Chinese People

[BreenM]

Why do Chinese people have different shaped eyes. This is a serious question.  We are having this conversation in work and it was suggested it was to do with the brightness of the sun and glare etc but by that token I would have thought most Africans would surely have the same appearance, in fact probably more so. 

Thanks.

[Clanad]

This from a genetics network:

"The eyes of the Chinese, Japanese, Eskimos, and other people of Mongoloid (of or pertaining to or characteristic of one of the traditional racial division of humankind including especially peoples of central and eastern Asia) descent are protected by epicanthic folds.
These folds, composed of fatty tissue, probably evolved among their forebears inhabiting the Arctic in order to insulate the eye against freezing, and to provide an additional shield against glare from snow and ice."

In yet another of those genetic mysteries, Native Americans (Amerinds) who are generally thought to descend from Asian immigrants some time within the last 40,000 to 50,000 years ago, do not display this feature...

[Dom Tuk]

A chinese student may be wondering.....why do europeans have differently shaped eyes.

[Caity]

All due respect BreenM but this is a pretty daft question to ask, don't you think? i tell you why. its like saying, why are people in the world different colours? its pretty obvious, due to genetics and all that malarky, people are going to be different even if they're all from the same place. I'm from north africa, though lived here (england) all my life and it is common for people of african decent to have flat and wide noses, though i have neither.  

[THECORBYLOON]

With respect to you Caity I'm sure BreenM realised genetics play a part in wir appearance. The question is WHY. You mention folk of African descent having flat and wide noses, there must be a genetic advantage but what is it? You may have thought the original question was "pretty daft" but would you have associated the Chinese wi the Arctic.........?

[IWANOWENS743]

On BBC some time ago there was a programme about why people had different shaped eyes ECT, so no this is not a daft question. Good answer Clanad.

[Caity]

like i said earlier i maintain this is a daft question, and i know that BreemM knows it has something to do with genetics, i'm not completely ignorant. the intial question is ...at best naive and i'm beginning to question the education system in this country.and yes THECORBYLOON  i did know that the chinese people are related to the innuits and people of the arctic. its visually obvious, anybody with eyes could have seen that. in answer to your question the reason african people have flat noses its obviously to protect their noses from the heat and dust that could potentionally damage their sinuses. have you ever been to africa? the same goes for dark skin. the reason why people have dark skin in africa and the like is because to protect them from the sun, so they don't get burnt...and as for the BBC broadcasting such a programme...well that just confirms my suspicion of the brains behind the tv network...

[Dark Angel]

Caity - you are really touchy about this subject aren't you? If everyone took the attitude, "isn't that obvious, anyone with eyes can see that" etc. then Answerbank would not exist.

[IWANOWENS743]

So what�s your problem caity don�t you believe in education? The BBC program pointed out that humans lived on the coast of Africa then moved along the coast of Africa. Then as humans moved out of Africa humans encountered different climates they slowly adapted to those climates, not so painful is it! http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/cavemen/  ck on where we came from.

[Caity]

First of all Dark Angel need not say i'm getting touchy about the whole subject. i believe i'm entiltiled to my opnion, like everyone else in here, like you said this is an answerbank. secondly everyone that 's answered me is jumping on the bandwagon and has decided to criticise me, without any real opinion or answer. IWANOWEN743 has bought a a sufficient answer for me though  ahwy did n'y you put that in the first place , i'm not the one who asked the question.

thirdly i am respecting

[THECORBYLOON]

Caity, you criticise wir education system but you don't use capital letters to start a sentence or a country's name, you use "i" as a personal pronoun and "its" instead of "it's". The words kettle, pot and black spring to mind.

I don't know the answer to everything and I never will but I am prepared to help. Any answer is obvious but only if you know the answer. Have you never asked a question Caity?

Rather than criticise the questioner, our education system and the BBC (based on one question,) help us.

[Caity]

right, now you're getting personal. you're not criticising my line of reasoning you're taking the mick out of my writing. for your information i'm a student of english lit and language, and i'm aware of the mistakes that i make. just because i don't use capitals doesn't mean i'm not educated. we're humans and we're prone to making mistakes and i quote "wir education". what does that mean? anyway i'm not here to slander other people, i was intially answering the question, and i do want to help. i'm sorry if anyone got the wrong end of the stick, I (first person pronoun) like everyone else was contributing. :P

[bazwillrun]

Caity

Just because you come from North Africa doesnt make you African flat wide nosed, as with a lot of North African countries the people have more in common features wise with the Arabic nations which  implies that at some point in the long distant past your predecessors must have come back to Africa from further afield if the current thinking on anthropological dispersal can be believed

[Aschenbach]

The documentary (that I think IWANOWEN mentioned) showed the numbers of Koreans in particular who have had plastic surgery to remove the eye fold is staggeringly high. It was about people of different races who wanted to look 'European' for whatever reason.