Why are East Asian Countries so Ethnically Homogeneous? 

I think you forgot one of the main reasons that led East Asian countries to be ethnically homogenous. I was waiting for it but never heard it. The reason is geography. The Himalayas to the South, frozen Siberia and the steppes to the North the desserts of China to the West and the vast Pacific ocean to the East. All these circumstances create an isolated area and made immigration difficult especially in the old times. Morever the Eastern parts namely Korea and Japan are mostly harsh mountainous territories and Japan deals with natural disasters like earthquakes and Tsunamis all the time. So if people are cut off for a long time and stay together long enough the will create a common civilisation and ethnicity. It'svery logical

i am a korean. and in an airport in netherland, i was asked in chinese by a chinese woman. i said i don't speak chinese. even east asians themselves can't distinguish each other.

China isn't as homogeneous as Korea and Japan. There're 56 officially recognized ethnic groups in China. Even the so-called Han Chinese have a lot of variations in terms of languages, phenotypes, traditions, and cuisines.

I'm so happy this guy said "East Asia" instead of just "Asia." Like there are quite a few morons out there who think that Asia just means China and Japan. They ignore countries like Thailand, India, Indonesia, Pakistan, etc. This guy is smart.

I love learning about origination of cultures and people. Really appreciate your work

Video ideas: Ainu Orgins How European is Turkey? How Scandinavian are Russia and Normandy? "The Rus and the origin of the Russian nation" How gothic is Iberia? How Frankish is France? How Celtic is France? How Roman is France? How phoenician is Lebanon and Tunisia? How arab is the levant? How Aryan/indo-Aryan are India and Iran How indo-European is Europe? How Italian is France/Iberia? How Turkic are the balkans? How Turkic are the Central asians? Fascinating Origins of Assimilated ethnic groups around the world? "The origin of the English and how Celtic/Germanic they are"

I'm Mongolian and i can tell you our culture is very distinct from the rest of East Asia, in my opinion we are more closely culturally tied to Turkic, Tungusic and North Asian (Siberic) cultures

East Asian countries are not immigrant countries, and their cultural roots are similar. The most important point is that East Asia has not been colonized by other civilizations.

East asian countries are able to keep their homogeneity because even if there is any kind of diversity, the han (or majority) genetics are so dominant. They also prefer a homogeneous population as well because of social and political reasons.

I am Canadian of European descent. I noticed that Tibetan people looked like inuit people here when I was in Tibet. That land bridge theory seems pretty legit to me

It is essentially due to the establishment of highly centralized government in past 2000 years which made us politically homogeneous. And Chinese Characters(rather than spoken language) made us culturely homogeneous.

👍👍👍👍 thank you very interesting video

Well this comment section is going to be fun.

Can you do a video like this on North Africa, specifically the Maghreb, except on how not-homogenous the population is?

Very well done. You know your stuff.

Very interesting, thank you 😊

Ok is the music giving anyone else the creeps lmao feels like a ghost hunting video esp near the beginning

Me in Poland with 99,8% poles (0,2% minorities ) 😮

I’m part Manchurian and Mongolian, i am born and raised in Canada. When I found out through my Ancestry DNA results, I was so surprised but happy 😊

You should make a 1 hour video at least!! I want to learn about each, which languages ,writing systems are close to each other, what is the situation of Christians in these countries, what kind of affiliations are known. Where did you get those fine maps--I would like to learn about genetic and linguistic connections from all around the world !

Culturally northeast Asians emphasize on mass-togetherness (conformity) but western and southern nations emphasize on individualism and distinctiveness.

A video on Mongolia would be great. Saying hi from Ontario, Canada.

oh boy i sure do love masaman's great neutral videos about genetics and ethnicity! i hope the discussion in the comments will be just as objective and respectful as the video! also my 2 cents on the subject is that like what rareearth said, they only seem homogeneous these days because they heavily integrated many foreign concepts into their own cultures, if you want a good example just look at the foods in japan.

East Asia was not colonized by the West at all. Some western countries did have influence over certain parts of some cities in east asia. All countries colonized by the West were exploited to the bone and they were left very poor by the time colonizers left. Japan, Korea, taiwan, china, Singapore etc are doing well today because of their on efforts and not by western magnanimity. Singapore was a stinky slump when the british were there. You are reciting the history the colonizers want people to hear. Time for you to read the real history from the colonized people.

They’re not homogeneous, they are just well-mixed diversity. 200 years melting pot versus 5000 years melting pot.

1/18/2021: I have no problem with countries being as they are with their different traditions, cultures ate etc. I feel like this, the different traditions, cultures, regulations are what make that country distinct than another. The world with its many ppl make the earth a FANTASTIC place to be. Aloha from Hawaii.

Video covering Mongolia plz! Thank u! :]

It could also be because northeast Asia goes through periods of being mostly depopulated whenever the Earth goes through colder climate cycles. When it warms up again, the population grows from a small genetic pool. The warmer regions stay populated consistently throughout the ages, so their genetic diversity remains high.

I agree that Korea, my country is ethnically homogenous but to my knowledge, China consists of 56 different ethnic groups. Isn't it very heterogenous? Also Japan has several different ethnic groups by colonizing Ryukyu kingdom (current Okinawa) and assimilated Ainu living in Hokkaido. So...I guess you mean racial homogeneity rather than ethnic homogeneity of east asian countries.

Fun fact : Taiwan is somewhat multicultural although 95+% of population is Han Chinese beacuse each subgroups of Han Chinese have seperate identity. Mainland immigrants from ROC, Early Han Chinese immigrants, Hakka peoples and Han Chinese from PRC.

Interesting and novel research to understanding the status quo with an evidenced based approach!

DUDE. I am always so impressed by your level of accuracy, respect and professionalism in these videos. What lead you to making these kinds of videos? How old are you?? Do you study this stuff at university currently or in the past?

How obvious is it that ethnonationalists would come to this video?

I once had a Japanese person say to me that all Irish people look very similar and some look the same as each other. I said our indigenous population has blonde, red, brown and black hair, and different skin tones including some people with freckles. She was like oh yeah good point.

Amazing content man keep it up

I’d like to see a vid about Burma, that’d be cool

So is China pursuing a policy of Ethnic Nationalism? Seems like a dumb question but with what I’ve been hearing in the East and Manchuria, I wonder if that is the goal of Beijing.

the map at 1:48 says ehtiopia and northern africa was colonized when ethiopia for the most part wasn't

Thank you

amazing

/pol/ tier comment section

You need to do a video about if Mongolic, Tungusic and Turkic folks are related or are they from different tribes who lived in close proximity with one another.

It would be interesting if Masaman would have a conversation with Survive The Jive about demographics

Can you please do a video for history and Origin of Cambodia. I want to learn more about my country but I can’t really communicate with my parents. Your videos are so educational and I really enjoy them.

Han Chinese isn't homogeneous though. They have northern and southern Han Chinese. Southern Chinese can look more Southeast Asian.

In Korean, "I" and "we" are sometimes interchangeable. So culturally and ethnically homogenous, that the boundary between the individual and the community became vague.

Awesome

Mason please make a video about the Khmer, Khasi people of North East India.

I’m a descendent of Chinese and Indian. Born in Malaysia. I have tan skin. Whenever I travel I am always mistaken by people as Philipina, Indonesian, or Thai people😅

Yeah... In Europe you get the splits with Germany being 75% German but Czechia being 95% Czech. In General I would feel safe to say that the more economically known the country is, the less homogeneous its ethic groups are. Germany 75% Britain being about 88% white British Spain being also in 88% The problems with Ethnicity is the question as to how much integration does it take for one to become ethnically something. Is it the first generation, second or third (Where only one original was not ethnically native to the region) I mean. Ethnicity is not just about genetics. It is about the language, traditions and social customs. (The fact or state of belonging to a social group that has a common national or cultural tradition.) A foreigner can come into a place and fully embrace the culture, customs and language but they wouldn't change the genetic factor. That only begs the question of how much integration does it take to become a part of ethnic group. I am from one European country but live in a different one and the difference is big. Not only do the people look different but the social customs, general knowledge of things and overall culture is different too. I am from a background where the importance of cultural heritage was heavily embraced and was something very important so looking into ethical differences is somewhat fascinating to me. My native country had festivals, traditions, parades ext that were tied to the cultural heritage but the country where I live now doesn't have anything like it. There is no cultural heritage being embraced besides politics which is very dry and sad. If anyone is wondering, I live in England now. The closest event to an event closely tied to English heritage wound be Guy Fawkes Night.

Quick correction. Vietnam and its surrounding counties was indeed colonised as what was called French Indochina. Vietnamese is written in Latin based script, and in the upper class Vietnamese families spoke French.

Back in the 80s, many average Americans would charactize many Northeast Asians as "are you Chinese". But nowadays, Americans (especially ones living in liberal states) are more atuned to differenent ethnicities of Eastern Asians, some even manage to guess the ethnicity right by looking at popular Asian surnames (eg, Lee, Kim, Park, Nguyen, Wang, Zhang, etc). Me, I'm my ethnicty is "northern Vietnam", and I could pass as a Chinese or northern Thai. But the southern part of Vietnam has many people looking similar to Cambodian and Laos people (because these regions of Vietnam were once belonged to Khmers and other ethnics that the Northern Vietnamese conquered through conquest). I can go from North Vietnam to South Vietnam and would encounters dialects I would have trouble discerning. And people would have a wide range of phenotypes, from light skin, fine hair, to darker skin and darker hair; eye-shapes also vary quite a bit from north to south.

And healthy too. Intelligent. They have a very practical approach to living. Level headed. Culturally rich with a proud history of warfare and genuine zest for life.

7:50 you mean except that fact that they forced every Han Chinese man to cut their hair? Those who refused faced death by beheading.

One correction, the jurchen jin Dynasty didn’t conquer the entirety of China.

Most of the Eurasians and biracial groups have tended to migrate to more socially progressive western nations along with many full-blooded homogeneous types. But times are changing, on my last trip to China, southeast Asia and India I came across multiple enclaves of African people living in Asia.

Hmong Mien has more in common with those ethnic found in China, cultures, linguistically, and traditions. Not Southeast Asia. The migration there was only 200-300 years ago.

I love your videos. Im aware you've done one on AfroAmericans but can you do a nother with the different admixtures by location, the development of the culture(s) and its influences around the world? maybe talk about the features of AAVE. I see more and more ppl incorpating AAVE into their everyday speach.

Thanks! Fascinating topic.

My guess is the starting seed population was smaller and more homogenous. Maybe a study in population genetics + prehistoric archaeology + ancient human migration will help answer this.

Interesting. The US is interested in the kind of diversity that can be judged in a photograph; in Japan, the concern is more for a diversity of ideas and viewpoints. Many non-Japanese have protested that there is an enforcement of similar thought, but that is AFTER the decision has been made. In the early discussion phases, a wide range of people are sounded out, before the final official decision is announced. And if you watch their live legislature hearings, that difference of opinions is much more visible.

Ethnic Han Chinese comprise 1/3 of the world’s population. Asians are the majority. Why ethnic European majority are inflicted with systemic “diversity” (efforts to reduce the majority) is downright horrific and tantamount to a soft genocide. Imagine if Beijing had an ethnic minority of Han Chinese? Well, London has had its English population reduce to a minority status (among a growing list of other cities). People are cheering the systemic reduction of a European majority to a minority status in the USA. This is disgusting. The ethnic homogeneity of Asian countries promote cultural cohesion and national unity. One can only surmise from these observations that the “diversity” initiatives on the European ethnic majority countries is a deliberate attack to destabilize and weaken them. I’m not white. I have no allegiance to skin colour but I do respect culture and are aware that there are superior and inferior cultures. These ethnic replacement initiatives are also destroying cultures and that negatively affects us minorities living in them as well. Asian countries know this.

When you mentioned about Chinese diaspora, I wonder if you include the Xiongnu tribe who intermarried with Chinese princess during the Han period peace arrangement with the Xiongnu.

Beside of the region identification as East Asia, in which includes China, Korea and Japan only. There comes a Northeast Asia, in which covers Mongolia, Russian Siberia, Korea, Japan and north portion of China. All the geographical sub-regions are classified by the Westerners. What the hell were they doing?

Nitpicking here, but the entire continent of Africa was covered in different European flags but as is popularly known, Ethiopia was never colonized. Yes it was invaded and occupied (1936 by Italy) . No one ever refers to what the Nazis did in western Europe as colonizing, therefore Ethiopia was never colonized.

My milk is homogenized and pasteurized 👍

Many reasons 1: Geography restricts long-distance migration before modern periods 2: Imperialist rhetoric accompanied by ethnic cleansing and forced cultural assimilation, which was the norm up until around the WW2 era, and arguably beyond 3: Even postwar, ethnic minorities are still very much discriminated against, and can expect forced assimilation by the state policy and education, and face ostracism or even outright violence from the more crackpot members of the locals. For example, Koreans are still treated by some Japanese as second-class citizens; Japanese still face wanton disdain if not outright hatred from some Koreans. In both cases, the offenders tend to be the more ultranationalist leaning members of society. 4: Lastly, people look similar enough that they could conceivably pass off as part of the local ethnic/national group to avoid hostility and discrimination; read #2 and #3 as for why. 5: Hence, in both Korea and Japan, vast majority of people self-identify in census as Hanminjok and Yamato (in that respective order), essentially, cultural assimilation as imposed by the state and extremism in politics succeeding at its goals. In Mainland China, the situation is even more bleak, for the government assigns people an ethnicity label (tagged on ID cards) as determined by the state by family lineage, so there's no way to assimilate yourself and slip under the radar of the extremists or the state. Discrimination and hostility are hence inescapable so long as you're in PRC jurisdiction. Lastly, Taiwan after liberalization has done a 180 turn as of the past decade and a half; they want to distance themselves from the increasingly hostile, imperialist, and totalitarian CPC-controlled Sinosphere, and hence has turned towards appreciation and integration of indigenous cultures to establish a distinct Taiwanese identity.

Hey Masaman could u make a video about the chechen people? I still dont understand anything about my ancestor even after reading a lot online in english/german and even chechen.

Look at Japan. They have 1/26th the landmass of the United States while having a 3rd of its population. It's gotta be jam-packed over there. They're not in any position to accept more people because they barely have any more space left. Sacrificing natural uninhabited land is not an option because those provide the habitats necessary to have a balanced ecosystem that feeds the populous.

Homogeneous societies are the best societies.

Please do a video on the peoples of Bhutan and Nepal.

02:30 in the late 19th century and the early 20th, there was a massive wave of Chinese migration into Manchuria (Northeast China), and Japanese migration into Ezo (Hokkaido), both regions being sparsely populated, so the immigrants quickly became majority.

I have a request. And a proposal for another study: The origins of the early Mediterranean peoples. This group of people are the roots of the Greek civilization. And these cultural/political accomplishments have been appropriated by other cultures. Nevertheless, Greek democracy, philosophy, arts, even sports has become foundational for western culture, which is seeing dominance. But what is the origin of these people??

Actually, all human races on Earth have Extraterrestrial genes. The human race in this galaxy all originated from Lyra, and some migrated here. But in terms of past lives, most East Asians were Sirians a long time ago. Sirian culture focuses more on Group Harmony than Individual Freedom, while Pleaidians are the opposite ( Most Pleaidian incarnates goes to the Caucasian race and Native Americans ). The other Asian, Aryan and Semitic races comes from the Nibiruans ( they too have relations to the genetics of people from Sirius, and when they came to Earth in the past, were known as the Annunaki ). The Black/African race comes from the Vegan star system, where the homeworld is inhabited by dark-skinned humans able to resist the strong sunlight from their home star. There are also some feline and bird humanoid ET races in Lyra, so if there are people on Earth who are into Furries, their distant past lives must have relation to them.

Do you know any books on the ethnolinguistics of East Asians?

it's very respectful to mention for people who suffered from colonists, especially by the ones who "didn't" execute any war crime in EAST ASIA!

I love your channel. I have had a strong interest in human biological history since i was a child. Do you ever get called racist? I get called that often because i see differences in people genetically, culturally and geographically. I tend to ignore these name callers because they are usually undereducated.

To preserve ethnic identity

Can you make a video about phenotype specifically?

fun fact, the majority of chinese are referred as Han chinese, but Han is not a race, but many races combined through out the history, we speak totally different. for example cantonese are referred as Han as well, but they weren't 1000 years ago

You mentioned one reason as these countries not being colonized, but even more so these countries have also mostly refrained from colonizing other countries in the recent centuries

Still I can dope out 10% of Japanese/Korean and 30% of Mogol just according to their looks. Some of them have typical face or shape of their body. Furthermore, as you put Mongolia(a North Asia Country) in the list, you should include Vietnamese, I cannot sought out over 85% of them in the crowd until they lift up their voice.

It’s pretty ironic that those who couldn’t really tell the difference among Asians are talking about how different northern and southern Chinese are

As an Asian myself, you really understood.

Chinese civilization started from settled farming. They built the great wall to defend against the nomadic raids. It is an inward civilization and did not migrate on horseback or sail by boats or colonize the others. I say settled farming and the Confucious culture is the biggest factor.

A certain level of homogenity is required in tightly packed highly densed communities. See the dress and mannerism code in Japan cities and understand why there is little room for individualism in city state Japan. Human traffic flow seemlessly and peaceful coexistence is possible with little violation in people limited private space.

4:20 nah cuz fr, in my Filipino family we ain't even looking related to each other because some family members look pure Austronesian, white, mixed or Chinese 😭😭

Short Answer: They're not ethnically homogenous. The Premise of this video is incorrect

Generally, Chinese people look at foreigners and feel that they are the same kind of people.The people outside look at the people in East Asia is the same feeling, feel they look the same.

A lot of people who believe themselves as Han people, are just people who forgot their older legacy and melted into Han culture circle.

the picture of those 2 guys scared me omg

Answer: Writing System.

Because they're not stupid

To East Asians, Europe looks monolithic. If you're an East Asian, you know that Koreans, Chinese, Japanese, Taiwanese, and Mongolians are not a completely homogeneous race. Of course, there are some shared looks that you can't tell which country they are from.

I'm a ameridian in Guyana known as Mongolia I'm happy to see the video

It's culture, genetics, history, so many things.... East asians are very proud people

During the Qing dynasty of china, the ruling manchurian clan 'aisin gioro' was wary of the eastward expansion of the Russian empire as soon as the russian conquered the sibir khanate in what is now Siberia hence the name. After the conquest many subject ethnic groups eastward including daurs, and yenitsei became vassals to the Qing as they shared similar nomadic culture with the Manchus. As soon as the Russian empire and Qing empire borders meet there were border skirmishes/fights the Qing in fear of losing their manchurian homeland as that would mean the 'Aisin Gioro' clan would lose both legitimacies as defender and head of a manchu state, as well as Chinese emperor, encouraged Han and Korean migration with policies such as zero taxes and generous pension schemes in order to populate their homeland with defenders against the Russians. Which is why you have the Korea autonomous prefecture in Yanbian and intermarriage of Han and Manchus in Manchuria.

If anyone asked me what my ethnicity was, I'd say Taiwanese but would point out that my people are Chinese as well. F**k political boundaries--I can proudly say I have Chinese blood in me. Our people can get along seemlessly with each other if they're not debating over what those in power want us to fight over. The same goes for the Japanese; it still pisses me off how they commited atrocities against China in the past (we share many cultural similarities for goodness sake), even though they left the Taiwanese alone after the occupation of their island. Sorry this is a tad off topic, but I hate it when people bear certain sentiments towards others, negative or otherwise, just because they were born in a different place in the world. :-//

The Manchu Jin Dynasty didn't conquer China. They took a corner in the northeast and were shortly overthrown.

What is this map 3:13? Should we not follow haplogroup research on that rather than very partial archeology?