Why do Mongoloids have narrow eyes. Why do Asians have narrow eyes?

Answering a child's question about why the Chinese narrow eyes, one could easily dismiss it: precisely because the earth is round, the grass is green, and the hare long ears. Is it really that important differences between people? We are all different, nature (or, if you like, God) created us that way. But the human mind tries to find logic in everything, and this is quite natural.

Perhaps Chinese children attack their parents with equally tricky questions, wondering why Europeans have too much White skin, Blue eyes or red hair. Let's try to explain the mysteries of genetics in terms of science, fiction and folklore.

Epicanthus - a distinctive feature of the structure of the eye

Exists misconception that the size of the eyes of Asians is much smaller than that of the indigenous inhabitants of other continents. In fact, the Koreans, Vietnamese, Japanese and Chinese are in no way inferior to the rest of humanity in this criterion. The only difference is that their eyes are often located on the face with a slight slope, that is, the inner edge is slightly lower than the outer, and upper eyelid equipped with an epicanthic fold, almost completely covering lacrimal canal. In addition, Asians, unlike Europeans, have a dense fatty layer under the skin of the eyelids, so it seems that the area around the eyes is somewhat swollen, and the incision resembles a thin slit.

evolutionary processes

Scientists, answering the question of why the Chinese have narrow eyes, refer to changes in the structure of the visual organ during evolution. You probably know what race the Chinese belong to - most Asian peoples are Mongoloids by race.

The harsh climate of the area where this ethnic community arose 12,000-13,000 years ago influenced physical characteristics of people. Nature has taken care to protect the eyes from strong winds, sandstorms, bright sunlight. The eyesight of people did not suffer from this, but the Japanese and Chinese are deprived of the need to squint, protecting their eyes from the effects of adverse natural factors.

By the way, not all Asians like the peculiarity of the structure of their eyes. According to statistics, over the past few years, more than 100,000 Chinese have had an operation in an attempt to give their faces European features. Interestingly, not only the fair sex, but also men go under the knife. For the inhabitants of Europe themselves, such transformations seem strange, because the narrow slit of the eyes is a kind of "highlight" of the Chinese, this is what attracts attention.

Descendants of the dragon

It is known that the Chinese themselves consider themselves the children of the dragon - it is this mythical animal that is the symbol of the Celestial Empire. According to legend, one of the progenitors was a young man named Yan-di, the son of an earthly woman and heavenly dragon. According to ancient legends, at the dawn of civilization chinese girls more than once became the subject of desire for fiery, underground and flying dragons.

From these marriages, of course, children were born. What real dragons looked like, we, unfortunately, do not know. But it can be assumed that they are genetic code left an imprint on the appearance of modern peoples inhabiting East Asia. Perhaps it is kinship with dragons that explains why the Chinese have narrow stature and yellow skin?

People from other planets

Despite all the scientific achievements, an absolutely reliable version of the origin of mankind has not yet been developed. Someone believes in the divine creation of the world, someone is closer to the Darwinian theory, which claims that our closest relatives are monkeys. The hypothesis that the diversity of terrestrial races and nationalities is due to the fact that the Earth is a refuge for people from other planets or galaxies has a right to exist.

Assuming that this is indeed the case, one could understand the nature of many incomprehensible riddles. Why do Chinese people have narrow eyes? It's simple - in that corner of the universe where they came from, everyone has them. It is quite possible that in different eras our land was visited by giants who built pyramids in Egypt and placed stone idols on Easter Island. But you never know the unknown secrets of our planet! The narrow eyes of the Chinese seem like nothing compared to them.

We are all made from the same dough.

Summing up our not entirely scientific investigation, I would like to tell one very nice parable that explains the racial differences between peoples. Thinking to populate the planet with intelligent beings, the Creator fashioned figures of people from dough and put them in a baking oven.

Either the Creator dozed off, or he was distracted by other more important matters, but there was a unforeseen situation: some figures remained raw and white - this is how the Europeans turned out, others were burnt - it was decided to send them to Africa. And only the Mongoloids came out yellow, strong, moderately baked - exactly as it was originally intended. And the fact that someone's eyes are not big enough or cheekbones are too wide is not a flaw, but God's vision of beauty.

The meaning of this beautiful legend, impregnated with good humor, does not aim to emphasize the superiority of some peoples over others. Of course, we are all different, but regardless of the shape of the eyes and skin color, we have equal rights and opportunities. Each of the peoples inhabiting the planet Earth is unique in its own way. External signs individuals in comparison with the moral and cultural values ​​of the ethnic group are of no importance.

epicanthus- special fold inner corner eyes, to a greater or lesser extent covering the lacrimal tubercle. epicanthus is a continuation of the fold upper eyelid. One of the features characteristic of Mongoloid race rare in other races. Anthropological surveys determine not only the presence or absence of epicanthus but also its development.

Development epicanthus and shows great geographical differentiation. highest concentration epicanthus and occurs in the population of Central, Eastern and a significant part of North Asia - usually over 60% in adult men: in Kazakhs it does not exceed 40%. Enough among the Turks high percent dissemination epicanthus and among the Yakuts, Kirghiz, Altaians, Tomsk Tatars - (60-65%), 12% - among Crimean Tatars, 13% - Astrakhan Karagash, 20-28% - Nogais, 38% - Tobolsk Tatars. epicanthus also common among the Eskimos and sometimes found among the indigenous peoples of the Americas. Absence epicanthus characteristic of the European population as a whole. It is not found among the indigenous population of Australia, Melanesia, India (except for a number of Tibetan-speaking peoples in the Himalayas), Africa.
Some anthropologists have hypothesized that facial features of the Mongoloid type are a special adaptive feature for life in severe cold conditions. Linking the origin of the Mongolian race with the continental regions of Central Asia, they indicate that the special features of the Mongolian eye (fold of the eyelid, epicanthus) arose as a protective device that protects the organ of vision from winds, dust and the harmful effects of reflected solar radiation in snowy spaces.

However, the occurrence epicanthus but it could be due to other reasons. Thus, an intragroup relationship between the severity of epicanthus but also by the flattening of the nose bridge, namely, it is shown that the higher the nose bridge, the less epicanthus. This relationship was found in all the series studied in this respect: Buryats, Kazakhs, Yakuts, coastal Chukchi, Eskimos, Kalmyks, Tuvans. However, low transference is not the only and not sufficient condition for the occurrence epicanthus a. Apparently epicanthus also depends on the thickness of the fat layer under the skin of the upper eyelid. epicanthus to a certain extent, it is a "fat" fold of the upper eyelid. When studying epicanthus and in a part of the Turkmens of Ashgabat, who had weakly pronounced Mongoloid features (5-9% of the total population), it was found that individuals with very strong fat deposition on the face epicanthus was noted significantly more often than in patients with weak degree fat deposition [source not specified 1208 days]. It is known that increased fat deposition on the face is characteristic of children of the Mongoloid race, who, as is known, have especially strong development epicanthus a. Local deposition of adipose tissue in children of the Mongoloid race could in the past have different meaning: as an antifreeze agent in cold winters and, less likely, as a local supply nutrient with a high calorie content. Steatopygia of the Bushmen and Hottentots is also an example of the local deposition of fat in a population whose physical type was formed in an arid climate.

"Cross-eyed" - so not burdened with internal culture, white people sometimes call Asians. We will not discuss the ethics of such statements here. Everything is clear here. But with "strabismus" (and at the same time with narrow-eyed) Asians will try to figure it out.

So, there is a general belief that the distinctive physical feature of the Mongols, Japanese, Chinese, Thais and other representatives of the Mongoloid race are the so-called "slanting" eyes. . However, this is just one of the most common Asian myths (along with the misconception about the yellow skin of Asians). To characterize people belonging to this race as cross-eyed is not only unethical, but just as wrong as characterizing people of the European race as long-nosed, as, for example, the same people of the Mongoloid type believe.

The “strabismus” of the Mongoloids is just optical illusion. It arises due to the fact that representatives of the Mongoloid race have a less prominent nose, while Caucasians usually mentally "tie" their eyes to their nose. In Mongoloids, the nose “begins” lower, which is why it seems to us that the eyes are somewhat slanted.

Glen Doman, author of popular books on child development, writes about this: “... after all, everyone knows that the Japanese have slanted eyes. Now close your own eyes and imagine a typical Japanese face. Do you see those slanted eyes? And in fact, aren't they the most feature Japanese faces? Yes, of course, you say, unless you are Japanese yourself. But the Japanese eyes are not slanted, they have a straight section of the eyes, that is, they are located not at an angle to each other, but absolutely parallel! Why don't you experiment right now? Close your own eyes once again and imagine a Japanese face. But you see the slanted eyes again?”

An optical illusion also explains the idea of ​​Asians as " narrow-eyed X". This is also a delusion. In fact, the eye socket itself in the Mongoloids is even larger than in the Caucasians. But representatives of the Mongoloid race have the so-called "Mongoloid fold of the upper eyelid" (epicanthus), which fills the "empty" space of the orbit. Since we are accustomed to a different ratio of the size of the eye and the orbit (and its size is used to be considered constant), then we have the illusion that the eyes of Asians are narrower than those of Caucasians.

Interestingly, Asians themselves do not perceive European eyes as wider. Nevertheless, the Japanese, Chinese, Koreans and other Mongoloids, having first left for Europe or America, hardly distinguish between Caucasians. Yes, the wife of the latter Chinese emperor Pu Yi, the only ruler of China who traveled outside his country and visited Europe, writes in his memoirs how difficult it was for her to participate in official ceremonies due to the fact that it was difficult for her to distinguish faces - for example, the faces of members of the royal family of England or relatives of the German emperor.

Almost Asian.

And, I can't help but mention one funny story here.

They say that in the famous film "Mimino" there was one episode, cut out by the censors, when the heroes of Kikabidze and Mkrtchan were riding in the same elevator with a group of Japanese in the hotel. Coming out of the elevator, one Japanese said to another:

“These Russians, they all look the same…

epicanthus- a special fold at the inner corner of the eye, to a greater or lesser extent covering the lacrimal tubercle. epicanthus is a continuation of the fold of the upper eyelid. One of the features characteristic of the Mongoloid race is rare in representatives of other races. Anthropological surveys determine not only the presence or absence of epicanthus but also its development.

Development epicanthus and shows great geographical differentiation. highest concentration epicanthus and occurs in the population of Central, Eastern and a significant part of North Asia - usually over 60% in adult men: in Kazakhs it does not exceed 40%. Among the Turks, a fairly high percentage of distribution epicanthus and among the Yakuts, Kirghiz, Altaians, Tomsk Tatars - (60-65%), 12% - among the Crimean Tatars, 13% - Astrakhan Karagash, 20-28% - Nogais, 38% - Tobolsk Tatars. epicanthus also common among the Eskimos and sometimes found among the indigenous peoples of the Americas. Absence epicanthus characteristic of the European population as a whole. It is not found among the indigenous population of Australia, Melanesia, India (except for a number of Tibetan-speaking peoples in the Himalayas), Africa.
Some anthropologists have hypothesized that facial features of the Mongoloid type are a special adaptive feature for life in severe cold conditions. Linking the origin of the Mongolian race with the continental regions of Central Asia, they indicate that the special features of the Mongolian eye (fold of the eyelid, epicanthus) arose as a protective device that protects the organ of vision from winds, dust and the harmful effects of reflected solar radiation in snowy spaces.

However, the occurrence epicanthus but it could be due to other reasons. Thus, an intragroup relationship between the severity of epicanthus but also by the flattening of the nose bridge, namely, it is shown that the higher the nose bridge, the less epicanthus. This relationship was found in all the series studied in this respect: Buryats, Kazakhs, Yakuts, coastal Chukchi, Eskimos, Kalmyks, Tuvans. However, low transference is not the only and not sufficient condition for the occurrence epicanthus a. Apparently epicanthus also depends on the thickness of the fat layer under the skin of the upper eyelid. epicanthus to a certain extent, it is a "fat" fold of the upper eyelid. When studying epicanthus and in a part of the Turkmens of Ashgabat, who had weakly pronounced Mongoloid features (5-9% of the total population), it was found that individuals with very strong fat deposition on the face epicanthus was noted significantly more often than in individuals with a low degree of fat deposition [source not specified 1208 days]. It is known that increased fat deposition on the face is characteristic of children of the Mongoloid race, who, as is known, have a particularly strong development. epicanthus a. Local deposition of fatty tissue in Mongoloid children may have had different meanings in the past: as a remedy for freezing of the face in cold winters and, less likely, as a local supply of a nutrient with a high caloric content. Steatopygia of the Bushmen and Hottentots is also an example of the local deposition of fat in a population whose physical type was formed in an arid climate.