Thanks for asking, I'm quite good. The last 2-3 years have also been quite busy for me.

To answer your first question, there might be some stigma for expressing or voicing a preference for Northern Chinese women, but such stigma is definitely much much smaller or much less important when comparing to the stigma associated with preference for FSC and SE Asian women. I've been called various names on Chinese discussion boards from monkey to dwarf to negrito, but I couldn't care less about them. I won't change my preference just because of some silly nicknames.

Can't really comment on how popular K-Pop has become since I'm not really into K-Pop. But one thing I can comment is that compared to Korea and Japan China definitely has the potential to export its cultures to the world as well since the cultures languages and peoples in China are very diverse. However under the extreme censorship the only stuff that is guaranteed to pass censorship are those anti-Japanese dramas set in the WW2 era or those dramas about the Chinese revolutions, which no one in the world likes to watch apart from some old Chinese folks of my grandparents' generation.

It's good to know that publicly shaming students has been outlawed in Korea, I wish it could be outlawed in China as well, but I'm not really opportunistic about it. The video that I showed you was filmed on Dec 31st 2021 so still quite recent and the two teachers who publicly shamed the young girl did not get the punishment they deserved I heard that they were only told to temporarily quit their job, not sure if they ever came back to the school.

Sometime ago uisashi has posted a few video links about some soldiers in northern rural Shanxi and I think they have a rather significant overlap with Koreans. Would you mind checking the videos and share your thoughts on the matter please? Thanks.

v.douyin.com/MuVDR22/




v.douyin.com/MuV79A9/



v.douyin.com/MuVCgAn/

She mentioned in the very beginning (around 1:42) that she's from Yangshuo Guilin, not 5-6 minutes into the interview.

According to this chart from 23Mofang, Guilin SW Mandarin speakers have around 12.8% Zhuang-Dai genome, which is only lower than Cantonese but higher than all other Sinitic subgroups, hence it's wrong to say that they aren't Daic-shifted. The Daic-like features of the interviewed woman are quite visible, namingly a somewhat darker complexion, a smaller and more compact face, and larger eyes. I think such features are what separating people in Western Guangdong and Guangxi from the more Mittelsinid pan Chinese types in Fujian, Jiangxi, Hunan, and Eastern Guangdong.

Regarding Mandarin Corner, she can definitely pass in Northern China, especially in the eastern part of Northern China around Hebei, Beijing, Shandong, and Henan. I would even say that she might be able to pass as a atypical Korean or Japanese type.

I doubt Northern and Northeastern Thai ethnic minorities are as big of a factor as Mainland SE Asians in general having greater genetic and phenotype overlap with Han Chinese. Although religious culture is probably the biggest factor given differences between Malaysia/Indonesia and the Philippines.

Apologies for my delayed response! But thanks for the link, I've viewed all three.

In general, I don't see why a large number of the soldiers should be able to pass/blend individually in Korea. They may even have a better chance in the North, as well. It's mostly on the group level I begin to see some differences.

On average, I think limbs are straighter in Nhan with sometimes more flat/gracile faces (that lack cheekbone and/or forehead projection and a narrower midface), and the mouth prog is slightly less. By comparison, the Korean body types tend to be less straight, and more brachy heads, with more projecting forehead/cheekbone areas with wider midfaces, eyes that are rounder with slightly darker irises (due to traces of Jomon-esque influences), with sometimes pseudo-Jomon-esque features, and the headshape is typically narrower and eyebrows more straight.
I also think that Koreans sometimes have recombinations of both the far Northern and Southern influences (not southern as in "fsc", but non-Sibrid/tungid influences that are more unique to the Korean peninsula) which may also be less common in Nhan.

okarinaofsteiner @mnopsc21b

I don't think Mandarin Corner's eyes are even that big. I wouldn't guess her ancestry as southern based on that feature alone.  I can easily find Koreans with even larger eyes -- and yes, while she does look "stereotypically" pan Chinese, she could potentially blend as some atypical Korean. Her skin is also in my perspective, generic EA (neither light nor dark).



She reminds me of this Korean youtuber:


And Park Jihye, a Korean model. They both have the sharp inner eye folds.

okarinaofsteiner @mnopsc21b

I don't think Mandarin Corner's eyes are even that big. I wouldn't guess her ancestry as southern based on that feature alone.  I can easily find Koreans with even larger eyes -- and yes, while she does look "stereotypically" pan Chinese, she could potentially blend as some atypical Korean. Her skin is also in my perspective, generic EA (neither light nor dark).

Agreed, but Northern and Northeast Thais are not seen as "ethnic minorities" and "different ethnic groups" by other Thais. In fact, Northeasteners make up like the majority of Thailand's population; they are even more numerous than Siamese/Central Thais (Bangkok included).  While there are around 6 million Northern Thais btw (not sure if hill tribes are included). Well I was reading some posts on Quora that says that its harder to discriminate and hate another group if they resemble you in looks besides the shared cultural and religious similarities, of course. Thus making, the Chinese migrants easier to assimilate. In the case of Philippines, yes Christianity probably is more inclusive and makes it easier for the Chinese there to also integrate unlike Malaysia/Indonesia. Btw, in the case of Philippines, I noticed many Igorots/Cordillerans can resemble Southern Chinese minorities, Vietnamese, some Far Southern Chinese as well unlike most Flips, but its probably not a big factor as you wrote. 

Sorry for off topic, but I noticed a lot of Thais seem to be confused by the the concept of "ethnicity" and "race". If you ask someone from Chiang Rai and another person from South, what their ethnicities are, they will say "Thai" even though that's far from the truth. Or if you ask a Lao speaker from Isan if he is different ethnicity from a Bangkoker of Chinese descent, he will be confused and say they are both "Thai". It's like they don't understand what the word "ethnicity" means.

How easy is reading, writing Mandarin for you? Does your parents also speak other Chinese variants?