From the East to the West within the eye of an Eurasian

bob,

I don’t know all the chemistry behind mixing of dominate and recessive genes, but I do know I am a living proof of such possibility you mentioned above. Both my parents are the first generation in their family to mix outside of what you called ''norm". My mother is Taiwanese and as far as I know, she is completely asian and my father; Scandinavian.

My sister and I both have platinum blond or blondish white hair since we were born. My older sister has a richer blond in her hair while my remained whitish throughout (why? I don’t know.) Both of my parents skin tone are fair especially my father, perhaps this is the reason why I am sort of pale.

I have some Taiwanese feature in me, but I’d say I look more Norwegian than anything. Is it rare? I don’t know since I’ve never met anyone else who is half Norwegian and half Taiwanese like my sister and I.

From the link…

Maybe doctor Jensen dyes her hair… :whistle:[/quote]

No bob… I have never dyed my hair. Plus, who would dye their hair to look this white??? I will need to track down Professor Sykes. His theory is obviously incorrect :laughing:

Anyway, here is a few photos of me


my sister and I in NYC 2009 ( I am on the left)


My friend Marie and I earlier this summer (I am on the left)


my sister I when we were much younger ( I am on the left)

K. Jensen

I believe you failed to understand from my second response. ( I don’t mean this in any condescending way. )

[quote=“Charlie Phillips”]I’m sure you will become a star in Taiwan Kylie H Jensen, or else you will go the other way and become right f’ing bonkers.

As for me, I was born in one culture and grew up in another. I don’t mind being treated as foreign in Taiwan because it’s more comfortable being treated as foreign in what is to me a truly foreign culture than being treated as foreign in the culture I grew up in.

Can you relate to that?[/quote]

The thought of being on TV or becoming a star never crossed my mind. It is not an interest to become glamorous and I don’t think I was ever pretty enough to begin with. I mean, now I am all passed that stage, and just interesting to recount my personal experience in those day. I should not have been that sensitive but growing up in Taiwan, it was the only culture that I knew, when you sat in a classroom with everyone who had the same hair color, eye color and you were the only one that stood out, it was tough for a young mind to cope with being different. Keep in mind that I spoke, wrote, and knew the culture as well as the student sat next to me. I was treated well, at times better because I was different. But in general sense, often it put a hindrance to the way a mixed race person goes about constructing their real inner identity based on how others react toward them. Many times, a mix-raced child come to identify themselves through the eyes of others affecting their own judgment.

[quote=“KylieHJensen”]No, that’s not my father, my parents retired and currently resides in Los Angeles. elburro, how old are you by the way?
It is funny though I am half Norwegian, I have almost next to non-Norwegian friends growing up. I am more Taiwanese and American than anything lol… yes, I wouldn’t mind meeting some of you when I visit Taiwan next month.

I assume most of you are English teachers in Taiwan? It has become a popular thing in that country for the white folks.[/quote]

I’m 35.

None of the Norwegians I know of in Taiwan are English teachers. One is a bigwig in Japan Tobacco, one runs his own Biotech company, one is in the semiconductor industry, one is a pilot for EVA, at least two are missionaries, one is retired, one is an accountant or something, one is in some kind of marine/boat electronics company, I think there’s still a guy around learning Chinese, and I’m in the electronics industry.

Send me a PM when you know you’ll be in Taiwan. Maybe we can arrange a lunch or something.

I have been pondering that myself, given that I have fathered a blonde with blue eyes.

The genetics of skin colour/hair colour is not as simple as people imagine. There are sure to be a wide ranges of genes and different versions of these genes involved. Most of the time brown will be dominant over blue, but not always. Often this is because two ‘blue’ alleles are present from each parent, but one was hidden away in the genes of the brown eyed person. When the two blue alleles meet blue gets a chance to shine.
But I believe that ‘blonde’ hair is a wide spectrum (if we look closely from reddish to light brown to yellowish to silvery). For some reason people from Scandinavia with very blonde hair seem to have a higher chance to have blue eyed blonde haired kids even when having a kid with Asians. It seems Scandinavian ‘very blonde and blue’ eyed genes are less recessive than those from other areas …just a very casual observation. In essence I don’t believe all ‘blue eyes and blonde’ genes are the same…and you can also see differences in the way the colour changes over time, in AngloSaxons/Celts the blonde colour tends to get darker as we get older…but this seems not to be the case for many Scandanivians.

There is one other chance for this to occur but rare of course…there are genes from the Dutch hiding in the local population, especially in South Taiwan, so the Taiwanese mother of father does have a small probability to be carrying the ‘blue’ eyed allele and not know.

[quote=“headhonchoII”] in AngloSaxons/Celts the blonde colour tends to get darker as we get older…but this seems not to be the case for many Scandanivians.

There is one other chance for this to occur but rare of course…there are genes from the Dutch hiding in the local population, especially in South Taiwan, so the Taiwanese mother of father does have a small probability to be carrying the ‘blue’ eyed allele and not know.[/quote]

wow, very in-depth explanation of the gene chemistry. Now it explains why my hair never got darker… your theory of dutch bloodline makes sense, I will need to ask my mom if her side of the family have any possible connections to Dutch ancestry. I doubt it but it will be interesting to find out :slight_smile: thanks!

elburro, I will definitely pm you when I am in Taiwan next month.

That’s interesting.

My wife’s aunt has one brown and one blue eye. Apart from that, they all look completely Asian. I think the blue eye come from a Dutch gene, you are looking at genes being forcibly introduced in 1660, I doubt that any family history goes back that far.

I have brown eyes, and brown hair, so a blue eyed blonde was a nice surprise. I do carry the blue allele, as my dad has blue eyes.

Yup you dont look half half. But you will be able to more then hold your own against the Taiwanese girls. :slight_smile:

I don’t know all the chemistry behind mixing of dominate and recessive genes, but I do know I am a living proof of such possibility you mentioned above. Both my parents are the first generation in their family to mix outside of what you called ''norm". My mother is Taiwanese and as far as I know, she is completely Asian and my father; Scandinavian.

We all have a much broaded variation of genes than we realise from different areas of the world. There was a program on Discovery that illustrated this very well with people who were living in New York (coincidentally). Skin colour is only skin deep as they say.

Taking the example of people from Taiwan, almost all Chinese people here have aboriginal genes. To use my wife as an example she is culturally Hakka but constantly gets mistaken for aborigine when in aborigine areas. All the local guys gets jealous I stole their girl! Higher cheek bones, high nose, double eyelids etc. Surprising? Not in the slightest, there was a huge mixing of aborigines and Hakka people in mountain areas of Miaoli (and all over Taiwan, only male Chinese were allowed to migrate for a long period of history here and the ancestors of her clan were 6 brothers…no women), that may be the reason her mother can sing some aboriginal songs, although there are no communities of aborigines living in the immediate area anymore. She has told me of a local family where the kids have red hair and white skin and I have noticed what looks like a medieval Dutch type church in the local village, but there is no written history of their presence, which probably was before most Hakka people migrated to that area.

[quote=“KylieHJensen”]
Do we have any Eurasians in here? I am curious to seek your experience as a Eurasian living in both Eastern and Western Culture. Do you ever felt a sense of belonging, where do you fit in most, and how tough was it for you to live in (Asia, Europe, North America) and most importantly, did you ever feel lost?[/quote]

OK, I will try to answer this one. First of all, I am not eurasian, however i have 4 kids who are.

My oldest daugter - interesting, I showed your pics to my wife, and she claims that you look like each other when it comes to eyes and nose, her hair is a very dark brown, though, and her eye color is hazel, IE like mine. If she dyed her hair, she would probably end up looking closer to you than Chinese, IE she could pass for a Dane in Denmark with no eyebrows lifted. OK enough about looks.

My oldest daughter prefers Denmark over Taiwan any day, and considers herself Danish. Looking different, yup, you will get a hard time at school, however she has coped well so far. She’s moving to Denmark to attend a boarding school next year, and she looks forward to that. She spent her first 3+ years in Denmark, and I guess that she got her cultural imprint back then. She will go through a cultural chock when she gets there, however I use Danish summer schools to soften it up a bit and get her Danish up to scratch. She’s 13.

Number 2 came here when 4 months old. Her hair is hazel, however she looks more Chinese than her sister. She identifies with Taiwan a lot, however she’s the one having the toughest at school. I think that odds are that once I send her to Denmark, she will return here once she has a chance to, IE after high school or college. She just turned 10.

My son is 3, and appears very Chinese in looks and behavior, and I figure that he will consider himself Chinese too. He is having an easy time in kindergarten, it’s a military one chiefly used by people working in a military research center, and females working there must have a thing with foreigners, as there’s a handful of eurasian kids there, IE teachers and the other kids are used to see kids looking differently.

My youngest daugher is blond and blue eyed, however she has mongolian folds (my wife suggests plastic surgery, once she’s old enough, however let’s see about that). Since she’s a mere 10 months old, hard to tell how things will be regarding national/ethnic identification.

One thing I have noticed is that the kids choose ethnicities, IE where they feel they belong. I think that the first 3-4 years are very important in that regard. Mine at least seem to identlfy with one culture over the other to some extent, IE they don’t end up where they are 100% into both. I am happy as long as they are comfortable in both cultures.

ive got quite a lot of Chinese (Taiwanese)/ Foreign (German, Scot, English) friends growing up, and I’ve got to say, all of them look distinctly eurasian or mixed in some fashion. I have to admit, seeing your photos, I’ve never seen any kids look so strongly white. Usually, there is at least some pronounced feature (maybe the eyes or the nose) that still looks “asian”. Then again, none of my friends are part Scandinavian… must be quite different from those German genes. I mean you look 100% white in those pics. :astonished:

Oddly enough when I read your initial post, that’s how I felt growing up in Canada, but I’m 100% Han. It was the cultural part that was conflicting. I was too white for my Asian friends, and too Chinese for my white friends. … :unamused:

[quote=“Mr He”] My wife’s aunt has one brown and one blue eye. Apart from that, they all look completely Asian. I think the blue eye come from a Dutch gene, you are looking at genes being forcibly introduced in 1660, I doubt that any family history goes back that far.
[/quote]

I wish urodacus would come and straighten us out for sure on the science but I’m pretty sure that the “only” explanation for the situation with your kids is that your wife has blond hair blue eyed genes mixed in there. Not entirely sure about the hair but pretty darn sure about the eyes. I am interested in that for a lot of reasons, not least among them that it is a living proof that white people have been on this island for a long time. Europeans established major settlements BEFORE the Chinese if I am not mistaken. I don’t know WHY that should be meaningful to me but it is. Aboriginees, of course, are the original inhabitants. I am not sure WHY that is significant either, when it comes right down to it. Japanese too definitely “left there mark” here but nobody ever seems to acknowledge that.

Kylie: By gosh you are a good looking specimen aren’t you?

[quote=“bob”][quote=“Mr He”] My wife’s aunt has one brown and one blue eye. Apart from that, they all look completely Asian. I think the blue eye come from a Dutch gene, you are looking at genes being forcibly introduced in 1660, I doubt that any family history goes back that far.
[/quote]

I wish urodacus would come and straighten us out for sure on the science but I’m pretty sure that the “only” explanation for the situation with your kids is that your wife has blond hair blue eyed genes mixed in there. Not entirely sure about the hair but pretty darn sure about the eyes. I am interested in that for a lot of reasons, not least among them that it is a living proof that white people have been on this island for a long time. Europeans established major settlements BEFORE the Chinese if I am not mistaken. I don’t know WHY that should be meaningful to me but it is. Aboriginees, of course, are the original inhabitants. I am not sure WHY that is significant either, when it comes right down to it. Japanese too definitely “left there mark” here but nobody ever seems to acknowledge that.

Kylie: By gosh you are a good looking specimen aren’t you?[/quote]

We discuss that a fair bit at home. My wife does not know of any white ancestry, so I think it’s down to the 100-200 dutch women who after koxinga took over were forced to stay behind and serve as broodmares for his soldiers. Her dad is from rural shandong, not many whities there, however her mother is from Tainan.

Shes a 100pct viking ! Watch out for the Thor Hammer.
:slight_smile:

Her ancestor was a BROODMARE for a Chinese warlord 450 years ago. A BROODMARE whose recessive genes have been lurking around until YOU came along closed the loop. THAT’S the story? Godamn, that’s an incredible story. Good lord. I don’t see any reason the gene couldn’t have come from earlier though. I like to imagine something more along the lines of handsome soldier engages in illicit affair with young princess sort of deal. Horribly imperialistic of me, of course, but a man feels the way he feels, doesn’t he? No wonder the (admittedly tiny) population of straight local males hate us.

Her ancestor was a BROODMARE for a Chinese warlord 450 years ago. A BROODMARE whose recessive genes have been lurking around until YOU came along closed the loop. THAT’S the story? Godamn, that’s an incredible story. Good lord. I don’t see any reason the gene couldn’t have come from earlier though. I like to imagine something more along the lines of handsome soldier engages in illicit affair with young princess sort of deal. Horribly imperialistic of me, of course, but a man feels the way he feels, doesn’t he? No wonder the (admittedly tiny) population of straight local males hate us.[/quote]

I don’t think my old lady has any princesses in her ancestry. The gene govering blue eyes must have come from somewhere, you need it from both sides.

OK, I have to way of knowing exactly how it ended up there, however there have been blue-eyed members in her family before - on her mothers side.

My son has a very different complexion from us in the family. Bronze I call it, and he has this light brown, brunetteish auburnish hair and eye colour. WHen he was younger he had so many ailments that I took him to see a skin doctor coz we are ALL black haired, wheatish complexion and I thought soon his hair would start freying or sth. the doctor said its mutation. It happens, no big deal.

From the link…

Maybe doctor Jensen dyes her hair… :whistle:[/quote]

You’ve taken that quote a little out of context. Not that it really matters.

I do have western friends married to Taiwanese whose kids look very western. A blonde guy I know has two kids who both have blue eyes and blonde hair. I’m not so sure about the science behind your argument, do you have any links?[/quote]
Indeed. Here’s [url=Show us your kid! (2010) - #145 by bismarck boy[/url]. He’s Eurasian, i.e. His mum is Taiwanese (half Chinese-half Bunan Aboriginal), and I’m European. That’s not exactly a close up of his face, but there’s a good face picture of him (although almost a year old) on the first page of that thread. Nothing about him looks remotely Asian to me, in fact, he looks just like I did at the same age (although my hair was blond and got darker with age). His skin is slightly more bornze, where I’m pretty white, but that may have something to do with either his Asian/Aboriginal heritage, or a black ancestor somewhere in my family tree. :idunno:

[quote=“KylieHJensen”][quote=“headhonchoII”] in AngloSaxons/Celts the blonde colour tends to get darker as we get older…but this seems not to be the case for many Scandanivians.

There is one other chance for this to occur but rare of course…there are genes from the Dutch hiding in the local population, especially in South Taiwan, so the Taiwanese mother of father does have a small probability to be carrying the ‘blue’ eyed allele and not know.[/quote]

wow, very in-depth explanation of the gene chemistry. Now it explains why my hair never got darker… your theory of dutch bloodline makes sense, I will need to ask my mom if her side of the family have any possible connections to Dutch ancestry. I doubt it but it will be interesting to find out :slight_smile: thanks![/quote]
You will probably find your mum will say either, maybe, or I don’t know. If a Taiwanese person had a dutch ancestor, chances are they wouldn’t know about it at all.

The eye colour thing is interesting, though. My mother had brown eyes (and she was a carrier of the blue allele) and my father had blue eyes.
My elder sister has blue eyes, I have hazel to almost green eyes and my younger sister has blue eyes.
My wife has dark brown eyes. My son has lighter brown eyes, and I suspect his eyes will change colour to green or hazel as mine did (yes, my eyes actually changed colour between 10 and 13 years old from dark brown to green/hazel).

With Taiwanese parents or with one Taiwanese and one blue eye? The first option of course being the more interesting. I’ve always wondered if that ever happened.

Nobody would think you two are half Taiwanese. Does it freak people out when you start speaking perfect Mandarin? Or even Taiwanese?
Maybe the only hint would be slightly around the eyes, the nose, and slightly darker skin? Even that much is being pretty picky. Do you have a photo of you with a cousin on your dad’s side?
I hope you don’t think we’re being racist for our interest, but it is interesting, speculating about recessive genes and all that.
I knew two (unrelated) kids in a grade one class. Both had one Chinese parent and one white parent. One child looked completely Chinese; the other had beautiful blond curls and looked completely white.