page_title: East Asian cultural sphere
hierarchical_section_title: East Asian cultural sphere
caption_attribution_description: English: Chinese Dragon Lantern Festival in China 2012.
context_page_description: The East Asian cultural sphere, Chinese cultural sphere or Sinosphere encompasses the countries within East and Southeast Asia that were historically influenced by Chinese culture. The region is not to be confused with Greater China, a region that encompasses countries with majority Han Chinese or Chinese-speaking populations. The concept of the East Asian cultural sphere is comparable to conceptions of the Arab world, Greater India, Greater Iran, Latin world, Turkic world, Western world and so on.
  The principal country of the East Asian cultural sphere is China, with Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Macau, Taiwan and Vietnam lying on the peripheries. In particular, Korea, Vietnam, and Japan were prominent tributary states of China from the 14th–19th centuries following extensive prior interactions. Shared features of countries within the East Asian cultural sphere include their philosophies, beliefs, religions, political structures, social institutions, laws, rituals, military doctrines, medicine, science, literature, art, cuisine, architecture and so on. Common belief systems throughout the region include Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism.
context_section_description: The East Asian cultural sphere, Chinese cultural sphere or Sinosphere (also Sinic/Sinitic world, Confucian world, Taoist world or Chinese character cultural sphere) encompasses the countries within East and Southeast Asia that were historically influenced by Chinese culture. The region is not to be confused with Greater China, a region that encompasses countries with majority Han Chinese or Chinese-speaking populations. The concept of the East Asian cultural sphere is comparable to conceptions of the Arab world, Greater India, Greater Iran, Latin world, Turkic world, Western world and so on.
  The principal country of the East Asian cultural sphere is China, with Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Macau, Taiwan and Vietnam lying on the peripheries. In particular, Korea, Vietnam, and Japan were prominent tributary states of China from the 14th–19th centuries following extensive prior interactions. Shared features of countries within the East Asian cultural sphere include their philosophies, beliefs, religions, political structures, social institutions, laws, rituals, military doctrines, medicine, science, literature, art, cuisine, architecture and so on. Common belief systems throughout the region include Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism. The Classical Chinese language, a logographic script originating from ancient China, became an early regional lingua franca in the written form and, as such, was a major facilitator of cultural exchange throughout the region up until the early 20th century. Other important language scripts of the region include Katakana from Japan, Hangul from Korea, and to a lesser extent, Chữ Nôm from Vietnam. Japan, Korea and Vietnam also exerted their own influence onto Chinese culture, transforming both the Chinese language as well as the concepts it entailed. These countries not only received Chinese culture, but actively participated in the creative process of cultural interaction, exchange, and reinvention.
  The historical prevalence of Chinese traditions and practices has extended to other countries outside of those aforementioned. Overseas Chinese communities have played an important role in spreading Chinese culture throughout South and Southeast Asian nations such as Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar (Burma), the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Thailand throughout the 18th–20th centuries. One such example is the spread of Chinese architecture throughout the region. Recent waves of mainland Chinese migrants have led to the emergence of large contemporary Han Chinese communities in numerous major cities throughout these countries, notably Sihanoukville in Cambodia and Mandalay in Myanmar.
caption: East Asian Dragons are legendary creatures in East Asian mythology and culture.
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