Can you actually identify if a woman is from Vietnam, Philippines, Thailand, Singapore or Cambodia?

[ASEAN NOW News]

With decades of many ethnic backgrounds and intercultural marriages, SE Asian women can blend into most cultures.

 

 

Some say that most Southeast Asian women really look the same physically.

 

Even one Filipina said it’s hard for me to tell fellow Southeast Asians apart based on simply looks alone.

I tried, but many times, I failed.

 

If you forced me to take a guess when I was younger, I would think that the Vietnamese would probably be the easiest to isolate from the group in terms of physical appearance, because they are probably the most likely to have generic Chinese-looking features.

 

Perhaps a fair complexion and slanted eyes, because of their historical ties with China, based on my very, very limited knowledge of Asian history.

 

As a personal example, we went on a trip to Singapore once and a good number of the Singaporeans with possibly Malay ancestry that we saw, looked a lot like many Filipinos in the Philippines.

 

In some cases, there were even Singaporeans with Indian heritage that look like some of my Filipino relatives, that if I had seen them in the Philippines, I would think they were just another Filipino.

 

Expat’s reaction

 

According to one expat living in Thailand. there are stereotypical appearances by nationality, and if a woman happened to look a lot like the stereotype it would be possible to guess, but Southeast Asians vary a lot in appearance too.

 

I think locals in the region are more familiar with those stereotypical appearances, but that almost relates to a different question.

 

A lot of Thais—where this writer lives, have close connections with Chinese ancestry, and if they look a lot like they are Chinese, whether they are or not, then picking out a nationality wouldn’t work.

 

His wife and her mother are completely Thai, not Chinese at all, and my wife could probably pass for Chinese, and her mother Japanese.

 

Thais alone span a range of different looks, more or less regionally based within Thailand, but again genetic mixing and random variation would vary what people from different areas look like.

 

Central Thais tend to look more Chinese, Isaan-region Thais look relatively completely different, overlapping some with an appearance typical for Cambodians or women from Laos, and the far South and far North vary in two different ways.

 

Sometimes the writers wife will say she can tell where people are from by appearance but more often, she can’t do it. Once they speak in their own language it’s easy.

 

Deeper Observation

 

Finally, another Filipina female said all it takes is deeper observation.

 

Our features are different, our behaviour (brought about by our differing cultures and environment) are different as well.

 

Just like there is a difference between Chinese, Japanese and Korean women, and difference between French, English, German, Russian, Swedish women.

 

Believe it or not, the most well-travelled people can tell the difference.

 

So, this writer suggests that you do the same. Travel, observe and learn. It is not that hard, it’s even very enjoyable.

 

With various ethnic groups, religions and inter marriages of the past few centuries, it is sometimes hard to recognize where people originated from.

 

Do you think you could recognize the difference?

 

We have posted a few photos taken from Google today of women from across SE Asia.

 

Do you think you could recognize the difference and tell us what country they come from?

 

We will post the correct answers in the comments tomorrow.

 

No.1

 

No.2

 

No.3

 

No.4

 

No.5

 

General background notes:

 

Ethnic groups.

 

While Malaysia is split between more than half Malays and one-quarter Chinese, and Indian minority in the West Malaysia however Dayaks make up the majority in Sarawak and Kadazan-dusun makes up the majority in Sabah which are in the East Malaysia.

 

The Malays are the majority in West Malaysia and Brunei, while they are forming a significant minority in Indonesia, Southern Thailand, East Malaysia, and Singapore.

 

In city-state Singapore, Chinese are the majority, yet the city is a multicultural melting pot with Malays, Indians and Eurasian also called the island their home.

 

The Chams form a significant minority in Central and South Vietnam, also in Central Cambodia.

 

While the Khmers are the majority in Cambodia and form a significant minority in Southern Vietnam and Thailand, the Hmong people are the minority in Vietnam, China, and Laos.

 

Within the Philippines, the Tagalog, Visayan (mainly Cebuanos, Warays and Hiligaynons), Ilocano, Bicolano, Moro (mainly Tausug, Maranao, and Maguindanao) and Central Luzon (mainly Kapampangan and Pangasinan) groups are significant.

 

Thailand is a country of some 70 ethnic groups, including at least 24 groups of ethnolinguistically Tai peoples, mainly the Siamese, Lao, and Yuan; 22 groups of Austroasiatic peoples, with substantial populations of Northern Khmer and Kuy; 11 groups of Sino-Tibetan peoples ('hill tribes'), with the largest in population being the Karen. Other ethnic groups include longstanding immigrant communities such as the Chinese and Indians.