Disclaimer: I have roots in many different areas of China but as an individual, raised 100% Canadian. In an attempt to get an idea of where I come from, I am bound to ask loaded questions and step on people's toes about issues with more weight than I'm aware of. Just know that it's not my intention to piss people off.
The issue I mention in this thread are the aesthetics of the Chinese people. Growing up around Caucasoid types, I never paid much attention to one Asian vs. the next - they all looked the same to me, and I looked just like them. But as a child, I'd accompany my parents when they went to Singapore (where they are from) to visit their families where I learned a majority of the Chinese population are from Southern China. So I thought cool, my roots lie in Southern China, awesome.
Then I grew up.
- I spent a school semester in Japan where as an international student, it was generally assumed that I was Korean despite a sizable Chinese population.
- Years later at a party, I met a guy from China and we got onto the topic of ethnic background to which when asked, I replied, somewhere in the south. He said "you have pale skin, high cheekbones, narrow nose and narrower eyes. Southern Chinese are short (which I am, at 5'7") dark with wide noses and round eyes. How does that work?"
- Some Euro-Canadian friends who claim to be able to tell the difference between oriental types have admitted they were willing to bet their life I was Korean or Japanese, but Chinese as the last they would guess.
And along with these random experiences, I've also heard some pretty harsh terms like "Southern Barbarian" and claims like "they are not true Han, look at their dark skin and frog faces." I hear the "true" Han are apparently tall, high cheekbones, pale, narrow eyes which I fit the bill for (except the tall part 
) and yet my roots are in Southern China - Chao Zhou, Hai Nan and Ke Jia to be exact.
My question is, where does this bigotry stem from??
Well, I just want to pitch in, this question is too prickly, and very demanding...
In Journey to the West, when the great Monkey King burst forth from the rock, the first action he took was to humbly kneel down to the ground, kiss the soil, and thank the land for his very being.
You're interested in what a human body looks like, generally, from the North, versus the South. It's almost like asking how many shades of soil there can be, with all the plant and animal life living there making up such a composite. The variety, the probabilities, it's astronomical: generalization, impossible!
However, there is a test, to see if you're truly from the North or South. People from the North, they're upland, highland (however you call it), know the grasslands and mountains really well, being very nomadic. The land makes them strong, very yang, and spirited (even the women!) They're the conquerors, the warriors, heroes, the ones who say what they mean, and they mean what they say. Honest to the point of fault. They'd ride on horses for days on end, and it's the freedom in the wind that makes up their psyche. And when they drink wine, they'll swallow entire jars, then throw them on the ground, and sleep looking up at the sky. This part of them is alive in their blood, and when you talk with them, you can bait them with catch phrases, like "freedom" and "independence", "travel" and "adventure", and the fire in their eyes makes them glow and their faces flush a furious red.
The people from the South, the land of plenty, where there are the willow trees and silk worms, they mimick the qualities of the land, and they become lovers of fine beauty and art. Their ingenuity is in creating culture, and sophistication. They don't need to be forceful, or have the will to brave storms, because they already have the supremacy of civilization, human organization, that protects them from the elements. Instead, their intelligences develop not to trample and conquer a crown, but to dally with nature to improve the quality of living. Speak to them about your needs particular to the senses, they're exceptionally knowledgeable about the north, south, west, and west, having written whole books on the ABC's of any topic. They're your scholars, politicians, the merchants, etc. the ones who can make a sedentary life worth living.
So, to know if you're truly from the North, or South, it's not about skin color, how big or little is the nose, but what runs in your blood, do you find happiness in the good life, or the rough life?
But I strongly suspect that a lot of times, people themselves do not know. Their bodies will do the talking for them, for they will seek that which courses in their veins: their connection to their homeland.
