BellaOnline Forums Travel and Culture Chinese Culture Is "Orient" a Bad Term?

It doesn't seem to me that you're making light of it at all, Lisa. I think this is a really interesting conversation -- I've often wondered what other people think about these terms.

I really don't know where most people stand on this -- if they find "orient" and "oriental" offensive, or impolite, or somewhere in between, or none of the above... Just to be on the safe side, though, I do my best to avoid them.

Don't they still call that famous train 'The Orient Express?'

Excellent point, Nicola.

And Lisa...people need to lighten up. Don't worry about it. People who are offended by everything. I may not like how it sounds, but thats because I am super picky about everything but it doesn't offend me. But then again, I'm not Asian so does the fact that I'm not offended by the term count? lol

Someone is always going to be offended by something we do. People tend to find ways to twist what we say into something it completely is not. Not long ago, on this very forum, I got in "trouble" when I said the girls at the local Chinese restaurant were fascinated by the fact that Americans are interested in Chinese culture. The person complaining assumed that when I refering to Americans, I meant Caucasians and that I was implying that I was better than the waitresses. It was a bit bewildering and at first I was upset that I may have hurt someone. After discussing it with a few people, I realized that some people like making issues out of nothing and that isn't my problem. Nor is it yours if someone is offended by a simple term. No offense to anyone out there but there are terms that are a lot worse than "Oriental". So don't worry.

Thus ends my rambling =P

That's what I always thought too!

My college roommate was Korean, and she told me that she preferred "Asian" when you can't be more specific, ie: Chinese, Laotian, etc. But that "Oriental" was definitely NOT OK to use when referring to people.

But I thought using "Oriental" to refer to things -- particularly rugs -- was acceptable. I haven't encountered someone who was offended by that use of Oriental. And it didn't occur to me that someone would be, although I can see the point from the imperialistic undertones.

Curious, though -- has anyone ever heard someone call an Oriental rug an "Asian rug"??

Kim

I'm Korean and found this thread.
My understanding has always been "things and objects' are 'Oriental' and people are Asian.
It offends me to be called Oriental.
I can't really explain why but it does.

Interesting. I hadn't realised these points although I always refer to people as "Asian" if I don't specifically know which country they are from.

But (artistically) I love the sound of the word "oriental" (as in "oriental art", "oriental furniture") - it is a word that flows so prettily off the tongue with the multiple vowels... I really would hate to lose it as a word! (Sorry to be so selfish! There's a writer for you.)

Atriel,

That is what I thought as well.

My significant other (who is American), and I were discussing this last night.
He too was baffled by the difference, because in his mind, "Oriental" is not a derogatory term.

I think that the reason it offends me to be called "Oriental" is because I am a person, I'm not a 'thing'.
I don't think that is as necessarily offensive as some other words but I do think that it's an outdated term that has now picked up negative connotations.

I was just at a mall and there was a store called Oriental Goods I think full of gorgeous shirts and incense and such. We bought a few incense varieties in fact. They are all asian people there so they chose their own name on purpose ...

So Oriental is an adjective for things, and Asian is an adjective for people?

Yep! I think that's right, Lisa