I recently learned a feature that supposedly indicates whether one is of Han descent or not.

1) First, look at your left foot

2) Look for the leftmost front corner of the toenail on your smallest toe (i.e. pinky)

3) Is there an additional point that grows out? (This only applies if you haven't clipped your nail recently)

I do, and apparently all Han people are supposed to. This was told to me by an old friend of my father, and when I told my father he said he had heard about this from other people long ago. One of his friends who has lived among the hill tribes in Burma actually carried out a survey of people's toenails to see if there really is a difference. Supposedly he also found that the tribespeople all didn't have the extra point, but the Han people all did. My father showed me the point on his toenail, while my mother said she always just clips hers off. That's what I've normally done too - I thought it was just a deformity in my toenail.

As far as I can tell, a "split pinky toenail" as the trademark of Han people remains folklore that has not been proven through genetic studies. I'm also not sure if it's supposed to be only the left foot toenail, or both feet. More discussions here: http://www.cantonese.sheik.co.uk/phorum/read.php?1,9363
http://www.wutard.com (see blog entry for 29 January)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Hakka
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Ref...and_Han_Chinese

Comments?

I don't think this is a feature of Han as I also have it and I have to clip it otherwise it splits and becomes painful.
But why should Han have something in common while we know that Han is a loose term describing various groups who pratice the same culture?

That was my biggest question too - thanks for stating it out. But if this split toenail thing is really that widespread, and exists among the Vietnamese too, then wouldn't that imply a gene that is very dominant?

My toenails are too short to tell. But a part of me wish I don't have it. Then I can say I am not Han! Yes!!

Its entirely possible for 2 persons to have the same gene responsible for certain characteristics to only have 1 person have them while the other person does not.

These expression of the genes can take different forms even in a person with the exact same genetic makeup, e.g. a clone or a twin. You can only say those with the gene is more likely to have a certain characteristic for example.

Also very often many characteristics are expressions of a group of genes, the human genome and the intricacies of genes are very large puzzles being worked on today.

Funny you bring it up, my mom only recently told me when looking at a snapped ring-toe (Is this a real term?) nail. I always assumed that I had toenails like this from a lack of clipper skill

The same as me.
Sometimes I was just too lazy to clip it off and I tried to pull all of them from my toe and it's very painful (and bleed) but later it still split...

Then just meant "Mongoloids" had that (I can't even state the genes are recessive or dominant)
I don't know how it could be stated to be a characteristic of "Han Chinese", since I believe neighboring tribes also have that kind of characteristics. Perhaps because some "Mongoloids" do not have it?
You cut your nails so often that no conclucisons can be made...
Yeah, the same as me.

I have them on both feet...

I have it on my right pinky toe. So, am I still a Han?

I don't have on either, but have been told a birth-mark on your a** is a definitive trademark of being Han.

OK, I tried discussing this with my friends and they totally don't believe me! (They think I've been drinking!) How can I prove it to them? They yelled at me... "PICTURES!!"

Well, where the heck am I going to find pictures?? Does anyone with this trait have a foot picture? (Oh my God, this is sounding so weird... I'm so sorry.) I've searched everywhere on the internet and have descriptions and text, but no pictures. Would it be in a medical journal???

Please help, before my friends send me to the looney bin. They think I'm making this up.

Kimchee

Is there anything to prove that people with this condition are of Han descent?

A myth never scientifically proven to this day,a trivial question since Han is a cultural identity of many Mongoloid ethnicities.

I have a bitsy on both toe-pinkies.

I have heard this from everyone in my mother's side of the family ever since I was 5 and majority of my friends that weren't born in the States also seem to aknowledge this myth/ claim or whatever...

Well... I am a half Manchu (father) and Han (mother)... I suppose my dad's got super strong genes because my older brother, sister, my two little step bros, and I all have that so-called completed peice of pinky toenail where on my mother's side... they all have that additonal piece + my Han Chinese friends so... mmm I guess I am a not a pure Han.

btw... my friend says he Mongolian... I should make him reveal his toes or I will try to stare at it... hope he doesn't think I am weird and all.



the Fuca rocks!

That is also true. Han was historically a cultural group where natives could become Han by adopting Han culture.

BTW, I don't have that point on my little toenail, even though both sides of my family are Han.

Actually, this ethnic group called itself the Hua, but was forced to call itself the Han when under the rule of the Khitan, Jurchen, Mongols, and Manchus. It was only in the late Qing and early Republic that 'Han' was first embraced as an official name by the ethnic group so labelled, with the result that it now tends to believe that 'Han' has been its name ever since the Han dynasty.

So it is more correct to say that other peoples could become 'Hua' by adopting 'Hua' culture. Furthermore, the idea that 'Hua-ness' was culturally and not racially defined only became fully established in the Sui and Tang dynasties, and not earlier.

[just a digression based on research for my thesis]

According to ZZTJ, the first use of the term Han was used by neigbhouring nations of China after Han dynasty. Xiongnu called Han dynasty and its people Qin.

In the Hou Hanshu, the Xiongnu call the people of the Han dynasty 'Han people'. But this ends after the Eastern Han. In the Western Jin, these people are called 'Jin people' by the Xiongnu and Xianbei, and call themselves Hua people or Zhongguo people. It is only in the Northern Qi that the Hua people are briefly and derogatively called the Han people, and this practice ends in the Sui and Tang dynasties, where 'Hua people' is the norm except possibly in usage by the Tibetans and Uyghurs.

To really see 'Han people' being applied as a label to the Hua, we have to wait until the Liao dynasty (as well as those of the Five Dynasties under their political influence), followed by the Jin, Yuan, and Qing dynasties. In the Song and Ming, people generally did not choose to call themselves Han people - instead, it was Hua people or Huaxia people or Zhongguo people.

Several Chinese scholars recognized decades ago that the first known use of 'Han' as an ethnic label, rather than a political label, was in the Northern Qi and not earlier. But they failed to recognize the reason why 'Hua' was preferred. In ancient Chinese ideology, 'Hua' has a strong connotation of cultural superiority, since it is always in a dichotomy with its inferior opposite, 'Yi' (meaning 'barbarian'). 'Han', on the other hand, has no inherent sense of superiority, and can be brought down to a level of equality (or even possibly inferiority) with other ethnic labels like Hu, Xianbei, Khitan, Manchu, etc.

W.T.F?! Toe nail growth as an indication of Ethnicity/ancestry? Thats the silliest notion I have ever heard.

I have that growth on my toe, but I'm not Han. At least I don't think I am.

I'm Arabic, Lithuanian, Japanese, and Finish. The most likely places it could have happened would be on my Japanese side, or from my Arabic grandmother. Although all of my Japanese family members claim that all of our ancestors were pure Japanese. But that's cool if this is true. I'm Han!

And yet it seems many in our parents' generation believe it, as seen from the responses on this thread.

Fascinating. My entire family has this little extra growth on our left little toenails. Does that prove we are Han?

Hum, I don't have this split nail, does that mean that my ancestors were not Han but sinified people?

As mentioned earlier on this thread, it seems not to be a feature unique to just 'Han' (which is a nebulous category anyway), but is also shared by certain other 'Mongoloid' groups.

I am waiting to see if a Caucasoid member can report the same toenail feature. Wen Chou's case is not conclusive since he has some Japanese ancestry.

FYI, I just clipped off that extra corner growth on my right little toenail a few days ago - it was getting annoying. So I no longer think it is limited to just the left little toe.

Well I also have it on my right toe as well. The interesting thing is that my father is entirely European, I actually looked at his feet when he was sleeping today after I saw your post Yun, and it seems he also has the split toe-nail. Perhaps this could mean that it is simply a growth because of the result on not clipping your toe nails properly?

My parents don't have that toenail, neither do I . Once I asked the question to my aunt ( my uncle's wife) who is han , because I realized she had that kind of weird toe while I don't. She said,"The ancestors of han people who carried this kind of characteristics- one more toe and nail, it is said, migrated from Shangxi hongdong county （山西洪洞县). Not only one person told me the same reason. I understand the reason I don't have is that I am not han.

Here is one Chinese explanation.
http://zhidao.baidu.com/question/274217.html

I guess I had it all my life, without bothering about it... except to remove it when it gets unsightly or proving to be a problem wearing socks....

this thread is useless without pics

but seriously is there an image of this so called extra toenail on the internet because i have trouble trying to visualize it.

my ex is filipino and she has no extra toe nail growth.

But why should Han have something in common while we know that Han is a loose term describing various groups who pratice the same culture?

Then why arent Manchu called Hans? Han-chinese are one people, they have the same forefather...