112-953: Din Tai Fung is a Taiwanese restaurant chain specializing in Chinese cuisine , particularly famous for its xiaolongbao . Based in Taipei, Taiwan, Din Tai Fung also has branches in Australia, Mainland China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Macau, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Founder Yang Bing-yi , an immigrant from Shanxi , initially worked ten years at Heng Tai Fung,
224-628: A Michelin star . The Michelin Guide recommended the restaurant's second branch in Hong Kong at Causeway Bay, Yee Wo Branch, in December 2010, as well as Hong Kong's Silvercord Branch in 2013. Chinese cuisine Chinese cuisine comprises cuisines originating from China , as well as from Chinese people from other parts of the world. Because of the Chinese diaspora and the historical power of
336-472: A cooking oil retailer in Taiwan. Yang later wanted to branch out on his own to support his family. With his Hakka wife, Lai Penmei, he founded a cooking oil retailer in 1958. They named it Din Tai Fung by combining the names of Yang's previous employer, "Heng Tai Fung", and their new supplier, "DinMei Oils". Around 1970, tinned cooking oil became prevalent, and business diminished drastically. Tang Yongchang,
448-507: A South Asian country, emerges as one of the world's fastest movers since 1970 mainly due to health and education achievements. Its present life expectancy is 25 years longer than in the 1970s. More than four of every five children of school age in Nepal now attend primary school, compared to just one in five 40 years ago. Hong Kong ranked highest among the countries grouped on the HDI (number 7 in
560-621: A major hub for outsourcing. Trade between Asian countries and countries on other continents is largely carried out on the sea routes that are important for Asia. Individual main routes have emerged from this. The main route leads from the Chinese coast south via Hanoi to Jakarta, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur through the Strait of Malacca via the Sri Lankan Colombo to the southern tip of India via Malé to East Africa Mombasa (see also: Indo-Pacific ), from there to Djibouti , then through
672-575: A marsh or lowland containing a marsh in Lydia as ασιος . The term was later adopted by the Romans , who used it in reference to the province of Asia , located in western Anatolia. One of the first writers to use Asia as a name of the whole continent was Pliny . The history of Asia can be seen as the distinct histories of several peripheral coastal regions: East Asia , South Asia , Southeast Asia , Central Asia , and West Asia . The coastal periphery
784-707: A mix of many different climates ranging from the equatorial south via the hot deserts in parts of West Asia , Central Asia and South Asia , temperate areas in the east and the continental centre to vast subarctic and polar areas in North Asia . The boundary between Asia and Africa is the Suez Canal , the Gulf of Suez , the Red Sea , and the Bab-el-Mandeb . This makes Egypt a transcontinental country , with
896-683: A porkless cuisine now preserved by Hui restaurants throughout the country. Yunnan cuisine is unique in China for its cheeses like Rubing and Rushan cheese made by the Bai people , and its yogurt, the yogurt may have been due to a combination of Mongolian influence during the Yuan dynasty, the Central Asian settlement in Yunnan, and the proximity and influence of India and Tibet on Yunnan. As part of
1008-546: A spectrum. China and India traded places as the largest economies in the world from 1 to 1800 CE. China was a major economic power for much of recorded history, with the highest GDP per capita until 1500. The Silk Road became the main east–west trading route in the Asian hinterlands while the Straits of Malacca stood as a major sea route. Asia has exhibited economic dynamism as well as robust population growth during
1120-596: A strong effect on the locally available ingredients, considering that the climate of China varies from tropical in the south to subarctic in the northeast. Imperial royal and noble preferences also play a role in the change of Chinese cuisine. Because of imperial expansion, immigration, and trading, ingredients and cooking techniques from other cultures have been integrated into Chinese cuisines over time and Chinese culinary influences have spread worldwide. There are numerous regional, religious, and ethnic styles of Chinese cuisine found within China and abroad. Chinese cuisine
1232-468: A variety with different flavors: clear rice vinegar, Chinkiang black rice vinegar , Shanxi vinegar, Henghe vinegar etc. The most commonly consumed meat in China is pork . As of at least 2024, China is the second largest beef consuming market in the world. Steakhouses and hot pot restaurants serving beef are becoming increasingly popular in urban China . Chinese consumers particularly value freshly slaughtered beef. Generally, seasonal fruits serve as
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#17327803752121344-529: Is moon cake , used to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival . A wide variety of Chinese desserts are available, mainly including steamed and boiled sweet snacks. Bing is an umbrella term for all breads in Chinese, also including pastries and sweets. These are baked wheat-flour-based confections, with different stuffings including red bean paste , jujube , and a variety of others. Su (酥) is another kind of pastry made with more amount of oil, making
1456-418: Is an avatar of long life and good health according to Chinese traditions. Noodles can be served hot or cold with different toppings, with broth, and occasionally dry (as is the case with mi-fen). Noodles are commonly made with rice flour or wheat flour, but other flours such as soybean are also used in minor groups. Some noodles names describe their methods of creation, such as the hand-pulled noodle. Tofu
1568-540: Is famous for its seafood and soups and the use of spices, Hunan cuisine is famous for its hot and sour taste, Anhui cuisine incorporates wild ingredients for an unusual taste. Based on the raw materials and ingredients used, the method of preparation and cultural differences, a variety of foods with different flavors and textures are prepared in different regions of the country. Many traditional regional cuisines rely on basic methods of preservation such as drying , salting , pickling and fermentation . In addition,
1680-453: Is fermented tofu. Like blue cheese or durian , it has a very distinct, potent and strong smell, and is an acquired taste. Hard stinky tofu is often deep-fried and paired with soy sauce or salty spice. Soft stinky tofu is usually used as a spread on steamed buns. Doufuru is another type of fermented tofu that has a salty taste. Doufuru can be pickled together with soy beans, red yeast rice or chili to create different color and flavor. This
1792-1054: Is generally defined as comprising the eastern four-fifths of Eurasia. It is located to the east of the Suez Canal and the Ural Mountains , and south of the Caucasus Mountains (or the Kuma–Manych Depression ) and the Caspian and Black Seas . It is bounded on the east by the Pacific Ocean , on the south by the Indian Ocean and on the north by the Arctic Ocean. Asia is subdivided into 49 countries, five of them ( Georgia , Azerbaijan , Russia , Kazakhstan and Turkey ) are transcontinental countries lying partly in Europe . Geographically, Russia
1904-514: Is growing rapidly. In 2010, Asia had 3.3 million millionaires (people with net worth over US$ 1 million excluding their homes), slightly below North America with 3.4 million millionaires. In 2011, Asia topped Europe in number of millionaires. Citigroup in The Wealth Report 2012 stated that Asian centa-millionaire overtook North America's wealth for the first time as the world's "economic center of gravity" continued moving east. At
2016-514: Is highly diverse and most frequently categorised into provincial divisions, although these province-level classifications consist of many more styles within themselves. During the Qing dynasty , the most praised Four Great Traditions in Chinese cuisine were Chuan , Lu , Yue , and Huaiyang , representing cuisines of West, North, South, and East China, respectively. In 1980, a modern grouping from Chinese journalist Wang Shaoquan's article published in
2128-466: Is made of soybeans and is another popular food product that supplies protein. The production process of tofu varies from region to region, resulting in different kinds of tofu with a wide range of texture and taste. Other products such as soy milk , soy paste , soy oil , and fermented soy sauce are also important in Chinese cooking. There are many kinds of soybean products, including tofu skin , smoked tofu, dried tofu, and fried tofu. Stinky tofu
2240-467: Is moist across southeast sections, and dry across much of the interior. Some of the largest daily temperature ranges on Earth occur in western sections of Asia. The monsoon circulation dominates across southern and eastern sections, due to the presence of the Himalayas forcing the formation of a thermal low which draws in moisture during the summer. Southwestern sections of the continent are hot. Siberia
2352-422: Is more of a pickled type of tofu and is not as strongly scented as stinky tofu. Doufuru has the consistency of slightly soft blue cheese, and a taste similar to Japanese miso paste , but less salty. Doufuru can be used as a spread on steamed buns, or paired with rice congee . Sufu is one other type of fermented tofu that goes through ageing process. The color (red, white, green) and flavor profile can determine
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#17327803752122464-717: Is on Xinyi Road in Taipei and the shop sign was a calligraphic work of the then Control Yuan president Yu Youren . In 1996, the first international location opened in Tokyo, and the first North American store opened in Arcadia , California, in 2000. Their first branch in Indonesia opened at the upmarket shopping mall Plaza Senayan in Jakarta , Indonesia , on April 24, 2005 - as of 2022, having as many as 13 branches spread across
2576-588: Is one of the coldest places in the Northern Hemisphere , and can act as a source of arctic air masses for North America. The most active place on Earth for tropical cyclone activity lies northeast of the Philippines and south of Japan. Climate change is particularly important in Asia, as the continent accounts for the majority of the human population. Warming since the 20th century is increasing
2688-669: Is partly in Asia, but is considered a European nation , both culturally and politically. The Gobi Desert is in Mongolia and the Arabian Desert stretches across much of the Middle East. The Yangtze in China is the longest river in the continent. The Himalayas between Nepal and China is the tallest mountain range in the world. Tropical rainforests stretch across much of southern Asia and coniferous and deciduous forests lie farther north. There are various approaches to
2800-493: Is projected to move to third place, behind China and India. While nearly half of the world's new renewable energy capacity is built in Asia, this is not yet sufficient in order to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement . They imply that the renewables would account for 35% of total energy consumption in Asia by 2030. Asia has the largest continental economy in the world by both GDP nominal and PPP values, and
2912-429: Is the fastest growing economic region. As of 2023 , China is by far the largest economy on the continent, making up nearly half of the continent's economy by GDP nominal. It is followed by Japan, India, South Korea, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia and Turkey, which are all ranked among the top 20 largest economies both by nominal and PPP values. Based on Global Office Locations 2011, Asia dominated the office locations with 4 of
3024-647: Is the most commonly eaten form. People in South China also like to use rice to make congee as breakfast. Rice is also used to produce beer and vinegar . Glutinous rice ("sticky rice") is a variety of rice used in special dishes such as lotus leaf rice and glutinous rice balls. In wheat-farming areas in Northern China , people largely rely on flour -based food, such as noodles , bing (bread), jiaozi (a kind of Chinese dumplings ), and mantou (a type of steamed buns). Wheat likely "appeared in
3136-576: The Arctic Ocean . The border of Asia with Europe is a historical and cultural construct , as there is no clear physical and geographical separation between them. A commonly accepted division places Asia to the east of the Suez Canal separating it from Africa; and to the east of the Turkish straits , the Ural Mountains and Ural River , and to the south of the Caucasus Mountains and the Caspian and Black seas, separating it from Europe. Since
3248-809: The Black Sea coast, through the Surami Pass and along the Kura River to the Caspian Sea), a convention still followed by Herodotus in the 5th century BCE. During the Hellenistic period , this convention was revised, and the boundary between Europe and Asia was now considered to be the Tanais (the modern Don River). This is the convention used by Roman era authors such as Posidonius , Strabo and Ptolemy . The border between Asia and Europe
3360-598: The European Union (EU), the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) or APEC ). This ended in 2010 when China overtook Japan to become the world's second largest economy. It is forecasted that India will overtake Japan in terms of nominal GDP by 2027. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Japan's GDP by currency exchange rates was almost as large as that of the rest of Asia combined. In 1995, Japan's economy nearly equaled that of
3472-581: The Greater Jakarta area with three outlet formats (regular Din Tai Fung, Noodle Bar, and Chef's Table) and halal or non-halal selections available. The first European branch was opened in London in December 2018. In January 2019, Din Tai Fung voluntarily closed their Westfield Sydney location after discovering rats, which nearby construction had displaced. The city council also required the restaurant to pass health inspections before re-opening. Due to
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3584-731: The Hebrew Bible in the narrative of Noah —and later to Christians in the Old Testament , and to Muslims in the Quran —is earliest found in Mesopotamian mythology , in the Enûma Eliš and Epic of Gilgamesh . Hindu mythology similarly tells about an avatar of Vishnu in the form of a fish who warned Manu of a terrible flood. Ancient Chinese mythology also tells of a Great Flood spanning generations, one that required
3696-621: The Hindu Kush region will become more unstable as its enormous glaciers , known as the "Asian water towers", gradually melt. These changes to water cycle also affect vector-borne disease distribution, with malaria and dengue fever expected to become more prominent in the tropical and subtropical regions. Food security will become more uneven, and South Asian countries could experience significant impacts from global food price volatility. Historical emissions from Asia are lower than those from Europe and North America. However, China has been
3808-547: The North China Plain . The first domesticated crops seem to have been the foxtail and broomcorn varieties of millet , while rice was cultivated in the south. By 2000 BC, wheat had arrived from western Asia. These grains were typically served as warm noodle soups instead of baked into bread as in Europe. Nobles hunted various wild game and consumed mutton , pork and dog as these animals were domesticated. Grain
3920-524: The People's Daily newspaper identified the Eight Cuisines of China as Anhui ( 徽菜 ; Huīcài ), Guangdong ( 粵菜 ; Yuècài ), Fujian ( 閩菜 ; Mǐncài ), Hunan ( 湘菜 ; Xiāngcài ), Jiangsu ( 蘇菜 ; Sūcài ), Shandong ( 魯菜 ; Lǔcài ), Sichuan ( 川菜 ; Chuāncài ), and Zhejiang ( 浙菜 ; Zhècài ). Chinese cuisine is deeply intertwined with traditional Chinese medicine , such as in
4032-654: The Shanjia Qinggong ( Chinese : 山家清供 ; pinyin : Shānjiā qīnggòng ) and the Wushi Zhongkuilu ( Chinese : 吳氏中饋錄 ; pinyin : Wúshì zhōngkuìlù ) showing the respective esoteric foods and common household cuisine of the time. The Yuan and Qing dynasties introduced Mongolian and Manchu cuisine , warm northern dishes that popularized hot pot cooking. During the Yuan dynasty many Muslim communities emerged in China, who practiced
4144-691: The Sinai peninsula in Asia and the remainder of the country in Africa. The threefold division of the Old World into Africa, Asia, and Europe has been in use since the 6th century BCE, due to Greek geographers such as Anaximander and Hecataeus . Anaximander placed the boundary between Asia and Europe along the Phasis River (the modern Rioni river) in Georgia of Caucasus (from its mouth by Poti on
4256-506: The Son of Heaven will the tastiest delicacies be prepared [for him]." The Zhaohun (4-3rd c. BC) gives some examples: turtle ragout, honey cakes and beer (chilled with ice). During Shi Huangdi 's Qin dynasty , the empire expanded into the south. By the time of the Han dynasty , the different regions and cuisines of China's people were linked by major canals and leading to greater complexity in
4368-915: The Ural River prevailed in the mid-19th century. The border had been moved perforce from the Black Sea to the Caspian Sea into which the Ural River projects. The border between the Black Sea and the Caspian is usually placed along the crest of the Caucasus Mountains , although it is sometimes placed further north. The border between Asia and Oceania is usually placed somewhere in the Indonesia Archipelago , specifically in Eastern Indonesia . The Wallace Line separates
4480-596: The century of humiliation , with the British-supported opium trade and later Opium Wars resulting in China being forced into an unprecedented situation of importing more than it exported. Foreign domination of China was furthered by the Japanese colonial empire , which controlled some of East Asia and briefly much of Southeast Asia (which had earlier been taken over by the British, Dutch and French in
4592-987: The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the restaurant industry in the United States , the first North American restaurant closed permanently on June 11, 2020. There are still multiple Din Tai Fung restaurants operating in the United States, located in California, Washington, Oregon, and Nevada. In March 2023, a Din Tai Fung Australia franchise was prosecuted by the Federal Court of Australia for underpaying staff, pressuring employees to sign an Australian workplace agreement , and failing to pay approximately A$ 175,000 in owed wages. Din Tai Fung and two of its managers have been hit with $ 4 million in fines for deliberately underpaying workers and attempting to cover it up. The Taiwanese restaurant chain has been ordered by
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4704-638: The monsoons will experience more flooding. The waters around Asia are subjected to the same impacts as elsewhere, such as the increased warming and ocean acidification . There are many coral reefs in the region, and they are highly vulnerable to climate change, to the point practically all of them will be lost if the warming exceeds 1.5 °C (2.7 °F). Asia's distinctive mangrove ecosystems are also highly vulnerable to sea level rise . Asia also has more countries with large coastal populations than any other continent, which would cause large economic impacts from sea level rise. Water supplies in
4816-432: The steppes . The earliest postulated expansion out of the steppe is that of the Indo-Europeans , who spread their languages into West Asia, South Asia, and the borders of China, where the Tocharians resided. The northernmost part of Asia, including much of Siberia , was largely inaccessible to the steppe nomads, owing to the dense forests, climate and tundra . These areas remained very sparsely populated. The center and
4928-440: The "rice theory" attempts to describe cultural differences between north and south China; in the north, noodles are more consumed due to wheat being widely grown whereas in the south, rice is more preferred as it has historically been more cultivated there. Chinese ancestors successfully planted millet , rice , and other grains about 8,000 to 9,000 years ago. Wheat , another staple, took another three or four thousand years. For
5040-515: The 11th and 12th centuries. Street food became an integral aspect of Chinese food culture during the Tang dynasty , and the street food culture of much of Southeast Asia was established by workers imported from China during the late 19th century. The preferences for seasoning and cooking techniques in Chinese provinces depend on differences in social class , religion , historical background , and ethnic groups . Geographic features including mountains, rivers, forests, and deserts also have
5152-406: The 17th century, the Manchu conquered China and established the Qing dynasty . The Islamic Mughal Empire (preceded by the Delhi Sultanate of the 13th to early 16th century) and the Hindu Maratha Empire controlled much of India in the 16th and 18th centuries respectively. Western imperialism in Asia from the 18th to 20th centuries coincided with the Industrial Revolution in the West and
5264-416: The 1990s, with extreme poverty now below 20%; India and China's rise has coincided with growing tension between the two, with the Indo-Pacific now an actively contested area between China and counterbalancing forces. Asia is the largest continent on Earth. It covers 9% of the Earth's total surface area (or 30% of its land area), and has the longest coastline, at 62,800 kilometres (39,022 mi). Asia
5376-468: The 20th century, but overall population growth has since fallen. Asia was the birthplace of most of the world's mainstream religions including Hinduism , Zoroastrianism , Judaism , Jainism , Buddhism , Confucianism , Taoism , Christianity , Islam , Sikhism , and many other religions. Asia varies greatly across and within its regions with regard to ethnic groups, cultures, environments, economics, historical ties, and government systems. It also has
5488-466: The 7th century; Islam also spread over centuries to the southern regions of India and Southeast Asia through trade along the Maritime Silk Road . The Mongol Empire conquered a large part of Asia in the 13th century, an area extending from China to Europe. Before the Mongol invasion, Song dynasty reportedly had approximately 120 million citizens; the 1300 census which followed the invasion reported roughly 60 million people. The Black Death , one of
5600-427: The Asian and Wallacea biogeographical realms, a transition zone of deep water straits between the Asian and Australian continental shelves. Weber's Line split the region in two with regard to the balance of fauna between Asian origin or Australo-Papuan origin. Wallacea's eastern boundary with Sahul is represented by the Lydekker's Line . The Maluku Islands (except the Aru Islands) are often considered to lie on
5712-441: The Asian goods traffic is carried out across the Pacific towards Los Angeles and Long Beach . The melting of the Arctic is also paving the way for new shipping routes from Northeast Asia to Europe and North America. In contrast to the sea routes, the Silk Road via the land route to Europe is on the one hand still under construction and on the other hand is much smaller in terms of scope. Intra-Asian trade, including sea trade,
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#17327803752125824-502: The Bering Strait, with Big Diomede in Russia and Little Diomede in the United States . The Aleutian Islands are an island chain extending westward from the Alaskan Peninsula toward Russia's Komandorski Islands and Kamchatka Peninsula . Most of them are always associated with North America, except for the westernmost Near Islands group, which is on Asia's continental shelf beyond the North Aleutians Basin and on rare occasions could be associated with Asia, which could then allow
5936-448: The Chinese preference of dessert is mildly sweet and less oily. Asia Asia ( / ˈ eɪ ʒ ə / AY -zhə , UK also / ˈ eɪ ʃ ə / AY -shə ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometers, about 30% of Earth 's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which has long been home to
6048-432: The Federal Court of Australia to pay $ 3.89 million, while its general manager Hannah Handoko was fined $ 92,232 and human relations manager Sinthiana Parmenas $ 105,084. Din Tai Fung is known internationally for its paper-thin wrapped xiaolongbao with 18 folds. In November 2009, the Hong Kong and Macau 2010 edition of the Michelin Guide awarded the restaurant's first Hong Kong branch at Tsim Sha Tsui , Silvercord Branch,
6160-417: The Hittite king Tudhaliya I around 1400 BCE. Roughly contemporary Linear B documents contain the term aswia ( Mycenaean Greek : 𐀀𐀯𐀹𐀊 , romanized: a-si-wi-ja ), seemingly in reference to captives from the same area. Herodotus used the term in reference to Anatolia and the territory of the Achaemenid Empire , in contrast to Greece and Egypt. He reports that Greeks assumed that Asia
6272-424: The Indian Ocean respectively in the late 15th century. The Russian Empire also began to expand into northwestern Asia from the 17th century, and would eventually take control of all of Siberia and most of Central Asia by the end of the 19th century. Among non-European empires, the Ottoman Empire controlled Anatolia, most of the Middle East, North Africa and the Balkans from the mid 16th century onward, while in
6384-482: The Middle East has been affected since 1948 by the Arab–Israeli conflict and American-led interventions . East Asian nations (along with Singapore in Southeast Asia) became economically prosperous with high-growth " tiger economies "; China, having undergone capitalistic reforms under Deng Xiaoping , regained its place among the top two economies of the world by the 21st century. India has also grown significantly because of economic liberalisation that started in
6496-400: The Ottoman Empire in the early 20th century led to the Middle East also being contested and partitioned by the British and French. With the end of World War II in 1945 and the wartime ruination of Europe and imperial Japan, many countries in Asia were able to rapidly free themselves of colonial rule. The independence of India came along with the carving out of a separate nation for
6608-504: The Philippines, Sri Lanka and Vietnam. Asia has three main financial centers: Hong Kong, Tokyo and Singapore. Call centers and business process outsourcing (BPOs) are becoming major employers in India and the Philippines due to the availability of a large pool of highly skilled, English-speaking workers. The increased use of outsourcing has assisted the rise of India and the China as financial centers. Due to its large and extremely competitive information technology industry, India has become
6720-445: The Philippines. China has many languages and dialects in different provinces. Many of the world's major religions have their origins in Asia, including the five most practiced in the world (excluding irreligion ), which are Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Chinese folk religion (classified as Confucianism and Taoism), and Buddhism. Asian mythology is complex and diverse. The story of the Great Flood for example, as presented to Jews in
6832-440: The Red Sea over the Suez Canal into Mediterranean (see also: Indo-Mediterranean ), there via Haifa, Istanbul and Athens to the upper Adriatic to the northern Italian hub of Trieste with its rail connections to Central and Eastern Europe or further to Barcelona and around Spain and France to the European northern ports. A far smaller part of the goods traffic runs via South Africa to Europe . A particularly significant part of
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#17327803752126944-431: The Tang dynasty. During the Southern and Northern dynasties non-Han people like the Xianbei of Northern Wei introduced their cuisine to northern China, and these influences continued up to the Tang dynasty , popularizing meat like mutton and dairy products like goat milk, yogurts, and Kumis among even Han people. It was during the Song dynasty that Han Chinese developed an aversion to dairy products and abandoned
7056-454: The U.S. state of Alaska as well as the United States itself to be considered a transcontinental state. The Aleutian Islands are sometimes associated with Oceania, owing to their status as remote Pacific islands, and their proximity to the Pacific Plate. This is extremely rare however, due to their non-tropical biogeography, as well as their inhabitants , who have historically been related to Indigenous Americans . St. Lawrence Island in
7168-407: The US as the largest economy in the world for a day, after the Japanese currency reached a record high of 79 yen /US$ . Economic growth in Asia since World War II to the 1990s had been concentrated in Japan as well as the four regions of South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore located in the Pacific Rim , known as the Asian tigers , which are now all considered developed economies, having among
7280-518: The area of multinational corporations , but increasingly the PRC and India are making significant inroads. Many companies from Europe, North America, South Korea and Japan have operations in Asia's developing countries to take advantage of its abundant supply of cheap labour and relatively developed infrastructure. According to Citigroup in 2011, 9 of 11 Global Growth Generators countries came from Asia driven by population and income growth. They are Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Mongolia,
7392-669: The best known and most influential are Cantonese cuisine , Shandong cuisine , Jiangsu cuisine (specifically Huaiyang cuisine ) and Sichuan cuisine . These styles are distinctive from one another due to factors such as availability of resources, climate, geography , history , cooking techniques and lifestyle. One style may favour the use of garlic and shallots over chili and spices, while another may favour preparing seafood over other meats and fowl . Jiangsu cuisine favours cooking techniques such as braising and stewing , while Sichuan cuisine employs baking . Zhejiang cuisine focuses more on serving fresh food, Fujian cuisine
7504-404: The border of southeast Asia, with the Aru Islands and Western New Guinea , to the east of the Lydekker's Line, being wholly part of Oceania, as both lie on the Australian continental plate. Culturally, the Wallacea region denoted the transition between Austronesian and Melanesian people , with varying degrees of intermixing between the two. In general, the further west and coastal a region is,
7616-489: The concept of Asia derives from the term for the eastern region from a European perspective, Asia is the remaining vast area of Eurasia minus Europe. Therefore, Asia is a region where various independent cultures coexist rather than sharing a single culture, and the boundary between Europe is somewhat arbitrary and has moved since its first conception in classical antiquity . The division of Eurasia into two continents reflects East–West cultural differences, some of which vary on
7728-796: The confection more friable. Chinese candies and sweets, called táng (糖) are usually made with cane sugar , malt sugar, honey, nuts, and fruit. Gao or Guo are rice-based snacks that are typically steamed and may be made from glutinous or normal rice. Another cold dessert is called baobing , which is shaved ice with sweet syrup. Chinese jellies are known collectively in the language as ices . Many jelly desserts are traditionally set with agar and are flavoured with fruits, known as guodong (果冻), though gelatine based jellies are also common in contemporary desserts. Chinese dessert soups are typically sweet and served hot. European pastries are also seen in China, like mille-feuille , crème brûlée , and cheesecake , but they are generally not as popular because
7840-432: The continent of Asia". Geographically, Asia is the major eastern constituent of the continent of Eurasia with Europe being a northwestern peninsula of the landmass. Asia, Europe and Africa make up a single continuous landmass— Afro-Eurasia —and share a common continental shelf . Almost all of Europe and a major part of Asia sit atop the Eurasian Plate , adjoined on the south by the Arabian and Indian Plate and with
7952-458: The country, Chinese cuisine has profoundly influenced many other cuisines in Asia and beyond, with modifications made to cater to local palates. Chinese food staples such as rice , soy sauce , noodles , tea , chili oil , and tofu , and utensils such as chopsticks and the wok , can now be found worldwide. The world's earliest eating establishments recognizable as restaurants in the modern sense first emerged in Song dynasty China during
8064-443: The cultural borders of its various types of constituents. From the time of Herodotus, a minority of geographers have rejected the three-continent system (Europe, Africa, Asia) on the grounds that there is no substantial physical separation between them. For example, Sir Barry Cunliffe , the emeritus professor of European archeology at Oxford, argues that Europe has been geographically and culturally merely "the western excrescence of
8176-647: The dairy foods introduced earlier. The Han Chinese rebel Wang Su who received asylum in the Xianbei Northern Wei after fleeing from Southern Qi, at first could not stand eating dairy products like goat's milk and meat like mutton and had to consume tea and fish instead, but after a few years he was able to eat yogurt and lamb, and the Xianbei Emperor asked him which of the foods of China (Zhongguo) he preferred, fish vs mutton and tea vs yogurt. The great migration of Chinese people south during
8288-596: The dethroning of India and China as the world's foremost economies. The British Empire first became dominant in South Asia, with most of the region being conquered by British traders in the late 18th and early 19th centuries before falling under direct British rule after a failed 1857 revolt ; the 1869 completion of the Suez Canal , which increased British access to India, went on to further European influence over Africa and Asia. Around this time, Western powers started to dominate China in what later became known as
8400-563: The different regional cuisines. Not only is food seen as giving " qi ", energy, but the food is also about maintaining yin and yang. The philosophy behind it was rooted in the I Ching and Chinese traditional medicine : food was judged for color, aroma, taste, and texture and a good meal was expected to balance the Four Natures (' hot ', warm, cool, and ' cold ') and the Five Tastes (pungent, sweet, sour, bitter, and salty). Salt
8512-529: The dishes, many Chinese cuisines also contain dried Chinese mushrooms, dried baby shrimp, dried tangerine peel, and dried Sichuan chillies. When it comes to sauces , China is home to soy sauce, which is made from fermented soybeans and wheat. A number of sauces are also based on fermented soybeans, including hoisin sauce , ground bean sauce and yellow bean sauce. There are also different sauces preferred by regional cuisines, oyster sauce , fish sauce and furu (fermented tofu) are also widely used. Vinegar also has
8624-684: The easternmost part of Siberia (east of the Chersky Range ) on the North American Plate . The term "Asia" is believed to originate in the Bronze Age toponym Assuwa ( Hittite : 𒀸𒋗𒉿 , romanized: aš-šu-wa ) which originally referred only to a portion of northwestern Anatolia . The term appears in Hittite records recounting how a confederation of Assuwan states including Troy unsuccessfully rebelled against
8736-492: The end of 2011, there were 18,000 Asian people mainly in Southeast Asia, China and Japan who have at least $ 100 million in disposable assets, while North America with 17,000 people and Western Europe with 14,000 people. With growing Regional Tourism with domination of Chinese visitors, MasterCard has released Global Destination Cities Index 2013 with 10 of 20 are dominated by Asia and Pacific Region Cities and also for
8848-414: The first time a city of a country from Asia ( Bangkok ) set in the top-ranked with 15.98 million international visitors. East Asia had by far the strongest overall Human Development Index (HDI) improvement of any region in the world, nearly doubling average HDI attainment over the past 40 years, according to the report's analysis of health, education and income data. China, the second highest achiever in
8960-531: The first time, grains provided people with a steady supply of food. Because of the lack of various foods, Chinese people had to adapt to new eating habits. Meat was scarce, and so people cooked with small amounts of meat and rice or noodles. Rice was domesticated in the Yangtze River basin in southern China approximately 9,000 years ago and is a primary staple food for people from rice farming areas in southern China. Steamed rice , usually white rice ,
9072-497: The highest GDP per capita in Asia. Asia is the largest continent in the world by a considerable margin, and it is rich in natural resources, such as petroleum , forests , fish , water , rice , copper and silver . Manufacturing in Asia has traditionally been strongest in East and Southeast Asia, particularly in China, Taiwan , South Korea, Japan, India, the Philippines, and Singapore. Japan and South Korea continue to dominate in
9184-473: The immigrant owner of a Shanghainese restaurant and friend of Yang suggested that in order to survive, Yang should convert half the shop to making and selling xiaolongbao . The xiaolongbao were a common dish in Tang's native Shanghai , but rare in Taiwan. The xiaolongbao eventually grew so popular that Din Tai Fung stopped selling oil altogether and became a full-fledged restaurant in 1972. The original restaurant
9296-477: The invasions preceding and during the Song dynasty increased the relative importance of southern Chinese staples such as rice and congee . Su Dongpo has improved the red braised pork as Dongpo pork . The dietary and culinary habits also changed greatly during this period, with many ingredients such as soy sauce and Central Asian influenced foods becoming widespread and the creation of important cookbooks such as
9408-644: The last leg of the Columbian Exchange , Spanish and Portuguese traders began introducing foods from the New World to China through the port cities of Canton and Macau . Mexican chili peppers became essential ingredients in Sichuan cuisine and calorically dense potatoes and corn became staple foods across the northern plains. During the Qing dynasty, Chinese gastronomes such as Yuan Mei focused upon
9520-689: The late 19th century), New Guinea and the Pacific islands ; Japan's domination was enabled by its rapid rise that had taken place during the Meiji era of the late 19th century, in which it applied industrial knowledge learned from the West and thus overtook the rest of Asia. One significant influence on Japan had been the United States, which had begun projecting influence across the Pacific after its early-to-mid-19th century westward expansion . The breakup of
9632-486: The lower Yellow River around 2600 Before Common Era (BCE), followed by Gansu and Xinjiang around 1900 BCE and finally occurred in the middle Yellow River and Tibet regions by 1600 BCE". Noodles were invented in China over 4,000 years ago and have since spread across the world. Chinese noodles come dry or fresh in a variety of sizes, shapes and textures and are often served in soups or fried as toppings. Some varieties, such as Shou Mian (寿面, literally noodles of longevity),
9744-516: The lowlands did not have enough open grasslands to support a large equestrian force; for this and other reasons, the nomads who conquered states in China, India, and the Middle East often found themselves adapting to the local, more affluent societies. The Islamic Caliphate 's defeats of the Byzantine and Persian empires led to West Asia and southern parts of Central Asia and western parts of South Asia under its control during its conquests of
9856-728: The majority of South Asian Muslims , which in 1971 further split into the countries Pakistan and Bangladesh ; Cold War tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union strained relations between India and Pakistan and affected Asia more generally. The end of the Cold War and the Soviet Union by 1991 saw the independence of the five modern Central Asian countries. Some Arab countries took economic advantage of massive oil deposits that were discovered in their territory, becoming globally influential, though stability in
9968-462: The majority of the human population , was the site of many of the first civilizations . Its 4.7 billion people constitute roughly 60% of the world's population. Asia shares the landmass of Eurasia with Europe , and of Afro-Eurasia with both Europe and Africa . In general terms, it is bounded on the east by the Pacific Ocean , on the south by the Indian Ocean , and on the north by
10080-547: The most common form of dessert consumed after dinner. Dim sum (点心), originally means a small portion of food, can refer to dessert, or pastries. Later to avoid disambiguation, tian dian (甜点) and gao dian (糕点) are used to describe desserts and pastries. Traditionally, Chinese desserts are sweet foods and dishes that are served with tea, usually during the meal, or at the end of meals in Chinese cuisine. Besides being served as dim sum along with tea, pastries are used for celebration of traditional festivals. The most famous one
10192-516: The most devastating pandemics in human history, is thought to have originated in the arid plains of central Asia, where it then travelled along the Silk Road . European involvement in Asia became more significant from the Age of Discovery onward, with Iberian-sponsored sailors such as Christopher Columbus and Vasco da Gama paving the way for new routes from Atlantic Europe to Pacific Asia and
10304-716: The northern Bering Sea belongs to Alaska and may be associated with either continent but is almost always considered part of North America, as with the Rat Islands in the Aleutian chain. At their nearest points, Alaska and Russia are separated by only 4 kilometres (2.5 miles). Geographical Asia is a cultural artifact of European conceptions of the world, beginning with the Ancient Greeks , being imposed onto other cultures, an imprecise concept causing endemic contention about what it means. Asia does not exactly correspond to
10416-470: The peripheries were mostly kept separated by mountains and deserts. The Caucasus and Himalaya mountains and the Karakum and Gobi deserts formed barriers that the steppe horsemen could cross only with difficulty. While the urban city dwellers were more advanced technologically and socially, in many cases they could do little in a military aspect to defend against the mounted hordes of the steppe. However,
10528-481: The practise of Chinese food therapy . Color, scent and taste are the three traditional aspects used to describe Chinese food, as well as the meaning, appearance, and nutrition of the food. Cooking should be appraised with respect to the ingredients used, knife work, cooking time, and seasoning. Chinese society greatly valued gastronomy , and developed an extensive study of the subject based on its traditional medical beliefs . Chinese culture initially centered around
10640-786: The primary goal of extracting the maximum flavour of each ingredient. As noted in his culinary work the Suiyuan shidan , however, the fashions of cuisine at the time were quite varied and in some cases were flamboyantly ostentatious, especially when the display served also a formal ceremonial purpose, as in the case of the Manchu Han Imperial Feast . As the pace of life increases in modern China, fast food like fried noodles , fried rice and gaifan (dish over rice) become more and more popular. Chinese cuisine exhibits and immense amount of regional diversity. A number of different styles contribute to Chinese cuisine but perhaps
10752-708: The regional division of Asia. The following subdivision into regions is used, among others, by the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD). This division of Asia into regions by the United Nations is done solely for statistical reasons and does not imply any assumption about political or other affiliations of countries and territories. Asia has extremely diverse climate features. Climates range from Arctic and subarctic in Siberia to tropical in southern India and Southeast Asia. It
10864-765: The roasted, flat bread shaobing was brought back from the Xiyu (the Western Regions, a name for Central Asia ) by the Han dynasty General Ban Chao , and that it was originally known as hubing ( 胡餅 , lit. "barbarian bread"). The shaobing is believed to be descended from the hubing. Shaobing is believed to be related to the Persian nan and Central Asian nan , as well as the Middle Eastern pita . Foreign westerners made and sold sesame cakes in China during
10976-497: The single largest emitter of greenhouse gases in the 21st century, while India is the third-largest. As a whole, Asia currently accounts for 36% of world's primary energy consumption, which is expected to increase to 48% by 2050. By 2040, it is also expected to account for 80% of the world's coal and 26% of the world's natural gas consumption. While the United States remains the world's largest oil consumer, by 2050 it
11088-605: The stronger the Austronesian influences, and the further east and inland a region is, the stronger the Melanesian influences. The terms Southeast Asia and Oceania, devised in the 19th century, have had several vastly different geographic meanings since their inception. The chief factor in determining which islands of the Indonesian Archipelago are Asian has been the location of the colonial possessions of
11200-608: The threat of heatwaves across the entire continent. Heatwaves lead to increased mortality, and the demand for air conditioning is rapidly accelerating as the result. By 2080, around 1 billion people in the cities of South and Southeast Asia are expected to experience around a month of extreme heat every year. The impacts on water cycle are more complicated: already arid regions, primarily located in West Asia and Central Asia , will see more droughts , while areas of East , Southeast and South Asia which are already wet due to
11312-484: The top 5 being in Asia: Hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo and Seoul . Around 68 percent of international firms have an office in Hong Kong. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the economy of China had an average annual growth rate of more than 8%. According to economic historian Angus Maddison , India had the world's largest economy during 1000 BCE and 1 CE. India was the largest economy in the world for most of
11424-533: The two millennia from the 1st until 19th century, contributing 25% of the world's industrial output. China was the largest and most advanced economy on earth for much of recorded history and shared the mantle with India. For several decades in the late twentieth century Japan was the largest economy in Asia and second-largest of any single nation in the world, after surpassing the Soviet Union (measured in net material product) in 1990 and Germany in 1968. (NB: A number of supernational economies are larger, such as
11536-1172: The type of sufu it is. This kind of tofu is usually eaten alongside breakfast rice. Soybean milk is soybean-based milk. It is a morning beverage, and it has many benefits to human health. Apart from vegetables that can be commonly seen, some unique vegetables used in Chinese cuisine include baby corn , bok choy , snow peas , Chinese eggplant , Chinese broccoli , and straw mushrooms . Other vegetables, including bean sprouts , pea vine tips, watercress , lotus roots , chestnuts, water chestnuts, and bamboo shoots , are also used in different cuisines of China. Because of different climate and soil conditions, cultivars of green beans, peas, and mushrooms can be found in rich variety. A variety of dried or pickled vegetables are also processed, especially in drier or colder regions where fresh vegetables were hard to get out of season. Seasonings such as fresh ginger root, garlic , scallion , cilantro and sesame are widely used in many regional cuisines. Sichuan peppercorns , star anise , cinnamon , fennel , cloves and white peppers and smart weed are also used in different regions. To add extra flavor to
11648-476: The various empires there (not all European). Lewis and Wigen assert, "The narrowing of 'Southeast Asia' to its present boundaries was thus a gradual process." The Bering Strait and Bering Sea separate the landmasses of Asia and North America , as well as forming the international boundary between Russia and the United States. This national and continental boundary separates the Diomede Islands in
11760-408: The world in terms of HDI improvement since 1970, is the only country on the "Top 10 Movers" list due to income rather than health or education achievements. Its per capita income increased a stunning 21-fold over the last four decades, also lifting hundreds of millions out of income poverty. Yet it was not among the region's top performers in improving school enrollment and life expectancy. Nepal ,
11872-586: The world, which is in the "very high human development" category), followed by Singapore (9), Japan (19) and South Korea (22). Afghanistan (155) ranked lowest amongst Asian countries out of the 169 countries assessed. Asia is home to several language families and many language isolates . Most Asian countries have more than one language that is natively spoken. For instance, according to Ethnologue , more than 700 languages are spoken in Indonesia, more than 400 languages spoken in India, and more than 100 are spoken in
11984-522: Was historically defined by European academics. In Sweden, five years after Peter's death, in 1730 Philip Johan von Strahlenberg published a new atlas proposing the Ural Mountains as the border of Asia. Tatishchev announced that he had proposed the idea to von Strahlenberg. The latter had suggested the Emba River as the lower boundary. Over the next century various proposals were made until
12096-766: Was home to some of the world's earliest known civilizations, each of them developing around fertile river valleys. The civilizations in Mesopotamia , the Indus Valley and the Yellow River shared many similarities. These civilizations may well have exchanged technologies and ideas such as mathematics and the wheel . Other innovations, such as writing, seem to have been developed individually in each area. Cities, states and empires developed in these lowlands. The central steppe region had long been inhabited by horse-mounted nomads who could reach all areas of Asia from
12208-477: Was named after the wife of Prometheus , but that Lydians say it was named after Asies , son of Cotys, who passed the name on to a tribe at Sardis . In Greek mythology , "Asia" ( Ἀσία or Ἀσίη ) was the name of a " Nymph or Titan goddess of Lydia". The Iliad (attributed by the ancient Greeks to Homer ) mentions two Phrygians in the Trojan War named Asios (an adjective meaning "Asian"); and also
12320-407: Was not cooked right, man would not eat. When it was cooked bad, man would not eat. When the meat was not cut properly, man would not eat. When the food was not prepared with the right sauce, man would not eat. Although there are plenty of meats, they should not be cooked more than staple food. There is no limit for alcohol, before a man gets drunk. The Lüshi chunqiu notes: "Only if one is chosen as
12432-445: Was stored against famine and flood and meat was preserved with salt, vinegar, curing, and fermenting. The flavor of the meat was enhanced by cooking it in animal fats though this practice was mostly restricted to the wealthy. By the time of Confucius in the late Zhou , gastronomy had become a high art. Confucius discussed the principles of dining: The rice would never be too white, the meat would never be too finely cut... When it
12544-560: Was used as a preservative from early times, but in cooking was added in the form of soy sauce, and not at the table. By the Later Han period (2nd century), writers frequently complained of lazy aristocrats who did nothing but sit around all day eating smoked meats and roasts. During the Han dynasty , the Chinese developed methods of food preservation for military rations during campaigns such as drying meat into jerky and cooking, roasting, and drying grain. Chinese legends claim that
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