The Far East is a term often used by people in the Western world to refer to the countries of East Asia.^[1] The term is often expanded to also include Southeast Asia and South Asia, for cultural reasons, for example because Buddhism is common to East Asia, Southeast Asia and South Asia.^[2] It is often considered an Eurocentric term that nevertheless retains frequent popular usage. "Far East" came because from Europe the Eastern Asia is the "farthest" of the three "easts" (the others being Near East and Middle East). For the same reason, ancient Chinese people called western country "Tàixī (泰西)" - i.e. anything further west than India.

Popularisation

The term Far East was popularized in the English language during the period of the British Empire as a blanket term for lands to the east of British India. Prior to World War I, the Near East referred to relatively nearby lands of the Ottoman Empire, Middle East to northwestern South Asia and Central Asia, and Far East for countries along the western Pacific Ocean and countries along the eastern Indian Ocean. Many European languages have analogous terms, such as the French Extrême-Orient, Spanish Extremo Oriente, Portuguese Extremo Oriente, German Ferner Osten, Italian Estremo Oriente, Polish Daleki Wschód, and Dutch Verre Oosten.

Cultural as well as geographic meaning

A common cultural feature of the Far East, is the dominance of Eastern religions such as Buddhism

Significantly, the term evokes cultural as well as geographic separation; the Far East is not just geographically distant, but also culturally exotic. It never refers, for instance, to the culturally Western nations of Australia and New Zealand, which lie even farther to the east of Europe than East Asia itself. This combination of cultural and geographic subjectivism was well illustrated in 1939 by the Prime Minister of Australia, R. G Menzies. Reflecting upon his country's geopolitical concerns with the onset of war, Menzies commented that:

"The problems of the Pacific are different. What Great Britain calls the Far East is to us the near north."^[3]

Far East in its usual sense is comparable to terms such as the Orient, which means East; the Eastern world; or simply the East. South East Asia and the Russian Far East might now be included in the Far East to some extent due to recent Chinese migration to Russia, and the Korean diaspora in Russia.

Eurocentrism

Use of the term in the Western world has become somewhat circumscribed due to its Eurocentrism and association with European imperialism in Asia. The more precise East Asia and Southeast Asia, or larger umbrella terms, such as Pacific Rim, are preferred in cultural and economic studies. The region's growth has also given new meaning to the term as meaning the Far East of the world (i.e. the easternmost continental land in the Eastern Hemisphere) rather than to the Far East of Europe.

Despite its shortcomings, the term is unlikely to fade from use completely due to historical usage within the names of many Asian-based commercial enterprises and institutions. Examples include: Far Eastern National University in Vladivostok, Far Eastern University in the City of Manila, South Korean's Far East University, and the Hong Kong-based Far Eastern Economic ReviewNORTh America have historically used Far East for several military units and commands in the region:

• British Far East Command
• RAF Far East Air Force
• U.S. Far East Air Force
• The U.S. Far East Network

Territories and regions conventionally included under the term Far East

Name of region[4] and territory, with flag	Area (km²)	Population (2008 est.)	Population density (per km²)	Capital	Government	Currency	Official languages	Coat of Arms
East Asia
People's Republic of China[5]	9,640,821[6]	1,321,851,888[7]	140.0	Beijing	Single-party state, Socialist republic	Yuan (Renminbi)	None Chinese (Mandarin) as de facto (see Languages of China)
Hong Kong (China)[8]	1,104	6,985,200	6,352.0	—	One country, two systems	Hong Kong dollar	Chinese (Cantonese), English
Japan	377,873	127,433,494	337.0	Tokyo	Parliamentary democracy, Constitutional monarchy	Yen	Japanese
Macau (China)[9]	28.6	520,400	17,310.0	—	One country, two systems	Macanese pataca	Chinese (Cantonese), Portuguese
Mongolia	1,564,116	2,951,786	1.7	Ulaanbaatar	Parliamentary republic	Tögrög	Mongolian
North Korea	120,540	23,301,725	190.0	Pyongyang	Juche, Socialist Republic	North Korean won	Korean
South Korea	100,032	49,044,790	493.0	Seoul	Presidential republic	Won	Korean
Republic of China (Taiwan)[10]	36,188	22,911,292	633.12	Taipei	Semi-presidential system	New Taiwan dollar	Chinese (Mandarin)
Southeast Asia
Brunei	5,765	381,371	66.0	Bandar Seri Begawan	Absolute Islamic Sultanate	Brunei dollar	Malay, Bruneian
Cambodia	181,035	14,241,640	78.0	Phnom Penh	Constitutional monarchy	Riel	Khmer
East Timor (Timor-Leste)[11]	15,410	1,115,000	64.0	Dili	Parliamentary republic	U.S. Dollar	Tetum and Portuguese
Indonesia[12]	1,419,588	237,512,355	159.9	Jakarta	Presidential republic	Rupiah	Indonesian
Laos	236,800	6,521,998	25.0	Vientiane	Socialist Republic	Kip	Lao
Malaysia	329,847	27,730,000	83.0	Kuala Lumpur	Federal constitutional monarchy, Parliamentary democracy	Ringgit	Bahasa Melayu (Malay)
Myanmar (Burma)	676,578	55,390,000	75.0	Naypyidaw[13]	Military junta	Kyat	Burmese
Philippines	300,000	90,500,000	295.0	Manila	Unitary presidential constitutional republic	Peso (Piso)	Filipino and English
Singapore	707.1	4,588,600	6,489.0	Singapore	Parliamentary republic	Singapore dollar	Malay, English, Mandarin, and Tamil
Thailand	513,115	63,038,247	122.0	Bangkok	Parliamentary democracy, Constitutional monarchy	Baht	Thai
Vietnam	331,690	86,116,559	253.0	Hanoi	Socialist Republic	đồng	Vietnamese
South Asia
India	3,287,240	1,147,995,904	349	Delhi	Parliamentary democracy	Rupee	Hindi, English, Other official languages
Nepal	147,181	29,519,114	184	Kathmandu	Republic	Rupee	Nepali
Sri Lanka	65,610	19,668,000	319	Columbo	Republic	Rupee	Sinhala, Tamil
Bhutan	47,000	672,425	14	Thimphu	Parliamentary monarchy	Ngultrum	Dzongkha
Bangladesh	147,570	150,448,340	1,045	Dhaka	Parliamentary republic	Taka	Bengali
North Asia
Russian Far East (Russia)[14]	6,215,900[15]	6,692,865[16]	3.0	Moscow	Federal semi-presidential republic	Ruble	Russian and 27 other co-official languages

Gallery of the major cities in the Far East

Further information: List of cities in the Far East by population

Shanghai, China, PRC	Tokyo, Japan	Singapore City, Singapore	Seoul, Korea, ROK
Delhi, India	Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Vietnam	Osaka, Japan	Beijing, China, PRC
Manila (Makati), Philippines	Taipei, Taiwan, ROC	Jakarta, Indonesia	Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Yangon (Rangoon), Myanmar (Burma)	Guangzhou (Canton), China, PRC	Bangkok, Thailand	Pyongyang, Korea, DPRK
Hong Kong, PRC	Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei	Ulan Bator (Ulaanbaatar), Mongolia	Kuching, Malaysia
Kolkata, India	Busan (Pusan), Korea, ROK	Macau (Macao), PRC	Vientiane, Laos
Surabaya, Indonesia	Pattaya, Thailand	Mumbai, India	Davao (Davao City), Philippines
Kaohsiung, Taiwan, ROC	Vladivostok, Russian Far East, Russia	Bangalore, India	Yokohama, Japan
Chiang Mai, Thailand	Incheon, Korea, ROK	Taichung, Taiwan, ROC	Chennai, India

See also

• Sinosphere
• Indosphere
• Four Asian Tigers
• East Asia
• South Asia
• Southeast Asia
• Russian Far East
• Spanish East Indies

References

• Whitaker, Brian. "From Turkey to Tibet," The Guardian, February 23, 2004.

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Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia; from the article "Far East". Image Credit.

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