Can we say 「ほとんどの日本人と韓国人も中国系である。」?


Some people in the east asia (such as Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, etc) are
called 中国系 because their ancestors came from China centuries ago. And the
native ones are not called 中国系. Is the word 中国系 misused (or even offensive) in
this case?

How about Japanese (and Korean)? According to the history I read, Japanese
(and Korean) people come from China as well, so can we say
「ほとんどの日本人と韓国人も中国系である。」?

Disclaimer: Without any intent to offend, the point of this question is
actually what the word 中国系 means.




At least to laypeople, the word 中国系 only means someone who are directly
related to People's Republic of China in the last few decades. ~~I have never
regarded ordinary Malaysians and Singaporeans as 中国系~~ ( _edit_ : this was
misleading considering the fact that Singapore is ethnically quite
heterogeneous). The same is true for Koreans and Japanese, and calling them
中国系 can be offending. アジア系 vaguely includes Asian people in general.

In pure archaeological/biological contexts, 中国系 might mean something
different, but perhaps such a topic does not belong to this site.

* * *

**EDIT:** Let me elaborate... Unsurprisingly, saying 日本人と韓国人は中国系だ basically
means " _All_ Japanese and Korean people are 中国系", and that's a bit puzzling
sentence. I would assume you are talking about the origin of Japanese people
(who actually came from Asian Continent more than 10,000 ago during the ice
age) in an archaeological context. But when you refer to this fact, it's
better to say 中国が起源だ, 日本人の起源は中国大陸だ or something like that to avoid confusion.
I'm not really sure how the word 中国系 is usable by experts in such a context.

10,000 years is very long, and most Japanese people regard themselves simply
as "native" 日本人 or 日本民族, not as 中国系. Japan has very often been described as
単一民族国家 which consists of "native" Japanese race (i.e., ignoring Ainu, which
are small in number). Therefore, at least in non-archaeological contexts,
日本人は中国系だ sounds puzzling, or it can be even offending (perhaps like saying
"Canadians are Americans" out of nowhere). If you say 日本人の〇%は中国系だ or
日本人の一部は中国系だ, that would mean something totally different and reasonable. Such
a sentence safely refers to a group of people who have moved from China to
Japan relatively recently after the Meiji period and have Japanese
nationality.




At least to laypeople, the word 中国系 only means someone who are directly
related to People's Republic of China in the last few decades. ~~I have never
regarded ordinary Malaysians and Singaporeans as 中国系~~ ( _edit_ : this was
misleading considering the fact that Singapore is ethnically quite
heterogeneous). The same is true for Koreans and Japanese, and calling them
中国系 can be offending. アジア系 vaguely includes Asian people in general.

In pure archaeological/biological contexts, 中国系 might mean something
different, but perhaps such a topic does not belong to this site.

* * *

**EDIT:** Let me elaborate... Unsurprisingly, saying 日本人と韓国人は中国系だ basically
means " _All_ Japanese and Korean people are 中国系", and that's a bit puzzling
sentence. I would assume you are talking about the origin of Japanese people
(who actually came from Asian Continent more than 10,000 ago during the ice
age) in an archaeological context. But when you refer to this fact, it's
better to say 中国が起源だ, 日本人の起源は中国大陸だ or something like that to avoid confusion.
I'm not really sure how the word 中国系 is usable by experts in such a context.

10,000 years is very long, and most Japanese people regard themselves simply
as "native" 日本人 or 日本民族, not as 中国系. Japan has very often been described as
単一民族国家 which consists of "native" Japanese race (i.e., ignoring Ainu, which
are small in number). Therefore, at least in non-archaeological contexts,
日本人は中国系だ sounds puzzling, or it can be even offending (perhaps like saying
"Canadians are Americans" out of nowhere). If you say 日本人の〇%は中国系だ or
日本人の一部は中国系だ, that would mean something totally different and reasonable. Such
a sentence safely refers to a group of people who have moved from China to
Japan relatively recently after the Meiji period and have Japanese
nationality.

