What's the difference in physical features between northern Chinese and southern Chinese? any good examples? (country, place)

[beiyang1]

Well, someone told me "northern Chinese have paler skin, bigger noses, and smaller eyes" and "southern Chinese have flatter noses, dark skin, and double eyelids"

Is this true, or is it something else?

I was really curious and I looked up "northern chinese" and "southern chinese", and they looked the same to me. They all just looked "Chinese".



Who are some famous Chinese people that look northern or southern? (as an example)???

[tijlover]

In my travels in China, I find the bordering-areas Chinese to be the more attractive, as a blood mix will do that, a mix of blood from SE Asia. The pure Han Chinese I don't find that attractive, all that is lacking is blood infusions, of a different kind.

I spent a good deal of my time in southern and central China, to compare, but never made it up to the northernmost areas, but I'm guessing I'd run into more attractive Chinese bordering Russia.

[Tiger Beer]

Originally Posted by beiyang1

Well, someone told me "northern Chinese have paler skin, bigger noses, and smaller eyes" and "southern Chinese have flatter noses, dark skin, and double eyelids"

Is this true, or is it something else?

I was really curious and I looked up "northern chinese" and "southern chinese", and they looked the same to me. They all just looked "Chinese".



Who are some famous Chinese people that look northern or southern? (as an example)???

I've always heard the same thing from Chinese. I've also heard that northern Chinese were much taller - all the Mongolian stock, I suppose.

I certainly noticed that people subtlety looked a bit different from being in places like Beijing/Tianjin compared to places like Kunming/Chengdu. But, not uniformally so.

[InsaneTraveler]

I'm pretty close with a large extended group of Chinese friends. I always found it intriguing how they can tell each other apart. Just last week two of them did this in fact. One of my friends is 75% Chinese and 25% Japanese. The other friend was unaware of my buddies Japanese ancestry, but mentioned that he looked very Japanese.

I of course can't tell the difference. I asked how they were able to tell various East Asian groups apart and they said I would have to be an Asian to be able to do it. lol.

I am generally able to differentiate South East Asians from East Asians (Thai vs Korean), but not East Asians from other East Asians (Chinese from Korean, or northern Chinese from Southern Chinese).

Food for thought though! Koreans are the tallest East Asian. Males are on average about 5'9. Urban Chinese are about 5'7. I would imagine that Northern Chinese people would be similar to Koreans in height and that Southern Chinese would be similar to places like Vietnam (Average height 5'4).

Note that the real height of Chinese and Vietnamese is suppressed slightly by malnutrition.

Human height - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[pinai]

Originally Posted by InsaneTraveler

I'm pretty close with a large extended group of Chinese friends. I always found it intriguing how they can tell each other apart. Just last week two of them did this in fact. One of my friends is 75% Chinese and 25% Japanese. The other friend was unaware of my buddies Japanese ancestry, but mentioned that he looked very Japanese.

I of course can't tell the difference. I asked how they were able to tell various East Asian groups apart and they said I would have to be an Asian to be able to do it. lol.

I am generally able to differentiate South East Asians from East Asians (Thai vs Korean), but not East Asians from other East Asians (Chinese from Korean, or northern Chinese from Southern Chinese).

Food for thought though! Koreans are the tallest East Asian. Males are on average about 5'9. Urban Chinese are about 5'7. I would imagine that Northern Chinese people would be similar to Koreans in height and that Southern Chinese would be similar to places like Vietnam (Average height 5'4).

Note that the real height of Chinese and Vietnamese is suppressed slightly by malnutrition.

Human height - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

They said this is the difference between Korean, Chinese and Japanese look

[Trimac20]

Originally Posted by InsaneTraveler

I'm pretty close with a large extended group of Chinese friends. I always found it intriguing how they can tell each other apart. Just last week two of them did this in fact. One of my friends is 75% Chinese and 25% Japanese. The other friend was unaware of my buddies Japanese ancestry, but mentioned that he looked very Japanese.

I of course can't tell the difference. I asked how they were able to tell various East Asian groups apart and they said I would have to be an Asian to be able to do it. lol.

I am generally able to differentiate South East Asians from East Asians (Thai vs Korean), but not East Asians from other East Asians (Chinese from Korean, or northern Chinese from Southern Chinese).

Food for thought though! Koreans are the tallest East Asian. Males are on average about 5'9. Urban Chinese are about 5'7. I would imagine that Northern Chinese people would be similar to Koreans in height and that Southern Chinese would be similar to places like Vietnam (Average height 5'4).

Note that the real height of Chinese and Vietnamese is suppressed slightly by malnutrition.

Human height - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

It's all about being observant, I think. Those 'tests' that claim that you can't tell apart the three East Asian nationalities - Chinese, Korean and Japanese - are flawed because it does not fully comprehend the genetic diversity of those nations. The fact a percentage of ethnic Koreans and Japanese did migrate through China (or from China, depending on your perspective) does not negate the other populations (e.g. the Jomon people as well as the Ainu) of Japan who genetically speaking are distant (by Asian standards) to the Northern Han Chinese. But this discussion is about inter-Chinese or inter-Han Chinese diversity.

In my experience, yes, there is definitely a trend towards certain physical phenotypes in southern China, but since there has been a fair deal of migration/conquering of people, mostly in a north to south direction, that effect is diluted and varies from individual to individual.

My ancestry is mostly from Fujian province, and I am usually mistaken for being Southeast Asian (Thai, even Cambodian), although I may have some 'Malay' blood it would be fairly negligible. I have never seen anyone like my sister in Beijing, saw perhaps a handful in southern China, and interestingly saw quite a few like her in northern Vietnam. Of the Asians, specifically mostly of Chinese ancestry I know, few really look like her.

What struck me most was the height difference. I'm about 5'9" and I felt tall in Hong Kong. Even going to Fuzhou, I noticed the height start to increase. Flying to Beijing the effect was quite noticeable: I felt on the short side, with many men around and above 6 feet. The stereotype of 'short Asian' stems from mostly Southern Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, Filipinos, Vietnamese migration to the States. I can tell you Vietnamese are even shorter, at least the ones in Vietnam. Amazingly I only saw a handful of people taller than me in three weeks of travelling right up the country, encountering thousands of people. I could find the same after just a few minutes in Beijing, where the average height is close to or the same as the average in a place like the US. Especially since the younger generation is embracing some western elements in their diet such as dairy.

I actually think this idea that Northerners are 'lighter' is a myth. It's more a case of urban vs rural, especially many of the women who use skin lightening/bleaching. Compare some of the actresses with some of the rural folk, the difference is quite startling. Although some truly are pale, they take pains to maintain this skin tone through avoiding the sun.etc as well.

[mercikaleb]

I'm not Asian but I can usually tell them apart.
I've studied the faces and looks of people from different countries
I'm rarely wrong

Asians are so beautiful in every way.
As are people from all over the world.

Viva la difference!

[spotlesseden]

Northern china is colder, people there eat noodles and wheat, not rice. That's why they are normally look bigger and stronger

People in southern china eat mostly rice type food. maybe alot of sea food too because they are close to the ocean.
They are smaller and probably shorter(i have no stats).
Minorities Chinese looks different too, and they wear different than of clothing than Han Chinese. There are discrimination in China too.

facial stuctures are different, but i can't explain them in words. Southern Chinese can look like Japanese. Most Asians can't tell as long as they don't speak and have the same fashion style. If a cantonese girl live in Japan for 10 years, most Asian will not able to tell if she is Korean, Japanese or chinese. Tell me what race is this girl?

[Trimac20]

She looks Japanese to me.

[OZpharmer]

I agree with Trimac20. But in terms of overall cultural differences between i.e. Korea and China, I'd say it's roughly the differences between US and Mexico.