If you were to be placed around the border of China/India or China/Pakistan, etc…, what exactly would the people look like. I’m just trying to figure out how deep into China you would need to go before people start to look more Chinese and less Indian, or how deep into India/Pakistan you would have to go for people to stop looking Chinese.
It’s a continuum. There isn’t really a line where people look markedly different on either side. Southern Indians can be really dark, even as dark as the blackest Africans. They tend to become fairer as you go north towards the disputed territory. Southern Chinese are quite slightly built and not very hirsuit. As you go north towards Mongolia and Russia, they become stockier and taller and more likely (or able) to have beards and such.
At the border though, I would say the people look like anything other than the the sterotypical Indian. In Tajikistan, which is close to where you talk of, I’ve seen people who looked Chinese (whatever that means), Central Asian like Chechens or Afghanis and Europeans, who probably arrived with the Soviets or where exiled there by Stalin.w
India borders China on Tibet. Therefore, the people who live there are Tibetans, and related people live in Nepal (Sherpas), Bhutan. The northern portion of the Indian state of Kashmir is called Ladakh (sp?) and comprised of people of Tibetan stock. Ladakh used to be part of the ancient Tibetan kingdom of Guge, before rainfall patterns changed and most of Guge became a dry wasteland.
The Chinese part of the Pakistan/Afganistan/China border area is called Xinjiang. The native people are Uighur’s, and they are related to the peoples of central asia and IIRC speak a Turkish influenced language. Uighurs to me are caucasian looking but usually dark haired and dark skinned like someone from Turkey or the Mediteranian. Eyes are often bluish, the hair can contain blond streaks.
People of central asia had two major outside influences. Invasions by people of turkish stock, and by the Mongolians (Gengis Khan).
Also, throughout China, there are also Han Chinese, so bordering India and Pakistan are also Han Chinese. Although, the majority of these sparsely populated border areas are either Tibetan or Uighur.
I thought it was interesting what you had to say about the Uighurs. I’m living with a Chinese (Beijing) guy at the moment and I asked him what the Chinese names of China and Russia are. They both have two part names with the second part meaning meaning co untry or something like that. It’s been a while since we talked about this but it seems China’s name sounded like Chun-gur and Russia sounded a lot like Ui-gur.
Can you tell us what you know about this?lu
China is Zhongguo, zhong meaning central and guo meaning kingdom or country. Russia is Eguo but I do not know what the E stands for.
Eguo means Russia. E in the second tone means suddenly or sudden. E in the fourth tone is used for Russia, Oregon and Ohio. My dictionary doesn’t have any other meaning, so my WAG is that it is a phonetic sound. If you know some Chinese, the character is comprised of wo with a man next to it.
Uigher’s are called weiwe’r zu, so not even close to eguo = Russia.
People from Nepal look about half Chinese and half Indian. They’re beautiful people, actually. Unfortunately, young Nepali girls are prized for their beauty and frequently kidnapped and forced into prostitution. Assamese and Nagas look similar (from NE India/SW Chinese/Burmese area)–all very attractive people, and they sure don’t look like the “typical” Indian.
Anyway, Mersavets got it right–it’s a continuum rather than any sharp demarcations. In border places like Calcutta you see all types.
PublicBlast
(Indian guy)