"Asian" means what?

[gxnn]

The textbooks we used in our classroom in China tell us that Asia is a big territory running from far east to Israel, so does it mean that all the people living on this vast territory are Asian people?

But in the TV images of Asian victims in the recent of hate crimes in the US, what we see are those who have a face of Mongolian only, excluding Indian, Pakistani, Bengali, Malaysian, Iraqi, Iranian natives, etc who are with apparently different features.

For black people, I as a man who do not know not so much about them, even notice the minor difference between those living in Africa, in the US and in the Carribean region, but most of Chinese people mistakenly think some people of Asian countries, like India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, who have darker skins, are black people same as the ones elsewhere in the world.

In Guangzhou, a very big city in south China, there are a large number of black people legally or illegally staying, causing disturbance to the normal social order of this first-tier economic developed city and objection from the local people, but hate crimes are not heard of.

 

[YDB95]

In American English, "Asian" is generally understood as a catch-all term for people of East-Asian or Southeast-Asian descent, since most people can't tell exactly what part of Asia their ancestry is just by looking. (That includes other Asians in my experience: my wife is from the Philippines, and people who speak Chinese tend to address her in that language, which of course she doesn't speak.)

 

[LukSkyFokker]

The textbooks we used in our classroom in China tell us that Asia is a big territory running from far east to Israel, so does it mean that all the people living on this vast territory are Asian people?

But in the TV images of Asian victims in the recent of hate crimes in the US, what we see are those who have a face of Mongolian only, excluding Indian, Pakistani, Bengali, Malaysian, Iraqi, Iranian natives, etc who are with apparently different features.

For black people, I as a man who do not know not so much about them, even notice the minor difference between those living in Africa, in the US and in the Carribean region, but most of Chinese people mistakenly think some people of Asian countries, like India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, who have darker skins, are black people same as the ones elsewhere in the world.

In Guangzhou, a very big city in south China, there are a large number of black people legally or illegally staying, causing disturbance to the normal social order of this first-tier economic developed city and objection from the local people, but hate crimes are not heard of.

That's a lot of words just to show your bigotry.

 

[CornusKousa]

The textbooks we used in our classroom in China tell us that Asia is a big territory running from far east to Israel, so does it mean that all the people living on this vast territory are Asian people?

Yes.

In American English, "Asian" is generally understood as a catch-all term for people of East-Asian or Southeast-Asian descent, since most people can't tell exactly what part of Asia their ancestry is just by looking. (That includes other Asians in my experience: my wife is from the Philippines, and people who speak Chinese tend to address her in that language, which of course she doesn't speak.)

Some asians are easy to differentiate and others not so much. Just like white people. Scandies, Germans and Slavs vs. the Italians, Croatians and Greeks for example. Two very distinct and unique groups of Europeans.

But within those groups it can be super difficult to tell the difference by just looking at them.

Northern Chinese, Siberian, Mongol, Koreans tend to be all similar looking....it can be very difficult to tell them apart. Some Japanese fit in but some Japanese have a distinct Japanese look I can only assume comes from thousands of years of limited gene pool on an island.

South China, Taiwan, Malaysians are another group and Phlips like the Japanese may or may not fit in this group or look distinctly Phlip.

Then you have the deep jungle Asians....Thai, Viet, Hmong, Burmese, Indonesian. I know with one look, "Jungle Aisan" just like he knows "Snow Asian" when he looks at me.

Then you have SW asians, mostly Stanis, Arabs and Persians....they are way different from the other groups which while all distinct have some shared cultural/ethnic similarities. Still Asian though.

 

[CornusKousa]

That's a lot of words just to show your bigotry.

What bigotry Luk???

 

[colddiesel]

In Guangzhou, a very big city in south China, there are a large number of black people legally or illegally staying, causing disturbance to the normal social order of this first-tier economic developed city and objection from the local people, but hate crimes are not heard of.

Most of them are on one year visas. They have to go back to Africa each year to apply for renewal, and since Covid they either cannot get renewal or afford quarantine on return. Thus 80% are back in Africa.

There are a lot of things "not heard of " on Chinese media.

 

[AngelEyes1994]

I'm confused about how the thread host went from asking what an Asian is to taking about "Black" people.

 

[IrezumiKiss]

I'm confused about how the thread host went from asking what an Asian is to taking about "Black" people.

Don't be confused.

When it comes to the thread host, or just about any discussion here centered around race, it always comes back or down to "Black" people.

https://i.imgur.com/OfgQBIN.gif

 

[gxnn]

Yes.



Some asians are easy to differentiate and others not so much. Just like white people. Scandies, Germans and Slavs vs. the Italians, Croatians and Greeks for example. Two very distinct and unique groups of Europeans.

But within those groups it can be super difficult to tell the difference by just looking at them.

Northern Chinese, Siberian, Mongol, Koreans tend to be all similar looking....it can be very difficult to tell them apart. Some Japanese fit in but some Japanese have a distinct Japanese look I can only assume comes from thousands of years of limited gene pool on an island.

South China, Taiwan, Malaysians are another group and Phlips like the Japanese may or may not fit in this group or look distinctly Phlip.

Then you have the deep jungle Asians....Thai, Viet, Hmong, Burmese, Indonesian. I know with one look, "Jungle Aisan" just like he knows "Snow Asian" when he looks at me.

Then you have SW asians, mostly Stanis, Arabs and Persians....they are way different from the other groups which while all distinct have some shared cultural/ethnic similarities. Still Asian though.

Very informative and eye-opening, thanks.

That's a lot of words just to show your bigotry.

If you are offended, I say sorry to you and but that was not my intention, you know I was just trying to communicate with American friends in English, which is a foreign language to me.

I'm confused about how the thread host went from asking what an Asian is to taking about "Black" people.

Thank you for your mentioning this point. As you know, I am not a man with good logic or thinking capability, so it is very natural for me to say something that sounds odd or illogical but my intention was to provoke the thought of the interested people so that they can say something too.

 

[sighLent]

"Asian" means what?

SLANT EYES!


https://th.bing.com/th/id/Rde167b21dc7ac61ef03a30ba902c95e9?rik=VNvlqaWEW9Cu8w&riu=http%3a%2f%2fnonprofitwithballs.com%2fwp-content%2fuploads%2f2015%2f12%2fmic-drop.png&ehk=8C8m60kmvtUhhOHmjUZc2l5c2z5ja2JoLA7ksuigdKs%3d&risl=&pid=ImgRaw

 

[jaF0]

In American English, "Asian" is generally understood as a catch-all term for people of East-Asian or Southeast-Asian descent, since most people can't tell exactly what part of Asia their ancestry is just by looking. (That includes other Asians in my experience: my wife is from the Philippines, and people who speak Chinese tend to address her in that language, which of course she doesn't speak.)

It's somewhat complicated. Westerners generally consider Asians to be from China, Japan, Korea, Cambodia, VietNam, Thailand, Laos, Malaysia and surrounding areas. Though India, Pakistan, SriLanka and surrounding areas are technically on the continent of Asia, we don't classify residents as Asian. Same goes for the island nations of The Philippines, Indonesia, et al.

 

[CornusKousa]

It's somewhat complicated. Westerners generally consider Asians to be from China, Japan, Korea, Cambodia, VietNam, Thailand, Laos, Malaysia and surrounding areas. Though India, Pakistan, SriLanka and surrounding areas are technically on the continent of Asia, we don't classify residents as Asian. Same goes for the island nations of The Philippines, Indonesia, et al.

India and SriLanka are on the Indian subcontinent, which crashed into Asia and created the Himalayan mountains, which also created a relatively high degree of cultural and genetic isolation from most of the rest of Asia until relatively recently.

This is why Indians are generally considered their own separate group.

 

[Fuzzy1975]

Off topic but....

I have always like these animations, and this one is pretty good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGdPqpzYD4o

There is also a site where you can play around from Pangaea breaking up and view the earth in all it's continental shapes over time.

 

[Philthy_Phil]

Asian means bad driver in north america.also stinky markets.

 

[SevMax2]

In American English, "Asian" is generally understood as a catch-all term for people of East-Asian or Southeast-Asian descent, since most people can't tell exactly what part of Asia their ancestry is just by looking. (That includes other Asians in my experience: my wife is from the Philippines, and people who speak Chinese tend to address her in that language, which of course she doesn't speak.)

Unfortunately far too true, which is why King of the Hill lampooned this by having some ignorant rednecks ask a man repeatedly if he was "Chinese or Japanese" despite him explaining that he was Laotian.

But yeah, many Americans tend to think of East Asian/Pacific Islander as being roughly the same ethnicity (despite a huge difference there). And they get even more tripped up about "Indians" because few use the term "South Asian," so there is a constant thing of "Indian as in from India as opposed to Native American or American Indian."

Now, as for me, I can often guess correctly based on name structure/language. For instance, if you told me that your name was Feng Guangxi, I would assume that you're Chinese, probably Mandarin-speaking unless you're from Hong Kong. Of course, you could be from Singapore instead.

If you said that it was Pham Loc Nguyen, I would assume that you're Vietnamese. And if you said that it was Vikram Mandir, I would assume that you're Indian/South Asian. There is sadly a lot of ignorance on this issue, but it's not universal to Americans at all. Much of it is due to the uneven educational system and how it leaves so man Americans behind while others are light-years ahead. That's what comes of so many counties and states setting all of their own educational priorities, not all of them motivated by the desire for knowledge and learning, alas.

 

[SevMax2]

Asian means bad driver in north america.also stinky markets.

Funny thing is that I love going to Asian markets when I get the chance. You can pick up some really cool stuff in a lot of them.

 

[SevMax2]

"Asian" means what?

SLANT EYES!


https://th.bing.com/th/id/Rde167b21dc7ac61ef03a30ba902c95e9?rik=VNvlqaWEW9Cu8w&riu=http%3a%2f%2fnonprofitwithballs.com%2fwp-content%2fuploads%2f2015%2f12%2fmic-drop.png&ehk=8C8m60kmvtUhhOHmjUZc2l5c2z5ja2JoLA7ksuigdKs%3d&risl=&pid=ImgRaw

And you claim not to be racist? Really?

 

[Philthy_Phil]

Funny thing is that I love going to Asian markets when I get the chance. You can pick up some really cool stuff in a lot of them.

I do as well, I stay away from the ones with baskets full of dried fish though.

 

[Noor]

Asian are people who originate from the continent of Asia.

 

[ishtat]

Europe is usually defined as that part of the Eurasian landmass west of the Ural mountains. That means that Western Kazakstan for example is in Europe.

The definitions of an Asian by either, physical geography, cultural heritage or racial prejudices, all produce different results.

 

[Wrong Element]

Asian are people who originate from the continent of Asia.

Of course, Europe and Asia are not actually separate landmasses; the idea that they are different continents is a cultural construct. I think the Greeks and Romans tended to use Asia as a catch-all for "everything that's east of here," which is why some very different peoples are lumped together as Asian.

Just from the standpoint of language and custom in the U.S., it's certainly true very few Americans would think of someone from Beirut as "Asian," even though Lebanon is on the far western end of the continent.

 

[astuffedshirt_perv]

The textbooks we used in our classroom in China tell us that Asia is a big territory running from far east to Israel, so does it mean that all the people living on this vast territory are Asian people?

A fun question, especially give the recent hysteria on whether Syrians are white. In the US, resorting to the OMB definitions of who is what race, we find that Asian starts at the eastern edge of Afghanistan and continues all the way to California, converting along the way to capture Pacific Islanders. Hence the AAPI thing. To the west is white. YMMV.