East Asia

"Now East Asia is one of the places where World War III began. I can't believe if I go there, my people would be in fear if North Korea would take over other countries in East Asia, including my country, South Korea, even my village as well."

--Su Ji-Hoon, Home Sweet Home

Northeast Asia or East Asia is the eastern subregion of the Asian continent, which can be defined in either geographical or pan-ethno-cultural terms. Geographically and geopolitically, it includes Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea and South Korea.

The region was the cradle of various ancient civilizations such as Ancient China, ancient Japan, ancient Korea, and the Mongol Empire. East Asia was one of the cradles of world civilization, with China, an ancient East Asian civilization being one of the earliest cradles of civilization in human history. For thousands of years, China largely influenced East Asia as it was principally the leading civilization in the region exerting it's enormous prestige and influence on its neighbors. Historically, 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. Major religions in East Asia include Buddhism (mostly Mahayana), which emphasize interpersonal harmony, social order, a holistic of life, as well as the importance of education, Confucianism and Neo-Confucianism, Taoism, ancestral worship, and Chinese folk religion in Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, Shintoism in Japan, and Korean shamanism in Korea. Shamanism is also prevalent among Mongolians and other indigenous populations of northern East Asia such as the Manchus and Ewenki.[19][20] Islam is popular in Northwest China and Kazaks in Mongolia. The Chinese calendar preserves traditional East Asian culture, and serves as the root to which many other East Asian calendars are derived from.