From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

East Asia Area 11,839,074 km2[1] Population 1,575,784,500[2] Density 133 per km2 Countries and Territories  China  Hong Kong  Japan  Macau  Mongolia  North Korea  South Korea  Taiwan Languages and language families Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and many others Nominal GDP (2009) $ 11.427 Trillion GDP per capita (2009) $ 7,300 Time zones UTC +7:00 (Western Mongolia) to UTC +9:00 (Japan and Korean Peninsula) Capital cities Beijing Pyongyang Seoul Taipei Tokyo Ulan Bator Other major cities Busan Guangzhou  Hong Kong Kaohsiung  Macau Osaka Shanghai Yokohama (see list)

East Asia Chinese name Traditional Chinese 東亞 Simplified Chinese 东亚 Transliterations Gan - Romanization Tung1 nga3 Mandarin - Hanyu Pinyin Dōngyà - Wade–Giles Tung1-ya3 Min - Hokkien POJ Tang-a Cantonese - Jyutping dung1 aa3 Japanese name Kanji 東亜細亜/東亜 Kana ひがしアジア/とうあ Kyūjitai 東亞細亞/東亞 Transliterations - Revised Hepburn Higashi Ajia/Tō-A - Kunrei-shiki Higasi Azia/Tou-A Korean name Hangul 동아시아/동아세아/동아 Hanja 東아시아/東亞細亞/東亞 Mongolian name Mongolian Зүүн Ази ᠵᠤᠨ ᠠᠵᠢ Züün Azi Russian name Russian Восточная Азия Romanization Vostochnaja Azija

East Asia or Eastern Asia (the latter form preferred by the United Nations) is a subregion of Asia that can be defined in either geographical^[3] or cultural^[4] terms. Geographically and geo-politically, it covers about 12,000,000 km² (4,600,000 sq mi), or about 28 percent of the Asian continent, about 15 percent bigger than the area of Europe.

More than 1.5 billion people, about 38 percent of the population of Asia or 22 percent of all the people in the world, live in geographic East Asia. This is about twice the population that Europe has. The region is one of the world's most populated places, with a population density of 133 inhabitants per square kilometre (340 /sq mi), being about three times the world average of 45 /km² (120 /sq mi).^[5] Using the UN subregion definitions, it ranks second in population only to Southern Asia.

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. Sometimes Northeast Asia is used to denote Japan, North Korea, and South Korea.^[6]

Major religions include Buddhism (mostly Mahayana), Confucianism or Neo-Confucianism, Taoism, Chinese folk religion in China, Shinto in Japan, Shamanism in Korea, Mongolia and other indigenous populations of northern East Asia^[7][8], and more recently Christianity^[9] in South Korea. The Chinese Calendar is the root from which many other East Asian calendars are derived.

Uses of the term East Asia

The UN subregion of Eastern Asia and other common definitions^[3] of East Asia contain the entirety of the People's Republic of China^[10] (including all SARs and autonomous regions), Taiwan (officially known as the Republic of China)^[11], Japan, North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea), South Korea (Republic of Korea), and Mongolia^[3].

Chinese speaking societies (including the cultures of mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan), Japanese society, Korean society, and Vietnamese society are commonly seen as being encompassed by cultural East Asia:^{[12][13][14][15]}

Alternate definitions

Some consider the following countries or regions as part of East Asia, while others do not.

• The parts of China that are not historically dominated by Han Chinese: Tibet, Xinjiang (considered either East Asia or Central Asia or South Asia in the case of Tibet^{[16][17][18][19][20][21]}—here the primary question is cultural, with geography also at issue)
•  Vietnam^{[citation needed]}(considered either East Asia or Southeast Asia—here the primary question is geographic)
• Siberia, Russia ^[22](considered either East Asia or North Asia—here the primary question is political, with culture and geography also at issue)
•  Guam

In business and economics, East Asia has been used to refer to a wide geographical area covering ten countries in ASEAN^{[citation needed]}, People's Republic of China, Japan, South Korea, and the Republic of China (commonly known as Taiwan)^[11] for the purpose of economic and political regionalism and integration. The tendency of this usage, perhaps, started especially since the publication of World Bank on The East Asian Miracle in 1993 explaining the economic success of the Asian Tiger and emerging Southeast Asian economies (Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand).^{[citation needed]}}

In addition, this usage has also been driven by Asia-wide economic interconnectedness since the co-operation between ASEAN and its three dialogue partners was institutionalized under the ASEAN Plus Three Process (ASEAN+3 or APT) in 1997. The idea of East Asian Community arising from ASEAN+3 framework is also gradually shaping the term East Asia to cover more than greater China, Korea, and Japan. This usage however, is unstable: the East Asian Summit, for instance, includes India and Australia.

East Asia is considered to be a part of the Far East, which describes the region's geographical position in relation to Europe rather than its location within 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. Observers preferring a broader definition of 'East Asia' often use the term Northeast Asia to refer to the greater China area, the Korean Peninsula, and Japan, with Southeast Asia covering the ten ASEAN countries. This usage, which is increasingly widespread in economic and diplomatic discussion, is at odds with the historical meanings of both 'East Asia' and 'Northeast Asia'.^[23][24][25] The Council on Foreign Relations defines Northeast Asia as Japan and Korea.^[26]

Territory and region data

Demographics

Country or territory	Area km²	Population	Population density per km²	HDI (2007)	Capital
China	9,671,018	1,335,612,968	138	0.772	Beijing
Hong Kong	1,104	7,055,071	6,390	0.944	-
Japan	377,944	127,470,000	337	0.960	Tokyo
Macau	29	541,200	18,662	-	-
Mongolia	1,564,116	2,736,800	2	0.727	Ulan Bator
North Korea	120,540	23,906,000	198	-	Pyongyang
South Korea	100,140	50,062,000	500	0.937	Seoul
Taiwan	36,191	23,119,772	639	0.943	Taipei

Economy

Country or territory	GDP nominal millions of USD (2009)	GDP PPP millions of USD (2009)	GDP PPP per capita USD (2009)
China	4,911,000	8,767,000	6,546
Hong Kong	210,730	301,300	42,574
Japan	5,073,000	4,141,000	32,817
Macau	21,700	18,140	59,451
Mongolia	4,212	10,480	3,567
North Korea	27,820	40,000	1,800
South Korea	800,300	1,343,000	27,791
Taiwan	379,400	693,200	29,829

See also

Compare Regions of Asia described by UN:      North Asia      Central Asia      Southwest Asia      South Asia      East Asia      Southeast Asia

• East Asian Ethnic Groups
• History of East Asia
• Cities of East Asia
• East Asia Summit
• East Asian Community
• East Asian Games
• East Asian studies
• East Asian languages
• East Asian calligraphy
• Four Asian Tigers
• Sinosphere
• Yakutia

Notes and references

External links

• High resolution map of East Asian region

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Definition from Wiktionary, a free dictionary

English

Adjective

East Asian (not comparable)

1. of, from, or pertaining to East Asia

Translations

Noun

East Asian (plural East Asians)

1. a person from East Asia

Translations

From Familypedia

Geographic East Asia.

Geographic East Asia shaded in dark green, cultural and other possible definitions shaded in light green.

East Asia is a subregion of Asia that can be defined in either geographical or cultural terms. Geographically, it covers about 12,000,000 km², or about 28% of the Asian continent and about 15% bigger than the area of Europe. More than 1.5 billion people, about 40% 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, 130 per km², is about three times the world average.

Culturally, it embraces those societies that have long been part of the Chinese cultural sphere:

• displaying heavy historical influence from the Classical Chinese language (including the traditional Chinese script),
• Confucianism and Neo-Confucianism,
• Mahayana Buddhism/Zen-Chan Buddhism,
• and Taoism (Daoism).

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 European name the Far East, which describes the region's geographical position in relation to Europe rather than its location within 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. What the UN terms 'East Asia' is often referred to as Northeast Asia.

Other uses of the term East Asia

All the countries in Eastern Asia: the countries of Northeast Asia, Southeast Asia, and eastern Siberia.

The following political entities are commonly seen as located in geographic East Asia:

• Template:Country data People's Republic of China

(including the Special Administrative Regions of Template:Country data Hong Kong
and Template:Country data Macau

)

• Template:Country data Republic of China

(Taiwan)

• Template:Country data Japan

• Template:Country data North Korea

• Template:Country data South Korea

• Template:Country data Mongolia

The following peoples or societies are commonly seen as being encompassed by cultural East Asia:

• Chinese society (including the predominantly Chinese regions outside China proper, such as Singapore and Taiwan)
• Japanese society
• Korean society
• Mongolian 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 Asian in the case of Tibet^{[1][2][3][4][5][6]}—here the primary question is cultural, with geography also at issue)
• Template:Country data Mongolia

(considered either East Asia or Central Asia—here culture and/or geography may be at issue)   

• Template:Country data Singapore

(considered either East Asia or Southeast Asia—here the primary question is geographic)   

• Template:Country data Vietnam

(considered either East Asia or Southeast Asia—here the primary question is geographic)   

• Template:Country data RUS 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

• East Asian studies
• Asian Network of Major Cities 21
• East Asian languages
• Four Asian Tigers – a label pertinent to the recent economic history of the region.
• East Asia Summit
• History of East Asia
• Indosphere
• Sinosphere
• East Asian Community
• Russian Far East (East Asia north of this area)

References

External links