does anybody know why the term 'asian' refers to people of indian, pakistani, iraqi descent in britain...

Question

and yet in countries such as america, that word refers to people of japanese, thai, korean and chinese origin like myself, rather than muslims and sikhs? is there a rationale or understandable reason why the term asian means one thing in one country and something else in another? is there any historical relevance or evidence which pinpoints and underlines this notion? and please, no racist or abusive answers to this question, i thank you

Answer 1

Good question, I was going to say ( on behalf of the British view) that it was ignorance.
There is a theory that genetically there is only one race on this planet but there are different developments due to environment diet and a few other things that escape me for now.

But historically, and before the division of the earths plates, many of the Asian and middle Eastern countries were joined and there was cultural as well as interbreeding exchanges. I believe the Asian DNA can be found in Many Eastern and Middle eastern cultures, where it can be said that the people are more Asian than any other group. The East was always considered to be China and its surrounding areas, which include Taiwan ( originally a province of China) India and pakistan are also part of the Continent of Asia, as is Australia surprisingly but no one says an Australian is Asian

Hope this sort of explains the anomaly to some degree. I think the Americans have it sorted properly in theory but not in fact.

Answer 2

In Britain, the connections with the old British Empire mean that Asian people were mainly characterised as being from the Indian sub-continent.

Answer 3

not something like that, Indians love East Asians, its the insecure Pakistanis who choose Indians interest, for this reason attempt to maintain East Asians removed from Indians. Have observed this habit exterior India. yet once you bypass to India, Indians love chinese language/Thai nutrition and their way of existence.

Answer 4

this is from the u.s. census:

The term “Asian” refers to people having
origins in any of the original peoples of
the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the
Indian subcontinent (for example,
Cambodia, China, India, Japan, Korea,
Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippine Islands,
Thailand, and Vietnam). Asian groups
are not limited to nationalities, but
include ethnic terms, as well.

Answer 5

Surely Asian refers to anyone that lives in a country which is in the continent of Asia? Hahahahaha

Answer 6

Here in the US, we use the term South Asian to be more precise when it comes to India, Pakistan etc. Over in England, it seems an Asian is an Asian, doesn't matter how diverse their cultures are. The two look NOTHING alike, yet they're all lumped into one category.

Answer 7

This is becase indians,pakistanis,bangladeshi people make up the vast composition of asians in this country where as in the US,its the Northern Asians.

Answer 8

Because the majority of Asians in Britain come from those countries.
In America, the majority of Asian immigrants come from Different parts of Asia.

They are all Asians.

Answer 9

traditionally we've had more asian immigrants from india, probably due to the links with the empire....and more arabs and persians have followed....america's first influx of asian immigrants where predominantly east asian, because it's closer and (in modern times) some feel they're living in the shadow of the US

Answer 10

not realy its jus sum ppl will say dat wen u say asians ur taking bout da indians and others say wen u say aisna ur talkin bout chinese. i put the inidans in asian and the chines as oreuintal. or the best is jus call the indiviual countrys. hope dat helps.