Introduction
East Asians can be generally grouped into three subraces according to the weather their ancestors lived in for at least ten thousand years which affected their physical genetic traits such as face shape, body and skin color.In this article, we will explore how to differentiate between the three subraces and also know the different meanings of the terms Mongoloid and Mongol.
Subraces of East Asians
The classification of ethnic groups listed below represent the traditional features of an unmixed person and represent the majority in that ethnic group.
North ‘East Asian’ (Northern Mongoloid)
|
Climate |
Continental (very cold winter) |
|
Eyes |
Single eyelid (prominent
epicanthic fold), very small oval shaped eyes |
|
Skin color |
Pale pinkish |
|
Body |
Tallest of all subraces, broader
face |
|
Ear-wax |
Dry |
|
Teeth |
Sino-donty |
|
Eyelash |
Short |
|
Ethnic groups |
Altaic (Turkish, Mongolian,
Tungusic, Korean), Ancient Siberians (Chukotko-Kamchatkan, Nivikh) |
|
Climate |
Temperate (mild winter) climate
with four seasons |
|
Eyes |
Inner double eyelid (slight
epicanthic fold), medium sized oval shape eyes |
|
Skin color |
Yellowish fair skin |
|
Body |
Medium height |
|
Ear-wax |
Slightly moist |
|
Teeth |
Sino-donty |
|
Eyelash |
Medium |
|
Ethnic groups |
Sino-Tibetan (Han Chinese,
Tibetan, Yi-Burmese), Hmong Mien aka Miao-Yao, |
|
Climate |
Tropical (hot weather all year) |
|
Eyes |
Outer double eyelid (no epicanthic
fold), bigger rounder eyes |
|
Skin color |
Light to dark brown |
|
Body |
Shortest of all subraces |
|
Ear-wax |
Wet |
|
Teeth |
Sunda-donty |
|
Eyelash |
long |
|
Ethnic groups |
Austroasiatic (Cambodians-Khmer,
Mon, Muong), Austronesians (Malays, Indonesian-Javanese & Sundanese,
Filipino-Visayan & Tagalog) |
Inter-subrace marriage
Mongoloid Race
Most people are confused between the terms Mongoloid race and Mongolic tribes.Mongoloid means a major racial division in East Asia that contrasts with the other major racial divisions which are Caucasoid in Europe, Negroid in Africa, Australoid in Australia/Oceania; refer to picture below.
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| Races of humanity |
It's also interesting that archaeologists and physical anthropologists recognize two groups based on tooth shape: sinodonts (north and central East Asians) and sundadonts (south East Asians).
ReplyDeletehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinodonty_and_Sundadonty
Tooth shape is only one of many factors and shouldn't be the only defining factor. There are other factors like eye lid, eye shape, skin color, lips thickness that need to be considered as well. Most of these factors are a result of adaption to the weather their earliest ancestors used to live in.
DeleteI'm mostly agree with the information even its an old article but there are one thing here. You do know that northern and southern chinese people have different facial features,right? the northern tend to look more Northern Mongoloid while the southern chinese tend to look Central Mongoloid. Both of them are considered Han Chinese. So putting them in one category might be a bit wrong to me.
ReplyDeleteMost Northern Han Chinese do look like the Southern Han Chinese. Furthermore, you might have the wrong notion that everyone in North China are Han Chinese when there are millions of Manchu and Mongols of Chinese nationality there.
DeleteA good example of a Northern Han Chinese who doesn't look 'Northern Mongoloid' is Wang Yi, the Foreign Minister of China.
Furthermore, only a certain percentage of Northern Han Chinese have mixed with the Altaic people.
http://eastasiaorigin.blogspot.com/2017/06/ethnic-origin-of-han-chinese.html
Where do Polynesians and Native Americans come into picture?
ReplyDeleteInteresting article. I like that you divided East Asian into North and Central, much more sensible categories. I'm a Southern Han Chinese with ancestry from Guangdong, Sichuan, Guangxi, with a decent admixture (probably around 30-40% or more) of ethnic groups in South China. On DNA tests I get a good chunk of SE Asian due to those groups. My paternal haplotype is a downstream branch of O3 which I understand to represent Han Chinese or other East Asian groups so I’m fairly sure I am descended from Han even with my large amount of admixture (prob cuz I have Hakka grandparents).
ReplyDeleteI never understood why Dai or Tai-Dakai/Baiyue type peoples living IN Southern China are considered SE Asian. The modern populations that descend from them such as Zhuang are very phenotypically "East Asian". Light skin, epicanthic folds and look nothing like your Malay/Filipino/Cambodian/Khmer, etc. If I really had that much SEA blood I would look like SEA, but I don't at all.
I'm tall, have epicanthic folds, light beige/yellow skin (but not pale/pink) unless I tan, tall nose, long face, and checked that I'm a sinodont lol. Outward appearance I am "East Asian" and have been mistaken for Japanese or Korean when I'm traveling in those countries by natives. I've literally never have been called SE Asian by others. I think Southern Chinese and most Central/North Chinese have a huge overlap in phenotypes. I've seen Northern/Central Chinese that I could've sworn to be from South China and vice versa.
Anyway I never identified as "Southeast Asian" despite getting high amounts of it on the DNA tests on 23andme or whatever and this model confirms it. And I certainly do not identify as the Northern East Asian group either though I have some phenotype overlap with them. I fit perfectly in the center as someone with relatively equivalent layers of NE/SE Asian. So these categories are much improved.
I also really don't even think Northern Vietnamese should be considered SE Asian ethnic due to their phenotypes and Sinitic cultural influence. I mean they were a part of China for 1000 years for fuck's sake.
Realized I type up a whole essay lol. Had to regurgitate a lot of what was bouncing in my mind from these DNA tests. Kind of shook up my identity for a bit seeing all that “SEA” admixture, even though it’s not technically “SEA”.
1. O3 is the haplogroup of all Sino-Tibetan tribes and not just Han Chinese. Hakka is a subgroup of Han Chinese and not a different ethnic group.
Delete2. Many of these DNA tests give misleading results because they are country-centric rather than ethnicity-centric. There's no such thing as Myanmar, Thai, Vietnamese or Singapore genes because although the natives of these countries are South East-Asians but the majority ethnic group in these countries are Central East-Asians who migrated from China.
3. Many westerners categorize Hmong-Mien and Tai-Kadai as 'South East-Asians' which is incorrect because their original homeland is in Northern and Central China and also their phenotype is different from native South East-Asians. Refer to other articles in this blog for their origin.