Distribution of Haptoglobins among Chinese in Taiwan

Abstract

IN view of the widespread interest in the distribution of haptoglobin types among various ethnic groups, we wish to report preliminary results from work with Chinese residents in Taiwan. These results agree with those of Kirk et al.¹, with the exception that no instances of the so-called 0–0 type were found among the 172 individuals tested (see Table 1). Nevertheless, we wish to comment on the striking similarity between the haptoglobin distribution in Chinese and those of the African Bushmen. The use of the distribution of haptoglobin types as an additional tool for genetic and anthropological studies has well-recognized possibilities², and may eventually allow reconstruction of more distant racial interrelationships too subtle for recognition with the present fragmentary data. An example of such a relationship is that of the possible Mongoloid character of the Bushmen at present found in the southern portion of Africa, and exemplified by the Bushmen of the Kalahari Desert region in Bochuanaland and those in South-West Africa. As mentioned by Weiner and Zoutendyk³, the concept of a possible Mongoloid component in the Bushmen heritage is based primarily on the skin colour of the Bushmen and the frequent occurrence of an internal epicanthric fold. Although their general physiognomy is recognized to be distinct from other ethnic groups in Africa, the Bushmen generally are regarded by anthropologists to be related to the Negroid races. Recent support for this position is provided, for example, by the blood group studies on the Central Kalahari Bushmen made by Weiner and Zoutendyk³, who concluded that the Central Kalahari Bushmen, as well as the Bushmen from South-West Africa, “exhibit in general a Negroid pattern in their blood groups”.