Traditional Culture Encyclopedia - Weather inquiry - Why are southerners shorter than northerners?

Why are southerners shorter than northerners?

Netizen replied: Overall, the average height of men in most sample cities is between 167- 170cm. Although there is indeed a height gap between the north and the south, the gap is far smaller than the previous folk rankings. There are many tall people in the north, and the Jianghuai area is also rising. So, what is affecting height? Traditionally, there are six factors that affect height. In addition to 70% genetic factors, the other 30% are diseases (including obesity and precocious puberty), diet, sleep, exercise and mood. There are also some people who think that the higher the latitude, the higher the height of people. The reason is that the climate in high latitudes is cold, human metabolism is slow, and local residents have accumulated more material and energy, so they are tall. Anthropological research on the constitution of the Han nationality in China has not directly demonstrated this reason, but it has also affirmed the statement that "the higher the latitude, the higher the height". It is found that there is a significant positive correlation between the height and latitude of Han men and women. The higher the latitude, the higher the altitude. The results also show that the average height of men and women in Northeast China has increased significantly, with an increase of about 56.2 mm and 46.9 mm respectively in the past 50 years. The values in Jianghuai, Southwest and Gan-speaking areas are also quite eye-catching, and the number of men has also increased by more than 50mm in the past 50 years. Some people think that national integration and regional quality of life have the same significant influence on height, which is obviously closely related to local economic development. Northeast China has experienced many immigration activities in history, and the speed and breadth of integration of different ethnic groups are at a high level, which has led to the height of residents.

Netizen replied: Good height, short height, and the height of different regions and nationalities of human beings are ultimately the result of the interaction between genome and environment. According to the average height statistics of China provinces on 20 16, we found that the top ten are all northern provinces, and the last ten are all southern provinces. According to the current research, we know that height is a trait controlled by multiple genes. The so-called character, in layman's terms, is what the organism shows. Multi-gene control, that is to say, there are many genetic variations that affect height. At present, scientists have identified hundreds of genes related to height, and each gene has little effect. Affected by historical migration, regional intermarriage and many other complicated intertwined events, the genomes of the northern and southern populations in China are different to some extent. The height difference between the north and the south was mainly formed in ancient times when there was little migration and intermarriage. The main reasons for this difference should be climate and temperature. Generally speaking, in the south where the temperature is higher, the lower altitude is more conducive to human adaptation to the environment, while in the north, it is the opposite. Of course, in the contemporary society where traffic is more and more developed and people are more and more frequent, the regional differences between people have become smaller and smaller. At the same time, due to more and more human control over the environment, the living environment of people without geographical access is becoming more and more similar. Therefore, in fact, the height gap by region will become smaller and smaller in the future.

Netizen replied: The first reason is the climate. Cold areas can stimulate human growth hormone more than warm areas, and because of the cold weather, people will eat more food, and of course they will grow taller more easily. Therefore, people in cold areas such as Russia and Yugoslavia are generally very tall, and northern China is no exception. The second is the diet structure. In the south, rice and pork are almost absolute staple foods, while in the north, most people are used to eating pasta and beef and mutton, which have different effects on bone growth and body shape. However, after consulting the data, it is found that ethnic and genetic factors also have important reference significance. Take the tallest Shandong person as an example. Guo Moruo, a famous scholar, once verified that ancient humans in Dawenkou culture period in Shandong province were characterized by thick beards and aquiline noses, which had obvious Caucasian appearance characteristics. The ancient Dongyi people may be a kind of people in East Asia between white people and yellow people. They are very tall. The average height of Dawenkou cultural group is 172.5 cm, ranking first in the Neolithic cultural era in China.

Netizen reply: The average height of southerners is a little shorter than that of northerners! Among northerners, there are countless second-class "disabled people" (those whose height is lower than the regional average), such as Wu Dalang and Pan Changjiang. Many men and women in southern China are "tall" and "mighty", such as Yao Ming, a contemporary former basketball superstar ... We must not generalize. The height difference between the north and the south of China can be explained from several aspects: geographical differences. Yuanmou man in Yunnan is the earliest ancient human in Chinese mainland so far. Later, Lantian Man Site, Peking Man Site and Neanderthal Man Site were discovered in Shaanxi (relatively close) ... This shows that the ancient human migration in China was from south to north, and there was no difference in the height between north and south in China. The north is located in warm temperate zone, cold zone and desertification zone, with dry and cold weather, and a cold current often comes from Siberia. In order to resist the long cold in winter and spring, the human body must instinctively, timely and in advance store more energy for external consumption of temperature. In the early north, the days were short in winter and spring, and the nights were long, so they rarely traveled far away (excluding war harassment), and the internal friction was reduced. For example, Shaanxi people live in caves and sleep pits in the northeast ... and they have enough sleep time, which is also conducive to increasing their height. First, the difference in terrain. There are many hills and lakes in the south of Ma Pingchuan, and the production tools and methods lag behind those in the north. There are relatively few tools such as horse-drawn carriages and ox carts. Some places are farming in two or three seasons a year, which inevitably requires more physical strength to complete work and travel. Some even have to keep wading through mountains and rivers, shoulder to shoulder! Sometimes I have to engage in sideline business, and my self-consumption is definitely higher. However, northerners can basically "relax" after "completing" their due harvest, leaving timely time for bones and fat to increase their "harvest".

Netizen replied: Southerners are shorter than northerners, which is not entirely correct. It can only be said that northerners are taller on average; Because South Renye Fang is very high. Eating habits affect. Northerners eat more flour and have high starch content. In addition, they have strong physique and strong immunity, which can promote bone development. Geographical location influence. The latitude in the north is higher than that in the south, and the ultraviolet radiation is greater. Ultraviolet rays can induce bone division and promote bone development; The colder the weather, the more people need to reduce unit energy loss and increase body surface area, so northerners are taller. Differences in nutrient utilization ratio. The temperature in the north is lower than that in the south, and the respiration of northerners is lower than that of southerners, so the nutrient consumption is less and the nutrient utilization rate is higher, which is the most important reason.

Netizen replied: We all know that the environment between the north and the south is very different, and the diet is also very different. Everyone in the environment knows that men are rainy and wet. The north is sunny and the weather is dry. I'm from the south. I came to Beijing in my first year of college. That autumn and winter really made me realize what dryness is. I never need to put anything on my face in my hometown. But it doesn't work in Beijing. If you don't apply it, it will peel off and your whole face will hurt. This is the biggest difference between the north and the south in climate and environment. And the diet structure can also be said to be the biggest factor. We all know that northerners like to eat pasta. Southerners like rice. Pasta is made of flour, which is ground from wheat, so rice is planted in the north. Southerners like to eat rice. Rice comes from rice, so men grow rice. We have all heard a word called polished rice! In other words, rice belongs to flour and rice. Pasta made of flour belongs to coarse grains. People who eat more coarse grains, bones and muscles will grow rapidly, while polished rice and polished rice are the opposite. What is said here is universal characteristics, not absolute. Because there are many tall people in the south and many short people in the north. What we are studying is a universal feature. On the other hand, in some places, there are also some local characteristics that lead to height problems. For example, from Chongqing, the overall height of men is 167. Because Chongqing is humid, if you live here all the year round, you must have physical problems. Therefore, people in Chongqing like to eat peppers, and basically every meal has peppers, in order to drive away the moisture in the body. But it also inhibits the growth of height. We all know that extremes meet, so if you eat too much pepper, your height will be limited. It is even more difficult for people from the north and the south to truly be intertwined, because people from the south and the north have come and gone for so many years, and there is no obvious boundary, so they can only be distinguished geographically. So we can only make a cursory study.