With over a million members, Facebook group “subtle asian traits” has become a global sensation among Asian students in the West. The group, inspired by another Facebook page titled Subtle Private School Traits, was founded by nine Asian-Australian high school seniors in Melbourne.
(Six of the nine founders of the Facebook group “subtle asian traits.” From left: Brendan Wang, Anny Xie, Darren Qiang, Kathleen Xiao, Angela Kang, Tony Xie.)
“subtle asian traits” was created in September 2018 as a fun distraction for the creators and other students. Since then, the Facebook group expanded beyond Australia to other countries, including the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Through this group, students from all around the world share jokes about their experiences as first generations of Asian immigrants.
“subtle asian traits” has been criticized for lacking South Asian content, resulting in the creation of a separate Facebook group, “Subtle Curry Traits.” Still, “subtle asian traits” has inspired other groups, such as “subtle asian dating,” “subtle asian pets,” and “subtle asian mates.”
Some posts include linguistic humor, such as this particular post:
Others use dark humor for the discussion of serious topics, such as the need in Asian families to always work hard.
There are also amusing relatable posts, like this one.
And, lastly, there are always posts about the Asian obsession for bubble tea.
The Facebook group is a closed group, which means interested users must request to join or to be added by an existing member or admin.
In an email to NYU Her Campus’s Carol Wu, founder Tony Xie says, “[O]ne of my main hopes is to make subtle asian traits into something more than just a Facebook group though how to achieve this has been something we have been stuck on.”
With 1,300,336 members and growing, “subtle asian traits” is becoming a fast-growing community with endless possibilities in its future.
We hope we’ve inspired you to check out some of the “subtle traits” pages on Facebook!