday, May 29, 2002 at 20:39:17 (PDT)

Filipinos have the most attractive looks among asian people, why did you think I say that ??? Well, if you count all the beauty titles they have won on most of the BEAUTY CONTEST, there's no doubt that the whole world was indeed attracted to Filipino Beauties.
Filipino Beauties Wednesday, May 29, 2002 at 18:19:44 (PDT)

Wonbin,

I am not a politician to acknowledge why there was Sino Vietnam war in 1979. For your Chinese, you only see ethnic Chinese were kicked out of Vietnam, you don�t see millions of South Vietnamese were kick out as well after the fall of Saigon. Hundred thousands of former South Vietnamese officers were sent to re education camps (communist jails). Their Vietnamese children were kicked out of schools. Their homes were confiscated. More than 3 millions Vietnamese were killed in that war, mainly by their north and South Vietnamese brothers.

I was born in the South; I witnessed the sufferings and the pains of former South Vietnamese people as a whole as they were punished, prejudiced by the winners, communist North.

I know some Chinese Vietnamese (I prefer this word) complained that they were mistreated by both Vietnamese governments before and after 1975. They don�t even know why their business was shut down under communist system. They don�t even know that is the communist government that China supported. Some don�t even know what communism is about. They blamed Vietnam did that, Vietnam did this. They did not realize that they have more freedom than their Chinese brothers, sisters in the North and even in China.

I believe that majority of Vietnamese people do not have the degree of hatred towards Chinese like in Indonesia, Malaysia where ethnic Chinese could be killed or raped. We all are victims of war and politics. I just hope that both governments in China and Vietnam realize the sufferings of their people to avoid war. War will drive Chinese and Vietnamese people further divided.

BTW, I have a lot of Chinese Vietnamese friends and they share the same my thoughts.

Chinalova,

Thailand shares no border with China. Her language is more Indian script. Thailand celebrates National New Year in April like Cambodia and Laos.

Tri,

I am living in America now. Sorry I don�t know about their status. I know they are considered minority trible people living in mountains border of Vietnam and Laos. During the Vietnam War they fought along side with the Americans and South Vietnamese forces. I just hope that the Vietnam government treats them better.
An Nam Guy Wednesday, May 29, 2002 at 16:34:41 (PDT)

VAM, I'm just wondering, is there a monument of prince Ly in Seoul? By the way it was a prince not a king of vietnam that drifted off to korea. I believe the king died in a battle (yes the royalty do fight in battles in some cases, and do die, but to die for the people is a blessing).

The vietnamese people have legends of them coming from gods, ALL OF US. So throughout history, the kings have served the people, because we're all equal in ancestery, but we should always respect the good leader. Unlike some other nations where the people serve the monarch, then the monarch get's bad. It's kind of like a check system the vietnamese people have, you know be a good leader or else your brothers can do it for you.
Hafti Wednesday, May 29, 2002 at 15:27:37 (PDT)

If history proves right, then the vietnamese ARE descendents of the Yueh, who were then unrecorded since 200 b.c. and was replaced and considered to be ancestors to the vietnamese today. But if the escavations done by the french long ago, and ones done recently then the vietnamese are very close to the people of the Red River Delta in Vietnam called the Hoa Binh Culture people (attributed to be the first to cultivate rice, and some say first discovered agriculture, but it's only supported by archaelogy).

But if the assumption of may chinese scholars is right, then the Yueh are the viets today, but the people of the Red River Delta also. The people of the Red River Delta traded with many peoples of many nations, including then china, many scholars and historians found that the people of the Red River Delta were decribed by their trade partners as light skinned, lean, big eyes that can see far, strong pure hearted social struture and skilled at agriculture. This was just described by their trading partners, excavations also describe the people of the Red River Delta as having extra long second toes and more space inbetween the toes, through finding skeletons in Dong Son (near the Red River Delta), but the Yueh were described with the same traits by Confucious.

So if the features were so the same, i doubt the chinese scholars from then on can tell the difference and probably got mixed up. From vague records they can only assume so much. They see light skin, big eyes, lean body, a bit of a different bone structure in the toes, and they can get things mixed up from there.

But if the Yueh theory is true, then the linguistic similarities could have been left behind by the ancestors, who then were also ancestors to the cantonese language as well as the viet language if it's true.

But if the escavations are right, then the yueh could have just assimilated into a superior rice cultivating society, who basically looked the same, thus easier acceptance. But there should also be similarities in language, as there is a common ancestor.

So, i've presented two theories of vietnamese origin believed by archaelogist and historians in the past (historians from china, archaelogists from france who colonized vietnam and found the similarities between todays viet and the people of the Red River Delta). But today, many historians and archealogists combine these two theories, and say that the Yueh were assimilated into the superior agricultural society of the Viets (Red River Delta people).

If there are people curious, the people who introduced rice to the chinese were the Cham, who in turn were descendents to the Sa Huynh. The Sa Huynh lived in what is now east vietnam, they were described to be dark skinned. But extensive trading partners with the Dong Son (descendents to the Hoa Binh, but in turn are the ancestors to todays viets). The difference is also in bone structure, the Sa Huynh has more normal feet, while the Hoa Binh and Dong Son skelletons were found with the same feet type as todays viets.

But that's just for those who want to know who introduced rice to most of asia, thank the champa empire (or was it the earlier Sa Huynh? Oh well).

Someone said that the koreans insulted the viets or used them to insult koreans who were dark. Well that's just ignorance, the koreans during the war served mostly in the south where malay influence is very strong, and could have resulted in the dramatic skin color change between the south and north/central. But hey, it happens, most of the descendents of the viets in america are from the south. So if you want to see the rest of us, go to vietnam, and travel the four regions of vietnam.
General Viet Wednesday, May 29, 2002 at 15:20:25 (PDT)

To One Korean Man

I think you are right about about SA people (in particular Vietnamese) being different from other East Asian people in terms of culture (i.e. language, customs etc.) and physical appearance. For example, in terms of language, we use alphabets instead of characters like other East Asian people. As for physical appearance, I think Vietnamese people definitely look different from other East Asian in terms of height and facial appearance. I am a Vietnamese myslelf and I have black Vietnamese and white Vietnames (with blond hair :)) Vietnamese people are in general are less pure than other East Asian people. All of my family members are mixed of some other ethinicites. I guess there's not a lot of Vietnamese people in this country so they are forced to mary to other ethnicities. My whole family and extended family members are multi-lingual and so are their kids. I think my parents told me people in Vietnam are also mixed of people from other Southeast Asian countries and Southern Chinese people.
So I guess my point is I don't think Vietnamese people are considered to be 'Asian' . We are forced to call ourselves 'Asian' because of that is the only category that we're have been assigned to. I think the East Indian and Fillipino feel the same way, too.
Furthermore, East Asian people are more homogeneous in terms of culture, physical traits/appearance and etc. I think the only thread that binds all the so-called "Asian" groups is the fact the fact that we are minority in this country and that we are fighting towards the same goals (to end discrination, fair housing and blah and blah) That's my two cents.

Vietnamese guy Wednesday, May 29, 2002 at 15:04:49 (PDT)

I've seen Miao paople(hmong) before and i don;t think they look indistunguishable from Han chinese. They tend to have dark skin, long face,..different facial features, despite their oneeyelid eyes, thin lips.
Hmong People Wednesday, May 29, 2002 at 14:18:22 (PDT)

Chinatown,

"the cultural superiority complex held by hakkas, especially towards their fellow southerners, needs to be in check."

This is not completely true. There are also many Cantonese who think they are better than the Hakkas.

Sometimes Cantonese people get confuse with other Southern Chinese dialects, and call anyone speaking those dialects as "Hakka". Teocheows and Hokkiens have been mistakenly referred as "Hakkas" because these dialects sound like Hakka. For example, people on my father's side have been labeled as "Hakka" but in fact, they are Hokkien (Hoklo) in origin.

Although Hakkas and Hokkiens have intermingled with one another throughout the ages due to their proximity, they are 2 separate groups. Hokkiens are a coastal people and Hakkas live in the hills. THIS IS THE DIFFERENCE.

Hakkas are NOT the majority in Taiwan. The Hokkiens are the majority.

Hokkiens are a Southern Fujianese group. The Teocheows (Chiu Chou) are a sub group of the Hokkiens.

Actually the word "Hakka" is very misleading. In fact, all of the Southern Chinese groups are in a way "Hakkas". Why? Because their ancestors originated from the North and then settled in the South during different time periods. I think the word "Hakka" came into existence by the Cantonese. It was used to refer to those groups in Guangdong who didn't speak Cantonese, Toisan or Chungsan.

According to some, the Cantonese-Hakka distinction is superficial. The only difference between the Cantonese and Hakka is the MENTALITY. These 2 groups are almost indistinguishable in appearances, but what separates them is their state of mind.

Southern Chinese Wednesday, May 29, 2002 at 13:57:18 (PDT)

Chinatown,

"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."

Actually, Taiwan's main "constituency" is the Hoklo (also referred to as the Hokkien) group. Hoklo's are about 70% of Taiwan, Hakkas like 12%, post-1945 Chinese are around 15% and whoever is left are aboriginals. To my knowledged, Hoklos don't claim any northern ancestry.
Oyster Pancake Wednesday, May 29, 2002 at 13:09:58 (PDT)

People interested in Hakka dialect and history should probably read Dr. Lau's paper on this subject, which is pretty widely accepted:

http://www.asiawind.com/hakka/hakpapers.htm
T.H. Lien Wednesday, May 29, 2002 at 11:59:13 (PDT)

chinalova:
Quick summary, up until the modern era, Korean nobility wrote in classical Chinese. In 1446 King Sejong and some linguistics scholars invented the hangul (alphabetic script). But then all the noblemen went back to writing in classical Chinese for another 450 years. Then Christian missionaries published the bible in Hangul around 1900. Koreans got interested in Hangul again during the Japanese colonial period as a way of expressing nationalist sentiment (use of Hangul I think was a criminal offense under Japanese rule). Nowadays every Korean loves King Sejong and praises him as wise and benevolent. There's a national holiday devoted to honoring Hangul and King Sejong. His picture is even on one of the banknotes.

As much as 50% of Korean vocabulary is descended from Chinese. Mostly nouns. I can sometimes guess the meaning of a Korean noun if I know the context (e.g. in linguistics, economics, etc.). Though I heard northern Korea has made some efforts to reform their vocabulary and eliminate Chinese influence.

chinatown:
Huh? no big race riots in Malaysia since 5-13 incident back in 1969. There are also plans to end the pro-bumiputra affirmative action policies in university admissions and government hiring. Don't spread rumors of violence where none exist, we're trying to build a united multicultural nation. Singapore and LKY aren't exactly the stewards of Chinese identity while the evil locals oppress everyone else as you make it out to be.

refargo or anyone who knows Korean linguistics:
when was the reading for the character "il" meaning "sun" (as in ilbon "Japan") originated? I'm just wondering idly cuz I started studying Korean recently ... I notice final "t" sound in Chinese usually ends up as "l" in Korean, but I'm wondering where the initial consonant went ... the Chinese pronunciation for a long time seems to have been something like "rit" or "jit", with retroflex initial (which is where one of the Japanese readings "jitu" as well as probably our English word "Japan" came from).
T.H. Lien Wednesday, May 29, 2002 at 11:55:06 (PDT)

BTW. Did you know that the American Indians are actually the Chinese? They came to North America many thousands of years ago. Now you know.
chinalova Wednesday, May 29, 2002 at 11:36:19 (PDT)

Don't get me wrong, but I read somewhere that Coreans are the descendents of two strains: the Mongols from Mongolia and the Aryans from east and western, central Asia.
chinalova Wednesday, May 29, 2002 at 11:30:17 (PDT)

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