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East Asian)
East Asia is a subregion of Asia that can be defined in either geographical or cultural terms. Geographically, it covers about 6,640,000 km², or 15% of the Asian continent. Culturally, it embraces those societies that have long been part of the Chinese cultural sphere, displaying heavy historical influence from the Classical Chinese language (including the traditional script), Confucianism and Neo-Confucianism, Mahayana Buddhism, and Daoism. This combination of language, political philosophy, and religion overlaps with the geographical designation of East Asia.
East Asia and Eastern Asia (the latter being the preferred term used by the United Nations) are both more modern terms for the traditional European name the Far East, which describes the region's geographical position in relation to Europe rather than its location within Asia.
The following countries are located in geographic East Asia:
The following peoples or societies are encompassed by cultural East Asia:
The following countries or regions are sometimes considered part of East Asia. A major reason for disagreement on this question is the difference between the cultural and geographic definitions of "East Asia". Political perspective is also an important factor.
More than 1.5 billion people, about 40% of the population of Asia or a quarter of all the people in the world, live in geographic East Asia. The region is one of the world's most crowded places. The population density of East Asia, 230 per km², is over five times the world average.
Other subregions of Asia
See also
The content of this page is retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Asian under GFDL
