What Bruce Lee and 10th-century Chinese have in common

[Kiss_of_the_Dragon]

Some interesting fact about Bruce Lee

Didn't know he has Eurasian blood, I though he was from south China

Interesting reading

http://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-.../what-bruce-lee-and-10th-century-chinese-have

Same as Emperor of Tang, also a mix blood Lee.

 

[ahojunk]

The full article below.

========
What Bruce Lee and 10th-century Chinese have in common

The action hero’s Eurasian heritage was conveniently forgotten as his star rose over China, but the country is no stranger to mixing blood lines

BY WEE KEK KOON
16 APR 2017

Bruce Lee in 1971.

Despite, or perhaps because of, his brief career having been cut short by an early death, Bruce Lee has been idolised by Chinese all over the world as their hero.

That his mother, Grace Ho, was of half-Chinese, half-Caucasian descent is well-documented, but Lee’s Eurasian parentage is conveniently ignored when he is being lionised as the defender of Chinese dignity and champion of the Chinese pugilistic arts.

To be a “half-breed” (to use an outdated term) is nothing to be ashamed of – I probably have a Malay ancestor or two somewhere in my family tree – but what’s interesting is how his “foreignness” has been downplayed to the point of being virtually forgotten.

Uygur boys walk past a looming statue of Mao Zedong facing Renmin Square in Kashgar. Picture: AFP

During the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, in the 10th century, China was a cosmopolitan, albeit battle-bruised, region with peoples of many nations and tribes making war and founding kingdoms.

Three of the eponymous five dynasties and several independent states were founded by non-Han Chinese peoples. The chaos and confusion notwithstanding, it was also a period of ethnic integration through intermarriages and cultural borrowings, with foreigners living in China, such as the Shatuo, Sogdian, Uygur and other Central Asians, taking on Chinese names and adopting Chinese ways.

By the time China was reunified by the Northern Song dynasty, in 960, the lines between Han Chinese and foreigner had been blurred to the extent that having mixed ancestry was no longer an issue for comment.


********

IMO, the Han is never a pure race. It is more of a culture rather than a race.
Some may disagree, so be it.
Also, with HSR, planes, OBOR, the inter-mixing will happen at a faster rate.
.

 

[jhungary]

The full article below.

========
What Bruce Lee and 10th-century Chinese have in common

The action hero’s Eurasian heritage was conveniently forgotten as his star rose over China, but the country is no stranger to mixing blood lines

BY WEE KEK KOON
16 APR 2017

View attachment 391010
Bruce Lee in 1971.

Despite, or perhaps because of, his brief career having been cut short by an early death, Bruce Lee has been idolised by Chinese all over the world as their hero.

That his mother, Grace Ho, was of half-Chinese, half-Caucasian descent is well-documented, but Lee’s Eurasian parentage is conveniently ignored when he is being lionised as the defender of Chinese dignity and champion of the Chinese pugilistic arts.

To be a “half-breed” (to use an outdated term) is nothing to be ashamed of – I probably have a Malay ancestor or two somewhere in my family tree – but what’s interesting is how his “foreignness” has been downplayed to the point of being virtually forgotten.

View attachment 391011
Uygur boys walk past a looming statue of Mao Zedong facing Renmin Square in Kashgar. Picture: AFP

During the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, in the 10th century, China was a cosmopolitan, albeit battle-bruised, region with peoples of many nations and tribes making war and founding kingdoms.

Three of the eponymous five dynasties and several independent states were founded by non-Han Chinese peoples. The chaos and confusion notwithstanding, it was also a period of ethnic integration through intermarriages and cultural borrowings, with foreigners living in China, such as the Shatuo, Sogdian, Uygur and other Central Asians, taking on Chinese names and adopting Chinese ways.

By the time China was reunified by the Northern Song dynasty, in 960, the lines between Han Chinese and foreigner had been blurred to the extent that having mixed ancestry was no longer an issue for comment.


********

IMO, the Han is never a pure race. It is more of a culture rather than a race.
Some may disagree, so be it.
Also, with HSR, planes, OBOR, the inter-mixing will happen at a faster rate.
.

Han was NEVER a race, a race is define as genetically distinct phenotypic populations (population here mean specimen, not actual population) Han is an ethnic group, or ethnicity of a person, which can be in a form of a mixed or diverse race, common ancestral, language, social, cultural or national experiences.

The grouping of Han or similar ethnic group is geological, the grouping of race is by a set definition, most often by color (Black, Yellow/Bronze, White, Red, Brown ) or anthropology (Australoid, Capoid, Caucasoid, Mongoloid and Negroid)

It was used that same as Chinese is not a race, but an ethnicity.

By the way, Bruce Lee was a mix, Bruce Lee did not display some Pan-Asiatic feature, such as Epicanthic fold and low cheek bone. I thought it was a common knowledge Bruce Lee is of mixed race.....You guys do know Bruce Lee is born in the US, not in Hong Kong or anywhere South East Asia? It's not a surprise at all that he is a mix.....

 

[Srinivas]

Han was NEVER a race, a race is define as genetically distinct phenotypic populations (population here mean specimen, not actual population) Han is an ethnic group, or ethnicity of a person, which can be in a form of a mixed or diverse race, common ancestral, language, social, cultural or national experiences.

The grouping of Han or similar ethnic group is geological, the grouping of race is by a set definition, most often by color (Black, Yellow/Bronze, White, Red, Brown ) or anthropology (Australoid, Capoid, Caucasoid, Mongoloid and Negroid)

It was used that same as Chinese is not a race, but an ethnicity.

By the way, Bruce Lee was a mix, Bruce Lee did not display some Pan-Asiatic feature, such as Epicanthic fold and low cheek bone. I thought it was a common knowledge Bruce Lee is of mixed race.....

Original han people used to dwell in the remote north west china, remaining chinese people of other regions do not come under han.

 

[jhungary]

Original han people used to dwell in the remote north west china, remaining chinese people of other regions do not come under han.

Han (today) in Chinese culture is more of a descendant, than an actual ethnic group, people call themselves "Han" is the people descent from the ancestor during "Han" Dynasty.

The fact that Han only command a small portion of modern day China where majority of Western and Northern China was not cover, if we are to live in Han Dynasty era (206BC to 220 AD), most Chinese today will be called Barbarian.

This is a map of Han Dynasty overlapping the map of Modern day China

 

[Srinivas]

Han (today) in Chinese culture is more of a descendant, than an actual ethnic group, people call themselves "Han" is the people descent from the ancestor during "Han" Dynasty.

The fact that Han only command a small portion of modern day China where majority of Western and Northern China was not cover, if we are to live in Han Dynasty era (206BC to 220 AD), most Chinese today will be called Barbarian.

This is a map of Han Dynasty overlapping the map of Modern day China

View attachment 391027

The map only depicts han dynasty territory, actual decedents are smaller compared to the highlighted map during that time.

 

[Wolfwind]

The author "Wee Kek Koon" just sounds insecure to me

Bruce Lee is part German. And his ancestry isn't overlooked. Whenever he is mentioned people do often bring up the fact he's part German. His rise to fame was due to his celebrity status as a Hollywood / Hong Kong movie star to be honest.

 

[jhungary]

The map only depicts han dynasty territory, actual decedents are smaller compared to the highlighted map during that time.

well, people today refer to as Han is descent from all the people during Han dynasty, not of Han ethnic Chinese, is quite hard to define ethnic Han Chinese during Han dynasty, because Han is well known for it's interethnic policy and international development, in general, people call themselves "Han" today is referring themselves as to descendant of Han Dynasty.

Back to Topic, Bruce Lee was not even born in anywhere Asia, he was born in the San Francisco, USA, it's not a surprise he is a mix. Strange that people only talk about it here??

 

[Kiss_of_the_Dragon]

The full article below.

.........

IMO, the Han is never a pure race. It is more of a culture rather than a race.
Some may disagree, so be it.
Also, with HSR, planes, OBOR, the inter-mixing will happen at a faster rate.
.

China was war-torn periodically for supremacy before and during warring states period, the mass killing and ethnic cleansing were beyond description. I think our ancestors call themselves Han to avoid discrimination against other ethnic or from other ethnic and embrace other's culture as our own. Since we're family, it's less likely we kill each others, there might have a power struggle but we didn't massive kill other people or make war in the name of Chu, Qin... and bring ultimate peace and with a French saying " Union fait la force" combine strength of these factions, China was able to defeat more deadly adversary in ancient time.

Indeed Han is more related to culture than race, there was a lot of other ethnic such Turks, Tabghach, Xianbei 鮮卑族 used Han name and culture as their own during South-North dynasty 南北朝. Nowadays, there are 3 nations can potentially eligible be called Han... Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese... of course for the sake of discussion only

 

[Kiss_of_the_Dragon]

I taught Bruce Lee everything he knows.

I have now doubt of what you said since we're family .

 

[hirobo2]

Indeed Han is more related to culture than race, there was a lot of other ethnic such Turks, Tabghach, Xianbei 鮮卑族 used Han name and culture as their own during South-North dynasty 南北朝. Nowaday there is 3 nations can potentially eligible be called Han...Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese... of course for the sake of discussion only

The mark of a Han is the lister corn (a split/extra toe nail on the 5th toe). How many of you has it and what Asian ethnicity are you?

The accessory nail of the fifth toe is a physical trait of the small toe, where a minuscule "sixth toenail" is present in the outer corner of the nail situated on the smallest toe.[1][2] It is commonly perceived to be especially prevalent amongst Han Chinese;[2] however, this is partially due to legend, and is not entirely medically proven.

 

[Kiss_of_the_Dragon]

The mark of a Han is the lister corn (a split/extra toe nail on the 5th toe). How many of you has it and what Asian ethnicity are you?

Interesting