Aladdin doesn’t have one clear “real‑world” race; his identity changes depending on whether you’re talking about the original folktale or the Disney versions. Most modern audiences read him as Middle Eastern in the Disney movies, but the oldest written version actually makes him a poor boy from China.

Quick Scoop

  • In the original literary tale (added to the “One Thousand and One Nights” tradition by French translator Antoine Galland), Aladdin is explicitly described as a boy living in “one of the cities of China,” making him culturally Chinese in that version.
  • The broader “Aladdin” story cycle is grouped with Middle Eastern/Islamic Golden Age tales, so many people think of it as an Arabian story even though this specific plot is set in China.
  • Disney’s 1992 animated film is “based on the Arabic folktale” and visually mashes together Arab, Persian, South Asian, and other “Orientalized” elements into the made‑up city of Agrabah, so Aladdin is usually read as a fantasy Middle Eastern character there rather than a specific real ethnicity.
  • Critics have pointed out that in the 1992 film, many “villain” or side characters are drawn with exaggerated “Arab” features, while Aladdin and Jasmine are designed more like light‑skinned, Western teen leads, which blurs their supposed ethnic identity.
  • In the live‑action Disney remake , Aladdin is played by Mena Massoud, an Egyptian‑born actor, reinforcing the idea that the character is meant to be broadly Middle Eastern/North African in this modern interpretation.

So how to think about “what race is Aladdin?”

If you’re asking from a story‑history angle:

  • Original written version: Chinese hero, in a Chinese city.

If you’re asking from a Disney pop‑culture angle:

  • Animated and live‑action movies: a fictional Middle Eastern character from Agrabah, not tied cleanly to one real‑world ethnicity, but generally read as Arab or Middle Eastern.

In short: folktale Aladdin = Chinese; Disney Aladdin = a stylized, mixed‑influences Middle Eastern hero, not a precisely defined race.

Bottom note: Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.