Primitive notions of color, beauty and superiority are deeply rooted in Asian cultures. The backward and ignorant concept that fair skin is equivalent to soft and good looking; while dark skin equals ugly and dump, is very common place. In fact, the idiocy of this nonsensical thinking goes unchallenged.

For those who prefer to hold onto archaic viewpoints, skin color is determined by the amount and type of melanin, the pigment in the skin. Human skin color can range from almost black (due to very high concentrations of the dark brown pigment melanin) to nearly colorless (appearing reddish white due to the blood vessels under the skin) in different people. Variation in skin color is largely due to genetics. As a general pattern people with ancestors from tropical regions (hence greater sunlight exposure) have darker skin than people with ancestors from subtropical regions. This is far from a hard and fast rule however, because many light skinned groups have managed to survive at the equator by way of social adaptation. The same can be said of dark skinned groups living at subtropical latitudes.