East Asia or Eastern Asia (the latter form preferred solely by the United Nations) is a subregion of Asia that can be defined in either geographical or cultural terms. Geographically and geopolitically, it covers about 12,000,000 km2 (4,600,000 sq mi), or about 28% of the Asian continent, about 15% bigger than the area of Europe.
More than 1.5 billion people, about 38% of the population of Asia or 22% of all the people in the world, live in East Asia. The region is one of the world's most populated places, with a population density of 133 inhabitants per square kilometre (340 /sq mi), being about three times the world average of 45 /km2 (120 /sq mi), although Mongolia has the lowest population density of a sovereign state. Using the UN subregion definitions, it ranks second in population only to Southern Asia.
Historically, many societies in East Asia have been part of the Chinese cultural sphere, and East Asian vocabulary and scripts are often derived from Classical Chinese and Chinese script. Sometimes Northeast Asia is used to denote Japan and Korea. Major religions include Buddhism(mostly Mahayana), Confucianism or Neo-Confucianism, Taoism, Chinese folk religion in China, Shinto in Japan, Taoism in Republic of China (Taiwan), Shamanism in Korea, Mongolia and other indigenous populations of northern East Asia, and recently Christianity in South Korea. The Chinese Calendar is the root from which many other East Asian calendars are derived.
The history of East Asia is predominantly the Chinese Dynasties that dominated in trade as well as military, such as the Qin and the HanDynasties. There are records of tributes sent overseas from the early kingdoms of Korea of Japan. There were also a consideration level of cultural and religion exchange between the Chinese and other regional Dynasties and Kingdoms.
As connections began to strengthen with the Western world, Chinese power began to diminish. Japan took the opportunity to begin conquering colonies. At the time of WWII, North Korea, South Korea, Taiwan and the Northeastern part of China were all under Japanese control. It was not until the end of WWII when Korea and Taiwan had a chance to free from Japan.
The UN subregion of Eastern Asia and other common definitions of East Asia contain the entirety of the China, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Mongolia and Republic of China (Taiwan).
Culturally, China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and Vietnam are commonly seen as being encompassed by cultural East Asia.
Alternative definitions
There are mixed debates around the world whether these countries or regions should be considered in East Asia or not.
- Vietnam (officially part of Southeast Asia, although culturally it is part of the Sinosphere, politically and geographically it is more related toSoutheast Asia)
- Siberia in Russia (often described as North Asia due to its location, although this part of Russia is often seen as more closely related to its East Asian neighbours)
In business and economics, East Asia has been used to refer to a wide geographical area covering ten countries in ASEAN, China, Japan, South Korea, and Republic of China (Taiwan) . However, in this context, the term "Far East" is often more appropriate which covers ASEAN countries and the traditional countries in East Asia. Far East describes the region's geographical position in relation to Europe rather than its location within Asia. Alternatively, the term "Asia Pacific Region" is often used in describing the Far East region as well as Oceania.
In contrast to the United Nations definition, East Asia commonly is used to refer to the eastern part of Asia, as the term implies. Observers preferring a broader definition of 'East Asia' often use the term Northeast Asia to refer to the greater China area, the Korean Peninsula, Taiwan, and Japan, withSoutheast Asia covering the ten ASEAN countries. This usage, which is increasingly widespread in economic and diplomatic discussion, is at odds with the historical meanings of both "East Asia" and "Northeast Asia". The Council on Foreign Relations defines Northeast Asia as Japanand Korea.