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I realize India was a British colony, but why does the British census use "Asian" to refer only to Indians, yet the American census uses "Asian" to refer to anyone from Asia, whether Indian or Oriental? Perhaps the "Asian" in the UK census really should be called "immigrants from the former colonies on the Indian Subcontinent" but is kept at "Asian" to be short? Even then, since the UK also ruled Hong Kong and other East Asian societies, I'm surprised "British Asian" can't be used to refer to people from the East Asian colonies.
On another subject, while "Indian" at one time was a perfectly good name for Native Americans, I really think Americans ought to stop using the word "Indian" in that sense. In colonial times there was nothing wrong with this use of the word, but it's become a source of confusion since Indian immigration (yes, from India) to the US and Canada started to happen in large numbers.
I think the British use the term Asian to refer to anyone from Asia, although most notably east of India. It's interesting that Asians west of India are (commonly incorrectly) referred to as middle eastern.
I think the British use the term Asian to refer to anyone from Asia, although most notably east of India. It's interesting that Asians west of India are (commonly incorrectly) referred to as middle eastern.
If we're talking about Pakistan and Afghanistan, maybe while "Middle Eastern" is not really correct, Afghans and Pakistanis are given that name because the two countries are majority Muslim and have a lot of Islamic terrorism, similar to Iraq, Iran, Palestine, and other Middle Eastern countries, none of which are relatively far away from Afghanistan and Pakistan.
It's largely because the number of people in the UK from South Asia (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka etc) vastly exceeds the number of people from the East. For the sake of clarity - the terms South Asian and East Asian can be used. It's the same - but opposite - Stateside, most people assume that 'Asian' means someone of Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese etc origin
Most Australians use "Asian" to describe people from East Asia, while those from India or Pakistan are "Indian" or "Pakistani".
I suspect its just history. The first waves of Asian migration were Chinese and Japanese in the mid to late 1800's. Indians, who are clearly a different ethnic group, didn't arrive until much later.
Think how many different words have been used to refer to black people in America. It is a slippery concept that still causes worry for white people using those various words, and identity issues for those the words have been used to describe.
The word Asian may be imprecise and even inaccurate, but most people know what it refers to and are happy with it's established meaning. Mostly it doesn't cause offence or have negative connotations, so why change it?
"Oriental" is the term generally used in the UK for East Asian people (Japan, China, etc), although it's considered derogatory in the US (for no apparent reason), as I found out when I used it and got ranted at by a Chinese lady.
Asian in the US only ever seems to refer to East Asian. I've never heard an American refer to someone from the middle east or India as "Asian".
"Oriental" is the term generally used in the UK for East Asian people (Japan, China, etc), although it's considered derogatory in the US (for no apparent reason), as I found out when I used it and got ranted at by a Chinese lady.
Asian in the US only ever seems to refer to East Asian. I've never heard an American refer to someone from the middle east or India as "Asian".
It's the same in Canada. Oriental reflects back to the days when " Orientals " didn't have the right to vote, own property and were charged a head tax to enter Canada.
in the US some people still call asians "chinaman" instead of oriental
I even heard a white guy teaching his toddler / small child , he said you see those people? thats a "chinaman" he was teaching his son at a young age to call asians "chinaman".
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