Does she look Chinese to you?
One of the most frustrating things about introducing new Chinese artists are the “they don’t look Chinese” comments. Considering China has 56 official ethnicities with their ancestral homes in China, and who knows how many unofficial ones, and 1.3 billion people, it’s unfair to homogenize any part of China (or of the world ). And according to wikipedia, minority populations are rising at 7 times the rate of the Han Chinese because the One Child Policy only applies to Han Chinese (no, China is not trying to eliminate its minorities via One Child).
Photographer Chen Haiwen recently paid a tribute to the diversity of China by producing a series of photos that captured this diversity. Along with a team of photographers, he traveled across China for a year to take photos of a family from each ethnic group. Those, along with thousands of other photos captured on the trip, were put on display in Beijing’s WangFuJing Street last month. zhouzhzh on youtube has a slideshow of all the photos.
Here’s a spot light on some, definitely not all, minority Chinese artists in pop culture.
Super Girl He Jie
our Yi-group
manager: Super Boy Ji Jie and brand manager for Bacardi
members: two powerful and tomboyish songstresses SM’s lost cause Zhang Liyin
and really lost cause Super Girl He Jie
and boyband Blue Bird Flying Fish‘s 70.
HuHu’s not Yi, but he’s there by association. Maybe Zhang Yunjing can join, too, by marriage.
Manchu Actor Tong Dawei
Manchu (10 million)
Na Ying
Kiki, the lead singer of of Milk@Coffee
Wang Zhonglei and Wang Zhongjun! -president and CEO of H.Y. Brothers
Pianist Lang Lang
Actor Tong Dawei - lead of Struggle
Actor Hu Jun – (Semi-Gods and Demi-Devils, Bodyguards and Assassins, etc)
Wu Jing – fairly tall for a martial artist (5′ 7)
Zhuang (16 million)
Gymnastics prince and company founder Li Ning
Wei Wei
Hui (9 million)
the Hui are an Muslim offbranch of the Han majority
Man Wenjun
Miao artist Song Zuying is one of the most prominent folk song singer in China
Miao (Hmong) (8 million)
Song Zuying
Song Jialing (Song Zuying’s sister who was in Ugly Wudi 3)
Yunan province's Shan Ren Yue Dui has three ethnicities
Va
Folk group Shan Ren Yue Dui‘s Ai Yong (center back in picture)
Buyi
Folk group Shan Ren Yue Dui ‘s Xiao Bu Dian. (left)
Strong recommendation to watch their episode on Happy Camp here. They have a most fascinating instruments show in the second half, and their music is great.
Dragon Angels 4th place Baha Guli
Uyghurs (7 million)
Bear Biscuit
2009 Dragon Angel Baha Guli
Kid performer Arafat
A-duo
Tujia
A-duo
Zhaxi Dunzhu
Tibetan
Han Hong
Alan Dawazhuoma
2006 My Hero champion Pu Bajia
2007 My Hero Zhaxi Dunzhu
2008 Jiayou! Dragon Angels champion Quni Ciren
2008 Jiayou! Dragon Angels Jinzhu Zhuoma
Singer Jin Haixin
Korean (2 million)
Jin Haixin
“Father of Chinese Rock” Cui Jian
band Arirang
Two of the thirty-seven children of the Hulunbei'er Choir
Ewenki, Oroquen and Daur
Multicolor Hunlunbei’er Choir (a mix of Ewenki, Oroquen, Daur and Mongolian children)
Mongolian
Shu Ke
Half of band Phoenix Legend.
Super Boy 2007 Amulong
Teng Ge’er
Buren Bayaer
Siqin Gaoli
Actor Bao Jianfeng (Dreams Link)
Actress Siqin Gaowa (Kangxi Dynasty)
Zhuang
World Champion Gymnast/TV anchor Mo Huilan
Han Geng
Hezhe
(ex-?)boyband member Han Geng
A-mei
There are also the aboriginal Taiwanese, of which the ROC recognizes 13 different tribes that the PRC groups into “gaoshan.” A-mei is the most famous pure aborigine I know of. Vivian Hsu is half. I’m not going to list them all because there are way too many with every fractions possible.
There are also many subgroups like the Hakka, a subgroup of the Han with their distinct dialect and lifestyle. Ella of S.H.E. and Super Girl Liu Xijun are both Hakka.
Tan Lina
Many people are also mixed. Angela Zhang is 1/4 Uyghur, Qi Wei of Boy& Girl is 1/4 Korean and actor-singer Li Xiaolu is 1/4 Russian, etc. And increasingly, people from China are having kids with foreigners. Super Girl Tan Lina and Dragon Angel Luo Jing are two examples.
Even amongst the Han, with a population of over 1.2 billion, there is huge diversity among looks. There are stereotypes that say Northerners are taller and more slender than Southerners. But even amongst regions, there are differences between individual looks. Just think of how different Jiang Yingrong, Huang Ying and Li Yuanxi look like, and they’re all from around the same city.
Does she look Han to you?
Unless something big happens, this is probably going to be my last post before I leave for China on Sat.
Thanks Julie for telling me how to sneak on cfensi in China. XD
Also, if anyone’s going to be in China on Jan 1st, they’re looking for fans (especially overseas) to be audiences for the Mango & Fans festival. Info here: http://tieba.baidu.com/f?kz=683043189
And the photgraphs of the family portrait is a must see:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_42QgSKukUQ]
Wow, fascinating. I did not know about a lot of these people being ethnic minorities. Didn’t follow Dragon Angels, but wow, that’s a lot of ethnic minorities in that one show.
@A.
Yeah. Cfensi pointed out that every My Hero/My Dragon has had a none-full Han champion (Jing Boran is 1/8 Russian).
Great post!
I also roll my eyes whenever I hear people say they don’t look “Han” Chinese.
In fact, it seems like only non-Chinese will use the “Han” label.
Because I don’t think I’ve ever heard a Chinese person call themselves or use the word “Han” to describe another Chinese person.
I find it really silly when people outside China think Han Chinese must look a certain way, when China’s so big. People still mistakenly believe Chen Kun is an ethnic minority. Or that he’s mixed. It’s like people need a way to explain someone’s looks.
/rant as someone whose family gets those “You’re Chinese?” comments.
Thanks! Great post! *Hugs* I have no idea what I’m going to do with this site when you’re gone.
For some reason, I always thought Wei Wei was Mongolian…
Sa Dingding is part Mongolian.
There are a lot of Taiwanese aboriginals in the music scene, although some are mixed. Tank, Show Luo, Vic Chou, Landy Wen, Jam Hsiao…a whole bunch of 超級星光大道 contestants.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9fOE4YDC7g
Jia Jia wouldn’t look out of place in Samoa, but she’s Taiwanese.
I don’t think I would classify Hakka people as minorities, since it still falls under the “Han” category. Plus, that would add so many more people to the list! A lot of Malaysian singers are Hakka (Michael Wong, Fish Leong, Gary Cao, Penny Tai). Even Jimmy Choo, the shoe guy. And not that he’s in the Chinese entertainment business, but Nichkhun’s mother is also Hakka.
Though, I guess Hakka being Han is a recent thing. A couple hundred years ago, they weren’t considered Han.
But I thought the stereotype was that Southerners were more slender than Northerners, or at least of a slighter build…
@JJ
I thought it was the other way around, actually. You always see articles about “Chinese vs. Tibetans” and things like that. Though…come to think of it…in Western media at least, it’s often reported as a Chinese/Tibetan issue regarding Tibet, but Han/Uyghur when it comes to Xinjiang. How odd… . _ .
@cfensi
Yeah, I know what you mean. I’ve read comments about Zhang Ziyi saying that her mother is probably Korean because she doesn’t look Chinese. = _ =
I guess it’s mostly because the vast majority of Chinese living in the West are Southern Chinese. And even then, the majority of them (us?) are Cantonese. So rather than seeing the diversity of “Han”, most Americans, Canadians, Australians, get a very select and narrow view of “Chinese” people.
But at the same time, there seem to be many overseas Chinese who also don’t recognise the breadth of the Han ethnicity. I’ve had Singaporean and Malaysian friends who say I look mixed with some other Asian because my nose bridge is too high or my eyebrows aren’t bushy enough (never knew those were even stereotypes ).
Though, if you want to delve into the anthropological side of things, going back far enough, a lot of Han people in the deep south of China have non-Han ancestors (meaning that they technically are mixed). Over thousands of years, Han soldiers and settlers from the north migrated south and married local women. But as their fathers were Han, the children would also be considered Han. This also applies to a lesser extent in Northeast China, where other minority groups would assimilate into Han culture through marriage.
And then you could get into the whole “Han is a cultural concept” thing…which is just really complicated…
Ah, but thanks for this post! I was really looking forward to it, and I’m not disappointed. And with bonus youtube links to boot! c( :
This was really informative especially..
“Angela Zhang is 1/4 Uyghur, Qi Wei of Boy&Girl is 1/4 Korean and actor-singer Li Xiaolu is 1/4 Russian.”
I really wish this was on every english site LMAO =x
Have fun in China! I haven’t been back since 2005 *O*
So I guess this will be last post since both cfensi and idarklight are going on vacation.
Ur welcome idarklight! Make sure you don’t get caught haha jkjk
Great post!
I really should start watching dragon angels now.
Idarklight, are YOU going to be in the mango fans thingy?
BOBO’s upcoming movie
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAV-lWh0-Xo
I hadn’t realized that Kiki was Manchu, though I knew Lang Lang was.
Here are some other ethnic minority artists:
Miao: A You Duo – Folk singer, much more famous among the Hmong
Taiwanese aborigines: Jam Hsiao (part Amis, part Han), A-Yue Chang, Totem Band, Landy Wen, Vic Chou from F4, Tank, Show Luo, MC Hotdog
I also forgot Difang and Igay Duana. Their names aren’t well-known, but their voices are. They are both Amis and they got ripped off by Europeans who included their voices as part of a popular song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_ALElMLpRA
What a cool thread.
Did you know that Kathy Chow hoi Mei (周海媚) and Miriam Yeung are also Manchus?
I’m surprised that Li XioLu is mixed with Russian and that Angela Zhang is mixed with Uigher.
Seriously awesome post. Never was one to assume anything about ethnicities, but it’s sad to hear that people would make any kind of judgment or opinion on an entertainer based on whether or not they “look” Chinese (as if that had much of a meaning aside from black hair and brown eyes of ranging hues).
So Bearbiscuit is actually Uyghur? I knew they were from the area, but didn’t know that for sure…
@everyone
I’m actually glazing over TW/HK artists because then the list could go on. TW/HK are both places where people from all over China (and the World) went to escape various events, so they tend to have a great mixing people, to the point where almost everyone is mixed (think the US). There are many, many mixed Taiwanese artists with at least part non-Han origins. And there are so many HK artists who are part European (Nicholas Tse, Cecilia Cheung, Karen Mok, etc.) that they would fill up the whole page.
As for Sa Dingding, she’s half Mongolian (on her mom’s side, I believe), and I’m only listing some of the mixed artists. And again, there are too many of them…Pretty much everything in paragraph form is not meant to be a list but just me ranting about a certain group.
Same for a lot of the older, folk singers. There are numerous Inner Mongolian/Miao/Tibetan/Uyghur folk artists, and I’m only listing some of the more popular ones now.
——
@hobielover
Yeah. Everyone thought Jiang Yingrong was part-Indonesian when she first came onto Super Girls.
@nepheliad
Here are the names of the members of Bearbiscuit. Assuming those are their real names, I would say at least two of them are Uyghur. Not sure about the other two.
成 员：
主唱：阿力普
鼓手和声：也尔扎提
贝斯：贺伟
吉他：高晟
awesome post
!
@yelei: whoa what a star-studded movie *_*. Jing Boran with a perm.. lmao.
Baha Guli is so pretty… if only she could sing or act, she could’ve been famous.
Baha Guli is so pretty! but she doesn’t act? is she a model?
I’ve always envied Hui zhu’s cause all the girls are so pretty (i know its not true) but everyone famous (esp the models) seem to have some ethnic genes in them.
@idarklight
wasnt there another contestant from Uyghur? She’s the winner of the contest I believe… but her nose is somewhat crooked.
Someone should compiled this into one big information.. but that’s going to take too long since China have too many artists. as well as HK and TW.
@Chinkirox
Baha Guli is just an entertainer…she’s a terrible actress/singer from what I can tell from Dragon Angels.
There are plenty of pretty people who are Han Chinese. Zhou Xun, Fan Bingbing, Zhang Ziyi, Gong Li, Crystal Liu Yifei, Guo Jingming, Fu Xinbo, Huang Xiaoming, Li Bingbing, Deng Chao, Sun Li, Zheng Shuang, Zhang Han, Vicki Zhao Wei, Chen Kun, etc. Singer-wise, there’s Jane Zhang, Faye Wong, Peng Liyuan (who, imo, is better than Song Zuying…but I could be biased because she’s Shandongese), Chen Chusheng, Sun Nan, Liu Huan, Li Na (the famous one, not the Super Girl), etc.
@yelei
Quni Ciren, the winner, is Tibetan. She’s a better singer and actress, but her music is only okay and imo she’s not even as pretty as some of the Super girls.
We should make a C-entertainment wiki, LOL. Joking, joking…
@ chinkirox – I think we hear more about the ethnicity of people who aren’t Han for the same reason we hear more about the ethnicity of non-Caucasian American stars – because it’s more interesting and noteworthy. No one’s really going to bat an eye if you mention that a star in the US is Caucasian; I imagine it’s probably the same in China with being Han Chinese. It probably seems a bit redundant to comment on it.
@ idarklight – The lead vocalist and the drummer? That’s really cool.
BTW, that Hunlunbei’er choir is quite cute. I don’t usually go for adorable, especially when it comes to kids, but that’s just too d’aww for me to not to like. Their outfits are amazing.
@ Benji
I only casually watch Chinese news and I don’t recall ever hearing them use the phrase, “Han” people. But I don’t really have access to that much Chinese news so I may have missed out on it.
Or are you referring to reports that are in English?
* * *
@ Neph
Here’s Bear Biscuit’s CD cover
http://ent.enorth.com.cn/system/2008/07 … 6824.shtml
I know it’s a generalization but whenever I hear Uyghur I always think of someone more Arab-looking.
Oh, I was talking about English news reports. : )
(also, Merry Christmas, everyone~!)
Merry Xmas everyone.
Cfensi… REST!!!!! LOL
Idarklight… Have fun in china, wish I could tag along
Everyone… Let’s hope 2010 will be a less stressful and dramatic year.
Ohhh I really hope there will be a super boys.
Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, Winter Solstice, and break in general!
@Neph
They actually starred on an episode of Kang Xi Lai Le and held a concert in Taiwan. I was impressed. They also have some quite talented young singers. Ewenke boy sings beautifully at 19:26:
http://www.tudou.com/programs/view/Zu5J7uB5RpM/
great post
i don’t think a lot of non-chinese people realize how many minorities there are in china.
some of these minority entertainers do look “han” to me though, except some/most of the tibetans and uighurs. baha guli definitely doesn’t look han to me, but he jie does.
did anyone try that quiz online “all look same”? i did really badly on it.
@lehninguh
What about Shan Ren Yue Dui’s Ai Yong? He can totally pass off as from the Carribean. There is another Va singer who was on Xing Guang Da Dong, and she was also very tanned and had naturally frizzy hair. I would’ve not thought she was “Chinese.”
Also, the problem is that Han Chinese has a very large population, and thus has greater variety in people. There are Han Chinese that looks like almost every stereotype of each group. Again, look at how different Jiang Yingrong, Huang Ying and Li Yuanxi looks, and they’re all from near Chengdu.
@cfensi
really? I thought Quni Ciren was Uyghur.
Hm. Why is it that majority of Chinese people are from Southern China (or HK, TW)?
@idarklight: ia, people from the va minority don’t look chinese or east asian at all. sorry i was just giving some quick examples
yeah it’s hard to categorize chinese people. there’s lots of pretty han actresses that don’t look like each other at all to me (e.g. zhou xun, gong li, zhang ziyi, vicki zhao, gao yuanyuan, kitty zhang, li bingbing, fan bingbing — they all have very distinct looks).
thank you so much for posting this. i hate it when ppl caracterise chinese looks all into one category when there is so much diversity in just this one country
)
@yelei:
The population of China is distributed all over the place, albeit more to the east than the west.
http://img705.imageshack.us/img705/4102 … 2000ch.jpg
Yay, maps!
Most Overseas Chinese people are from Southern China because southern ties with seafaring and trade have made migration more natural and commonplace. Especially compared to Northern China, where going anywhere but south would have been virtually uninhabitable. Also, prior to China ‘opening up’, it was very difficult for a Chinese person to go overseas. The exceptions were Hong Kong, being a British territory, Taiwan, and the Chinese already overseas in Southeast Asia, who are overwhelming descended from Guangdong and Fujian.
In regards to China itself, the provinces of Southern China are typically wealthier and more developed than those elsewhere, so it’s more viable for migrant workers to go there, and for those richer people to go overseas.
Though, I’m not really sure if you asked your question in regards to that, or the ethnic minorities, or…something else. Sorry if none of that made any sense. T _ T
@Benji
Thank you =) But cities like Shanghai and Beijing are much more wealthier…
(but most time I see people from Guangdong, Fujian, Shanghai, and Beijing..
my family’s Hakka =D
Zhang Liyin and Hangeng are ethnic minorities? I never knew that. I think the beauty of China is that unlike other Asian countries that emphasize homogeneity (like Japan who had a PM who once said there were no ethnic minorities in Japan despite Ainu, Koreans, etc.), China is a very diverse country. In fact, it’s more like a continent threaded together by a common yet diverse “Chinese culture” that each region molds into its own.
wahahaha
i just stopped by for a while and then I saw this:
“and boyband Blue Bird Flying Fish’s 70.
HuHu’s not Yi, but he’s there by association. Maybe Zhang Yunjing can join, too, by marriage. ”
btw some 70 + ZYJ spazzing
they held hands recently ^^
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XeVh1WKk6U
the whole clip is BBFF and Jing madness lol
wahahahaha
was just stopping by and then I saw this:
“and boyband Blue Bird Flying Fish’s 70.
HuHu’s not Yi, but he’s there by association. Maybe Zhang Yunjing can join, too, by marriage. ”
70 and Jing recently held hands ^^ just to let you know
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XeVh1WKk6U
the above clip is entirely BBFF and Jing madness
excuse the dbl post XD
thanx idarklight for such a great post. I learned a lot from this one
I was reading a book today (China Road: A Journey into the Future of a Rising Power by Rob Gifford), and in it, it said: “When you see programs about the ethnic minorities on Chinese television, all they ever do is dance, dance, dance. And hold grapes while they dance. And talk about how China is one, big happy family.”
I chuckled to myself about the truth behind that, but then I realised…it’s not completely true. These ethnic minorities also often sing.
^LMAO
Sha Baoliang is also a hui, right?
I know I’m so late, but thanks so much for this post! It’s awesome how diverse China is, and frustrating that the rest of the world just assumes that everybody in China is “Chinese.”
BTW, who is the girl in the very first picture collage at the top? She’s very striking-looking.
@Nyitora
THe girl in the picture is Baha Guli. Even though she’s not that talented, she’s so gorgeous.
@idarklight. Thanks so much!