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The Far East is the geographical region that encompasses the easternmost portion of the Asian continent, including East, North, and Southeast Asia. South Asia is sometimes also included in the definition of the term. In modern times, the term Far East has widely fallen out of use and been substituted by Asia–Pacific, while the terms Middle East and Near East, although now pertaining to different territories, are still commonly used today.
The Hakka, sometimes also referred to as Hakka Han, or Hakka Chinese, or Hakkas, are a southern Han Chinese subgroup whose principal settlements and ancestral homes are dispersed widely across the provinces of southern China and who speak a language that is closely related to Gan, a Han Chinese dialect spoken in Jiangxi province. They are differentiated from other southern Han Chinese by their dispersed nature and tendency to occupy marginal lands and remote hilly areas. The Chinese characters for Hakka literally mean "guest families".
Sinocentrism refers to a worldview that China is the cultural, political, or economic center of the world.
Sinology, also referred to as China studies, is a subfield of area studies or East Asian studies involved in social sciences and humanities research on China. It is an academic discipline that focuses on the study of the Chinese civilization primarily through Chinese language, history, culture, literature, philosophy, art, music, cinema, and science. Its origin "may be traced to the examination which Chinese scholars made of their own civilization."
Westernization, also Europeanisation or occidentalization, is a process whereby societies come under or adopt what is considered to be Western culture, in areas such as industry, technology, science, education, politics, economics, lifestyle, law, norms, mores, customs, traditions, values, mentality, perceptions, diet, clothing, language, writing system, religion, and philosophy. During colonialism it often involved the spread of Christianity.
Sinophone, which means "Chinese-speaking", typically refers to an individual who speaks at least one variety of Chinese. Academic writers often use the term Sinophone in two definitions: either specifically "Chinese-speaking populations where it is a minority language, excluding Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan" or generally "Chinese-speaking areas, including where it is an official language". Many authors use the collocation Sinophone world or Chinese-speaking world to mean the Chinese-speaking world itself or the distribution of the Chinese diaspora outside of Greater China.
The chi is a traditional Chinese unit of length. Although it is often translated as the "Chinese foot", its length was originally derived from the distance measured by a human hand, from the tip of the thumb to the tip of the forefinger, and is similar to the ancient span. It first appeared during China's Shang dynasty approximately 3,000 years ago and has since been adopted by other East Asian cultures such as Japan (shaku), Korea (ja/cheok), and Vietnam (thước). Its present value is standardized at around one-third metre, although the exact standards vary among the mainland of the People's Republic of China, its special administrative region of Hong Kong, and Taiwan.
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.
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De-Sinicization is a process of eliminating or reducing Han Chinese cultural elements, identity, or consciousness from a society or nation. In modern contexts, it is often contrasted with the assimilation process of Sinicization.
Ch'ien Mu or Qian Mu was a Chinese historian, philosopher and writer. He is considered to be one of the greatest historians and philosophers of 20th-century China. Ch'ien, together with Lü Simian, Chen Yinke and Chen Yuan, was known as the "Four Greatest Historians of Modern China" (現代四大史學家).
The economy of East Asia comprises 1.6 billion people living in six different countries and regions. The region includes several of the world's largest and most prosperous economies: Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, China, Hong Kong, and Macau. It is home to some of the most economically dynamic places in the world, being the site of some of the world's most extended modern economic booms, including the Taiwan miracle (1950–present) in Taiwan, Miracle on the Han River (1974–present) in South Korea, Japanese economic miracle (1950–1990) and the Chinese economic miracle (1983–2010) in China.
East Asia is a geographical and cultural region of Asia including the countries of China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan. 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.
China–Czech Republic relations or Sino–Czech relations are international relations between China and the Czech Republic. There were official relations by 1919 and formally established relations followed on 6 October 1949 between Czechoslovakia and China. In 1993, the Czech Republic was established and inherited the Czechoslovak treaty. The relations, trade and tourism between the China and the Czech Republic improved rapidly since the 1990s; and in the 2010s, agreements were made for more thorough economic improvements. Recently, relations have deteriorated due to major Czech politicians visiting Taiwan.
The Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation for International Scholarly Exchange is a private nonprofit organization located in Taipei, Taiwan, that provides support for research grants on Chinese studies in the humanities and social sciences at overseas institutions. It was founded in 1989 and named after Chiang Ching-kuo, the late President of the Republic of China from 1972 to 1988. The foundation also has a regional office in McLean, Virginia in the United States.
Cho-yun Hsu is a historian born in Xiamen, China, of Wuxi ancestry. His family moved to Taiwan in 1948. He graduated from National Taiwan University and University of Chicago (Ph.D.) and held academic positions in Academia Sinica in Taiwan (1956-1971), before moving to University of Pittsburgh in 1970. He was elected as a Member of the Academica Sinica in 1980. In 2024 he received the Tang Prize in the field of Sinology.
Taiwan studies, or Taiwanese studies, is a multi-disciplinary academic division of area studies focused on studying Taiwan and the people on/in/of Taiwan both on its own and in comparison with other world areas. Academia Sinica, Taiwan's national level research institute, officially inaugurated its Institute of Taiwan History in 2004 following a long exploratory period beginning in 1986. Taiwan studies departments and centers have been established in numerous universities around the world and key Taiwan studies organizations have been established in North America (NATSA), Europe, and Japan. The first World Congress of Taiwan Studies (WCTS) was hosted by Taiwan's Academia Sinica on April 26–28, 2012, in Taipei, Taiwan.
Chih-yu Shih is a political science professor in Taiwan and National Chair Professor of the Republic of China. He has proposed a balance of relationship theory that both universally applies to bilateral relationships and complements the existing balance of power theory.
Willard J. Peterson is an American historian and sinologist. He is Gordon Wu '58 Professor of Chinese Studies, Emeritus, and Professor of East Asian Studies and History, Emeritus at Princeton University. His research specialties include early Chinese philosophy and Chinese intellectual history and history of science during the Ming and Qing dynasties.
References
- ↑ "Countries of the world ordered by land area". Listofcountriesoftheworld.com. Retrieved 27 April 2010.
- ↑ "Chinese Dynasty Guide - The Art of Asia - History & Maps". Minneapolis Institute of Art . Retrieved 10 October 2008.
- ↑ "Guggenheim Museum - China: 5,000 years". Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation & Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. 1998. Retrieved 10 October 2008.
- ↑ Ebrey, Patricia (2010). The Cambridge Illustrated History of China. Cambridge University Press. p. 42.
- ↑ "Apple overtakes Lenovo in China sales". Financial Times. 18 August 2011. Retrieved 19 November 2011.
- ↑ The Free Dictionary.com
