East Asia
East Asia is a subregion of Asia that can be defined in either geographical[Columbia University - "East Asian cultural sphere" "The East Asian cultural sphere evolves when Japan, Korea, and what is today Vietnam all share adapted elements of Chinese civilization of this period (that of the Tang dynasty), in particular Buddhism, Confucian social and political values, and literary Chinese and its writing system."] terms. 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. 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.[See, List of countries by population density]
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. Major religions include Buddhism (mostly Mahayana), Confucianism or Neo-Confucianism, Taoism, and Chinese folk religion, and Shinto in Japan.
This combination of language, political philosophy, and religion (as well as art, architecture, holidays and festivals, etc.) 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).
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
Other uses of the term East Asia
The following political entities are consistently seen as located in geographic East Asia:
 (Including the Special Administrative Regions of and )
(Republic of Korea)
(Democratic People's Republic of Korea)
(Taiwan)[The Republic of China (Taiwan) is has limited recognition within the international community as a sovereign state, see Political status of Taiwan.]
In addition the following countries are sometimes included in the definition of East Asia
Siberia, Russia [MSN Encarta, East Asia] (considered either East Asia or North Asia)
The following peoples or societies are commonly seen as being encompassed by cultural East Asia:[Columbia University East Asian Cultural Sphere ] [R. Keith Schopper's East Asia: Identities and Change in the Modern World ][Joshua A. Fogel (UC Santa Barbara/University of Indiana) Nationalism, the Rise of the Vernacular,]
and the Conceptualization of Modernization
in East Asian Comparative Perspective [United Nations Environment Programme (mentions sinosphere countries) Approaches to Solution of Eutrophication ]
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. 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 Asia in the case of Tibet[Center for South Asia Studies: University of California, Berkeley ][Center for South Asia Outreach UW-Madison ][Department of South Asia Studies: University of Pennsylvania ][South Asia Language Resource Center: The University of Chicago ][AIIS Advanced Language Programs in India ][Tibet is located on the Tibetan Plateau which is in Central Asia.]—here the primary question is cultural, with geography also at issue)
(considered either East Asia or Central Asia—here culture and/or geography may be at issue)
(considered either East Asia or Southeast Asia—here the primary question is geographic)
(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.
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.
East Asia Summit
History of East Asia
Sinosphere
East Asian Community
Russian Far East (East Asia north of this area)
External links
High resolution map of East Asian region
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