Question

How did Asians go from being called “white” to “yellow”?

Answer 1

Answer:

this is the story my mom used to tell me.  

our skin in white.  and people even go to lengths to dye their skin an even lighter shade of white(the lighter your skin was the wealthier you were).  

But as times came rolling around and segregation ended and the modern era started, people stopped caring so much about having white white skin.  The natural tone was kind of yellow so people kind of used it is as a racist term.  

hope this helped

Answer 2

Answer:  The term yellow occasionally began to appear towards the end of the 18th century and then really took hold of the Western imagination in the 19th. But by the 17th century, the Chinese and Japanese were “darkening” in published texts, gradually losing their erstwhile whiteness when it became clear they would remain unwilling to participate in European systems of trade, religion, and international relations.

Explanation: The racist and cultural stereotypes of the Yellow Peril originated in the late 19th century, when Chinese workers (people of different skin-color, physiognomy, language and culture) legally immigrated to Australia, Canada, the U.S. and New Zealand, where their work ethic inadvertently provoked a racist backlash.