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Fri 8 Jul, 2005 12:04 am
Is it true that the Japanese betrayed the Chinese?....
Long story short... Chinese Emperor sent his men to look for the egg/mushroom that would give him infinite life. When his men couldn't find it they settled in an empty island, developed their own culture, language and ways (while lots of their concepts are still of chinese) and that's how they became today, true?
If not explain.
aIIk-wong, I'm third generation Japanese American, but it's the first time I've heard about the egg/mushroom hunt on an empty island. What I find fascinating about the Japanese and Japan is the fact that there are caucasians also living on the island - called the Ainus. If you hear more about the history of the Japanese/Japan, please share them with us. The emigration of Chinese and Japanese to California (USA) started in the 19th century, and until about 1960, were the two most populace Asians. The Chinese are still number one, but the Japanese are now the smallest population in the US. The Chinese and Japanese rarely socialized in the US, but today, we have many Chinese in our family. Our family now has English, German, Chinese, Italian, black, Hispanic, Polynesian, and Irish. Most of our children are marrying into other cultures, so what we identify as Japanese today will no longer exist in the US in a few more generations.
As I stated in
this topic, the current theory is that the Japanese are Tungusic-Altaic like the Mongolians and Koreans, a different ethnicity than Han Chinese.
你是中国人吗? Is that why you think everyone is descended from the Chinese? :wink:
Levi, Thanks for that theory about Tungusic-Altaic being common like Mongolians, Koreans, and Japanese. Do you have any information/theory about the Ainu's (caucasian race) of Japan?
Sorry Levi I can only read them as squares since I don't have the Chinese program installed on my computer.
Here's an interesting link on the Ainu.
http://museum.sakh.com/eng/10.shtml
Re: How did the Japanese become of today?
AbleIIKnow_wong wrote: Long story short... Chinese Emperor sent his men to look for the egg/mushroom that would give him infinite life. When his men couldn't find it they settled in an empty island, developed their own culture, language and ways (while lots of their concepts are still of chinese) and that's how they became today, true?
I've heard of that theory as well...whether its true or not, I need clarification myself.
Yes - I am!! Are you? I notice you are using the jien ti (simplified version) in your question.
Prags can you translate what that question means to me in English? It's because all I'm reading are squares, thanks.
I can read "people of China" in the caligraphy, and China is written in the 'modern' version. I can read a little.
For Able2know_wong and CI - the whole question asks "are you a chinese person?"
prag, I misinterpreted "person," because the meaning is the same for Chinese and Japanese. Thanks for the correction.
going back to the original question, i've never heard that story myself, but it wouldn't surprise me if it's one that the Japanese themselves prefer. i'm sorry to say that Japanese culture is tainted with anti-Korean bias, so the last thing most Japanese will accept is that their distant ancestors were Korean. on the other hand, it's pretty well accepted even among Japanese that they first developed their own culture, then imported and adapted many aspects of Chinese culture, of which Buddhism--originally Indian of course, but was brought to China by Bodhidharma--and Chinese written characters, called Kanji in Japanese--are two of the most important.
there's quite a bit of evidence, both linguistic and genetic, that suggests the present day Japanese, excepting the Ainu, are the descendants of people that migrated from Korea. and in case anyone doubts the credibility of my generalizations about Japanese culture, i grew up there, speak the language, and was raised by a Japanese mother.
yitwail, I agree with your thesis about the Japanese culture in Japan. However, your limit of discrimination against Koreans is not complete. The Japanese are a very discriminatory culture that treats all other races with disdain, and even some of their own depending on their class. Rich parents will perform a background investigation of a prospective son-in-law or daughter-in-law before approving marriage.
CI, what you write is entirely true. i only referred to Koreans because they are Japan's largest ethnic minority group, and because the prevalent scientific theory, outside of Japan, posits a Korean or Mongolian origin for the modern Japanese, as opposed to the indigenous Ainu. as you observed, there's even a hereditary lower caste, called Burakumin, who are discriminated against, despite being ethnically Japanese.
yitwail wrote:going back to the original question, i've never heard that story myself, but it wouldn't surprise me if it's one that the Japanese themselves prefer. i'm sorry to say that Japanese culture is tainted with anti-Korean bias, so the last thing most Japanese will accept is that their distant ancestors were Korean. on the other hand, it's pretty well accepted even among Japanese that they first developed their own culture, then imported and adapted many aspects of Chinese culture, of which Buddhism--originally Indian of course, but was brought to China by Bodhidharma--and Chinese written characters, called Kanji in Japanese--are two of the most important.
there's quite a bit of evidence, both linguistic and genetic, that suggests the present day Japanese, excepting the Ainu, are the descendants of people that migrated from Korea. and in case anyone doubts the credibility of my generalizations about Japanese culture, i grew up there, speak the language, and was raised by a Japanese mother.
So you're saying that Japanese punked off Chinese characters and the Ainu was welcomed by the Japanese?
cicerone imposter wrote:yitwail, I agree with your thesis about the Japanese culture in Japan. However, your limit of discrimination against Koreans is not complete. The Japanese are a very discriminatory culture that treats all other races with disdain, and even some of their own depending on their class. Rich parents will perform a background investigation of a prospective son-in-law or daughter-in-law before approving marriage.
Agreed imposter I took an Introductory Japanese course and I hated the way the Japanese were. It's as if they punked off the whole Chinese mentality (of the way the culture is). No I'm not knocking on Japanese people because CHINESE people (which I am!!!) and unlike myself are that way as a culture too. When I say "that way as a culture" I'll just leave it at what imposter said which also implies with the Chinese people (in their own way).
AbleIIKnow_wong wrote:
So you're saying that Japanese punked off Chinese characters and the Ainu was welcomed by the Japanese?
i'm saying they adopted Chinese characters. the Ainu were not welcomed; they were in Japan before the Japanese arrived from mainland Asia, the same way Indians lived in North America before European settlers arrived.
yitwail wrote:
i'm saying they adopted Chinese characters. the Ainu were not welcomed; they were in Japan before the Japanese arrived from mainland Asia, the same way Indians lived in North America before European settlers arrived.
Oh about the Japanese you're saying that they're originally Japanese that went from China to Japan?
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