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117-611: The Sinosphere , also known as the Chinese cultural sphere , East Asian cultural sphere , or the Sinic world , encompasses multiple countries in East Asia and Southeast Asia that were historically heavily influenced by Chinese culture . The Sinosphere comprises Greater China , Japan , Korea , and Vietnam . Other definitions may include the regions of modern-day Mongolia and Singapore , due either to historical Chinese influence or

234-416: A Confucian philosophical worldview. Confucianism is a humanistic philosophy that believes that human beings are teachable, improvable, and perfectible through personal and communal endeavor, especially including self-cultivation and self-creation. Confucianism focuses on the cultivation of virtue and maintenance of ethics, the most basic of which are: Mid-Imperial Chinese philosophy is primarily defined by

351-573: A European one. Its hegemony was the heart of an empire that would include Taiwan and Korea . During World War II, Japanese expansionism with its imperialist aspirations through the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere would incorporate Korea, Taiwan, much of eastern China and Manchuria, Hong Kong, and Southeast Asia under its control establishing itself as a maritime colonial power in East Asia. After

468-589: A central close vowel rather than the more common front and back close vowels [i] and [u], e.g. Yuwan Amami /kɨɨ/ "tree". Ikema Miyako has a voiceless nasal phoneme /n̥/ . Many Ryukyuan languages, like Standard Japanese and most Japanese dialects, have contrastive pitch accent . Ryukyuan languages are generally SOV , dependent-marking , modifier-head, nominative-accusative languages, like Japanese. Adjectives are generally bound morphemes , occurring either with noun compounding or using verbalization. Many Ryukyuan languages mark both nominatives and genitives with

585-511: A century of exploitation by the European and Japanese colonialists, post-colonial East Asia saw the defeat and occupation of Japan by the victorious Allies as well as the division of China and Korea during the Cold War . The Korean peninsula became independent but then it was divided into two rival states , while Taiwan became the main territory of de facto state Republic of China after

702-434: A clitic, e.g. /si=nu/ . However, the syllable may still sometimes be relevant—for instance, the Ōgami topic marker takes a different form after open syllables with short vowels: Ryukyuan languages typically have a pitch accent system where some mora in a word bears the pitch accent. They commonly either have two or three distinctive types of pitch accent which may be applied. The category of foot also has relevance to

819-698: A cluster /ʔ/ + C, where the consonant /ʔ/ consists of its own mora. For instance, in the Amami dialect Yuwan the word /ʔma/ [ˀma] "horse" is bimoraic. Tsuken (Central Okinawan) restricts glottalization to glides and the vowels /a i/ . Southern Ryukyuan mostly has little to no glottalization, with some exceptions (e.g. Yonaguni). For instance, the Irabu dialect of the Miyako language only allows glottalization with /t/ and /c/ : /ttjaa/ [ˀtʲaː] "then", /ccir/ [ˀtɕiɭ] "pipe". Southern Ryukyuan stands out in having

936-450: A common writing system reflected in the histories of Japan and Korea . The Imperial Chinese tributary system was the bedrock of network of trade and foreign relations between China and its East Asian tributaries, which helped to shape much of East Asian affairs during the ancient and medieval eras. Through the tributary system, the various dynasties of Imperial China facilitated frequent economic and cultural exchange that influenced

1053-794: A contemporary overseas Chinese population. The Sinosphere is different from the Sinophone world, which indicates regions where the Chinese language is spoken. Imperial China was a major regional power in Eastern Asia and exerted influence on tributary states and neighboring states, including Japan, Korea, and Vietnam. These interactions brought ideological and cultural influences rooted in Confucianism , Buddhism , and Taoism . The four cultures were ruled by their respective emperors under similar imperial systems. Chinese inventions influenced, and were in turn influenced by, innovations of

1170-661: A framework for his ethical philosophy. Elsewhere in East Asia, Japanese philosophy began to develop as indigenous Shinto beliefs fused with Buddhism, Confucianism, and other schools of Chinese philosophy . Similar to Japan, in Korean philosophy , elements of shamanism were integrated into the neo-Confucianism imported from China. In Vietnam, neo-Confucianism, along with Taoism and Buddhism, were also developed into Vietnam's own Tam giáo , which together with Vietnamese folk religion contributed to shaping Vietnamese philosophy . Though not commonly identified with that of East Asia,

1287-529: A group of centralized states that share a Confucian ethical philosophy. Reischauer states that this culture originated in northern China, comparing the relationship between northern China and East Asia to that of Greco-Roman civilization and Europe. The elites of East Asia were tied together through a common written language based on Chinese characters, much in the way that Latin had functioned in Europe. American political scientist Samuel P. Huntington considered

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1404-452: A high value on interpersonal relationships . A leader of a Japanese company is typically valued on their ability to maintain social harmony, and to unify or bring together their employees, rather than simply being the top decision maker. Korean businesses, adhering to Confucian values, are structured around a patriarchal family governed by filial piety ( 孝順 ) between management and a company's employees, where knowing one's place within

1521-491: A measurable increase in the frequency and severity of heatwaves . The region is also expected to see the intensification of its monsoon, leading to more flooding. China has notably embarked on the sponge cities program, where cities are designed to increase the area of urban green spaces and permeable pavings in order to help deal with flash floods caused by greater precipitation extremes. Under high-warming scenarios, "critical health thresholds" for heat stress during

1638-425: A number of syllabic consonants. These consonants are contextually nucleic, becoming syllabic when not adjacent to a vowel. Examples: Irabu Miyako: Ōgami Miyako Ōgami even shows a three-way length distinction in fricatives, though across a syllable boundary: Ikema (a Miyako dialect) has a voiceless moraic nasal phoneme /n̥/ , which always precedes another nasal onset and assimilates its place of articulation to

1755-608: A shared written language, a shared culture, and a shared Confucian societal value system (involving shared Confucian philosophical tenets) once instituted by Imperial China. Other usages define China, Hong Kong, Macau, Japan, North Korea, South Korea and Taiwan as countries that constitute East Asia based on their geographic proximity as well as historical and modern cultural and economic ties, particularly with Japan and Korea in having retained strong cultural influences that originated from China. Some scholars include Vietnam as part of East Asia as it has been considered part of

1872-523: A similar percentage of Chinese loans to the core CJKV languages. Due to the common usage of Chinese characters across East Asian nations, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese people traditionally can engage in written communication using Literary Chinese without knowing other people's spoken language, called Brushtalk . As a result, Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese are also deemed Sino-Xenic languages that are highly influenced by ancient forms of Literary Chinese. Chinese characters are considered

1989-973: A worker's " kibun " (their mood or emotional feelings) to remain balanced. East Asia East Asia has long been a crossroads of civilizations, as the region's prominence has facilitated the transmission of ideas, cultural exchanges, commercial trade, scientific and technological cooperation, and migration, as its position and proximity to both the Pacific Ocean and the Continental Asian landmass makes it strategically significant for facilitating international maritime trade and transportation. The contemporary economic, technological, political, and social integration of East Asia coupled with its rich history of diversity, division, and divergent development have all contributed to its enduring complexity, scientific and technological advancement, cultural richness, economic prosperity, and geopolitical significance on

2106-471: Is a small set of minor languages that are comparable to the core East Asian languages, such as Zhuang and Hmong-Mien . They are often overlooked, since neither have their own country or heavily export their culture, but Zhuang has been written in Hanzi -inspired characters called Sawndip for over 1,000 years. Hmong, while having supposedly lacked a writing system until modern history, is also suggested to have

2223-650: Is held in the Amami region on February 18 beginning in 2007, proclaimed as Hōgen no Hi ( 方言の日 , "Dialect Day") by Ōshima Subprefecture in Kagoshima Prefecture . Each island has its own name for the event: Yoronjima's fu (2) tu (10) ba (8) is the goroawase source of the February 18 date, much like with Okinawa Prefecture's use of kutuba . It is generally accepted that the Ryukyu Islands were populated by Proto-Japonic speakers in

2340-717: Is likely much lower. The six Ryukyuan languages are listed in the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger . UNESCO said all Ryukyuan languages are on course for extinction by 2050. Starting in the 1890s, the Japanese government began to suppress the Ryukyuan languages as part of their policy of forced assimilation in the islands. Children being raised in the Ryukyuan languages are becoming increasingly rare throughout

2457-782: Is rid of the inherent suffering of the physical world. Buddhism in the Sinosphere or East Asian Buddhism is of or derived from the Mahayana Buddhism sect, which is seen to be intertwined within Taoism and Confucianism as well. It advocates for altruism and compassion, as well as understanding and escaping from suffering in relation to karma . Vegetarianism or veganism is also present for more monastic or devout Buddhists of this sect, or even among lay Buddhists, as it leads to compassion for all living, sentient beings. The countries of China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam share

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2574-517: Is sometimes grouped with Central Asian countries such as Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Kazakhstan. Xinjiang and Tibet are sometimes seen as part of Central Asia (see also Greater Central Asia ). Broader and looser definitions by international agencies and organisations such as the World Bank refer to East Asia as the "three major Northeast Asian economies, i.e. mainland China , Japan, and South Korea ", as well as Mongolia, North Korea ,

2691-451: Is the language of choice among the younger generation. Similarly, the common language now used in everyday conversations in Amami Ōshima is not the traditional Amami language , but rather a regional variation of Amami-accented Japanese, known as Amami Japanese . It’s locally known as トン普通語 ( Ton Futsūgo , literally meaning "potato [i.e. rustic] common language"). To try to preserve

2808-566: Is unlikely to supersede the more natively rooted Buddhism, except for places like South Korea where Protestantism is more popular. In Vietnam , Roman Catholicism is prominent, and early Christian missionaries played a historical role in romanizing the Vietnamese language, before the time of French colonial rule . For Hinduism ; see Hinduism in Vietnam , Hinduism in China . Islam is

2925-404: Is up to humans to integrate, through "non-action" ( wu wei ) and spontaneity ( zi ran ), to its flow and rhythms, to achieve happiness and a long life. Taoism is a combination of teachings from various sources, manifesting itself as a system that can be philosophical, religious, or ethical. The tradition can also be presented as a worldview and a way of life. Buddhist philosophy is guided by

3042-540: Is used. The Chinese 東亞文化圈 is translated in Vietnamese as Vùng văn hóa Á Đông 塳文化亞東 . In the Ryukyuan languages , 圏 ちん chin is not used to mean 'sphere', 'area', or 'domain' and only appears in kammun texts written by Ryukyuans. Instead, 世 yu is used to mean 'world' or 'sphere'. As such, 漢字文化圏 and 東亜文化圏 would be translated as 漢字一型ぬ世 kanjii tiigata nu yu and 東亜一型ぬ世 too-a tiigata nu yu respectively. Victor H. Mair discussed

3159-485: Is very sparsely distributed, with Mongolia having the lowest population density of a sovereign state . The overall population density of the region is 133 inhabitants per square kilometre (340/sq mi), about three times the world average of 45/km (120/sq mi). China was the first region settled in East Asia and was undoubtedly the core of East Asian civilization from where other parts of East Asia were formed. The various other regions in East Asia were selective in

3276-678: The Chinese cursive script . Korea used to write in hanja but has invented an alphabetic system called hangul that is nowadays the majority script. However, hanja is a required subject in South Korea. Most names are also written in hanja. Hanja is also studied and used in academia, newspapers, and law—areas where a lot of scholarly terms and Sino-Korean loanwords are used and necessary to distinguish between otherwise ambiguous homonyms. Vietnam used to write in chữ Hán (Chinese characters) in Classical Chinese texts (Hán văn). In

3393-617: The Japonic language family, related to the Japanese language . The Ryukyuan languages are not mutually intelligible with Japanese—in fact, they are not even mutually intelligible with each other—and thus are usually considered separate languages. However, for socio-political and ideological reasons, they have often been classified within Japan as dialects of Japanese. Since the beginning of World War II , most mainland Japanese have regarded

3510-560: The Nara period , Japan began to aggressively import Chinese culture and styles of government which included Confucian protocol that served as a foundation for Japanese culture as well as political and social philosophy. The Japanese also created laws adopted from the Chinese legal system that was used to govern in addition to the kimono , which was inspired from Chinese hanfu during the eighth century. For many centuries, most notably from

3627-1145: The Olympic Council of Asia (OCA), as well as the Pacific island of Guam , which is a member of the Oceania National Olympic Committees . It is one of five Regional Games of the OCA. The others are the Central Asian Games , the Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games), the South Asian Games and the West Asian Games . [REDACTED] Seoul Ryukyuan languages The Ryukyuan languages ( 琉球語派 , Ryūkyū-goha , also 琉球諸語 , Ryūkyū-shogo or 島言葉 in Ryukyuan, Shima kutuba , literally "Island Speech") , also Lewchewan or Luchuan ( / l uː ˈ tʃ uː ə n / ), are

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3744-620: The Russian Far East , and Siberia . The Council on Foreign Relations includes the Russia Far East, Mongolia, and Nepal . The World Bank also acknowledges the roles of Chinese special administrative regions Hong Kong and Macau , as well as Taiwan , a country with limited recognition. The Economic Research Institute for Northeast Asia defines the region as "China, Japan, the Koreas , Nepal, Mongolia, and eastern regions of

3861-497: The Russian Federation ". The UNSD definition of East Asia is based on statistical convenience, but others commonly use the same definition of Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, Taiwan, and Japan. Certain Japanese islands are associated with Oceania due to non-continental geology, distance from mainland Asia or biogeographical similarities with Micronesia . Some groups, such as

3978-610: The World Health Organization , categorize China, Japan and Korea with Australia and the rest of Oceania. The World Health Organization label this region the "Western Pacific", with East Asia not being used in their concept of major world regions. Their definition of this region further includes Mongolia and the adjacent area of Cambodia , as well as the countries of the South East Asia Archipelago (excluding East Timor and Indonesia ). In

4095-611: The economic rise of Hong Kong , South Korea , and Taiwan , in addition to the respective handovers of Hong Kong and Macau near the end of the twentieth century. The onset of the 21st-century in East Asia led to the integration of Mainland China into the global economy through its entry in the World Trade Organization while also enhancing its emerging international status as a potential world power reinforced with its aim of restoring its historical established significance and enduring international prominence in

4212-660: The frontier regions ), 16 native to the island of Taiwan (collectively known as Taiwanese indigenous peoples ), one native to the major Japanese island of Hokkaido (the Ainu ) and four native to Mongolia ( Turkic peoples ). The Ryukyuan people are an unrecognized ethnic group indigenous to the Ryukyu Islands in southern Japan, which stretch from Kyushu to Taiwan. There are also several unrecognized indigenous ethnic groups in mainland China and Taiwan. East Asians comprise around 1.7 billion people, making up about 33% of

4329-474: The katakana and hiragana scripts, Korea created hangul , and Vietnam developed chữ Nôm (now rarely used in lieu of the modern Latin-based Vietnamese alphabet ). Classical literature written in Chinese characters nonetheless remains an important legacy of Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese cultures. In the 21st century, ideological and cultural influences of Taoism, Confucianism and Buddhism remain visible in high culture and social doctrines. Ancient China

4446-688: The "Far Eastern civilizations" (the Mainland and the Japanese ones). In the 1930s in A Study of History , the Sinosphere along with the Western , Islamic, Eastern Orthodox, Indic, etc. civilizations is presented as among the major "units of study". British historian Arnold J. Toynbee listed the Far Eastern civilization as one of the main civilizations outlined in his book A Study of History . He included Japan and Korea in his definition of "Far Eastern civilization" and proposed that they grew out of

4563-575: The "Sinic civilization" that originated in the Yellow River basin. Toynbee compared the relationship between the Sinic and Far Eastern civilization with that of the Hellenic and Western civilizations, which had an "apparentation-affiliation". American sinologist and historian Edwin O. Reischauer also grouped China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam into a cultural sphere that he called the "Sinic world",

4680-737: The 1860s. Around the same time, the Meiji Restoration in Japan sparked rapid societal transformation from an isolated feudal state into East Asia's first industrialised nation. The modern and militarily powerful Japan would galvanise its position in the Orient as East Asia's greatest power with a global mission poised to advance to lead the entire world. By the early 1900s, the Empire of Japan succeeded in asserting itself as East Asia's most dominant geopolitical force. With its newly found international status, Japan would begin to challenge

4797-555: The 21st century will be at times breached, in areas like the North China Plain . China, Japan and the Republic of Korea are expected to see some of the largest economic losses caused by sea level rise. The city of Guangzhou is projected to experience the single largest annual economic losses from sea level rise in the world, potentially reaching US$ 254 million by 2050. Under the highest climate change scenario and in

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4914-675: The 21st century. Baseball is one of the main sports in East Asia, having been introduced through mid-19th century American contact and further spread by the Japanese Empire. The game has gained millions of fans in China since the 2010s. Formerly the East Asian Games , it is a multi-sport event organized by the East Asian Games Association (EAGA) and held every four years since 2019 among athletes from East Asian countries and territories of

5031-461: The 7th century and possibly earlier, woodblock printing had been developed in China. At first, it was used only to copy Buddhist scriptures, but later secular works were also printed. By the 13th century, metal movable type was used by government printers in Korea but seems to have not been extensively used in China, Vietnam, or Japan. At the same time, manuscript reproduction remained important until

5148-495: The 7th to the 14th centuries, China stood as East Asia's most advanced civilization and foremost military and economic power, exerting its influence as the transmission of advanced Chinese cultural practices and ways of thinking greatly shaped the region up until the nineteenth century. As East Asia's connections with Europe and the Western world strengthened during the late nineteenth century, China's power began to decline. By

5265-570: The 8th century, they began inventing many of their own chữ Nôm characters. Since French colonization, they have switched to using a modified version of the Latin alphabet called chữ Quốc ngữ . However, Chinese characters still hold a special place in these cultures, as their history and literature have been greatly influenced by them. In Vietnam (and North Korea), chữ Hán can be seen in temples, cemeteries, and monuments as well as serving as decorative motifs in art and design. Zhuang people are similar to

5382-941: The Chinese influences they adopted into their local customs. Historian Ping-ti Ho referred to China as the cradle of Eastern civilization, in parallel with the cradle of Middle Eastern civilization along the Fertile Crescent encompassing Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt as well as the cradle of Western civilization encompassing Ancient Greece . Chinese civilization emerged early, and prefigured other East Asian civilisations. Throughout history, imperial China would exert cultural, economic, technological, and political influence on its neighbours. Succeeding Chinese dynasties exerted enormous influence across East Asia culturally, economically, politically and militarily for over two millennia. The tributary system of China shaped much of East Asia's history for over two millennia due to Imperial China's economic and cultural influence over

5499-685: The East Asian cultural sphere. Some have historically contributed to the vocabulary or development of Sinitic languages, and others have been influenced to some degree by them. Only some of these languages are highly indebted to Literary Chinese and thus relevant to the East Asian cultural sphere. Core languages of the East Asian cultural sphere are predominantly Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese, and their respective variants. These are well-documented to have historically used Chinese characters, with Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese each having roughly 60% of their vocabulary derived from Chinese. There

5616-565: The European colonial powers and inextricably took on a more active role within the East Asian geopolitical order and world affairs at large. Flexing its nascent political and military might, Japan soundly defeated the stagnant Qing dynasty during the First Sino-Japanese War as well as defeating Russia in the Russo-Japanese War in 1905; the first major military victory in the modern era of an East Asian power over

5733-569: The Han Chinese conquered the northern part of the Korean peninsula and established a province called Lelang . Chinese influences were transmitted and soon took root in Korea through the inclusion of the Chinese writing system, monetary system, rice culture, philosophical schools of thought, and Confucian political institutions. Jomon society in ancient Japan incorporated wet-rice cultivation and metallurgy through its contact with Korea. Starting in

5850-580: The Okinawan language. This policy of linguicide lasted into the post-war occupation of the Ryukyu Islands by the United States . As the American occupation forces generally promoted the reforming of a separate Ryukyuan culture, many Okinawan officials continued to strive for Japanification as a form of defiance. Nowadays, in favor of multiculturalism , preserving Ryukyuan languages has become

5967-431: The Okinawan mainland, their languages are not declining as quickly as that of Okinawa proper, and some children continue to be brought up in these languages. Each Ryukyuan language is generally unintelligible to others in the same family. There is wide diversity among them. For example, Yonaguni has only three vowels, whereas varieties of Amami may have up to seven, excluding length distinctions. The table below illustrates

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6084-928: The Ryukyu Islands: the Amami Islands , the Okinawa Islands , the Miyako Islands , and the Yaeyama Islands . The former is in the Kagoshima Prefecture , while the latter three are in the Okinawa Prefecture . Older Ryukyuan texts are often found on stone inscriptions. Tamaudun-no-Hinomon ( 玉陵の碑文 "Inscription of Tamaudun tomb") (1501), for example. Within the Ryukyu Kingdom , official texts were written in kanji and hiragana , derived from Japan. However, this

6201-660: The Ryukyuan languages as a dialect or group of dialects of Japanese. The Okinawan language is only 71% lexically similar to, or cognate with, standard Japanese. Even the southernmost Japanese dialect ( Kagoshima dialect ) is only 72% cognate with the northernmost Ryukyuan language (Amami). The Kagoshima dialect of Japanese, however, is 80% lexically similar to Standard Japanese. There is general agreement among linguistics experts that Ryukyuan varieties can be divided into six languages, conservatively, with dialects unique to islands within each group also sometimes considered languages. A widely accepted hypothesis among linguists categorizes

6318-505: The Ryukyuan languages into two groups, Northern Ryukyuan (Amami–Okinawa) and Southern Ryukyuan (Miyako–Yaeyama). Many speakers of the Amami, Miyako, Yaeyama and Yonaguni languages may also be familiar with Okinawan since Okinawan has the most speakers and once acted as the regional standard. Speakers of Yonaguni are also likely to know the Yaeyama language due to its proximity. Since Amami, Miyako, Yaeyama, and Yonaguni are less urbanized than

6435-785: The Shuri dialect of Okinawan . Commoners did not learn kanji. Omoro Sōshi (1531–1623), a noted Ryukyuan song collection, was mainly written in hiragana. Other than hiragana, they also used Suzhou numerals ( sūchūma すうちゅうま in Okinawan), derived from China. In Yonaguni in particular, there was a different writing system, the Kaidā glyphs (カイダー字 or カイダーディー). Under Japanese influence, all of those numerals became obsolete. Nowadays, perceived as "dialects", Ryukyuan languages are not often written. When they are, Japanese characters are used in an ad hoc manner. There are no standard orthographies for

6552-618: The Sinic world as one of many civilizations in his book The Clash of Civilizations . He notes that "all scholars recognize the existence of either a single distinct Chinese civilization dating back to at least 1500 B.C. and perhaps a thousand years earlier, or of two Chinese civilizations, one succeeding the other, in the early centuries of the Christian epoch", Huntington's Sinic civilization includes China, North Korea, South Korea, Vietnam, and Chinese communities in Southeast Asia. Of

6669-422: The Sinosphere. The Taoist school of thought was created in China from the teachings of Lao Tse . It follows the search for the tao , a concept that is equivalent to a path or course and represents the cosmic force that creates the universe and all things. According to this belief, the wisdom of the tao is the only source of the universe and must be a natural path of life events that everyone should follow. Thus,

6786-638: The Tang political system, Prince Naka no oe launched the Taika Reform in 645 AD where he radically transformed Japan's political bureaucracy into a more centralised bureaucratic empire. The Japanese also adopted Mahayana Buddhism, Chinese style architecture, and the imperial court's rituals and ceremonies, including the orchestral music and state dances had Tang influences. Written Chinese gained prestige and aspects of Tang culture such as poetry , calligraphy , and landscape painting became widespread. During

6903-506: The Vietnamese in that they used to write in Sawgun (Chinese characters) and have invented many of their own characters, called Sawndip . Sawndip is still used informally and in traditional settings, but in 1957, China introduced an alphabetical script for the language, which is what it officially promotes. The business cultures of East Asia are heavily influenced by Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism. Japan often features hierarchically organized companies , and Japanese work environments place

7020-611: The absence of adaptation, cumulative economic losses caused by sea level rise in Guangzhou would exceed US$ 1 trillion by 2100. Shanghai is also expected to experience annual losses of around 1% of the local GDP in the absence of adaptation. The Yangtze River basin is a sensitive and biodiverse ecosystem, yet around 20% of its species may be lost throughout the century under 2 °C (3.6 °F) and ~43% under 4.5 °C (8.1 °F). China, North Korea, South Korea and Taiwan are all unrecognised by at least one other East Asian state because of severe ongoing political tensions in

7137-444: The accentual systems of some Ryukyuan languages, and some Miyako varieties have a cross-linguistically rare system of tonal foot. However, Irabu Miyakoan does not have lexical accent. The Ryukyuan languages consistently distinguish between the word classes of nouns and verbs, distinguished by the fact that verbs take inflectional morphology . Property-concept (adjectival) words are generally bound morphemes . One strategy they use

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7254-404: The adherents of Taoism follow the search for tao , which means path and represents the strength of the universe. The most important text in Taoism, the Tao Te Ching ("Book of the Way and Virtue", c. 300 BC), declares that the tao is the "source" of the universe, thus considered a creative principle, but not as a deity. Nature manifests itself spontaneously, without a higher intention, and it

7371-411: The bounds of the Asia-Pacific, although the term Indo-Pacific is more commonly used for such a definition. Observers preferring a broader definition of "East Asia" often use the term Northeast Asia to refer to China, the Korean Peninsula, and Japan, with the region of Southeast Asia covering the ten ASEAN countries. This usage, which is seen in economic and diplomatic discussions, is at odds with

7488-488: The classics of Chinese literature and culture were seen as the foundations for a civilized life in East Asia. Imperial China served as a vehicle through which the adoption of Confucian ethical philosophy, Chinese calendar system, political and legal systems, architectural style, diet, terminology, institutions, religious beliefs, imperial examinations that emphasised a knowledge of Chinese classics, political philosophy and cultural value systems, as well as historically sharing

7605-738: The commission proposed an unified spelling rule based on katakana for languages of Kunigami, Okinawa, Miyako, Yaeyama and Yonaguni on May 30 in 2022. Ryukyuan languages often share many phonological features with Japanese, including a voicing opposition for obstruents , CV(C) syllable structure, moraic rhythm , and pitch accent . However, many individual Ryukyuan languages diverge significantly from this pan-Japonic base. For instance, Ōgami does not have phonemic voicing in obstruents, allows CCVC syllables, and has unusual syllabic consonants such as /kff/ [kf̩ː] "make". The Northern Ryukyuan (Amami-Okinawa) languages are notable for having glottalic consonants . Phonemically these are analyzed of consisting of

7722-449: The common culture that unifies the languages and cultures of many East Asian nations. Historically, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam have used Chinese characters. Today, they are mainly used in China, Japan, and South Korea, albeit in different forms. Mainland China, Malaysia, and Singapore use simplified characters , whereas Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau use Traditional Chinese . Japan still uses kanji but has also invented kana , inspired by

7839-452: The context of business and economics, "East Asia" is sometimes used to refer to the geographical area covering ten Southeast Asian countries in ASEAN , Greater China , Japan, and Korea. However, in this context, the term " Far East " is used by the Europeans to cover ASEAN countries and the countries in East Asia. On rare occasions, the term is also sometimes taken to include India and other South Asian countries that are not situated within

7956-433: The cultures of Japan and Korea and drew them into a Chinese international order. The Imperial Chinese tributary system shaped much of East Asia's foreign policy and trade for over two millennia due to Imperial China's economic and cultural dominance over the region, and thus played a huge role in the history of East Asia in particular. The relationship between China and its cultural influence on East Asia has been compared to

8073-424: The cultures of the West. According to Nishijima, this cultural sphere—which includes China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam—shared the philosophy of Confucianism , the religion of Buddhism , and similar political and social structures stemming from a background of historical Classical Chinese scholars. It has also been informally referred to as the " chopsticks sphere" due to perceived native use of these utensils across

8190-434: The development of neo-Confucianism . During the Tang dynasty , Buddhism from Nepal also became a prominent philosophical and religious discipline. Neo-Confucianism has its origins in the Tang dynasty; the Confucianist scholar Han Yu is seen as a forebear of the neo-Confucianists of the Song dynasty. The Song dynasty philosopher Zhou Dunyi is seen as the first true "pioneer" of neo-Confucianism, using Taoist metaphysics as

8307-424: The different phrases used in each language for "thank you" and "welcome", with standard Japanese provided for comparison. There is no census data for the Ryukyuan languages, and the number of speakers is unknown. As of 2005, the total population of the Ryukyu region was 1,452,288, but fluent speakers are restricted to the older generation, generally in their 50s or older, and thus the true number of Ryukyuan speakers

8424-751: The first millennium, and since then relative isolation allowed the Ryukyuan languages to diverge significantly from the varieties of Proto-Japonic spoken in Mainland Japan, which would later be known as Old Japanese . However, the discoveries of the Pinza-Abu Cave Man , the Minatogawa Man , and the Yamashita Cave Man as well as the Shiraho Saonetabaru Cave Ruins suggest an earlier arrival to

8541-466: The following nasal. Amami has high and mid central vowels. Yonaguni only has three contrasting vowels, /i/ , /u/ and /a/ . The Ryukyuan languages operate based on the mora . Most Ryukyuan languages require words to be at least bimoraic, thus for example in Hateruma the underlying noun root /si/ "hand" becomes /siː/ when it is an independent noun, though it remains as /si/ when attached to

8658-581: The following religions have been influential in its history: Christianity is the most popular religion in South Korea followed by Buddhism. Significant Christian communities are also found in mainland China , Hong Kong , Macau , Taiwan , Singapore , Japan and Vietnam . In recent years, Christianity, mainly Protestant , Catholic (or Roman Catholic) , as well as other denominations has been gaining more popularity in these areas, due to its own version of spirituality and charitability . However, it

8775-453: The fourth century AD and Japan by the seventh century AD, Japan and Korea actively began to incorporate Chinese influences such as Confucianism , the use of Chinese characters , architecture , state institutions, political philosophies , religion, urban planning, and various scientific and technological methods into their culture and society through direct contacts with Tang China and succeeding Chinese dynasties. Drawing inspiration from

8892-516: The fourth century AD, Japan adopted Chinese characters , which remain integral to the Japanese writing system . Utilizing the Chinese writing system allowed the Japanese to conduct their daily activities, maintain historical records and give form to various ideas, thoughts, and philosophies. During the Tang dynasty , China exerted its greatest influence on East Asia as various aspects of Chinese culture spread to Japan and Korea . The establishment of

9009-429: The greater Chinese cultural sphere . Though Confucianism continues to play an important role in Vietnamese culture, Chinese characters are no longer used in its written language and many scholarly organizations classify Vietnam as a Southeast Asian country. Mongolia is geographically north of Mainland China yet Confucianism and the Chinese writing system and culture had limited impact on Mongolian society. Thus, Mongolia

9126-439: The hierarchy, and showing respect for a person's age and status, are very important in Korean society. It is not uncommon for people in a Korean office to refer to others as their seniors ( seonbae ), or their juniors ( hubae ). And usually positions within a company is reflective of a person's age, and juniors tend to listen to their seniors without pause. Koreans place value on maintaining a social harmonious environment that allows

9243-539: The historical influence of Greco-Roman civilization on classical Western civilisation. Religion in East Asia (2020) *Japan switched the date to the Gregorian calendar after the Meiji Restoration. *Not always on that Gregorian date, sometimes April 4. East Asian popular culture, such as anime and manga from Japan and K-pop and K-dramas from South Korea, have become highly popular worldwide in

9360-612: The historical meanings of both "East Asia" and "Northeast Asia". The Council on Foreign Relations of the United States defines Northeast Asia as Japan and Korea. East Asia is home to many climatic zones. It also has unique weather patterns such as the East Asian rainy season and the East Asian Monsoon . Like the rest of the world, East Asia has been getting warmer due to climate change, and there had been

9477-524: The indigenous languages of the Ryukyu Islands , the southernmost part of the Japanese archipelago . Along with the Japanese language and the Hachijō language , they make up the Japonic language family . Although Japanese is spoken in the Ryukyu Islands, the Ryukyu and Japanese languages are not mutually intelligible . It is not known how many speakers of these languages remain, but language shift toward

9594-738: The indigenous populations of northeastern China such as the Manchus . The major languages in East Asia include Mandarin Chinese , Japanese , and Korean . The major ethnic groups of East Asia include the Han in China and Taiwan, Yamato in Japan, and Koreans in North and South Korea. and Mongols in Mongolia. There are 76 officially-recognized minority or indigenous ethnic groups in East Asia; 55 native to mainland China (including Hui , Manchus, Chinese Mongols , Tibetans, Uyghurs , and Zhuang in

9711-399: The island by modern humans. Some researchers suggest that the Ryukyuan languages are most likely to have evolved from a "pre-Proto-Japonic language" from the Korean peninsula. However, Ryukyuan may have already begun to diverge from Proto-Japonic before this migration, while its speakers still dwelt in the main islands of Japan . After this initial settlement, there was little contact between

9828-699: The islands, and usually occurs only when the children are living with their grandparents. The Ryukyuan languages are still used in traditional cultural activities, such as folk music , folk dance , poem and folk plays. There has also been a radio news program in the Naha dialect since 1960. Circa 2007, in Okinawa , people under the age of 40 have little proficiency in the native Okinawan language . A new mixed language , based on Japanese and Okinawan, has developed, known as " Okinawan Japanese ". Although it has been largely ignored by linguists and language activists, this

9945-530: The language, the Okinawan Prefectural government proclaimed on March 31, 2006, that September 18 would be commemorated as Shimakutuba no Hi ( しまくとぅばの日 , "Island Languages Day") , as the day's numerals in goroawase spell out ku (9), tu (10), ba (8); kutuba is one of the few words common throughout the Ryukyuan languages meaning "word" or "language" (a cognate of the Japanese word kotoba ( 言葉 , "word") ). A similar commemoration

10062-502: The largest unified population in East Asia, the most literate and urbanised as well as being the most economically developed, as well as the most technologically and culturally advanced civilization in the region at the time. Cultural and religious interaction between the Chinese and other regional East Asian dynasties and kingdoms occurred. China's impact and influence on Korea began with the Han dynasty's northeastern expansion in 108 BC when

10179-562: The late 19th century. Japan's textual scholarship had Chinese origins, which made Japan one of the birthplaces of modern Sinology . Four Books and Five Classics are the authoritative books of Confucianism , where it was used to study for civil service examinations in China , Korea , and Vietnam . The Art of War , Tao Te Ching , I Ching , and Analects are classic Chinese texts that have been influential in East Asian history. Taoism has had an influence on countries throughout

10296-533: The latter lost Mainland China to the People's Republic of China in the Chinese Civil War . During the latter half of the twentieth century, the region would see the post war economic miracle of Japan , which ushered in three decades of unprecedented growth, only to experience an economic slowdown during the 1990s , but nonetheless Japan continues to remain a global economic power. East Asia would also see

10413-708: The main islands and the Ryukyu Islands for centuries, allowing Ryukyuan and Japanese to diverge as separate linguistic entities from each other. This situation lasted until the Kyushu -based Satsuma Domain conquered the Ryukyu Islands in the 17th century. In 1846-1849 first Protestant missionary in Ryukyu Bernard Jean Bettelheim studied local languages, partially translated the Bible into them and published first grammar of Shuri Ryukyuan. The Ryukyu Kingdom retained its autonomy until 1879, when it

10530-438: The many civilizations that Huntington discusses, the Sinic world is the only one that is based on a cultural, rather than religious, identity. Huntington's theory was that in a post- Cold War world, humanity "[identifies] with cultural groups: tribes, ethnic groups, religious communities [and] at the broadest level, civilizations". Yet, Huntington considered Japan as a distinct civilization. The cuisine of East Asia shares many of

10647-652: The medieval Tang dynasty rekindled the impetus of Chinese expansionism across the geopolitical confines of East Asia. Similar to its Han predecessor, Tang China reasserted itself as the center of East Asian geopolitical influence during the early medieval period which spearheaded and marked another golden age in Chinese history . During the Tang dynasty, China exerted its greatest influence on East Asia as various aspects of Chinese culture spread to Japan and Korea. In addition, Tang China also managed to maintain control over northern Vietnam and northern Korea . As full-fledged medieval East Asian states were established, Korea by

10764-420: The mid-nineteenth century, the weakening Qing dynasty became fraught with political corruption, obstacles and stagnation that was incapable of rejuvenating itself as a world power in contrast to the industrializing Imperial European colonial powers and a rapidly modernizing Japan. The United States Commodore Matthew C. Perry would open Japan to Western influence , and the country would expand in earnest after

10881-444: The modern languages. Sounds not distinguished in the Japanese writing system, such as glottal stops , are not properly written. Sometimes local kun'yomi are given to kanji, such as agari (あがり "east") for 東 , iri (いり "west") for 西 , thus 西表 is Iriomote . Okinawa Prefectural government set up the investigative commission for orthography of shimakutuba ( しまくとぅば正書法検討委員会 , Shimakutuba seishohō kentō iinkai ) in 2018, and

10998-584: The most popular religion in Xinjiang and has significant communities in Ningxia in China. On the other hand, no specific religious affiliation may also be practiced as well, and are often the most cited in several aforementioned countries. However, regardless of religious affiliations, most in the Sinosphere are entwined with traces of Buddhism, Confucianism and Taoism, or native religions and philosophies. The following language families are found in and around

11115-729: The origins of these 'culture sphere' terms. The Chinese wénhuà quān ( 文化圈 ) dates to a 1941 translation for the German term Kulturkreis , ('culture circle, field'), which the Austrian ethnologists Fritz Graebner and Wilhelm Schmidt proposed. Japanese historian Nishijima Sadao  [ ja ] coined the expressions Kanji bunka ken ( 漢字文化圏 , 'Chinese-character culture sphere') and Chuka bunka ken ( 中華文化圏 , 'Chinese culture sphere') , which China later re-borrowed as loanwords . The Sinosphere may be taken to be synonymous to Ancient China and its descendant civilizations as well as

11232-444: The other cultures in governance, philosophy, science, and the arts. Literary Chinese became the written lingua franca for bureaucracy and communications, and Chinese characters became locally adapted as kanji in Japan, hanja in Korea, and chữ Hán in Vietnam. In late classical history, the literary importance of classical Chinese diminished as Japan, Korea, and Vietnam each adopted their own writing systems. Japan developed

11349-428: The policy of Okinawa Prefectural government , as well as the government of Kagoshima Prefecture 's Ōshima Subprefecture . However, the situation is not very optimistic, since the vast majority of Okinawan children are now monolingual in Japanese. The Ryukyuan languages are spoken on the Ryukyu Islands , which comprise the southernmost part of the Japanese archipelago . There are four major island groups which make up

11466-584: The population in Continental Asia and 20% of the global population. The region is home to major world metropolises such as Beijing – Tianjin , Busan – Daegu – Ulsan – Changwon , Guangzhou , Hong Kong , Osaka – Kyoto – Kobe , Seoul , Shanghai , Shenzhen , Taipei , and Tokyo . Although the coastal and riparian areas of the region form one of the world's most populated places, the population in Mongolia and Western China , both landlocked areas,

11583-417: The present day include the Japanese , Korean , and Mongolian civilizations. Various other civilizations existed as independent polities in East Asia in the past but have since been absorbed into neighbouring civilizations in the present day, such as Tibet , Manchuria , and Ryukyu (Okinawa), among many others. Taiwan has a relatively young history in the region after the prehistoric era ; originally, it

11700-508: The region, and thus played a huge role in the history of East Asia in particular. Imperial China's cultural preeminence not only led the country to become East Asia's first literate nation in the entire region, it also supplied Japan and Korea with Chinese loanwords and linguistic influences rooted in their writing systems. Under Emperor Wu of Han , the Han dynasty made China the regional powerhouse in East Asia, projecting much of its imperial influence onto its neighbours. Han China hosted

11817-416: The region, specifically the division of Korea and the political status of Taiwan . thousands (2023) [REDACTED] The culture of East Asia has been deeply influenced by China , as it was the civilization that had the most dominant influence in the region throughout the ages that ultimately laid the foundation for East Asian civilization. The vast knowledge and ingenuity of Chinese civilization and

11934-470: The region. The term Sinosphere is derived from Sino- 'China' ( cf. Sinophone ) + -sphere , in the sense of the sphere of influence under the influence of a country. The CJK languages—Chinese, Japanese, Korean—each use cognate terms to translate English sphere : Unlike with the other languages of the Sinosphere, the corresponding Vietnamese cognate khuyên 圈 is not used to mean 'sphere' or 'area'. Instead, vùng 'region', 'area'

12051-562: The root from which many other East Asian calendars are derived. Major religions in East Asia include Buddhism (mostly Mahayana ), Confucianism and Neo-Confucianism , Taoism , ancestral worship , and Chinese folk religion in Mainland China, Hong Kong , Macau and Taiwan , Shinto in Japan, and Christianity and Musok in Korea. Tengerism and Tibetan Buddhism are prevalent among Mongols and Tibetans while other religions such as Shamanism are widespread among

12168-478: The same ingredients and techniques. Chopsticks are used as an eating utensil in all of the core East Asian countries. The use of soy sauce, which is made from fermenting soybeans, is also widespread in the region. Rice is the staple food in all of East Asia and is a major focus of food security . People who have no rice are often seen as having no food. Moreover, in East Asian countries such as Japan ( 御飯 ; gohan ), Korea (밥; bap ), and Vietnam ( cơm; 𩚵 or 粓),

12285-558: The same marker. This marker has the unusual feature of changing form depending on an animacy hierarchy . The Ryukyuan languages have topic and focus markers, which may take different forms depending on the sentential context. Ryukyuan also preserves a special verbal inflection for clauses with focus markers—this unusual feature was also found in Old Japanese , but lost in Modern Japanese. The Ryukyuan languages belong to

12402-502: The so-called Sino-Xenic pronunciations , which provide clues to the pronunciation of Middle Chinese . Chinese words with these pronunciations were also borrowed extensively into the local vernaculars and today comprise over half their vocabularies. Vernacular or standard Chinese encompassing varieties of Chinese also developed in contrast to the use of Literary Chinese. Books in Literary Chinese were widely distributed. By

12519-487: The teachings of the Buddha, which lead the individual to enlightenment through meditative practices, mindfulness, and reflection on their daily actions. The belief is that physical and spiritual awareness leads to a state of enlightenment called nirvana , which, according to Buddha, is the highest state of meditation. In this state the individual finds peace and tranquility above the oscillations of thoughts and emotions and

12636-580: The use of Standard Japanese and dialects like Okinawan Japanese has resulted in these languages becoming endangered ; UNESCO labels four of the languages "definitely endangered" and two others "severely endangered". Phonologically, the Ryukyuan languages have some cross-linguistically unusual features. Southern Ryukyuan languages have a number of syllabic consonants , including unvoiced syllabic fricatives (e.g. Ōgami Miyako /kss/ [ksː] 'breast'). Glottalized consonants are common (e.g. Yuwan Amami /ʔma/ [ˀma] "horse"). Some Ryukyuan languages have

12753-573: The word for "cooked rice" can embody the meaning of food in general. Popular terms associated with East Asian cuisine include boba , kimchi , sushi , hot pot , tea, dim sum , ramen , as well as phở , sashimi , udon , and chả giò , among others. East Asian literary culture is based on the use of Literary Chinese , which became the medium of scholarship and government across the region. Although each of these countries developed vernacular writing systems and used them for popular literature, they continued to use Chinese for all formal writing until it

12870-418: The world economy. As of at least 2022, the region is more peaceful, integrated, wealthy, and stable than any time in the previous 150 years. In common usage, the term "East Asia" typically refers to a region including Greater China , Japan , Korea and Mongolia . China , Japan , and Korea represent the three core countries and civilizations of traditional East Asia, as they once had

12987-513: The world stage. With the region having been home to various influential empires, kingdoms, and dynasties throughout history, each leaving its mark on the region and transforming the region's geopolitical landscape ranging from distinct dynastic kingdoms to colonial possessions to independent modern nation-states. East Asia, especially Chinese civilization , is regarded as one of the earliest cradles of civilization . Other ancient civilizations in East Asia that still exist as independent countries in

13104-481: Was a major site of Austronesian civilisation prior to colonisation by European colonial powers and China from the 17th century onward. For thousands of years, China was the leading civilization in the region, exerting influence on its neighbours. Historically, societies in East Asia have fallen within the Chinese sphere of influence , and East Asian vocabularies and scripts are often derived from Classical Chinese and Chinese script . The Chinese calendar serves as

13221-529: Was a political debate amongst Japanese leaders about whether or not to continue the oppression of the Ryukyuan languages, although the argument for assimilation prevailed. In the World War II era, speaking the Ryukyuan languages was officially illegal, although in practice the older generation was still monolingual. During the Battle of Okinawa , many Okinawans were labeled as spies and executed for speaking

13338-475: Was a sharp contrast from Japan at the time, where classical Chinese writing was mostly used for official texts, only using hiragana for informal ones. Classical Chinese writing was sometimes used in Ryukyu as well, read in kundoku (Ryukyuan) or in Chinese. In Ryukyu, katakana was hardly used. Historically, official documents in Ryukyuan were primarily written in a form of classical Chinese writing known as Kanbun , while poetry and songs were often written in

13455-414: Was annexed by Japan. The Japanese government adopted a policy of forced assimilation, appointing mainland Japanese to political posts and suppressing native culture and language. Students caught speaking the Ryukyuan languages were made to wear a dialect card ( 方言札 hōgen fuda ), a method of public humiliation . Students who regularly wore the card would receive corporal punishment . In 1940, there

13572-572: Was one of the cradles of civilization , with the emergent cultures that arose from the migration of Han settlers from the Yellow River generally regarded as the origin of the East Asian world. Japanese historian Nishijima Sadao  [ ja ] (1919–1998), professor emeritus at the University of Tokyo , coined the term Tōa bunka-ken ( 東亜文化圏 , 'East Asian Cultural Sphere') to refer to an East Asian cultural sphere distinct from

13689-541: Was swept away by rising nationalism around the end of the 19th century. Throughout East Asia, Literary Chinese was the language of administration and scholarship. Although Vietnam, Korea, and Japan each developed writing systems for their languages, these were limited to popular literature. Chinese remained the medium of formal writing until it was displaced by vernacular writing in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Though they did not use Chinese for spoken communication, each country had its tradition of reading texts aloud,

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