last weekend my parents were in town for a cousin's wedding.  while i had to drive them around all weekend and spend many idle moments with relatives and family friends, it was a fun time all-around.  lots of food, lots of smiling for cameras, and lots of 'you're next, right'?

my cousin married a korean guy.  seems like quite the trend in my family - the last 3 cousins' weddings i've attended were all chinese/korean.  though this one was the first female cousin to marry korean, and was also the first time where i got to see my relatives partake in all the korean traditions.  it was all rather amusing - my relatives looked completely lost since none of the ceremonies were rehearsed, and half the time the groom's relatives were speaking korean.  but everyone seemed to have fun and it was nice seeing the respect and appreciation given for both sides of the families. 

the topic of korean/chinese and interracial relationships is a common one in asian-american circles.  i'm sure we all know some of the stereotypes for idealized pairings, so i won't repeat them here.  instead, i was curious whether there existed factual data or studies on pan-asian/interracial unions.  doing the usual google searches, i found a site that provides census numbers on asian-american marriages.  some of the more interesting numbers:

• for all ethnic groups, asian females marry endogamously (within their own ethnicity) at a lower percentage than males (e.g. chinese males 64.5%, females 54.8%).
• the rate for korean-american females marrying endogamously is particularly low (38.9%) as compared to other ethnic groups (e.g. chinese 54.8%, japanese 56.2%).
• chinese-american males have the highest percentage (11%) for marrying asian but not endogamously.
• filipino-american males have the highest marriage rate with caucasian females (30.5%).  this is considerably higher than other groups (e.g. chinese 20.8%, korean 7.8%).

the site provides some theories to explain these numbers.   i definitely don't agree with some of the explanations (e.g. asian females wanting to marry whites to increase social status) but it's interesting to see the numerical data back-up or contradict some of my own personal observations.