It's funny to think about racial/ethnic designations. Take white people, for instance. In East Asia we used to call people from Central and Southwest Asia (Middle East) and beyond by names like: "people from the Western ranges (西域人)," "people with colors in their eyes (色目人)" or "pink people (紅人)." These are all descriptive, serviceable names, but have become eclipsed by Europeans' self-designation as "white."