Convergent Skin Lightening in East Asia

Angela

Angela

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A genetic mechanism for convergent skin lightening during recent human evolution , Yang et al.

http://mbe.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2016/01/06/molbev.msw003.full.pdf+html

"Skin lightening among Eurasians is thought to have been a convergence occurring independently in Europe and East Asia as an adaptation to high latitude environments. Among Europeans, several genes responsible for such lightening have been found, but the information available for East Asians is much more limited. Here, a genome-wide comparison between dark-skinned Africans and Austro-Asiatic speaking aborigines and light-skinned northern Han Chinese identified the pigmentation gene OCA2, showing unusually deep allelic divergence between these groups. An amino acid substitution (His615Arg) of OCA2 prevalent in most East Asian populations but absent in Africans and Europeans was significantly associated with skin lightening among northern Han Chinese. Further transgenic and targeted gene modification analyses of zebrafish and mouse both exhibited the phenotypic effect of the OCA2 variant manifesting decreased melanin production. These results indicate that OCA2 plays an important role in the convergent skin lightening of East Asians during recent evolution."

The targeted gene modification and use of reflectance values was particularly interesting in light of recent discussions.


 
I think this Han designation is silly. China was composed of many kingdoms all vying for supremacy. The first emperor was really bad so the next dynasty which was much more people oriented were the Hans. So Chinese in this empire became known as Hans. Anyway most of the dynastic struggles were with northern, warrior people who were in most cases nomads. The horse really was a huge advantage in war and combined with archery which these nomads made in their normal living added this to their battle tactics which were wining combinations. So it is hard to really define Han Chinese. They were composed of different people under the Han.

To this day, China's majority ethnic group refers to itself as the "Han people" and the Chinese script is referred to as "Han characters".[5] It was founded by the rebel leader Liu Bang, known posthumously as Emperor Gaozu of Han, and briefly interrupted by the Xin dynasty (9–23 AD) of the former regent Wang Mang. This interregnum separates the Han dynasty into two periods: the Western Han or Former Han (206 BC – 9 AD) and the Eastern Han or Latter Han (25–220 AD).
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Han_dynasty

Han dynasty, Wade-Giles romanization Han,

the second great imperial dynasty of China (206 bce–220 ce) after the Zhou dynasty (1046–256 bce). It succeeded the Qin dynasty (221–207 bce). So thoroughly did the Han dynasty establish what was thereafter considered Chinese culture that “Han” became the Chinese word denoting someone who is ethnically Chinese.
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http://www.britannica.com/topic/Han-dynasty

Liu Bang (about 250 BC to 195 BC) defeated the Qin Dynasty (221–206 BC) and declared himself to be the emperor. The people were greatly impoverished by the Qin rule and the civil war. He tried to build up his large empire.
The region and its people were destroyed. More than half of the population of the region of Qin Empire were killed in a short period of time by the Qin conquests, policies, and subsequent rebellions. It is thought that the population of the region fell to about 18 million people by the time of Liu Bang's ascension.
Liu Bang established policies that were less harsh. He allowed more freedom and lowered taxation, and he didn’t strive for total power. His successors expanded the territory.
The Han emperors' policies were more successful. In a census taken in 2 AD, the population of the empire was 57 million people or three times higher than when the empire began. The land area was more than twice the size of the original territory.
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http://www.chinahighlights.com/travelguide/china-history/the-han-dynasty.htm
 
They're making the same mistake they made when trying to find skin-lighting mutations in Europeans. They compare Africans(and in this case Oceania) to Light skinned population. Genetically they're very divergent, so of course you're going to find SNPs in genes associated with pigmentation where they differ in frequencies. The people to compare them to are Middle Easterners and SouthEast Asians, who are closely related but Dark skinned.
 
I don't think Chinese people mixed as much. The first emperor forced a uniform written language on the people but people spoke different languages. Every province roughly would be old kingdoms as they speak different languages. In Calcutta (Kolkata) our next door neighbour were Chinese but spoke a different language -Hupak. Their mother was a tall woman with small bandaged feet. The oldest son had a humped back. The middle son was tall and handsome while the youngest son was good-looking.

Chinese for the chowhound

By piali.dasgupta |Posted 18-Nov-2011
6 0 0 0 0

Tangra isn't just another Chinese joint around the corner. It serves up competent Chinese fare keeping the palate preference of the typical Indian diner in mind
A few weeks ago, we reviewed Sofraah, one of the three restaurants at Eden Park in Jayanagar. An errand took us back to that part of town on Tuesday evening and made us take a spur of the moment decision to dine at Tangra, the Chinese restaurant at Eden Park.

Food.jpg


If you have lived half your life in Calcutta, Tangra, evokes many emotions. As the only china town in the country and a haven for Hakka style Chinese food that suit the Indian palate wonderfully, it brings back memories of a narrow, dingy lane dotted with the best Chinese restaurants this side of the equator, that have existed there for ages.

Tangra, the upscale restaurant in Jayanagar, attributes its moniker to the china town in Calcutta on the first page of its menu card. And the food here is much like the soya sauce heavy Indian Chinese that one gets to sample in the non descript bylane that we spoke about.

The d �cor of this 11-month old restaurant, of course, is chic, unlike the no-frills restaurants in Tangra, Calcutta. But then again, it resembles any other fine dining spot in town.

Wooden furniture, orange upholstery and the mandatory golden Budhha at the entrance met our eyes as we made our way to a corner table.

The Chilli Fried Prawns (Rs 400) was the appetizer of our choice and we decided to wash it down with an impeccably made Virgin Mojito (Rs 175). As for the prawns, it's a good option if you want a break from the ubiquitous Golden Fried Prawns.

chicken.jpg

Hupak Chicken

Six robust pieces of prawns in a red chilli sauce is not a bad idea for a starter. The Tangra Baby Corn(Rs 175) with a tomato base and garlic was the vegetarian's choice and proved to be rather unexceptional.

Most of us in the urban spaces have been exposed to Chinese fare for as long as we have been exposed to our regional cuisine.

And most restaurants tend to go overboard with the Schezwan and Manchurian sauces. We wanted to steer clear of those two and ordered the Hupak Chicken with rice wine and pickled onion(Rs 250) instead for the mains.
- See more at: http://www.mid-day.com/articles/chinese-for-the-chowhound/142914#sthash.UwaQ0wER.dpuf
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http://www.mid-day.com/articles/chinese-for-the-chowhound/142914

Then there are the Hakkas in India who ran shoes businesses. They had shoe factories and made good leather shoes. Chairman Deng Xiaoping was a Haka Chinese.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deng_Xiaoping
 
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