East Asia

For other uses, see East Asia (disambiguation).
East Asia
Area11,840,000 km2 (4,570,000 sq mi) (3rd)
Population1.6 billion (2023; 2nd)
Population density141.9 km2 (54.8 sq mi)
GDP (PPP)$47.6 trillion (2024)[1]
GDP (nominal)$25.7 trillion (2024)[1]
GDP per capita$16,000 (nominal)[1]
DemonymEast Asian
Countries
Dependencies
Languages
Time zonesUTC+7, UTC+8 & UTC+9
Largest citiesList of urban areas:
UN M49 code030 – Eastern Asia
142 – Asia
001 – World
East Asia
Chinese name
Simplified Chinese东亚/东亚细亚
Traditional Chinese東亞/東亞細亞
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinDōngyǎ/Dōngyà or Dōng Yǎxìyǎ/Dōng Yàxìyà
Wade–GilesTung1-ya3
Wu
Romanizationton平 ia去
Gan
RomanizationTung1 nga3
Hakka
Romanizationdung24 a31
Yue: Cantonese
Jyutpingdung1 aa3
Southern Min
Hokkien POJTang-a
Tibetan name
Tibetanཨེ་ཤ་ཡ་ཤར་མ་
Korean name
Hangul동아시아/동아세아/동아
Hanja東아시아/東亞細亞/東亞
Transcriptions
Revised RomanizationDong Asia/Dong Asea/Dong A
Mongolian name
Mongolian CyrillicЗүүн Ази
ᠵᠡᠭᠦᠨ ᠠᠽᠢ
Transcriptions
SASM/GNCDzuun Azi
Japanese name
Kanaひがしアジア/とうあ
Kyūjitai東亞細亞/東亞
Shinjitai東亜細亜（東アジア）/東亜
Transcriptions
Revised HepburnHigashi Ajia/Tō-A
Kunrei-shikiHigasi Azia/Tou-A
Uyghur name
Uyghurشەرقىي ئاسىي‎
Transcriptions
Latin Yëziqisherqiy asiy

East Asia is a geographical and cultural region of Asia including China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan.[2][3] Additionally, Hong Kong and Macau are the two special administrative regions of China. The economies of China, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan are among the world's largest and most prosperous. East Asia borders North Asia to the north, Southeast Asia to the south, South Asia to the southwest, and Central Asia to the west. To its east is the Pacific Ocean.

East Asia has long been a crossroads of civilizations, as the region's prominence has facilitated the transmission of ideas, cultural exchanges, commercial trade, scientific and technological cooperation, and migration, as its position and proximity to both the Pacific Ocean and the Continental Asian landmass makes it strategically significant for facilitating international maritime trade and transportation. The contemporary economic, technological, political, and social integration of East Asia coupled with its rich history of diversity, division, and divergent development have all contributed to its enduring complexity, scientific and technological advancement, cultural richness, economic prosperity, and geopolitical significance on the world stage. With the region having been home to various influential empires, kingdoms, and dynasties throughout history, each leaving its mark on the region and transforming the region's geopolitical landscape ranging from distinct dynastic kingdoms to colonial possessions to independent modern nation-states.

East Asia, especially Chinese civilization, is regarded as one of the earliest cradles of civilization. Other ancient civilizations in East Asia that still exist as independent countries in the present day include the Japanese, Korean, and Mongolian civilizations. Various other civilizations existed as independent polities in East Asia in the past but have since been absorbed into neighbouring civilizations in the present day, such as Tibet, Manchuria, and Ryukyu (Okinawa), among many others. Taiwan has a relatively young history in the region after the prehistoric era; originally, it was a major site of Austronesian civilisation prior to colonisation by European colonial powers and China from the 17th century onward. For thousands of years, China was the leading civilization in the region, exerting influence on its neighbours.[5][6][7] Historically, societies in East Asia have fallen within the Chinese sphere of influence, and East Asian vocabularies and scripts are often derived from Classical Chinese and Chinese script. The Chinese calendar serves as the root from which many other East Asian calendars are derived.

Major religions in East Asia include Buddhism (mostly Mahayana),[8] Confucianism and Neo-Confucianism, Taoism,[9] ancestral worship, and Chinese folk religion in Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, Shinto in Japan, and Christianity and Musok in Korea.[10][11][12] Tengerism and Tibetan Buddhism are prevalent among Mongols and Tibetans while other religions such as Shamanism are widespread among the indigenous populations of northeastern China such as the Manchus.[13] The major languages in East Asia include Mandarin Chinese, Japanese, and Korean. The major ethnic groups of East Asia include the Han in China and Taiwan, Yamato in Japan, and Koreans in North and South Korea. and Mongols in Mongolia. There are 76 officially-recognized minority or indigenous ethnic groups in East Asia; 55 native to mainland China (including Hui, Manchus, Chinese Mongols, Tibetans, Uyghurs, and Zhuang in the frontier regions), 16 native to the island of Taiwan (collectively known as Taiwanese indigenous peoples), one native to the major Japanese island of Hokkaido (the Ainu) and four native to Mongolia (Turkic peoples). The Ryukyuan people are an unrecognized ethnic group indigenous to the Ryukyu Islands in southern Japan, which stretch from Kyushu to Taiwan. There are also several unrecognized indigenous ethnic groups in mainland China and Taiwan.

East Asians comprise around 1.7 billion people, making up about 33% of the population in Continental Asia and 20% of the global population.[14][needs update] The region is home to major world metropolises such as Beijing–Tianjin, Busan–Daegu–Ulsan–Changwon, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Osaka–Kyoto–Kobe, Seoul, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Taipei, and Tokyo. Although the coastal and riparian areas of the region form one of the world's most populated places, the population in Mongolia and Western China, both landlocked areas, is very sparsely distributed, with Mongolia having the lowest population density of a sovereign state. The overall population density of the region is 133 inhabitants per square kilometre (340/sq mi), about three times the world average of 45/km2 (120/sq mi).[when?][citation needed]

  1. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference IMF was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ a b Kort, Michael (2005). The Handbook Of East Asia. Lerner. p. 7. ISBN 978-0-761-32672-4.
  3. ^ a b "East Asia". rand.org. RAND Corporation. Archived from the original on 2011-01-02. Retrieved 12 August 2021.
  4. ^ "Countries of Asia". nationsonline.org. Nations Online. Archived from the original on 2001-07-01. Retrieved 12 August 2021.
  5. ^ Zaharna, R. S.; Arsenault, Amelia; Fisher, Ali (2013). Relational, Networked and Collaborative Approaches to Public Diplomacy: The Connective Mindshift. Routledge. p. 93. ISBN 978-0-415-63607-0.
  6. ^ Holcombe, Charles (2017). A History of East Asia: From the Origins of Civilization to the Twenty-First Century. Cambridge University Press. p. 13. ISBN 978-1-107-54489-5.
  7. ^ Szonyi, Michael (2017). A Companion to Chinese History. Wiley–Blackwell. p. 90. ISBN 978-1-118-62460-9.
  8. ^ Selin, Helaine (2010). Nature Across Cultures: Views of Nature and the Environment in Non-Western Cultures. Springer. p. 350. ISBN 978-9-048-16271-0.
  9. ^ Laozi; Mair, Victor H. (1998). Tao Te Ching: The Classic Book of Integrity and the Way. New York: Quality Paperback Book Club. pp. x. ISBN 978-0-965-06475-0.
  10. ^ Salkind, Neil J. (2008). Encyclopedia of Educational Psychology. Sage Publications. p. 56. ISBN 978-1-412-91688-2.
  11. ^ Kim, Chongho (2003). Korean Shamanism: The Cultural Paradox. Ashgate. ISBN 978-0-754-63185-9.
  12. ^ Andreas Anangguru Yewangoe, "Theologia crucis in Asia", 1987 Rodopi
  13. ^ Heissig, Walther (2000). The Religions of Mongolia. Translated by Samuel, Geoffrey. Kegan Paul International. p. 46. ISBN 978-0-710-30685-2.
  14. ^ Wang, Yuchen; Lu, Dongsheng; Chung, Yeun-Jun; Xu, Shuhua (2018). "Genetic structure, divergence and admixture of Han Chinese, Japanese and Korean populations". Hereditas. 155: 19. doi:10.1186/s41065-018-0057-5. PMC 5889524. PMID 29636655.