S'porean Chinese men 'ugliest'? Sketch of Chinese men faces sparks intense debate.

An image of colour sketches supposedly depicting men from various parts of China has blown up online — and Singaporean men have been dragged into the conversation.

The startling claim?

Singaporean Chinese men are descendants of people from southeastern China, a region where people apparently have softer features, such as a rounder nose, and less angular jaw.

The unflattering conclusion?

Singaporean Chiese men are derived from this group, which makes them the "ugliest" among Chinese men from other parts of China.

What sketches showed

Without explaining how the amalgamation of faces came about, the illustration depicted the so-called representative male faces of people from China’s northwest, southwest, northeast, southeast, and Xinjiang regions.

The southeastern guy, in particular, comically stood out simply because of his less chiselled facial features and protruding jaw.

Made the rounds online

The image got circulated among social media users, with one X post on Nov. 26, 2025, racking up over 5.7 million views.

Many commenters agreed with the depictions.

Those from southeast China were understandably less than thrilled, but they managed to eke out some consensus among themselves.

Conversation spread to Singapore

Then the conversation spread further and inevitably consumed some in Singapore, where more than two-thirds of Chinese Singaporeans belong to Hokkien, Teochew, and Cantonese groups with roots in southeastern China, according to the 2025 Population in Brief.

Local OnlyFans creator Gracie Hartie chimed in on an X thread featuring the sketches, declaring that Singaporeans, being largely southeastern Chinese, fall under the “ugliest genre of Chinese”.

To provide a semblance of fairness, she added that southeastern Chinese are stereotypically “better traders” and “more entrepreneurial” as well.

Others did not hold back.

One user pointed out that the southeastern man's countenance appeared similar to local actor Wang Weiliang's character in "Ah Boys To Men".

There was also the observation that "Vivian Chow" and "Edison Chen" types are rarely seen in Singapore.

A proposed explanation?

One user claimed that Singaporean men simply lacked grooming effort, while another blamed the weather, saying Singapore’s heat and humidity made dressing up a hassle.

Others joined in with their own hot takes, even though much of the online discourse was not entirely academic or historical in nature, and relied more on personal reflections.

One took the opportunity to join in on the pile on, stating that Singaporeans are a "special kind of ugly".

The user wrote: "I am in Fijian right now. I was in Guangzhou. In both cases the locals are way better looking than what unholy admixture concoction spewed from the anus of Malaysia."

As expected, the sketches were also criticised for playing up stereotypes within the Chinese community, as it was tantamount to reducing people to a very limited set of looks, as if this sort of representation was enough to cover the spectrum of physical features out there.

Female sketches

For those who felt that the sketches of male Chinese faces were nothing more than an attempt to do the southeastern people of China dirty, they looked no further than the female version of the sketches supposedly depicting Chinese women from different parts of China.

The takeaway?

Looks, after all, can be deceiving — and do not tell the full story, as it is sometimes not about how you look, but where you look.

Top photos from @morris_que14/X