http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orient

Originally, it meant the Middle East. That’s because Europeans first encountered them. Later on (fairly recently in human history), they discovered and started trading with the people in the Far East (China, Japan, etc). So, the “Orient” encompassed basically anyone from the East and it’s now commonly identified with people from the Far East because there’s just more of them and the West had a long history of occupying/dominating good chunks of the Far East.

Some Asians are offended if you call them oriental because it brings back connotations of that time of colonialism and other oppression (like the British and Hong Kong/India or French and Vietnam).

I could care less b/c I think it’s just another case of political corectness gone amuck. “Asian” is better simply b/c it’s more accurate and Oriental is kind of a colloquial and antiquated term. I’m not gonna get my panties in a bunch if someone calls me “oriental” though.

“The Orient” referred a vague trading empire spanning across Asia and the Middle East – basically anything that Westerners/Europeans considered “exotic”. So to call a person “Oriental” nowadays lumps them together with millions of other people, from hundreds of countries, each with a unique history and background. “Asian” is at least more specific and refers to the modern century.

Asia is a large continent, and is Asian people tend to include the Middle East as well.

I’m not sure why some Asians would find it offensive to be called Oriental, personally I’m not. Maybe it had to due with discrimination during the early years when Chinese and Japanese immigrants came over to America.