East Asia is a subregion of Asia that can be defined in either geographical^[5] or cultural^[6] terms. Talk People's Republic of China) PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA ARTICLE GUIDELINES For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Japan topics. North Korea is the commonly used short form name for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (or DPRK) a State located in East Asia, South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea and often referred to as Korea ( Korean: 대한민국 tɛː REPUBLIC OF CHINA ARTICLE GUIDELINES Mongolia (mɒŋˈɡoʊliə, literally Mongol country/nation,) is a Landlocked Country in East is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities This article is mainly about the spoken Korean language See Hangul for details on the native Korean writing system The Mongolian language (mn [[ImageMonggol kelesvg 17px]] Mongɣol kele, Cyrillic: Монгол хэл Mongol khel) is the best-known member of There is a wide variety of Languages spoken throughout Asia, comprising a number of families and some unrelated isolates Pyongyang (pʰjʌŋjaŋ is the Capital and largest City of North Korea, located on the Taedong River, at. Seoul ( soʊl is the Capital and largest City of South Korea. Taipei ( Taiwanese Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Tâi-pak-chhī Jhuyin Fuhao: ㄊㄞˊ ㄅㄟˇ ㄕˋ Hakka: Thòi-pet-sṳ has been the capital of officially, is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan and located on the eastern side of the main island Honshū. Ulan Bator, or Ulaanbaatar (Улаанбаатар is the Capital and largest city of Mongolia. Hong Kong ( officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, is a territory located on China 's south coast on the Pearl River Delta, and borders is a city in Japan, located at the mouth of the Yodo River on Osaka Bay, in the Kansai region of the main island of Honshū Shanghai ( 上[[wikt 海|海]] is the largest city in China in terms of population and one of the largest urban areas in the world with over 20 million is the capital of Kanagawa Prefecture, located in the Kantō region of the main island of Honshū and is a major commercial hub of the Greater Tokyo Area A subregion is a conceptual unit which derives from a larger Region or Continent and is usually based on location Geography (from Greek γεωγραφία - geografia) is the study of the Earth and its lands features inhabitants and phenomena Culture (from the Latin cultura stemming from colere, meaning "to cultivate" generally refers to patterns of human activity and the symbolic Geographically, it covers about 12,000,000 km², or about 28 percent of the Asian continent, about 15 percent bigger than the area of Europe. Geography (from Greek γεωγραφία - geografia) is the study of the Earth and its lands features inhabitants and phenomena A continent is one of several large Landmasses on Earth. They are generally identified by Convention rather than any strict criteria with seven regions More than 1. 5 billion people, about 40 percent of the population of Asia or a quarter of all the people in the world, live in geographic East Asia, which is about twice the population of Europe. The region is one of the world's most crowded places. The population density of East Asia, 131 per km², is about three times the world average of 45 per km². ^[7]

Historically, many societies in East Asia have been part of the Chinese cultural sphere, and East Asian vocabulary and scripts are often derived from Classical Chinese and Chinese script. Sinosphere, also known as Chinese world, Chinese cultural sphere or Chinese-character cultural sphere ( a term coined by linguist James Matisoff Classical Chinese or Literary Chinese is a traditional style of Written Chinese based on the Grammar and Vocabulary of ancient Chinese A Chinese character, also known as a Han character ( is a Logogram used in writing Chinese (hanzi Japanese ( Major religions include Buddhism (mostly Mahayana), Confucianism or Neo-Confucianism, Taoism, and Chinese folk religion, and Shinto in Japan. A religion is a set of Tenets and practices often centered upon specific Supernatural and moral claims about Reality, the Cosmos Buddhism is a family of beliefs and practices Mahayana ( Sanskrit: mahāyāna, Devanagari: महायान 'Great Vehicle' is one of the two main existing schools of Buddhism and a term for Confucianism ( is a Chinese ethical and philosophical system originally developed from the teachings of the fifth century B Neo-Confucianism (/( is a form of Confucianism that was primarily developed during the Song Dynasty, but which can be traced back to Han Yu and Li Taoism (pronounced /ˈdaʊɪzəm/ or /ˈtaʊɪzəm/ also spelled '''Daoism''') refers to a variety of related Philosophical and Religious traditions Chinese folk religion is a collective label given to various folkloric beliefs that draws heavily from Chinese mythology. is the native religion of Japan and was once its State religion. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Japan topics.

This combination of language, political philosophy, and religion (as well as art, architecture, holidays and festivals, etc. A language is a dynamic set of visual auditory or tactile Symbols of Communication and the elements used to manipulate them Political philosophy is the study of questions about the City, Government, Politics, Liberty, Justice, Property, Rights A religion is a set of Tenets and practices often centered upon specific Supernatural and moral claims about Reality, the Cosmos ) overlaps with the geographical designation of East Asia for the most part, with a few exceptions, such as the overseas Chinese (including those in Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, and the West). Singapore For the biogeographical region see Malesia Malaysia (məˈleɪʒə or /məˈleɪziə/ is a country that consists of thirteen states and Vietnam (ˌviːɛtˈnɑːm Việt Nam) officially The term Western world, the West or the Occident ( Latin: occidens -sunset -west as distinct from the Orient) can have multiple meanings

East Asia and Eastern Asia (the latter form preferred by the United Nations) are both more modern terms for the traditional name the Far East^[8], which describes the region's geographical position in relation to Europe rather than its location within Asia. The United Nations ( UN) is an International organization whose stated aims are to facilitate cooperation in International law, International security The Far East is a term often used by people in the Western world to refer to the countries of East Asia. However, in contrast to the United Nations definition, East Asia commonly is used to refer to the eastern part of Asia, as the term implies. The United Nations ( UN) is an International organization whose stated aims are to facilitate cooperation in International law, International security

Other uses of the term East Asia

The following political entities are consistently seen as located in geographic East Asia:^[5]

•  Japan
•  North Korea
•  People's Republic of China (including the Special Administrative Regions of  Hong Kong and  Macau)
•  Republic of China (Taiwan)^[3]
•  South Korea

In addition the following countries are sometimes included in the definition of East Asia

•  Mongolia^[5]
• Russian Far East (considered either East Asia or North Asia)^[5]
• Vietnam

The following peoples or societies are commonly seen as being encompassed by cultural East Asia:^{[9][10][11][12]}

• Chinese society (including the predominantly Chinese regions outside China proper, such as Singapore and Taiwan)
• Japanese society
• Korean society
• Vietnamese society

Some consider the following countries or regions as part of East Asia, while others do not. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Japan topics. North Korea is the commonly used short form name for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (or DPRK) a State located in East Asia, Talk People's Republic of China) PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA ARTICLE GUIDELINES A special administrative region or SAR may be;People's Republic of China Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China, present-day Hong Kong ( officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, is a territory located on China 's south coast on the Pearl River Delta, and borders For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Macau topics. REPUBLIC OF CHINA ARTICLE GUIDELINES Taiwan ( Taiwanese: Tâi-oân/Tāi-oân (historically 大灣/台員/大員/台圓/大圓/台窩灣 is an Island in East Asia. South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea and often referred to as Korea ( Korean: 대한민국 tɛː are the Chinese characters that are used in the modern Japanese logographic writing system along with Hiragana (ひらがな 平仮名 Katakana Kana is a general term for the syllabic Japanese scripts Hiragana (ひらがな and Katakana (カタカナ as well as the old system Hanja is the Korean name for Chinese characters. More specifically it refers to those Chinese characters borrowed from Chinese and incorporated The Mongolian language (mn [[ImageMonggol kelesvg 17px]] Mongɣol kele, Cyrillic: Монгол хэл Mongol khel) is the best-known member of Russian ( transliteration:,) is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages The Romanization of the Russian alphabet is the process of transliterating the Russian language from the Cyrillic alphabet and The Vietnamese alphabet has the following 29 letters in collating order Description The Vietnamese alphabet called Chữ Quốc Ngữ Hán tự ( {{IPA|/han˦˥ tɯ˨/}}; 漢[[wikt 字|字]] meaning " Chinese character " or chữ Nho ( {{IPA|/tɕɯ˧˨˧ ɲɔ/}} Mongolia (mɒŋˈɡoʊliə, literally Mongol country/nation,) is a Landlocked Country in East Russian Far East (Да́льний Восто́к Росси́и ˈdalʲnʲɪj vʌˈstok rʌˈsʲiɪ is a term that refers to the Russian part of the Far East, i North Asia or Northern Asia is sometimes defined as a Subregion of Asia consisting only of the Asian portion of Russia. Vietnam (ˌviːɛtˈnɑːm Việt Nam) officially The Culture of China (traditional Chinese 中國文化 simplified Chinese 中国文化 is home to one of the world's oldest and most complex Civilizations covering a history The term Chinese people may refer to any of the following A person who resides in and holds citizenship of the People's Republic of China (including Hong As Singapore is a small and relatively modern amalgam of Chinese, Malay, Indian and European immigrants the culture of Singapore expresses The culture of Taiwan is a hybrid blend of Confucianist Han Chinese, Japanese, European, American, global, The culture of Japan has evolved greatly over millenia from the country's prehistoric Jomon culture to its contemporary hybrid culture which combines influences from Asia This article is about the traditional culture of Korea. For the modern culture see Culture of North Korea and Culture of South Korea The Culture of Vietnam which is the agricultural civilization based on Wet rice cultivating is one of the oldest of such in the Asia Pacific region Disagreements hinge on the difference between the cultural and geographic definitions of the term. Political perspective is also an important factor. In descending order in terms of the frequency with which they are described as East Asian:

• The parts of China that are not historically dominated by Han Chinese: Qinghai, Tibet, Xinjiang (considered either East Asia or Central Asia or South Asian in the case of Tibet^{[13][14][15][16][17][18]}—here the primary question is cultural, with geography also at issue)
•  Mongolia (considered either East Asia or Central Asia—here culture and/or geography may be at issue)
•  Singapore (considered either East Asia or Southeast Asia—here the primary question is geographic)
•  Vietnam (considered either East Asia or Southeast Asia—here the primary question is geographic)
• Russian Far East (considered either East Asia or North Asia—here the primary question is political, with culture and geography also at issue)

In infrequent circumstances, the term East Asia is purposefully used to include all countries in Southeast Asia, especially when used in dualism with the term West Asia, the latter of which is then used to include those regions commonly considered West Asia, Central Asia and Southwest Asia. China ( Wade-Giles ( Mandarin) Chung¹kuo² is a cultural region, an ancient Civilization, and depending on perspective a National Han Chinese ( are an Ethnic group native to China and by most modern definitions the largest single Ethnic group in the world. (青海 qīnghǎi is a province of the People's Republic of China, named after Qinghai Lake. Definitions of Tibet See also Definitions of Tibet Name In English The English word Tibet, like the word for Tibet in most European Xinjiang ( Uyghur: شىنجاڭ Shinjang;; Postal map spelling: Sinkiang; Turkish: Sincan, Sincan Uygur Özerk Central Asia is a region of Asia from the Caspian Sea in the west to central China in the east and from southern Russia in the north to northern Pakistan in the south Mongolia (mɒŋˈɡoʊliə, literally Mongol country/nation,) is a Landlocked Country in East Central Asia is a region of Asia from the Caspian Sea in the west to central China in the east and from southern Russia in the north to northern Pakistan in the south Singapore Vietnam (ˌviːɛtˈnɑːm Việt Nam) officially Russian Far East (Да́льний Восто́к Росси́и ˈdalʲnʲɪj vʌˈstok rʌˈsʲiɪ is a term that refers to the Russian part of the Far East, i North Asia or Northern Asia is sometimes defined as a Subregion of Asia consisting only of the Asian portion of Russia. Southwest Asia or Southwestern Asia (largely overlapping with the Middle East) is the southwestern portion of Asia. Central Asia is a region of Asia from the Caspian Sea in the west to central China in the east and from southern Russia in the north to northern Pakistan in the south Southwest Asia or Southwestern Asia (largely overlapping with the Middle East) is the southwestern portion of Asia.

Other subregions of Asia

• Southeast Asia
• South Asia
• Central Asia
• Southwest Asia or West Asia (One definition of the Middle East is synonymous with Southwest Asia)
• North Asia (Siberia)
• Northern Eurasia (Extends into part of Europe)
• Central Eurasia (Extends into part of Europe)

See also

• Cities of East Asia
• East Asian studies
• Asian Network of Major Cities 21
• East Asian languages
• East Asian calligraphy
• Four Asian Tigers – a label pertinent to the recent economic history of the region. Central Asia is a region of Asia from the Caspian Sea in the west to central China in the east and from southern Russia in the north to northern Pakistan in the south Southwest Asia or Southwestern Asia (largely overlapping with the Middle East) is the southwestern portion of Asia. Southwest Asia or Southwestern Asia (largely overlapping with the Middle East) is the southwestern portion of Asia. The Middle East is a Subcontinent with no clear boundaries often used as a synonym to Near East, in opposition to Far East. North Asia or Northern Asia is sometimes defined as a Subregion of Asia consisting only of the Asian portion of Russia. Siberia (Сиби́рь Sibir) is the name given to the vast region constituting almost all of Northern Asia and for the most part currently serving North Eurasia often refers to Europe except for Mediterranean and Black Sea countries Russia (except for the Northern Caucasus For the purposes of this article East Asia shall represent ( Taiwan) As well as a broader East Asian Studies is a distinct Multidisciplinary field of scholarly enquiry and education that promotes a broad Humanistic understanding of East Asia Asian Network of Major Cities 21 is a body representing the interests of several of Asia 's largest capital cities around common themes of importance including urban planning East Asian languages describe two notional groupings of languages in East and Southeast Asia: Languages which have been greatly influenced by The art of Calligraphy is widely practiced and revered in the East Asian Civilizations that use or used Chinese characters. The term Four Asian Tigers or East Asian Tigers refers to the Economies of South Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore Economic history is the study of how economic phenomena evolved in the past
• East Asia Summit
• History of East Asia
• Sinosphere
• East Asian Community
• Russian Far East (East Asia north of this area)

Notes and references

External links

• High resolution map of East Asian region