Asian American Attitudes toward Height | Asian American Poll

AA ATTITUDE TOWARD HEIGHT
(Updated Saturday, Jun 6, 2026, 12:07:54 AM to reflect the 100 most recent valid responses.)

Assuming you are an Asian American, how important is height in your assessment of a person's attractiveness?
It's a key element of attractiveness. | 20%
It's one of many factors I consider. | 44%
It's less important than other personal qualities. | 28%
I am not attracted to tall people. | 8%

Assuming you are an Asian American, which best matches your feelings toward your own height?
I'd like to be 3 inches taller. | 43%
I'd like to be an inch taller. | 27%
I'm happy with my height. | 26%
I'd like to be an inch shorter. | 4%

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Angelique:

Sorry!! I meant to send you a response earlier!! My bad.

I am from New England, but live in Virginia now. ABC and Nikkei with Fujianese, Cantonese, and Japanese roots. I have family all over Asia, but no one I know of in Tibet(or Spain).

I am as tall as a windmill.

Man of Lha-sa(mancha) Wednesday, March 27, 2002 at 08:25:02 (PST)

T.H. Lien,

The Economist article was specifically about discrimination at gov't institutions or quasi gov't institutions (schools, state owned banks).

While I agree that discrimination may be appropriate in the free marketplace, this sort of discrimination is not appropriate for gov't.
MK Wednesday, March 27, 2002 at 08:08:24 (PST)

Heightism in China is not exclusive to only banking jobs. This popular Time Asia article describes it well.

http://www.time.com/time/asia/news/magazine/0,9754,187654,00.html

This sentence in the article summarizes the reason for heightism.

"In a country that has hundreds of qualified applicants for every job, height minimums are one way to whittle down the competition. "You don't have to be tall to be good at computers," says Ma Xiang, a recruiter ... "But it's one of the ways we can limit the number of rEsumEs we get." ."

B. Lee Tuesday, March 26, 2002 at 19:17:50 (PST)

I'm only 6'2 and I want to be 6'5 so I can kill those stereotypes
jeffrey wong Tuesday, March 26, 2002 at 05:29:25 (PST)

Man of Lha-sa:
Labour economics lesson 1: Look at the national airline of any country with an unemployment or underemployment problem - all their stewardesses will be tall and pretty. =)

In general, it's an employer's market for labour in China. They get so many applicants for jobs they don't know what to do, so they can impose other requirements (height, weight, attractiveness.) I've heard some talk (i.e. read in another one of Time Asia's random features) that the old Soviet-style height-increase treatment is somewhat prevalent as a result.

Personally I say let them discriminate, it's a free market. Then consumers can choose to shop either at the store with the tall clerks and pay higher prices to reflect the higher wages the store has to pay to attract those tall clerks, or go to the store with the short, underpaid clerks and pay lower prices. I guess it comes down to whether having taller clerks (or lighter clerks, or prettier clerks, or whatever) contributes to an atmosphere which will make the consumer buy more stuff ...
T.H. Lien Tuesday, March 26, 2002 at 00:00:49 (PST)

Man of Lha-sa(mancha):

Hey!!! You never anwsered my question....!!!!!!

!_!
Beijing Angelique Monday, March 25, 2002 at 20:29:50 (PST)

its one of those things that you want you what you cant have... however you should count your blessings... i'm 5'5.5"... i'd like to be taller... but then i'm like... well.... i could be 4'10" or something... nothing wrong with that... but its just another perspective to keep in mind....
annee Monday, March 25, 2002 at 11:04:05 (PST)

Man of Lha-sa(mancha),

Needless to say, it's pretty reprehensible for the Chinese gov't to discriminate half the population for the reason of aesthetics or the desire to appear equal with foreigners. It's vile and an embarrassment to themselves that they should be so concerned about the opinion of foreigners.

.. perhaps they should also base employment based on the criterion of beauty, specifically, whether they look "Western" enough (large eyes, large nose, western face shape, light skin, torso/leg ratio etc..).

What is truly shameful is not the stupidity of the rule itself (although that is in and of itself bad enough), but the fact that underlying the discrimination was the desire to be accepted and to look appropriate to Westerners.
MK Monday, March 25, 2002 at 10:37:38 (PST)

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