Sinosphere

This article is about a group of nations historically influenced by Chinese culture. For other uses, see Sinosphere (disambiguation).

"East Asian cultural sphere" redirects here. For the Japanese imperialist concept, see Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere.

For broader coverage of this topic, see Culture of East Asia.

Sinosphere
The Sinosphere is composed of Greater China, Korea, Japan, and Vietnam.
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese	東亞文化圈 漢字文化圈
Simplified Chinese	东亚文化圈 汉字文化圈
Literal meaning	East Asian cultural sphere Chinese character cultural sphere
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Dōngyà wénhuà quān Hànzì wénhuà quān Bopomofo ㄉㄨㄥ ㄧㄚˋ ㄨㄣˊ ㄏㄨㄚˋ ㄑㄩㄢ ㄏㄢˋ ㄗˋ ㄨㄣˊ ㄏㄨㄚˋ ㄑㄩㄢ IPA [tʊ́ŋ.jâ wə̌n.xwâ tɕʰɥɛ́n] [xân.tsɹ̩̂ wə̌n.xwâ tɕʰɥɛ́n] Wu Romanization ton-ia ven-ho-chioe hoe-zr ven-ho-chioe Hakka Pha̍k-fa-sṳ Tûng-â vùn-fa-khiên Hon-sṳ vùn-fa-khiên Yue: Cantonese Jyutping Dung1aa3 man4faa3hyun1 Hon3zi6 man4faa3hyun1 IPA [tʊŋ˥.a˧ mɐn˩.fa˧.hyn˥]|[hɔn˧.tsi˨ mɐn˩.fa˧.hyn˥] Southern Min Hokkien POJ Tang-a bûn-hòa-khoan Hàn-jī bûn-hòa-khoan Tâi-lô Tang-a bûn-huà-khua Hàn-jī bûn-huà-khuan Eastern Min Fuzhou BUC Dĕ̤ng Ā ùng-huá-kuŏng Háng-cê ùng-huá-kuŏng
Vietnamese name
Vietnamese alphabet	Vùng văn hóa Á Đông Vùng văn hóa Đông Á Vùng văn hóa chữ Hán
Chữ Nôm	塳文化亞東 塳文化東亞 塳文化𡨸漢
Korean name
Hangul	동아문화권 한자문화권
Hanja	東亞文化圈 漢字文化圈
Transcriptions Revised Romanization Dong-a Munhwagwon Hanja Munhwagwon McCune–Reischauer Tong'a Munhwakwŏn Hancha Munhwakwŏn
Japanese name
Kanji	東亜文化圏 漢字文化圏
Transcriptions Revised Hepburn tō-a bunkaken kanji bunkaken Kunrei-shiki Tou-A Bunkaken Kanzi Bunkaken

Chinese dragons, legendary creatures in Sinosphere mythology and culture

A map of the families of writing systems in East Asia, Southeast Asia, and South Asia. Red: Chinese characters; Green: Brahmi script; Blue: Aramaic (Mongolian script, Manchu alphabet, Old Uyghur alphabet, and Arabic script).

Map of the Sinosphere nations in the 11th century (Song dynasty, Đại Việt, Goryeo, and Heian-era Japan)

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. Historically, it also included the Ryukyu Kingdom. Singapore and Malaysia might also be included due to modern-era overseas Chinese migration. The Sinosphere is different from the Sinophone world, which indicates regions where the Chinese language is spoken.

Imperial China was a major regional power in Eastern Asia and exerted influence on tributary states and neighboring states, including Japan, Korea and Vietnam. These interactions brought ideological and cultural influences rooted in Confucianism, Taoism and East Asian Buddhism. The four cultures were ruled by their respective emperors under similar administrative systems, furthermore, the adoption of the Confucian-based imperial examination system deeply influenced the bureaucracy and social structure of Korea and Vietnam. Chinese inventions influenced, and were in turn influenced by, innovations of the other cultures in governance, philosophy, science, and the arts. Literary Chinese became the written lingua franca for bureaucracy and communications, and Chinese characters became locally adapted as kanji in Japan, hanja in Korea, and chữ Hán in Vietnam.

The literary importance of classical Chinese was moderated as Japan, Korea and Vietnam invented their own phonographic writing systems, with Japan developing the katakana and hiragana scripts, Korea creating the hangul, and Vietnam initially developing chữ Nôm but replacing it with Latin alphabet-based Vietnamese alphabet since the 1910s due to French colonization. However Classical Chinese or modified versions of it such as kanbun and the Idu script remained in official use until the modern era. In the 21st century, ideological and cultural influences of Taoism, Confucianism, and Buddhism remain visible in high culture and social doctrines.