Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
South-East Asians seem to look more like Chinese, but that alone probably isn't enough to make them feel affinity. I guess ancestry and migration-wise, more South-East Asians are descended from Chinese than Indians, but some of the architecture/high culture makes it seem or looks like old Indian influence still remains or is important in shaping their civilization.
Both shaped southeast Asia if i must say, very simple! but i think India influenced more because of the religion rather than China. We feel we don't belong to either group or have any connection with them.
Genetically yes, South-East Asians (even the most 'Indian' looking Khmer) cluster more with China and other East Asians than Indians (except some Burmese), but have been influenced a lot by both. The title 'Indo-china' is very apt. There were many early Indic kingdoms, like the Khmer, Burmese, Javanese and Champa/Funan in southern Vietnam. They introduced Indian religion, architecture, and thought/philosophy. The Chinese influence has been in inventions (as well as Indian), population, and to an extent religion. I'd say a place like Thailand for instance has culinary influences from both. Linguistically, it sounds like the spoken languages sound more Chinese, while the scripts like Khmer, Thai, Burmese seem more Brahmic. Only Vietnam really embraced Chinese characters to a large degree and stands as the odd one out.
I would say the Indian influence in most of SEA is older, but the Chinese ones have become more dominant in later years, although Indians have shaped Malaysia a lot through recent migration.
Genetically yes, South-East Asians (even the most 'Indian' looking Khmer) cluster more with China and other East Asians than Indians (except some Burmese), but have been influenced a lot by both. The title 'Indo-china' is very apt. There were many early Indic kingdoms, like the Khmer, Burmese, Javanese and Champa/Funan in southern Vietnam. They introduced Indian religion, architecture, and thought/philosophy. The Chinese influence has been in inventions (as well as Indian), population, and to an extent religion. I'd say a place like Thailand for instance has culinary influences from both. Linguistically, it sounds like the spoken languages sound more Chinese, while the scripts like Khmer, Thai, Burmese seem more Brahmic. Only Vietnam really embraced Chinese characters to a large degree and stands as the odd one out.
I would say the Indian influence in most of SEA is older, but the Chinese ones have become more dominant in later years, although Indians have shaped Malaysia a lot through recent migration.
Vietnam has been part of China for quiet a long time before, and faces massive migration at a later stage that Chinese people just become much more dominant there and creates another tropical China, the real Vietnamese who are adherent to Hinduism and had indian influence still exist in the mountains and countryside, but by a tiny minority.
Vietnam has been part of China for quiet a long time before, and faces massive migration at a later stage that Chinese people just become much more dominant there and creates another tropical China, the real Vietnamese who are adherent to Hinduism and had indian influence still exist in the mountains and countryside, but by a tiny minority.
It's quiet interesting actually to see how Indian and Chinese influences Southeast Asia, where two major culture just happened to meet at this point.
Be careful to distinguish the Cham from the Viet Kinh when you say 'real' Vietnamese. The Cham are more like say the native Americans, while the 'real' Vietnamese have always been from northern Vietnam, although their kingdom once included parts of Guangxi, the old Nam Viet/Nanyue in Southern China, which was one of the main forerunners of the Vietnamese dynasty. It was only later, after the 1500s, that the Vietnamese expanded and conquered Champa and parts of Khmer land.
It seems traditional Vietnamese culture has always had more similarities to China anyway. In central Vietnam, you can see remains of Cham architecture like temples like Po Nagar and My Son which were Hindu. Their style is reminiscent of say Borobodur and south Indian style Hindu temples.
Didn't know that before, so they are basically not "Vietnamese"... good to know!
No they are not. Well there is a Cham ethnic minority, and they are Vietnamese by ethnicity, but they are not considered ethnically Vietnamese or 'Viet Kinh'. There is however some mixing of Cham and Kinh and Khmer and Kinh in southern and central Vietnam, which is why the people in Saigon sometimes look different to those in Hanoi.
Wow, you know so much about Vietnam... i didn't know there are such differences between them however, i always thought it has to do with the weather (cooler in Hanoi) since that does happened in indonesia where people in Bandung tend to have fairer skin, but then even Malays in Singapore/Malaysia and Indonesia aren't that similar anymore when it comes to look and appearance.
Wow, you know so much about Vietnam... i didn't know there are such differences between them however, i always thought it has to do with the weather (cooler in Hanoi) since that does happened in indonesia where people in Bandung tend to have fairer skin, but then even Malays in Singapore/Malaysia and Indonesia aren't that similar anymore when it comes to look and appearance.
Not really. I went to Vietnam for 3 weeks and also have a Vietnamese friend. I've read a couple of books and stuff on the internet, so very basic things.
Hanoi is cloudier - and cooler in winter - but is still mostly hot. Plus skin whitening creams are popular in Vietnam as elsewhere in Asia. Like any group, the Vietnamese have numerous recent origins.
For Filipinos, I can say that they feel much more of an affinity towards Chinese than Indians. There is somewhat of a dislike for both groups (because the Chinese tend to be big businessman, and the Indians tend to be loan-sharks) but there is less of a dislike for Chinese because many Filipinos have Chinese blood. Many Filipinos celebrate Chinese New Year. It's a public holiday now. There is more cultural influence from China, but the pre-Spanish culture of the Philippines was very Indian-influenced (though indirectly, via Indonesia and Malaysia), so everything that we think of as the "old culture" is heavily Indian
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
