Sinosphere

Sinosphere
The Sinosphere, also known as the East Asian cultural sphere, or the Sinic world, encompasses multiple countries in East Asia and Southeast Asia that historically were heavily influenced by Chinese culture, norms and traditions. According to academic consensus, the Sinosphere comprises four entities: Greater China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam. Other definitions may include Mongolia and Singapore, largely due to limited historical Chinese influences or increasing modern-day Chinese diaspora. The Sinosphere is not to be confused with Sinophone, which indicates countries where a Chinese-speaking population is dominant.
Imperial China was a major regional power in Eastern Asia and had exerted influence on tributary states and neighboring states, among which were Japan, Korea, and Vietnam. These interactions brought ideological and cultural influences rooted in Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism. During classical history, the four cultures shared a common imperial system under respective emperors. Chinese inventions influenced, and were in turn influenced by, innovations of the other cultures in governance, philosophy, science, and the arts. Written Classical Chinese became the regional lingua franca for literary and scientific exchange, and Chinese characters (Hanzi) became locally adapted in Japan as Kanji, Korea as Hanja, and Vietnam as chữ Hán.
In late classical history, the literary importance of classical Chinese diminished as Japan, Korea, and Vietnam each adopted their own literary device. Japan developed the Katakana and Hiragana scripts, Korea created Hangul, and Vietnam developed chữ Nôm (which is now rarely used; the modern Vietnamese alphabet is based on the Latin 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 Confucianism and Buddhism remain visible in high culture and social doctrines.
Terminology
Ancient China has been regarded as one of the centers of civilization, with the emergent cultures that arose from the migration of original Han settlers from the Yellow River generally regarded as the starting point of the East Asian world. Today, China's population is approximately 1.402 billion.
Japanese historian (1919–1998), professor emeritus at the University of Tokyo, originally coined the term , conceiving of a Chinese or East Asian cultural sphere distinct from 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 scholars in Classical Chinese.
Etymology
Sometimes used as a synonym for the East Asian cultural sphere, the term derives from ('China, Chinese') and , in the sense of a sphere of influence (i.e., an area influenced by a country). (cf. Sinophone.)
Sharing cognates, the "CJKV" languages—Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese—translate the English term sphere as:
Chinese: ('circle, ring, corral, pen')
Japanese: ('sphere, circle, range, radius')
Korean: (from 圏)
Unlike the other languages in the Sinosphere, Vietnamese does not use 'khuyên' 圈 to mean sphere or area. Rather, Vietnamese uses 'vùng', meaning a region or area. The translation for 東亞文化圈 in Vietnamese is Vùng văn hóa Á Đông (塳文化亞東).
In Ryukyuan languages, 圏 ’ちん’ 'chin' is not used to mean sphere or area or domain. This word is also found only on Kammun texts written by Ryukyuans. Ryukyuans use the term 世 'yu' meaning world or sphere. Thus, 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 the origins of these "culture sphere" terms.
The Chinese dates back to a 1941 translation for the German term , ('culture circle, field'), which the Austrian ethnologists Fritz Graebner and Wilhelm Schmidt proposed. Japanese historian coined the expressions and , 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 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".
Comparisons with the West
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 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", 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 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 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.
Culture
Arts
Architecture: Countries of the East Asian cultural sphere (Japan, Korea, Vietnam, Taiwan) share a common architectural style stemming from the architecture of ancient China.
Calligraphy: Caoshu is a cursive script style used in Chinese and East Asian calligraphy.
Cinema: see Hong Kong cinema, Taiwanese cinema, Chinese cinema, Japanese cinema, Korean cinema, Vietnamese cinema
Comic: see Manga (Japanese comics), Manhua (Chinese comics), Manhwa (Korean comics), Truyện tranh (Vietnamese comics)
Martial arts: see Gōngfu (kung fu; Chinese martial arts); Taekwondo and Hapkido (Korean martial arts); Karate, Aikido, Judo, and Sumo (Japanese martial arts); Vovinam and Nhất Nam (Vietnamese martial arts)
Music: Chinese musical instruments, such as erhu, have influenced those of Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and Vietnam.
Clothing: Hanfu, Hanbok, Việt phục, and Wafuku all use silk. Jade jewelry and ornaments are also highly valued throughout East Asia and Southeast Asia.
Cuisine
The cuisine of East Asia shares many of 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), 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.
Traditions
Fashion: see Hanfu and Cheongsam (or Qipao) (Chinese and Manchu); Áo dài and Việt phục (Vietnamese); Hanbok (Koreans); Kimono and Wafuku (Japanese).
Dance: The lion dance is a form of traditional dance in Chinese culture and other East Asian countries, in which performers mimic a lion's movements in a lion costume to bring good luck and fortune. Aside from China, versions of the lion dance are found in Japan, Korea, Vietnam, Tibet, and Taiwan. Lion dances are usually performed during Lunar New Year celebrations.
New Year: China (Zhōngguó Xīn Nián), Korea (Seollal), Vietnam (Tết Nguyên Đán), Japan (Koshōgatsu), and Taiwan traditionally observe the same Lunar New Year. However, Japan has moved its New Year to fit the Western New Year since the Meiji Restoration. Although mainland Japan may not celebrate the Lunar New Year anymore, there are some indigenous minority ethnic groups in Japan that still do, such as the Okinawan/Ryukyuan people. Okinawa has traditionally observed the Lunar New Year because of heavy Chinese influence in its past. Festivities nowadays are not as elaborate as the Western new year, but Okinawans still celebrate and partake in many traditions for Lunar New Year.
Literature
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 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, 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 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 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.
Philosophy and religion
The Art of War, Tao Te Ching, I Ching, and Analects are classic Chinese texts that have been influential in East Asian history.
Taoism
The Eastern Asian countries and Vietnam have been influenced by Taoism. Developed from an Eastern philosophy known as Tao, the religion 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, 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 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.
Buddhism
Buddhist philosophy is guided by the teachings of the Buddha, which lead the individual to full happiness 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 is rid of the inherent suffering of the physical world.
Confucianism
The countries of China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam share 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:
rén: an obligation of altruism and humaneness for other individuals
yì (/): the upholding of righteousness and the moral disposition to do good
lǐ (/): a system of norms and propriety that determines how a person should properly act in everyday life
Neo-Confucianism
Mid-Imperial Chinese philosophy is primarily defined by 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 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 perfecting Vietnamese philosophy.
Other religions
Though not commonly identified with that of East Asia, the following religions have been influential in its history:
Hinduism; see Hinduism in Vietnam, Hinduism in China
Islam is the most popular religion in Xinjiang and has significant communities in Ningxia. See Islam in China, Islam in Hong Kong, Islam in Japan, Islam in Korea, Islam in Vietnam.
Christianity is the most popular religion in South Korea and ranks among the most popular in Singapore. Significant Christian communities are also found in China, Hong Kong, Japan, Macau, Taiwan, and Vietnam.
Language
Languages and language families
The following language families are found in and around 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.
Sino-Tibetan: spoken mainly in China, Singapore, Myanmar, Christmas Island, Bhutan, northeast India, Kashmir, and parts of Nepal. Major Sino-Tibetan languages include the varieties of Chinese, the Tibetic languages, and Burmese. These are thought to have originated around the Yellow River, north of the Yangtze.
Austronesian: spoken mainly in what is today Taiwan, East Timor, Brunei, Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Christmas Island, Madagascar, and most of Oceania. Major Austronesian languages include the Formosan languages, Malay, Filipino, Malagasy, and Māori.
Turkic: spoken mainly in China, Russia, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Iran, Cyprus, and Turkey. Major Turkic languages include Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Uyghur, Tuvan, and Altai.
Austroasiatic: spoken mainly in Vietnam and Cambodia. Major Austroasiatic languages include Vietnamese and Khmer.
Kra-Dai: spoken mainly in Thailand, Laos, and parts of southern China. Major Kra-Dai languages include Zhuang, Thai, and Lao.
Mongolic: spoken mainly in Mongolia, China, and Russia. Major Mongolian languages include Oirat, Mongolian, Monguor, Dongxiang, and Buryat.
Tungusic: spoken mainly in China and Russia. Major Tungusic languages include Evenki, Manchu, and Xibe.
Koreanic: spoken mainly in Korea. Major Korean languages include Korean and Jeju.
Japonic: spoken mainly in Japan. Major Japonic languages include Japanese, Ryukyuan, and Hachijo.
Ainu: spoken mainly in Japan. The only surviving Ainu language is Hokkaido Ainu.
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 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 a similar percentage of Chinese loans to the core CJKV languages.
Writing systems
Character influences
Hanzi (or ) is considered 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 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 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 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.
Economy and trade
Business culture
The business cultures of East Asia are heavily influenced by Confucianism. Japan often features hierarchically organized companies, and Japanese work environments place 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 between management and a company's employees, where knowing one's place within 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 a worker's "kibun" (their mood or emotional feelings) to remain balanced.
Maintaining face is usually how business and social relationships work in East Asia, whereas aggressively patronising others, or criticising them publicly in front of others, tend to be the ways to lose business relationships. In Chinese business culture, there is a high value on nurturing relationships using the social concept of "guanxi" which refers to a state of having personal trust and a solid relationship with someone, and can involve exchanging favours and have moral obligations to one another.
History
During the Industrial Revolution, East Asia modernized and became an area of economic power, starting with the Meiji Restoration in the late 19th century, when Japan rapidly transformed itself into the only industrial power outside the North Atlantic area.
Post-WW2 (Tiger economies)
Hong Kong became one of the Four Asian Tiger economies, developing strong textile and manufacturing industries. South Korea followed a similar route, developing the textile industry. After the Korean War, US military occupation following the surrender of Japan in World War 2, and ultimate division of the Korean peninsula, South Korea has experienced its postwar economic miracle called the Miracle on the Han River, with the rise of chaebols like Samsung, LG, etc strongly driving its economy, and as of 2023, has the 12th largest economy in the world by nominal GDP.
Since the 1990s, Japanese growth has stagnated (see also Lost Decade), and currently is the world's 3rd largest economy in nominal GDP. The present higher growth in East Asia has now shifted to China and to the Tiger Cub Economies of Southeast Asia, particularly Vietnam.
The impact of the Vietnam War on the country was devastating. Vietnam only started opening its economy through "Đổi Mới" reforms in 1986, and the US only lifted the embargo on the Asian nation in 1995. Over the last few decades, however, Vietnam has been developing at a fast pace.
Modern era
Up until the early 2010s, Vietnamese trade was heavily dependent on China, and many Chinese-Vietnamese people speak both Cantonese and Vietnamese, which share many linguistic similarities. Vietnam, one of the Next Eleven countries , is regarded as a rising economic power in Southeast Asia.
Since the Chinese economic reform, China has become the 2nd and 1st-largest economy in the world respectively by nominal GDP and GDP (PPP).
Belt and Road Initiative
Shanghai Cooperation Organization
ASEAN, ASEAN Plus Three, AFTA
East Asia Summit
East Asian Community
Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership
Bamboo Network
Although Greater China, Japan, and Korea all have extensive links with ASEAN, Vietnam is the only one in the Sinosphere that is formally part of ASEAN as a Southeast Asian country. China's and Japan's economies are respectively the world's second and third-largest economies by nominal GDP, and both are highly influential on the world's tapestry in terms of cultural exportation. South Korea was the 13th largest in 2022 by nominal GDP and has been high influential in the form the Korean wave since the 1990s, North Korea the 107th largest, and Vietnam the 35th largest by nominal GDP in 2023.
Relations
Mutual relations stem from hundreds to thousands of years of history between each state, originating from the advent of the spread of Classical Chinese writing, conquest, or from trade and cultural flow.
Korea and Japan have had extensive links in terms of culture, trade, political contact and military confrontations. The history of Japan–Korea relations extends for over 15 centuries, with many ideas from mainland Asia flowing into Japan via Korea in historical times. Although geographically close, the two countries are culturally distinct from one another and may harbor contrasting military and historical viewpoints, where relations can turn fraught, especially in the context of Japanese colonization.
Likewise, Vietnam and China have relations since 111 BC when the Han dynasty conquered parts of northern Vietnam, as well as northern Korea in 109 BC. Chinese rule continued to impact Vietnam and Korea. Vietnam and China's relations are linked with many cultural and philosophical thought emanating from China transferring to Vietnam, as well as many confrontations between the two. Although currently politically similar, relations can often times become fraught and unsound as well.
Japan has long been influenced by China for around 2 millennia and emulated many cultural and philosophical thought, with many Japanese undertaking studies that came from China or via Korea. Culture, trade, and military confrontation has been a major focal point between the two as well and relations can become very fraught.
Vietnam and Korea had semi-official encounters when both countries' envoys met in China from the 16th to 19th century. Although relations appear to be less extensive, one located in Northeast Asia and the other in Southeast Asia, both countries share many parallels such as colonial rule, and historical or current political division. South Korea was involved in the controversial Vietnam War with South Vietnam as well.
Japan's links with Vietnam and the rest of Southeast Asia was mainly through maritime trade stemming from the 16th century. Japan's relations with Vietnam stretched further back into the 8th century via China. Although some residual grievances of Japan's colonizing past in Asia may remain, as well as existing political differences, the relation has mostly been of mutualism between Japan and Vietnam.
Korea and China relations are extensive and several millennia old with much cultural trade and thought transferring into Korea from China, with parts of Korea having also been subsumed by Chinese rule since 109 BC, as well as partaking in several military confrontations. Much of the history between Korea and China focused on Northeast Asia, also playing a role in transmitting knowledge to Japan. Along with the long history between the two, relations between them may also become fraught.
See also
Greater China
Sinosphere (linguistics)
Adoption of Chinese literary culture
Sinophone world
Sino-xenic vocabulary
Chinese influence on Korean culture
Chinese influence on Japanese culture
Ryukyuan culture
Baiyue
I Ching's influence
List of tributary states of China
List of Confucian states and dynasties
Little China (ideology)
Celestial Empire
Pax Sinica
Sinicization
Cultural area
Brushtalk
Relations:
China–Vietnam relations
China–Japan relations
South Korea-China relations
China-North Korea relations
Korea–Japan relations
History of Japan–Korea relations
Japan–South Korea relations
Japan-North Korea relations
Japan–Vietnam relations
North Korea–Vietnam relations
South Korea-Vietnam relations
Notes
References
Citations
Sources
Joshua Fogel, "The Sinic World," in Ainslie Thomas Embree, Carol Gluck, ed., Asia in Western and World History a Guide for Teaching. (Armonk, N.Y.: M.E. Sharpe, Columbia Project on Asia in the Core Curriculum, 1997). . Access may be limited to NetLibrary affiliated libraries. EBSCOhost Login
External links
Asia for Educators. Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University.
Chinese culture
Chinese nationalism
Country classifications
Cultural regions
East Asia
Southeast Asia
East Asian culture
Foreign relations of China
Japanese culture
Korean culture
Vietnamese culture
Spheres of influence