Hey everyone,
I’m new on the message boards and i wanted to know (reallllly want to know) why Chinese people have small eyes? Does impair their vision? Do they see better than people with normal sized eyes? Also,can they squint without closing their eyes?
Please my noodle has been boggling over this one.
Thanks,
Alicia
Better question: Do Chinese people, in fact, have small eyes? I’ve never seen any evidence either for or against this conclusion. I might also warn you that, although your question is not inherently racist, it has the strong potential to be interpreted that way, which could lead to a lot of unpleasentness.
Welcome to the SDMB. The board provides you with the ability to search Cecil’s columns and threads from the message boards. You might find answers quicker by looking there first.
This one’s on me:
Why do Oriental and Occidental eyes differ?
I agree with Chronos I don’t think the eyes of asians are any different than non-asians. I suspect what you are asking is what effect the epicanthic fold has on vision. The epicanthic fold is not part of the eye, rather it acts like an extra upper eyelid. I doubt this effects the vision of asians. People, or animals with the same eye structure, only see out of the pupil (the dark part of the eye). Since the pupils of asians are not covered by the epicanthic fold, I would expect this feature has no effect on vision.
I suppose you could run studies to see whether asians, as a race, had better or worse vision than non-asians, but I wouldn’t see the point. There isn’t any reason to expect the vision of asians is significantly differt from that of non-asians. Any difference noted would be negligible.
This could be regarded as racist. There was once a common stereotype of asians having bad vision. This came up when I studied the war in the pacific in a history course. It was believed by a number of American and European military men that the Japanese airforce would be inferior because of the poor vision of asians. Since the Japanese chased a significant number of British, Dutch, Austrailian, and American planes from the skies, not the mention ships to the ocean floor, the myth has sort of evaporated. I’m not sure if this existed before WWII or if it was the result of war time xenophobia. Could be a little of both.
I always thought the stereotype of Asians with glasses and bad eyesight came hand in hand with the stereotype of Asians being smart. I thought that it was assumed that they ruined their eyes from reading too much. It never occurred that the stereotype of Asians wearing of glasses had anything to do with the appearance of their eyes.
In my experience, Asians have huge eyes. However, I live a sheltered life and have never seen an Asian in person. I’m basing my opinion on animated films I’ve seen from Asia. I’m assuming that Asian animators emulate their own appearance in their drawings.
Other oservations:
When Asians yell, their mouths can open wide enough to fit another Asian’s enitire head inside.
With the right training and focus, an Asian man can punch somone so hard that their body will shake and quiver violently until their head explodes within a few minutes.
LT
Sarcastified for your enjoyment.