Greater China

Greater China
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese大中華
Simplified Chinese大中华
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinDà Zhōnghuá
Bopomofoㄉㄚˋ ㄓㄨㄥˉ ㄏㄨㄚˊ
Wade–GilesTa4 Chung1-hua2
IPA[tâ.ʈʂʊ́ŋ.xwâ]
Yue: Cantonese
JyutpingDaai6 zung1 waa4
IPA[taj˨ tsʊŋ˥ wa˩]
Southern Min
Hokkien POJTāi Tiong-hôa
Vietnamese name
Vietnamese alphabetĐại Trung Hoa
Korean name
Hangul중화권
Hanja中華圈
Japanese name
Kanji中華圏
Transcriptions
Revised HepburnChūkaken

Greater China is an ethno-geographic term describing a geographical area sharing cultural and economic ties with the Chinese people.[1][2][3][4] The notion contains a "great deal of ambiguity in its geographical coverage and politico-economic implications",[5] because some users use it to refer to "the commercial ties among ethnic Chinese, whereas others are more interested in cultural interactions, and still others in the prospects for political reunification"[6] but usually refers to an area encompassing the People’s Republic of China (mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau) and the Republic of China (known as Taiwan), places where the majority population is culturally Chinese.[7][8][9] Some analysts may also include places which have predominantly ethnic Chinese population such as Singapore. The term may sometimes be generalised to encompass "linkages among regional Chinese communities".[10][11]

The term's usage is contested; some observers in Taiwan characterise the term as harmful or a conflation of distinct polities and markets,[4] while the Chinese government has avoided it, either to allay fears of its economic expansionism or to avoid suggesting Taiwan (known as the Republic of China) and the People's Republic of China are on equal footing. Australian sinologist Wang Gungwu has characterised the concept as a "myth", and "wrong" if applied to overseas Chinese communities.[12]

  1. ^ "Pact row could harm Greater China economic integration: ANZ". Focus Taiwan. 2 April 2014. Retrieved 6 November 2018.
  2. ^ MTV Channels In Southeast Asia and Greater China To Exclusively Air The Youth Inaugural BallArchived 22 May 2009 at the Wayback Machine – MTV Asia
  3. ^ 1 June 2008, Universal Music Group realigns presence in Greater China Archived 14 December 2017 at the Wayback Machine, Television Asia
  4. ^ a b Lee, James (6 August 2021). "'Greater China' is a harmful myth". Taipei Times. Retrieved 30 October 2023.
  5. ^ Huang, Jianli (2010). "Conceptualizing Chinese Migration and Chinese Overseas: The Contribution of Wang Gungwu". Journal of Chinese Overseas: 12.
  6. ^ Harding, Henry (1993). "The concept of "Greater China": Themes, variations and reservations". The China Quarterly. 136: 660–686. doi:10.1017/S030574100003229X. S2CID 154522700.
  7. ^ William, Yat Wai Lo (2016). "The concept of greater China in higher education: adoptions, dynamics and implications". Comparative Education. 52: 26–43. doi:10.1080/03050068.2015.1125613. This term can be narrowly defined as referring to a geographic concept that consists of the People's Republic of China, the Republic of China, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and the Macau Special Administrative Region, where ethnic Chinese comprise the majority of the population. In this sense, the term is used to describe the ethnic and the associated political, economic and cultural ties among these Chinese societies (Harding 1993; Cheung 2013).
  8. ^ "Apple overtakes Lenovo in China sales". Financial Times. 18 August 2011. Archived from the original on 27 November 2011. Retrieved 19 November 2011.
  9. ^ 4月29日日间新闻摘要（大中华区） [29 April: Daily news summary (Greater China)]. Reuters (in Chinese). 29 April 2019.
  10. ^ William, Yat Wai Lo (2016). "The concept of greater China in higher education: adoptions, dynamics and implications". Comparative Education. 52: 26–43. doi:10.1080/03050068.2015.1125613. However, some analysts see the Greater China concept as a way to summarise 'the linkages among the fair-flung international Chinese community', thereby incorporating Singapore and overseas Chinese communities in their usage of the term (Harding 1993, 660; also see Wang 1993).
  11. ^ Harding, Harry (December 1993). "The Concept of "Greater China": Themes, Variations and Reservations*". The China Quarterly. 136: 660–686. doi:10.1017/S030574100003229X. ISSN 1468-2648. S2CID 154522700.
  12. ^ He, Henry Yuhuai (2001). "Greater China" 大中华. Dictionary of the Political Thought of the People's Republic of China. M. E. Sharpe. pp. 47–48. ISBN 978-0-765-60569-6.