Comparing Asian Nationalities | Asian American Poll

COMPARING ASIAN NATIONALITIES
(Updated Wednesday, Jan 22, 2025, 06:39:09 AM to reflect the 100 most recent valid responses.)

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WHAT YOU SAY

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to?
Hsu Chi is from Taiwan who now lives in HK as a movie star. But most Taiwanese originated from South China.

Jui li,
Southern Chinese don't look exactly like that. Once again, you are stereotyping. There are a lot of different Southern Chinese. Why are you lumping us together? As I previously stated, the North and South Chinese looks slightly different because of mutations from weather and food plus other reasons. I still don't get why you kept saying that we Southern Chinese look like this and that. All the Chinese people I know (mostly the south) don't look alike. Even my family members don't look alike. My sister, mom, brother got small single eyelits eyes. My dad and I got large eyes. My dad, mom, brother got tanned skin. My sister and I are light skinned. My dad got a small nose. The rest got a straight nose. Same thing with my relatives. So you get the point now? I think the scientific term is homogenious or something. Culturally, we Chinese ate all kinda things. It's just that the new generation don't. I m a teen, so I know about this kinda stuff. I m sure 99% of Chinese youth will complain if you serve them a pet animal or some kinda reptile. In terms of thinking and culturally, how are you so different? BTW, how can you tell the shape of people's head? Are the Chinese people you know bald or got really short hair? I got a different head shape from my family members too. I saw monks before from China(mostly from the north) and they look like the kinda shapes on most Asian people. What is your point? Even Japanese monks got that kinda shape.
Canto Boy who loves dogs Monday, September 16, 2002 at 12:29:48 (PDT) [209.255.251.200]

Sorry to burst your bubble, but there are no more curses in Cantonese then there are in Mandarin or any other language I this world...in fact, most people learn languages from the curses up, (eg: the few words of russian I know are curses)

Every language is filled with its own slang and idioms...it's not as if Mandarin or Shanghai-ese don't have slang...why else is there a Beijing variant of Mandarin and different variants of Cantonese??
Girl in Stuy HS Monday, September 16, 2002 at 08:28:16 (PDT) [12.88.81.60]

I read somewhere on that same brinkster website that the modern Persians have 8% of the East Asian haplotypes. So, I guess when say the Chinese had travelled to Iran (either as merchants, soldiers, pilgrims, artisans, etc.) along with Turks and Mongols is no joke. If you look closely at Persians and Turks, (a lot of Russians, Hungarians and Yugoslavians as well) their black hair color differentiates them from other Caucasoids.

There was also an Arab source that claims some Chinese prisoners they captured back from a big battle against Tang were re-settled in Persia to make paper, silk and other arts. They probably intermarried with the locals who did not completely convert to Islam yet back then.

People back then were not hung up on race. They mixed freely and regularly.
Jeff Monday, September 16, 2002 at 00:39:34 (PDT) [64.130.235.33]

I am just wondering, but when the Han Chinese first met the Tocharian people of Xinjiang weren't they distanced by each other because the Chinese were Mongoloid and the Tocharians were Nordic?

There must have been mixing going on, because today the people of Xinjiang are no longer blonde and Nordic. It is an example that 2 entirely different races can come together and live in harmony.

There were another group of Caucasoids (the Yueh Chih in northwest Gansu) who lived in between the Han Chinese and Tocharians. They were Persian speaking and Chinese sources never mentioned any racial differences between them and the Chinese, nor did the Chinese ever mention racial differences between themselves and the Huns. It is apparent that there was race mixing going on in the distant past or that even some of these people may have looked no different from the Chinese themselves.

But, there were some people and tribes whom the Chinese noted certain racial differences, such as the ancient Kirgyz. The Kirgyz in Tang sources were noted for red hair and green eyes, but another branch of the Kirgyz who had black hair were said to have descended from the Han Dynasty general (Li Ling) who was captured and adopted by the Huns and then later given one tribe (Kirgyz) to rule over. I guess most modern Kirgyz of Central Asia today are descendants of Li Ling because they are Mongoloid with black hair.
Jeff Monday, September 16, 2002 at 00:30:00 (PDT) [64.130.235.33]

Captain of the Stars,

The Tang did invade and take over the north Indian states of Patna and Gilgit. I don't know if they were in Pakistan or Kashmir? But, can say that the people in these states were probably Indian or Persian affiliated, and they were Buddhist as well.

These states were vital for the pilgrim routes into India.

Later this region became Muslim.
Jeff Monday, September 16, 2002 at 00:21:04 (PDT) [64.130.235.33]

Ok, this is a question.

Can chinese people tell where another chinese came from? For example, if you were a southerner would you beable to recognize if another chinese person was from this or that province of the south or if they were from the north. And from which ethnic group specifically, of course you won't be 100% correct all the time, but what indicators usually gets the best results not including language and clothing.
ljlkl Sunday, September 15, 2002 at 22:56:27 (PDT) [142.59.79.119]

referring to that Aryavarta stuff which was posted here some issues ago:

Have those people ever heard of isolated languages of primitive mountain dwellers (Borusho, Hunza etc) in the Pamir/Kashmir area? These peoples are obviously of the same racial stock like most North Indians (whom the Aryavarta issue probably was referring to). If Hindu culture would be that "supreme, WARLIKE, Northern, Aryan" I would associate it with Pashtuns rather than with the actual Hindus. Indian Hindus are basically a mix of Dravidians and that Pamir/Kashmir race which I have mentioned above.
rare stuff Sunday, September 15, 2002 at 16:40:14 (PDT) [193.159.24.73]

reality check and Girl in Stuy HS,

it's all about neo-tribalism. After too long periods of artificial "unifications" engaged by the ruling classes we can now go back to our real roots which are racially different by nature.

To all:

Finally, it must be as soon as possible that the differences between North and South (especially in China) become acknoledged as innate. Above all, that some cultural territories must be given back to the North Asian peoples. While the majority in the Chinese North is of Altaic (Tungus, Mongol) and proto-Korean stock, the Southern populations consist of mixtures between Hmongic, Daic and Austroasiatic racial types. So why do tourists coming to North China find Daoist confusion, tonal language etc? -Because of the assimilation politics which have lasted over millenia.

Essentially, it should be known that Christian/humanist thoughts are going to penetrate Asia through the Daoist melting pot culture. So the North will have to react by rediscovering itself, e.g. patriarchy, more personal space for the individual. On the contrary mother worship and living just for fun without self-development in skin-to-skin contact with the neighbours are typically Southern. But finally the North (Turks, Mongols, Tungus) have given the "Chinese" Southern opium culture always the necessary bloodinfusions without which the regions Southern of the Huang stream would still look like Thailand, Laos and similar 3rd world countries.
rare stuff Sunday, September 15, 2002 at 16:14:41 (PDT) [193.159.24.73]

" Michelle Yeoh is from Malaysia. She was formerly Michelle Khan and a Miss Malaysia ...(wtf happened there?)"

Me too, I wondered why her last name changed from Khan to Yeoh. Or is it the same surname in a different dialect/language translation?

"To those Cantonese who never heard of 'Hoklo' and 'Hakka':
Well, that's because none of you ever bothered to pick up a book about the history of your people. 2nd, perhaps some of you are just ignorant ABCs!"

I think most Cantonese have heard of the term Hakka. But the term Hoklo is different. Perhaps it's because it sounds different in our mother tongue. I'm guessing 'hok' is more like 'fook'. If it is (I can be wrong), then we don't even say 'fook-lo' for that matter. You said Hoklo was a term for the men from Fujian, so yes, we do know who the Fukienese are. It's just a matter of understanding the Cantonese equivalent.

"'Jew Gwai' is really an east coast term"

Seriously, this term is rarely used in Cantonese. This forum was the first time I've even heard it. We usually just say 'Yau tai yun' (Jewish person), even though there is a prominent orthodox Jewish community where I live.
Cheerios Sunday, September 15, 2002 at 16:06:19 (PDT) [216.254.195.3]

Jeff,

similar skulls, similar ways of thinking: maybe that's a reason for which doing research on both Northern and Southern cultures is relatively boring compared with doing research on non-tonal speakers' cultures.

Chinese is definetely Southern continental East Asian. Simply because they speak a tonal language. Furthermore, Cantonese belong in the same sense to those groups whop are the most Chinese. The problem for some people might only be that the term "Chinese" derives from the name of a probably Central Asian (thus Northern) tribe formerly called "Chin".

I personally accept the term "Chinese" being applied to myself only in the case while I'm eating dog meat with chopsticks (-this can really occur). On other occasions I consider being called "Chinese" as an insult. No doubt that "Chinese" is the designation for a mass culture which has been inspired by confused Daoist thoughts.
rare stuff Sunday, September 15, 2002 at 15:22:09 (PDT) [62.227.111.56]

To, Jeff;

Can you try to quote the part of where your article says that the modern cantonese have a 100% match with the ancient northern chinese?

I skimmed through that article on 'http://www26.brinkster.com/archived' and i didn't really find anything specific to the Cantonese from part I to the end.
On part III it speaks of the modern southern chinese to have more similarities in craniofacial size and shape with the 3500 years BP group then they do with the 4500 year BP group and the 6500 year BP group.

This article speaks of 4 skulls: Upper Cave 101, Liujiang, Minatogawa 1, and Baoji M7. Which one are you refering to when you say the Cantonese have a 100% match? The entire article doesn't specifically refer to the Cantonese, but refer to them collectively as the southern chinese. At the last page it says that the southern chinese they refer to are from Guangdong. There are a few more ethnic groups in Guangdong then just the Cantonese. And i don't see where it speaks of anything of the modern cantonese being linked in skull structure through a 100% match with skulls specifically located in the north of china.
So it's either you read your article wrong, or my 5 minute skim through the article confused me and i didn't pick up the part of which you read.

So please quote the part of which your refering to, as i am afraid that more rumors might be 'spread' around and decieve future posters.
L Sunday, September 15, 2002 at 13:36:09 (PDT) [142.59.79.119]

relality check:

michelle yeoh is chinese malaysian. 100 % chinese descent.
?
i think her body and long face are kind of northern chines. her lips and eyes may be not. but southern chinese have a very diverse look anyway.
k Sunday, September 15, 2002 at 11:36:02 (PDT) [203.162.128.167]

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