I'm bringing up this topic because it seems as if people have a stereotypical image of what "Asian" is. To me, Asian refers to the continent of Asia so it includes all the ethnicities/languages/culture, etc. It also can refer to a descendant or native of Asia. However, it seems like in the U.S. a lot of people look at Asian as if it was exclusive to just the "Far East" or "Oriental" if you will. I think this is partially due to the fact that the majority of Asians who have made a impact in the U.S. as a "whole" are from the "East Asian" countries which are China, Japan, and Korea. This is why I think when people guess someone's ethnicity...the most common are the top 3: Chinese, Japanese, and Korean.

Oriental:
of, pertaining to, or characteristic of the Orient, or East; Eastern.


Not to mention, I think "Americans" have yet to view "Asian-Americans" as Americans so basically anything Asian related is foreign. There are people who view Asians as something totally different. This is why I think many people ask U.S.-American born Asians, what nationality are you? When Nationality refers to a Nation and not ethnicity or racial background.

Nationality:
The status of belonging to a particular nation by origin, birth, or naturalization.


I also think the U.S. media as well as society has helped enforced the stereotypical images. Ever notice how people always think "WHITES" are just more diverse in terms of looks and feature? like "White" people can have all different types of hair color or eye color while all the other ethnic groups are categorized into one exclusive stereotypical image. Just even looking on this board, some people just think Asians couldn't have different color "eyes". Same with Hispanics, when people think of Hispanics a lot of times they identify with the stereotypical "Mexican" image even though Hispanics/Latinos consist of many different racial backgrounds.

I also think because historically if you look at how the U.S. was, there were two major racial groups and that was "White & Black". Two very broad and generalized terms. I think a lot of these terms are made to make it more simple for others to understand which also kind of affects their ability to think otherwise.



One particular group in the U.S. I think I see that has fallen under the demise of the "Asian" image are Filipino-Americans. Mind you, I also have Filipino lineage. I still don't get why there are Filipino-Americans who are baffled and offended by the fact that some may see them as "Asian". The only reason I could see this is because of the ignorance that revolves around the stereotypical image. However, the endless reasons that Filipino-Americans give are hilarious.

1) Philippines is a island in the Pacific, therefore they are Pacific Islanders. How is that even plausible? Philippines isn't the only island nation that is considered part of Asia. Also a big factor as to why we know that the Philippines is part of Asia is because the Philippines is part of the ASEAN (Association of SouthEast Asian Nations).

2) Philippines don't write in characters like East Asians such as Chinese, Korean, Japanese. I mean hello? There are other Asians who don't write in characters and do write in a Latin alphabet like the Filipinos....such as Vietnamese!

3) Filipinos are related to "Austronesian". But the thing is, there are in fact Austronesian... whether it's language or ethnicities... that are found in other parts of Asia, not just the Philippines or Oceania.



This is where I see is the beauty of Asia so it does include Austronesian. This is why Indians from India are also include under the "Asian" term.



There's even more proof as to why I think Filipino-Americans say they aren't "Asian" only because they don't want to face "Asian" stereotypes as seen here:


Ghetto Filipino Apparel


For all the people who think Asians only have light skin and "Epicanthic folds"...well here's a video you can watch about SE Asian countries.
LEARN ABOUT SOUTHEAST ASIA


Anyways, at the end of the day "ASIAN" is just really a very generalized and broad term. Some people ask? what's the difference between Asians? what makes a Chinese different from a Filipino or Korean? I mean comeon now? the difference between a Chinese and a Filipino is that one is CHINESE and one is FILIPINO and the other is KOREAN. If people want to become even more specific they would also include religions and locations within the country. Even with Europeans, most of them identify with their individual ethnicities/nationalities as well as religions/locations.


so, what does "ASIAN" mean to you?

Oriental doesn't mean asian to me.
When I think oriental, I think oriental rugs, and when I think oriental rugs, I think persian rugs.

So now I ask you: are persians oriental? Or are they asian? Or what are they?
I heard in england, asian includes persian, while oriental doesn't? wow.

I think Oriental is one of the cultures/characters that is associated within Asia. A lot of people think Oriental refers to like rugs or materialistic things, but that changed and Oriental was not originally used for that.

Oriental:

Of or relating to the countries of the Orient or their peoples or cultures; eastern.

The "Orient" is a term traditionally used in Western culture to refer to the Middle East, and Egypt resp. the whole Arabian influenced North Africa. Today also the eastern and southeastern Asia is sometimes called "Orient", except Russia, i.e. North Asia.

Persians are Persians, but isn't one of the areas now called Iran or something....but whatever their nation is, if it's within Asia...they can be considered Asians if they wanted to.



This is where I think social construction comes into play.

Oreintal?? LOL J/K my sorry. Asian, to me, is the ethnic groups and cultures of East Asia and some other parts..in my opinion I dun think asian means every single country in Asia..but then again ORIENTAL??..

I bring up "ORIENTAL" because of "EAST ASIA"? Chinese, Japanese, Korea, etc.

Others are religion such as: Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism.

Some people say Filipinos aren't Oriental because they don't use chopsticks and don't write like the Chinese, Japanese, Korean, etc.

I have also seen people say "oh she looks Oriental" that's why I bring that up. It might seem weird to you because you never experienced it, but I myself have seen it used when referring to people as well.

That's why I bring up "ORIENTAL" based on the way I have seen people use it.

^^agreed. im a filipino myself. and asian doesn't mean someone from CHINA , KOREA , OR JAPAN.
and it`s quite offending when someone tells me that filipinos are little pacific islanders. it just shows how arrogant they are and they should read a book before saying something. specially filams that say "im not asian im pacific islander." whack whack whack president gloria arroyo even said that philippines are part of asia and other philippine legislatures.



so does vietnamese people. they don`t have their own writing system. why not pick on them?
[edit] i see that vietnam has their own writing system too . but you can`t forget philippines ancient writing system that is no longer used today.



and more to defend my filipino culture
this is from the pacific islander census.
and philippines is not listed.


and asia`s census:

credits : http://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/race/api.html

Yes I know. Hmong people also don't eat with chopsticks. I'm not picking on them, I'm actually part Filipino if you wanted to know.

This topic is more for people to have a discussion about what "ASIAN" really is and how has it affected others.

QUOTE

Oreintal?? LOL J/K my sorry. Asian, to me, is the ethnic groups and cultures of East Asia and some other parts..in my opinion I dun think asian means every single country in Asia..but then again ORIENTAL??..

^Then what do you call the other countries in Asia, then?

Asia = continent. Therefore, every country in Asia is Asian. India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Japan, China, etc. Not just those living in East Asia. Because East Asia is a MERE part of Asia. Don't believe me? Grab a map. >_< It's just common sense.

BTW, the Viet has their *own* writing system; their letters are similar to the one used by the French, with a few modifications. Yes, it's the Latin alphabet, but with a few add-ins.

Don't forget, I too am part Filipino.

Also looks like Wikipedia has been updated

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Islander#Usage_dispute

Don't forget, Vietnam use to write in characters like the Chinese. It was known as Chữ-nôm.



The system eventually changed and Vietnamese has influences from both the Portuguese and French. Not just French, as people seem to assume because of the colonization.









IT's FUN READING ABOUT HISTORY! AND HISTORY BRINGS KNOWLEDGE! YAY!

For me asian for all the asia country.sorry if i mistaken your intent when you bring out this topic but for me asian is for people from asia country no matter where it west east south or north.
Rather than discussing you is asian or not it better see the asian value in you. Coz for me asian is known for its tradition that kept till now.Such as we always polite to our elders, our morale valueand so on.
My english not so good. please forgive is there are any words that you think is unappropiate

No I understand you very well. My whole point of posting this topic is to create a topic is what a Asian is. This topic can also answer questions as well as help break stereotypes that revolves around Asians. People from Asia might not understand it, but since because "Asians" in the U.S. are a racial minority group..."Asian" is and has been looked at differently. I've even seen it used differently by other posters regarding other topics. This is why I bring up this general topic.

It's open for discussion, it's not meant to offend anyone. In fact, it's meant for everyone to give their own opinion and see how it relates or connects to others.

some filipinos i know don't count themselves as asians .__."
they say they're 'pacific islanders' and have nothing to do with being asian.

I don't consider Filipino asian, but that's just me

I consider Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, Japanese, etc.

Alot of my friends don't consider Filipino asian too, that's just us, wuteva.

this seem to be base on mostly phillipines, we all know chinese,japanese, and korean are consider asian cuz they're culture are the same, the southeast asian are known to have tan skin, i think alot of people consider east asia as the rich asian and southeast as the poor asians. to me asian mean any culture in the Asia thats how the word asian came to be.

I think a lot of people consider Asian as like ... Chinese, Vietnamese, Koreans, and Japanese although they might be forgetting about some of the other countries that are classified as Asian nations.
I know some people don't really consider Flipinos as Asians...I've never really thought about that before but now that I think about it..I kind of don't consider them Asians.

When I hear the word 'oriental' ... I think of instant noodles...don't ask me why...that's just what comes to mind.
@ DarknessFalls : WOW Vietnamese use to be written like that? denggg I'm Viet..and I always thought that it was written like it was nowadays...but I knew that some words were from the Chinese language...i guess i learned something new today =)

the main part of that is because vietnam was influence alot by china, alot of vietnamese look like chinese because most vietnamese family have atleast some chinese blood in them.

Yeah, lol.

I think people consider "asian" as ... light skin ... not big eyes ... you know what I mean? and nobody picks on vietnamese because alot of people mistakens vietnamese people as chinese.... they kind of do look alike.

filipino people have dark skin, and you can obviously tell that they are filipino.

So vietnam would've had complex too-much-to-remember script as well if it hadn't been for colonization?
I wonder if that's a good thing or not. Would vietnamese today want to read/write that kind of stuff...

why don't you consider Filipinos as Asians, do you consider Indians from India as Asians?



Filipino aren't the only Asians with dark skin and there are Filipinos who have light skin.



And there are Asians who have dark skin, the one in the picture is from Thailand.







I included the Philippines because it's a perfect example as to how some people see them as Asian and how some don't. This why is it relevant to the discussion as to "What does Asian mean to you". It's not meant to be offensive, it's meant to open discussion to the word "ASIAN".



I'm not sure if I understand your question exactly. Would Vietnamese today want to read/write that kind of stuff? I don't see why not because there are Vietnamese who still can read and write it. Not to mention there are many Ethnic Chinese who were born and raised in Vietnam. The world changes and just how English is being taught around the world, Mandarin-Chinese is becoming more influential and more people are learning that now as well. Vietnamese could also still use both as Mandarin-Chinese have their own roman alphabet system known as Hanyu Pinyin.




IT's FUN READING ABOUT HISTORY! AND HISTORY BRINGS KNOWLEDGE! YAY!

asia to me is asia..
lol..
indians.. japanese.. koreans.. chinese.. indonesian.. malaysian.. etc etc that's asia..
*sigh*
why can't we just be one..
like america..
look at them.. it doesn't matter who's black or white.. ><!
if we just joined forces.. we'd be ruling the world.. XDDD haha

lol!some asians hate each other, there is still alot of racism in america between black and white

lol well in America, Black or white does matter to a certain extent. Ever notice that there has never been a Non-White president? but ya that can all change now since Obama is running.

but this is why I think people may fear Asians, if u just look at Chinese and Indians alone...they would take up about half the world's population.

QUOTE

IT's FUN READING ABOUT HISTORY! AND HISTORY BRINGS KNOWLEDGE! YAY!

Thanks for the info. Didn't know Vietnam used to write in Chinese characters.

QUOTE (nonage.sanctum @ Jan 6 2008, 01:57 AM)

asia to me is asia..
lol..
indians.. japanese.. koreans.. chinese.. indonesian.. malaysian.. etc etc that's asia..
*sigh*
why can't we just be one..
like america..
look at them.. it doesn't matter who's black or white.. ><!
if we just joined forces.. we'd be ruling the world.. XDDD haha

^That made me laugh for some reason. Don't ask.

Maybe, but how many vietnamese (excluding ethnic-chinese) in this generation can read/write it?
Having chinese influence emerging is one thing; wanting to learn/know it is another.

If you asked an immigrant that moved to US "did you WANT to learn english, or did you HAVE to learn english?" it doesn't mean the same thing.

i am filipino, myself, &it kinda annoys me when some filipinos think they`re "pacific islanders".
goshh, for god`s sake... don`t get it twisted.
esp. the ones who were originally born in the U.S. they`re mostly the ones who think they`re "pacific islanders" anyways.

whatever you say. whatever you do. Philippines is still part of Asia.
hahahah.

yes but how many people from thailand do you know is that dark?
and how many filipinos do you know is dark?

most filipinos are dark. most thailands are light.
some of my friends dont consider filipinos asian, some do, some consider them 'black', etc.

I didn't say it's the same thing, I said I don't see why not meaning if it was available it gives people that option.

Actually it depends on what generation your talking about, I know a lot of Vietnamese-Americans who don't even know how to read/write in the modern day Vietnamese language. "WANTING" and "HAVING" to learn can apply to anyone.




LOL see this is dependent on numbers and what every individual has experienced. This is the same reason why people think "ASIANS" aren't tall or "ASIANS" don't have big eyes because the majority of Asians that people seem to encounter fit certain stereotypes.

Most Filipinos are dark? says who? says you? Most Thailands? lol do you mean Thai people or Thais? I've met plenty of Filipinos, Thais, Khmers, Viets, etc that are dark. I've met plenty of Filipinos, Thais, Khmers, Viets, etc that are light. That's why I think being dark or light skinned is irrelevant because there's people of both skin colors. I don't see why you even bring up "FILIPINOS are DARK" as a reasoning as if there are no other Asians that are "DARK".

Here's a picture of Cambodian children & someone praying , they are dark...so what? it doesn't make them less Asian than Chinese, Japanese,Koreans, Viets, Filipinos, Thais, etc.




Here are people from Myanmar. :





That's nice that some of your friends don't consider Filipinos as Asians? how come?

and some consider as "black"....lol....that is very interesting, please explain...

lol. its my first time hearing that some filipinos consider themselves "black"
ahah. soo funny =__________=;;
i didnt know that. lol. are you kidding me ?

what ASian means to me???

UNITY!!!! dats what we are!!!!

im from Brunei~~~~we have a nice peace country and link wif the other Asians to make a better world~~~~~~~~~

Some Thai ppl have dark skin and light skin because...
I'm one of them...my dad is dark skin and my mom is light skin...
okay I shouldn't even been but into that...

I think that japanese,Korean,Indian,Thai,Laos,Chinese,taiwan
ect. are asians....

asian means to me is more asian ppl lol...

Preach! Preach! Preach!

Asian people are those from Asia. From the Philippines to the Middle East and from Mongolia to East Timor or the Maldives.
It can be based on race, eg. people with Asian parents who were born or grew up outside of Asia.
Or it can not be based on race, eg. people with non-Asian parents who were born or grew up inside of Asia.
Both of those two people would be "Asian" if that's what they considered themselves to be. Ethnicity is about more than just genetics.

What does Asian mean to me? People who are from Asia, or somewhere in their genealogy have someone from the continent we consider Asia.

However, tracing back to the first Asians. I honestly can't say what is considered Asian; since, my knowledge of History does not extend that far. Not sure who were the first to inhabit that continent or how it was like =).

I do remember from my AP US History book... That was a good 6 years ago I think. That American-Indians here actually have Mongolian decent. They crossed over the Bering land bridge before the sea levels rose. So now here's the question; would you consider those Native Americans Asian (going off by what my AP US History book)?

You're AP History book is limited. It's actually a bit broader than that. On a side note, I'm a bit surprised you were taught that in AP History, that was taught to me in 4th Grade History class. I just don't know about schooling sometimes in the US. The limited focus on Mongolia has two possible historical reasonings, mainly because of Attila the Hun and Genghis Khan's tribute to history, conquering and pillaging and connecting basically all of Asia (East and West) to Africa and through that Greece. Most people should thank them, but historically they're hated. But they were nomads and discoverers. Second people associate that because to get to the US was believed to be ONLY through the Bering Strait (doesn't exist any more, it melted) which used to connect Russia (Siberia) and North America (Alaska). Plus Mongolians were believed to have control of Russia for 200 hundred years, so it gave them easy access to Siberia.

Anyway to go back to the history book. It's more than Mongolian descent, research says that they have come in waves---this means in large groups over the early Centuries of homosapien nomadic movements coming to the US from as far down as Japan and of course some South Pacific Islands.

This actually why my sister and there have been some small studies if I remember correctly, which have noted that some East Asians and Mexicans (Indian descent) and Native Americans have some phenotypical similarities.

But if you go as far back as that, then you can also say that All Asians are Africans and African lineage, which is actually true and they have already traced the nomadic paths of African people's since they were the original people on earth and of course evolution has added to their change. So the first Asians are African. It's quite interesting we go through scientific and historic study of people's and America's defintion of Race, all people are then Black. Okay that always tends to give me a tickle.

But in any event, they did come in waves from East and West Asia, popularly China, Japan, Mongolia; and of course Africa. Yes, there were nomadic African tribes which crossed Siberia into America---so some of the Native Americans were Black as well as East and West Asian.

What does Asia mean to me?

I divide Asia into two parts. East and West. East Asians and West Asians are phenotypically distant it's ridiculous, not to mention the cultures are so varied I can't see them as one big part. Of course culturally the countries in East and West have their own histories and cultures and really don't look similar if you sit there, but overall they don't fulfill the Aryan/Caucasian phenotype that makes up West Asia. This of course excludes as a note Turkish China.

I don't feel like breaking down what I mean by Aryan and Caucasian----just know that I am following the literal meaning and not the meaning of today. If it is something people are wondering about I will break it down.

what is asian to me?

i considered all countries from asia "asians".
this is the list of all asian countries:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Asian_countries

whether youre white or black
whether you have big eyes or small eyes
as long as you have an asian blood, then that's asian to me.

and uhmm, i dont consider filipinos as pacific islander.
btw, im a filipino.
and i say this not bcoz im a filipino but instead,
i know who and what is asian to me.

Asians are originally from Asia.

Asia is a continent.

There are 7 continents in the world.

School is over.

When you use the word "Asian" to describe people, generally people think of East Asian. Korea, Japan, China. And if it's South-East Asian usually people will specify this. This isn't a problem, really, it's just a word with a connotation.
But that doesn't mean that the rest of the continent isn't Asian. 'Asian' is the entire continent of Asia, including India, and Kazakhstan, and part of Russia, and part of Turkey, and Sri Lanka, and yeah, you get the picture. That doesn't mean that if you're from Armenia (also an Asian country) you will describe yourself to other as ASIAN, because due to the connotation of the word it could confuse people. But that doesn't mean you're not Asian.

QUOTE (leongfun @ Jan 6 2008, 03:23 AM)

most filipinos are dark. most thailands are light.
some of my friends dont consider filipinos asian, some do, some consider them 'black', etc.

LOL. Seriously?

That has got to be the LMAO moment of the day.

I won't comment on the skin color since I'm mixed with some other race, and it's what caused my light skin.

QUOTE (Faa @ Jan 6 2008, 06:09 AM)

Asian people are those from Asia. From the Philippines to the Middle East and from Mongolia to East Timor or the Maldives.
It can be based on race, eg. people with Asian parents who were born or grew up outside of Asia.
Or it can not be based on race, eg. people with non-Asian parents who were born or grew up inside of Asia.
Both of those two people would be "Asian" if that's what they considered themselves to be. Ethnicity is about more than just genetics.

^YES! Irlyloveyoursensibility. <3

I'm Filipino, and I've never heard any of this "Pacific Islander" stuff until I studied in America. :/ Honestly, it's baffling! If you were born and raised in the Philippines, you would know that you are Asian, plain and simple. Filipinos who insist we're Pacific Islanders obviously don't know anything about the Philippines. Methinks they should read up first, they're kinda embarrassing, hehe.

Anyway, to me, an Asian is anyone from Asia, it being a continent and all...

Hah, I can explain that to you.

The term South Pacific Islander is basically something that stems from US racist diplomatic agenda. The US had a stronghold in that area and wanted to separate them from the rest of East Asia at the time so US agenda created this identity on the US and promoted it worldwide to describe Filipinos and those Islands that fall within the South Pacific. By classing the Philipines as such it's to make them feel in some way special and again, separate from the areas surrounding.

Most Filipinos in the US or born and raised outside of the Philipines go by SPI's to be what they believe is "politically correct" not realising that the label has a racist root and agenda.

I happen to be an avid history/politics/race freak. World history is my favorite and in paticular racist ideologies and it's spread.

Oh I see... Sounds interesting! I have to read more about that.

You should...of course it's a bit more convulted than that...but that's basically it.

It's almost similar to Aryans and Caucasian line and how that is described--very convoluted but it's associated to West Asians.

i personally think it's only americans that consider asians as east asians lol :x
but i wouldn't know since i'm not from there.
where i'm from, everyone from asia is asian. and nobody really calls people asian here anyway. we refer to people by ethnicity.

Hehe scratch my first post..l think just like that now that I THINK of it..we should all just join forces and be..um..unstoppable??..like America! It would be better that way..saves breath and drama....YAY!

when i hear the word asian; i think of japanese/chinese/tawainese/korean/viet/filipino/malaysian/thai

and also; just because you're from south asia doesn't necessarily mean your "asian"
although this is difficult to argue

people from chile/argentina are in south america; do we call them americans? no

but if you're from asia and still consider yourself asian then i'm not going to argue

if you search on youtube for "hot asian" you will ONLY find east asians and filipinos
haha all the guys should understand where i'm coming from

usually the term "Asian" makes me think of East Asians, but I acknowledge anyone from the Asian continent as being Asian (i.e. Malaysia, India, Kazakhstan). doesn't matter what ethnic group they're from

mm, unfortunately i have to admit, i have that problem...
when i say something such as "any cute asian guys?" i mean "chinese, japanese, or korean" but
i'm trying very hard to grow out of it.
asian to me means anyone from asia, but i have that bad habit><
and i'm not sure but i heard "oriental" is a deragatory term *shrugs*
i hope i can grow out of it reallly soon><

Actually we do call them Americans. Same thing goes for Canadians. By definition they ARE Americans. But a lot of people---mainly US citizens class themselves as Americans and all other people of North or South America as respective of their country.