Why do Asians look Asian?

[Traianvs]

Originally posted by Lord Merciless
Chinese is more of cultural concept than racial one, same with American.

The purest race is the one that reproduces through incests. But that's off topic.

Sure but you'd have to live with an exceptionally large population of loonies, depressed people, and truly dumb people


Alexander's stepbrother was a mad mofo but that is totally not relevant here

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by Albert Speer
wide noses are better for warm climates supposedly because they cool the air hence why Africans generally got them. Yet mediterrenean people and Indians who live in almost the same climate as Africa have thin noses.

That's because the Indians are composed of two groups of peoples. Northern Indians were originally invaders having more in common with the Caucasians, thus the long thin noses. Southern Indians (I think they are called Dravidians) are darker with flatter noses.

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by Albert Speer
Cantonese do look different than Manchu and Han though and they are all chinese.

Not really. If I show you two Chinese, could you tell the difference between them? You probably can't, due to the numerous migrations over several thousand years with lots and lots of mixings.

Sure, there are some generic ans subtle differences, but unless you are a native, or have been in the region for years, in all likelihood you won't be able to tell.

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by Cruddy
Asian as in Japanese? (Thin, fine featured, high cheecbones).

There's no indigenous Japanese population. Japaneses consist of 4 distinct groups of people, all migrants. Some 30% came from Korea, and some 30% came from China. Before them, there were two other waves, probably coming from some other islands.

The kind of Japanese you see on the streets and in the movies are very "Westernised," caused by the large number of US soldiers stationing there after WWII.

[Tingkai]

Originally posted by Albert Speer
Boshko:

Cantonese do look different than Manchu and Han though and they are all chinese.

Cantonese are Han Chinese. Manchu are not Chinese. The Manchu are completely different group of people.

[Tingkai]

Originally posted by Albert Speer
So Scandinavians do not have the body type you would expect of people living in cold climates because they migrated there recently?

Exactly. We start with a theory that race is determined by the physical environment. Any of the many real life facts that don't fit into this theory are explained by:
1) Oh, that group of people migrated there recently and we know that because they don't fit into the theory. If they do fit the theory then they have lived there a long, long time.
2) Oh, those people are not the same race (the bushmen are not part of the black race, the Swedes are not part of the white race).
3) Of, that's just a question of perception. The Swedes just look tall.

[Tingkai]

Originally posted by Albert Speer
wide noses are better for warm climates supposedly because they cool the air hence why Africans generally got them. Yet mediterrenean people and Indians who live in almost the same climate as Africa have thin noses.

That's because all Mediterranean people migrated to the area. The same with Indians.

You also forgot about feet. People who live in hot areas have small feet because the ground is so hot so it is better to have less body surface area touching the ground.

People in northern areas have really wide feet because that's better for walking on snow. Just look at Bigfoot.

Oh, and people who live in wooded areas have longer arms to make it easier to pick fruit from trees. People from grassland areas have short arms.

It's true. It's a scientifically proven fact.

[Q Classic]

God has saddled [Asians] with numerous deficits over the generations... they would multiply like cockroaches, He struck them with midgetitis so they’d take up less space. And He ensured that all body parts of the males were proportionate to that height to deter the multiplication...He hit them all with jaundice to discourage the rampant sexuality and to make sure you could pick them out in a crowd. After that Tower of Babel incident, He gave them the most difficult and annoying of the diverse languages, for which it takes an artist two or three hours just to draw a single letter of the alphabet. No matter what the Lord did to show how much He disliked them, they ignored it all, just squinting their eyes at the Lord in reply. And, frankly, the Lord finds them just as inscrutable as we do because even though He can read their thoughts, it's all in Chinese, which makes no sense to anyone. So, the Lord really didn't know what to do with these paddy critters. Well, no more.

it's funny, in a bad way.

why are asians the way they are? i dunno. hypotheses for why east asians tend to have that epicanthic fold, or why we tend to be of average height or just a shade of tan are nice, but they will remain just that--hypotheses.
that's not to say don't question why, but to not forget that it's something to be reveled in, that diversity...

and that's precisely why it saddens me when i read or see asian men and women undergo plastic surgery to increase their eye sizes, or to drop their calves, or to increase bust sizes and what not...

[Dr Strangelove]

Originally posted by Albert Speer
Strangelove:

but aren't there dozens of gene strands that create such traits as hair colour and eye colour and all that? i mean, i would think that a blue eyed blonde swede would have all these strands be different from a dark skinned, black haired hindu...

No. Skin, eye, and hair color are determined by relatively few genes.

[RGBVideo]

well yeah but most scandinavians look no different from Finns, right, who speak a pre-indo european language. so i presume most scandinavians are descended from the pre-germanic inhabitants - if anything the germanics brought in darker features

You know, you remind me of Ted Striker, who called me a "viking eurocom".

[Gangerolf]

a short and stocky body is the ideal for cold climates

why is that? I would think having long legs is an advantage when you have to wade through deep snow 24/7

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by Gangerolf
why is that? I would think having long legs is an advantage when you have to wade through deep snow 24/7

Conserve body heat.

[Gangerolf]

of course! and they use sledges etc anyway

[Tingkai]

Originally posted by Dr Strangelove


No. Skin, eye, and hair color are determined by relatively few genes.

This got me thinking. We all know that on a hot summer day, a white t-shirt is cooler than a black t-shirt. White reflects the sun and heat.

So how come all those black people in Africa have got white hair and all those scandanavians have got blonde hair? IF all these genetics people are right then the black people should have blonde hair after living on the hot African savannahs for 10,000 years or more. The white people should all have dark hair to absorb heat.

So come all you "They're tall cause they live in hot climates".

What gives?

[DinoDoc]

Originally posted by Tingkai
So how come all those black people in Africa have got white hair and all those scandanavians have got blonde hair? IF all these genetics people are right then the black people should have blonde hair after living on the hot African savannahs for 10,000 years or more. The white people should all have dark hair to absorb heat.

The more melanin in the skin, the better protection against UV radiation from the sun. People whose ancestors come from equatorial areas tend to have more melanin in their skin and therefore are darker. Some scientists think that lighter skin evolved to allow people who lived in the climates closer to the poles the ability to capture more sunlight to make Vitamin D.