a word that simply means "eastern". It refers to anything or anyone from the "East". "Oriental" was first applied mainly to
Mesopotamia,
Persia and maybe India because those lands were east of the Roman Empire. Later on ancient China was found to be more than a myth and so the previous "
Orient" became known as the "Near" or "Middle" East and East Asia was now tagged as the "Orient" or the "Far East". Because of the geography the term "Oriental" came to be applied to the cultural aspects, the peoples and other things from the "Far East". Of course, "Western" is used to refer to anything or anyone from Europe, North America and such.
1. "Oriental" is a term generally applied to the "race"/ethnicities that inhabit the region from
Myanmar (formerly
Burma) all the way to Korea and Japan. It's a term referring to geography ("East") and is not an offensive or slur word. Some politically correct people in America think it is but I've known some Koreans, Japanese, Vietnamese and others from
the Orient in college and they do not find the word to be offensive at all.
2. There are groceries and restaurants that specialize in
East Asian food. Many of them use the word "Oriental" on their signs, so apparently they don't see that word as a racial slam, do they?
3.
Rugs made in Iran or India are still called "Oriental
rugs". They are nice, huge, heavy and expensive.
4. There's been an Oriental presence and influence in America for a long time. There are Chinatowns,
Japanese-American communities, Vietnamese neighborhoods and Korean neighborhoods on the West Coast states (especially California) and they have been in America for over
160 years. Like all ethnic groups here they have played an important role in making the U.S.A. the great nation that it is today.
5. Also in the Pacific West coast states the Native American peoples have oral traditions detailing of contact with Oriental people long ago. The
travellers were probably Chinese, Japanese and others. Relations with those visitors were pretty good.
6. Oriental nations have given the world many contribution in the fields of sciences, arts, military strategy, medicine and more.
