Facial Structure Recognition
Here’s a somewhat controversial question (depending on who you ask it to): Can you tell someone’s “race” by looking at their facial structure? That is to say could you tell the difference between, for example, a native Japanese / Korean / Chinese person just by looking at their face?
race – n.
- A local geographic or global human population distinguished as a distinct group by genetically transmitted physical characteristics.
- A group of people united or classified together on the basis of common history, nationality, or geographic distribution.
This is a question which I’ve found occasionally comes up in conversation with both Asian and non-Asian friends and I’ve never heard a definitive answer. To the latter group Asians generally tend to “look the same” (which will undoubtedly get you in trouble) while for the former it’s less clear cut ~ some people claim they can while others say it’s impossible. A quick Google search confirms that there are a variety opinions in both directions and there are even whole sites dedicated to the subject.
I scratched my head about this for a long while thinking that logically if a group of people come from the same hereditary genetic pool, based in a semi-enclosed geographical location with a shared heritage of thousands of years, then surely wouldn’t they end up with some similar physical characteristics which would be reliably identifiable, at least for a high percentage of the population?
As per the example here’s my rather un-scientific theory based on morphological observation:
Photo by Ernesto JT
Japanese people tend to have a longer / oval facial structure with wider / larger eyes and more pronounced noses. Japanese women often put on thick makeup giving them a pale white complexion.
Photo by Kam
Chinese people tend to have rounder faces than both Korean and Japanese people. China is a huge multi-ethnic country unlike Korea and Japan (which are more ethnically homogeneous) making it much harder to differentiate or generalize.
Photo by Dax Melmer
Korean people tend to have flatter faces with higher / squarer cheek bones and smaller eyes with single eyelids (opposed to double). A high proportion of Korean women have had cosmetic surgery somewhat confusing things.
Although I’ve found the above a fairly reliable definition trying to guess based on facial structure alone seems to be pretty hit-and-miss in reality. The success rate greatly increases when you included other observable indicators such as name, language, behavior, hairstyle and clothing. According to more scientific studies both East Asians and Caucasians are more easily identifiable by facial features than others.
Failing all that you could just ask which is probably a safer bet than trying to guess and risk upsetting anyone!
Can you tell the difference? (Note: any racist comments will be deleted).
Design Perspectives
What do you notice about the design of these web pages (aside from the fact that they’re not English)?
The top 3 are Korean and the bottom 3 Chinese – all are popular portals. Naver is Korea’s premier search engine (with 77% of the market there) and Cyworld could be compared to Facebook (with over 20 million users).
If your first reaction is that all these sites are very crowded and densely packed with content then you’re not alone. Your second reaction might be to ask why would they design something so cluttered, and from a western perspective lacking in the clarity and simplicity that we’ve come to expect from “good design”. It’s certainly not very “Web 2.0″, as we know it anyway.
It turns out a lot of other people are thinking the same thing. Different theories for why there is this marked difference are abundant, ranging from the influence of Buddhist principles whereby “strong and rich colour, density, and opulent presentation symbolize happiness and wealth”, otherwise termed the ‘aesthetics of abundance’, to different advertising models and the way in which people read/scan different languages. It seems no one has a definitive answer which means there’s definitely room for research here.
What I find fascinating is that two almost entirely different ways of looking a web design have emerged from a common set of technologies used by different cultures. It’s even more applicable when you consider western firms doing business in East Asia where a simple re-branding exercise is clearly going to be insufficient.
Another interesting point in fact is that whereas in the west we are used to accessing and advertising websites by their URL (e.g. www.randomwire.com), in East Asia the search box is king and URL’s are virtually redundant. These so called “navigational searches” may have something to do with the complexities of typing roman characters on input devices especially designed for Japanese/Korean/Chinese but still seems a pretty good idea to me and one which I expect will slowly make its way westwards in time, especially with the rise of the mobile internet where typing is even more cumbersome.
London -> Tokyo by Train
Sometimes you come across an idea which is so mad that it might just have a chance of success. This was the case when I first heard about proposals to dig a 200km+ undersea train tunnel between Korea and Japan in a similar fashion to the Channel Tunnel which connects Britain and France (albeit 4 times longer). The tunnel has a number of proposed routes, a couple of which would see it also pass through the territorially disputed islands of Tsushima and Iki on it’s path.
It’s estimated that it would cost around 100 trillion Won (£1=W2000) and 15 to 20 years to build the so-called “peace tunnel” which would be a joint venture between the two countries if it ever comes to fruition. The technical, economic and political feasibility of the project is currently being estimated but it is still far from clear whether it will ever get the go ahead given the uncertainties.
Aside from improving relations between the two countries and promoting economic growth what excites me about this project is the wider implications for trans-continental travel around the world. With the cost of flying rising every year and the environmental impacts ever more present could high-speed rail links, taking advantage of new connections such as this, be part of the solution?
If the tunnel is ever built it would be physically feasible to travel by train all the way from London to Tokyo without the need for flying (ignoring the small problem of North Korea for the moment!) and combined with new technology in the future such as magnetic levitation the journey time wouldn’t necessarily be a huge amount longer than flying.
In the wake of the devastating earthquake in China yesterday you have to wonder whether building a massive underwater tunnel in an area of tectonic instability is a good idea but as pipe dreams go (excuse the pun) I’m all in favour! Humankind has always strived to push the boundaries of science, technology and engineering and it can’t be a bad thing if this helps bring together two historically hostile neighbours.