78 replies to this topic

[calvo]

I know very little about Chinese internal diversity, but from what I've heard of; there is a general difference in characer, beliefs and way of life between northern and southern Chinese.
Northern Chinese, as I was told, are known to be tough, lazy, and hard drinkers; while the southern Chinese are known to be hardworking, cunning, and streetwise. How much of this stereotype is true?

Would you say that there is a general difference between northern and southern Chinese than between each distinct province of China?

[mrclub]

i only know these differences

Northerners: generally bigger and taller in size
Southerners: generally smaller and shorter in size

Northerners : main diet is based on noodles (right ?)
Southerners : main diet is based on rice

Northerners : dialects spoken belong to Mandarin Chinese dialects (different degrees of similarity towards Putonghua)
Southerners : dialects spoken belong to dialect groups mutually unintelligible to Putonghua

[Andy Lau]

Northerners eat mostly wheat-based food. Dongbei cuisine generally does not have spicyness in their cuisine(from what my frd told me).
Southerners eat mostly rice-based and spicy (except Guangdong province).

It seems most Southern Chinese provinces eat Spciy like Hunan, Sichuan, Guizhou, Guangxi, Hubei, Jiangxi. But why Guangdong is the only Southern Chinese province that does not generally have spicyness in their food? Is it the fact that Guangdong produces alot of fruits, vegetable and have access to seafood that allows guangdong cuisine to stay softy lol ? Even Vietnamese and Thailand Cuisine has spicyness in their cuisine lol

Correction:
Southerners speak a Chinese dialect that is older than Mandarin, that was spoken by Dynasties before Ming.

Edited by Andy Lau, 12 December 2009 - 01:03 AM.

[Andy Lau]

The only popular stereotype i know about Southern Chinese is the following:

Southern Chinese tend to be very business-oriented; Shanghainese, Hokkiens/TeoChiu(Southern Fujianese), and Cantonese.

Southern Chinese tend to be politically liberal-minded; open-minded (ie foreigners, foreign products, foreign philosophy, foreign political ideas, etc)

Southern Chinese tend to be very intelligent; most of the PhD come from Jiangnan and even other parts of Southern China.

[mohistManiac]

Is Yuan considered Northerners and Song Southerners? http://www.chinapage.com/emperor.html

[mrclub]

Is Yuan considered Northerners and Song Southerners? http://www.chinapage.com/emperor.html

they belong to neither Northerners nor Southerners

they are Mongol people, not Han Chinese.

[WuXiaHer0]

According to the book "My Country And My People" by Lin Yutang,he described the Northern Chinese as:

Acclimatized to simple thinking and hard living,tall and stalwart,hale,hearty and humorous,onion-eating and fun loving,children of nature,who are in every way more Mongolic and more conservative than the conglomeration of peoples near Shanghai and who suggest nothing of their loss of racial vigour.They are the Honan Boxers,the Shantung bandits and the imperial brigands who have furnished China with all the native imperial dynasties,the raw material from which the characters of Chinese novels of wars and adventure are drawn. - page 17

Here are some by Lin Yutang from the same book:

Down the southeast coast,south of Yangtse,one meets a different type,inured to ease and culture and sophistication,mentally developed but physically retrogade,loving their poetry and their comforts,sleek under-grown men and slim neurasthenic women,fed on birds nest soup and lotus seeds,shrewd in business,gifted in belles-lettres,cowardly in war,ready to roll on the ground and cry for mamma before the lifted fist descends,offsprings of the cultured Chinese families who crossed the Yangtse with their books and paintings during the end of the Ch'in Dynasty,when China was overrun by barbaric invaders. - page 17

South in Kwangtung,one meets again a different people,where racial vigour is again in evidence,where people eat like men and work like men,enterprising,carefree,spendthrift,pugnacious,adventurous,progressive and quick-tempered,where beneath the Chinese culture a snake-eating aborigines tradition persists,revealing a strong admixture of the blood of the ancient Yueh inhabitants of southern China. - page 17

North and south of Hankow,in the middle of China,the loud-swearing and intrigue-loving of the Hupeh people exist,who are compared by the people of other provinces to "nine-headed birds in heaven" because they never say die,and who think pepper not hot enough to eat until they have fried it in oil,while the Hunan people,noted for their soldiery and their dogged persistence,offer a pleasanter variety of these descendants of Ch'u warriors. - page 17 & 18

For the significant fact remains that the northerner is essentially a conqueror and the southerner is essentially a trader,and that of all the imperial brigands who have founded Chinese dynasties,none have come from the south of Yangtse river.The tradition developed that no rice-eating southerner could mount the dragon throne and only noodle-eating northerners could. -page 18

I find some facts from him are kinda hard to believe.

[calvo]

I certainly have noticed that most emigrants tend to come from the southern half of China: the Catonese, Fujienese, and the people from Quintien. Maybe I'm wrong, but I have not yet come across any overseas Chinese communities who have orginated from the north.
Is this because most major ports are in southern China, or because the southern Chinese have more of a culture of emigration?

[mrclub]

I certainly have noticed that most emigrants tend to come from the southern half of China: the Catonese, Fujienese, and the people from Quintien. Maybe I'm wrong, but I have not yet come across any overseas Chinese communities who have orginated from the north.
Is this because most major ports are in southern China, or because the southern Chinese have more of a culture of emigration?

number of immigrants from North China is increase already...especially in Singapore...

[General_Zhaoyun]

I certainly have noticed that most emigrants tend to come from the southern half of China: the Catonese, Fujienese, and the people from Quintien. Maybe I'm wrong, but I have not yet come across any overseas Chinese communities who have orginated from the north.
Is this because most major ports are in southern China, or because the southern Chinese have more of a culture of emigration?

Most of the Southern Chinese emigrated to overseas during the era of diaspora during 19th and early half of 20th century. The reason was because most of the port opened for trading and contact with overseas were in the south, such as Canton, Amoy, Shanghai.

Northern Chinese emigrated to overseas predominantly after 1980s. If you look at late 20th century, northern Chinese had emigrated to various parts of the world.Of course, the convenience of flight allows emigration to take place quickly.

[AhMan]

I think Chinese in the city look better than Chinese in the country. Chinese in the coastal look better than Chinese inland. Chinese in the North look better than Chinese in the South (By North I mean from ZheJiang upward). Chinese in provinces like GuangXi, Guizhou, YunNan definitely do not look as good as Chinese in other provinces. And Chinese girls overall do not look as good as Korean girls (that why many mainland Chinese are crazy about Korean soap drama and K-pop).

[AhMan]

There are Chinese in the Middle (areas around Nanjing to Xuzhou) who are Northern by most definitions, but look distinctively Southern. They could even be mistaken with Vietnamese. In the past, during Western Han, some Min people were evacuated to these areas (I forgot when exactly). I wonder whether this has had the effect on the appearance of some Chinese in these areas.

[bloodmerchant]

Even though I do have mostly stereotypical northern facial features, my height is typically southern (somewhere around 5'6"-5'7"). I look quite different than my parents, who look Southern but with few stereotypical Northern features (I facially resemble my maternal grandfather). When I was growing up, my family joked that I was adopted and that I wasn't their biological child. (I consider myself to be a southerner.)

Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, but based on personal experience, I'm generally attracted to some southern girls. (particularly those around Shanghai/Southern Jiangsu to Taiwan/Fujian)

Edited by bloodmerchant, 04 March 2010 - 10:23 AM.

[TiYiJian]

I think Chinese in the city look better than Chinese in the country. Chinese in the coastal look better than Chinese inland. Chinese in the North look better than Chinese in the South (By North I mean from ZheJiang upward). Chinese in provinces like GuangXi, Guizhou, YunNan definitely do not look as good as Chinese in other provinces. And Chinese girls overall do not look as good as Korean girls (that why many mainland Chinese are crazy about Korean soap drama and K-pop).

So do people from Taiwan and HK. Korean girls look better not because they're more beautiful.
That's just a fact of wealth, self-care and fashion. If you don't even have money to survive, how could you think about your hairstyle or dressing?

[kenmirzz]

I think Chinese in the city look better than Chinese in the country. Chinese in the coastal look better than Chinese inland. Chinese in the North look better than Chinese in the South (By North I mean from ZheJiang upward). Chinese in provinces like GuangXi, Guizhou, YunNan definitely do not look as good as Chinese in other provinces. And Chinese girls overall do not look as good as Korean girls (that why many mainland Chinese are crazy about Korean soap drama and K-pop).

Mr AhMan. I have been to South Korea ( Seoul) and Guang Zhou respectively. I witness that the Chinese in GUang Zhou looked better and have more stylish fashion while the Korean tend to be more casual in their dressing.

For your information, I am not Chinese.