Sinosphere

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 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 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 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 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 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 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' 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 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 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 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.
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.
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.
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 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, 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.
Buddhist philosophy is guided by 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 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 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 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 shaping Vietnamese philosophy.
Though not commonly identified with that of East Asia, 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 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 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 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 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.
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 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.
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 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 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.
In Vietnamese culture, the culture tends to be hierarchical by age and seniority, and Vietnamese prefer to work with those who they trust, extending this to business relations that often are maintained between peers and relatives. Women have an important role in Vietnamese culture (owing to their historical status as soldiers before) and maintaining face is highly important. Interpersonal relationships are also highly valued. Anger or displaying temper will reduce trust and Vietnamese business people may take spoken word as fact. When there are disruptions in harmony, Vietnamese may use silence as a way of allowing any tension to simmer down.
Common factors across Sinosphere tends to place great emphasis and respect towards traits of humility and conformity.
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.
Hong Kong's successful postwar economy led to the territory's categorization as one of the Four Asian Tigers, developing strong textile and manufacturing industries. South Korea followed a similar route, developing its textile industry. After the Korean War, the US military occupation of the country following the end of World War II, and the ultimate division of the peninsula, South Korea experienced what has become known as 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, while currently remaining the world's 3rd largest economy by nominal GDP. Presently, higher growth in the region has been experienced by China and the Tiger Cub Economies of Southeast Asia, particularly Vietnam.
The impact of the Vietnam War was devastating. Vietnam only started opening its economy through Đổi Mới reforms in 1986, and the US only lifted its embargo on Vietnam in 1995. Over the last few decades, Vietnam has been developing at a rapid pace.
Up until the early 2010s, Vietnamese trade was heavily dependent on China. Most Chinese-Vietnamese people are from Cantonese background, and can speak Cantonese and Vietnamese, which share many linguistic similarities. Vietnam, one of the Next Eleven countries as of 2005, 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).
Although Greater China, Japan, and Korea all have extensive links with the rest of ASEAN, Vietnam is the only one in the Sinosphere that is formally part of ASEAN as a Southeast Asian country. Singapore, a highly developed economy, is also a part of ASEAN with a population that is significantly overseas Chinese. 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 highly influential as well, with the popularity of the Korean wave since the 1990s. North Korea was the 107th largest, and Vietnam the 35th largest by nominal GDP in 2023.
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. Although there were long historical connections between each side, instances of racism or xenophobia towards the other stemming from deep-rooted historical, economic, political or regional differences has also been a major concern.
Additionally, besides mutual relations, various forms of inheritance of Chinese civilisation or "Little China" ideologies have surfaced with Vietnam, Japan, Korea, (the use of 中國 in self-reference) in various situations, conferring the "Chinese" label.