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The Far East is a term current in English
English language

English is a West Germanic language that originated in Anglo-Saxon England and has lingua franca status in many parts of the world as a result of the military, economic, scientific, political and cultural influence of the British Empire in the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries and that of the United States from the mid 20th century onwa...
 (with equivalents in various other languages of Europe
Languages of Europe

Most of the many languages of Europe belong to the Indo-European languages language family. Another major family is the Finno-Ugric languages. The Turkic languages family also has several European members....
) to refer to the countries of East Asia
East Asia

East Asia is a subregion of Asia that can be defined in either Geography or cultural terms. Geography and geopolitically, it covers about 12,000,000 km?, or about 28 percent of the Asian continent, about 15 percent bigger than the area of Europe, though some categorize Tibet, Xinjiang, and Mongolia as Central Asia....
. The term is often expanded to also include Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia

Southeast Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India and north of Australia....
 and South Asia
South Asia

South Asia, also known as Southern Asia, is the southern region of the Asian continent, which comprises the sub-Himalayan countries and, for some authorities , also includes the adjoining countries on the west and the east....
, for economic and cultural reasons, for example because Buddhism
Buddhism

Buddhism is a family of beliefs and practices considered by most to be a religionand is based on the teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as "The Buddha" , who was born in what is today Nepal....
 is common to East Asia, Southeast Asia and South Asia. "Far East" came into use in Europe
Europe

Europe is, conventionally, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural , the Caspian Sea, and by the Caucasus Mountains to the southeast....
an geopolitical discourse in the 19th century, denoting Eastern Asia as the "farthest" of the three "easts", beyond the Near East
Near East

Near East today is an ambiguous term that covers different countries for archeologists and historians, on one hand, and for political scientists, economists, and journalists, on the other....
 and the Middle East
Middle East

File:GreaterMiddleEast1.pngThe Middle East is a region that spans southwestern Asia, western Asia, and northeastern Africa. It has no clear boundaries, often used as a synonym to Near East, in opposition to Far East....
.






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The Far East is a term current in English
English language

English is a West Germanic language that originated in Anglo-Saxon England and has lingua franca status in many parts of the world as a result of the military, economic, scientific, political and cultural influence of the British Empire in the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries and that of the United States from the mid 20th century onwa...
 (with equivalents in various other languages of Europe
Languages of Europe

Most of the many languages of Europe belong to the Indo-European languages language family. Another major family is the Finno-Ugric languages. The Turkic languages family also has several European members....
) to refer to the countries of East Asia
East Asia

East Asia is a subregion of Asia that can be defined in either Geography or cultural terms. Geography and geopolitically, it covers about 12,000,000 km?, or about 28 percent of the Asian continent, about 15 percent bigger than the area of Europe, though some categorize Tibet, Xinjiang, and Mongolia as Central Asia....
. The term is often expanded to also include Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia

Southeast Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India and north of Australia....
 and South Asia
South Asia

South Asia, also known as Southern Asia, is the southern region of the Asian continent, which comprises the sub-Himalayan countries and, for some authorities , also includes the adjoining countries on the west and the east....
, for economic and cultural reasons, for example because Buddhism
Buddhism

Buddhism is a family of beliefs and practices considered by most to be a religionand is based on the teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as "The Buddha" , who was born in what is today Nepal....
 is common to East Asia, Southeast Asia and South Asia. "Far East" came into use in Europe
Europe

Europe is, conventionally, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural , the Caspian Sea, and by the Caucasus Mountains to the southeast....
an geopolitical discourse in the 19th century, denoting Eastern Asia as the "farthest" of the three "easts", beyond the Near East
Near East

Near East today is an ambiguous term that covers different countries for archeologists and historians, on one hand, and for political scientists, economists, and journalists, on the other....
 and the Middle East
Middle East

File:GreaterMiddleEast1.pngThe Middle East is a region that spans southwestern Asia, western Asia, and northeastern Africa. It has no clear boundaries, often used as a synonym to Near East, in opposition to Far East....
. For the same reason, ancient Chinese people called western countries "Tàixi
Western Regions

The Western Regions or Xiyu was a historical name specified in the Chinese chronicles between the 3rd century BC to 8th century that referred to the regions west of Jade Gate, most often Central Asia ....
 " - i.e. anything further west than India
Indian subcontinent

The Indian subcontinent is a large section of the Asian continent consisting of the land lying substantially on the Indian Plate. The subcontinent includes parts of various countries in South Asia, including those on the continental crust , an Island#Continental islands country on the continental shelf , and an Island#Oceanic islands countr...
.

Popularisation

The term Far East was popularized in the English language
English language

English is a West Germanic language that originated in Anglo-Saxon England and has lingua franca status in many parts of the world as a result of the military, economic, scientific, political and cultural influence of the British Empire in the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries and that of the United States from the mid 20th century onwa...
 during the period of the British Empire
British Empire

The British Empire comprised the dominions, Crown colony, protectorates, League of Nations mandate, and other Dependent territory ruled or administered by the United Kingdom , that had originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries....
 as a blanket term for lands to the east of British India
British Raj

British Raj primarily refers to the British rule in the Indian subcontinent between 1858 and 1947; it can also refer to the period of dominion, and even the region under the rule....
. Prior to World War I
World War I

World War I, or the First World War , was a global military conflict which involved the Great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War I and the Central Powers....
, the Near East
Near East

Near East today is an ambiguous term that covers different countries for archeologists and historians, on one hand, and for political scientists, economists, and journalists, on the other....
 referred to relatively nearby lands of the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman Empire , also known by its contemporaries as the Turkish Empire or Turkey , was an empire that lasted from 1299?1923. It was Treaty of Lausanne by the Republic of Turkey, which was officially proclaimed on October 29, 1923....
, Middle East
Middle East

File:GreaterMiddleEast1.pngThe Middle East is a region that spans southwestern Asia, western Asia, and northeastern Africa. It has no clear boundaries, often used as a synonym to Near East, in opposition to Far East....
 to northwestern South Asia
South Asia

South Asia, also known as Southern Asia, is the southern region of the Asian continent, which comprises the sub-Himalayan countries and, for some authorities , also includes the adjoining countries on the west and the east....
 and Central Asia
Central Asia

Central Asia is a region of Asia from the Caspian Sea in the west to central China in the east, and from southern Russia in the north to northern India in the south....
, 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
French language

French is a Romance language spoken around the world by around 80 million people as first language, by 190 million as second language, and by about another 200 million people as an acquired tongue, with significant speakers in 54 countries....
 Extrême-Orient, Spanish
Spanish language

Spanish or Castilian is a Romance languages that originated in northern Spain, and gradually spread in the Kingdom of Castile and evolved into the principal language of government and trade....
 Extremo Oriente, Portuguese
Portuguese language

Portuguese is a Romance language that originated in what is now Galicia and Portugal. It is derived from the Latin language spoken by the Romanization Pre-Roman peoples of the Iberian Peninsula around 2000 years ago....
 Extremo Oriente, German
German language

German is a West Germanic languages, thus related to and classified alongside English language and Dutch language. It is one of the world's world language and the most widely spoken mother tongue in the European Union....
 Ferner Osten, Italian
Italian language

Italian is a Romance languages spoken by about 63 million people as a first language, primarily in Italy. In Switzerland, Italian is one of four Linguistic geography of Switzerlands....
 Estremo Oriente, Polish
Polish language

Polish , an official language of Poland, has the largest number of speakers of any West Slavic languages. Polish-speakers use the language in a uniform manner through most of Poland, and it has a regular orthography....
 Daleki Wschód, and Dutch
Dutch language

Dutch is a West Germanic languages spoken by over 22 million people as a first language, and about 5 million people as a second language."1% of the EU population claims to speak Dutch well enough in order to have a conversation." Outside the European Union the number of second language speakers of Dutch is very small. Most native...
 Verre Oosten.

Cultural as well as geographic meaning

Abraham Dharma
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
Australia

Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the southern hemisphere comprising the Australia of the world's smallest continent, the major island of Tasmania, and numerous list of islands of Australia in the Indian Ocean and Pacific Oceans....
 and New Zealand
New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses , and numerous Islands of New Zealand, most notably Stewart Island/Rakiura and the Chatham Islands....
, 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
Robert Menzies

Sir Robert Gordon Menzies, Order of the Thistle, Order of Australia, Order of the Companions of Honour, Queen's Counsel , Australian politician, was the twelfth Prime Minister of Australia....
. 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."


Far East in its usual sense is comparable to terms such as the Orient, which means East
East

East is a Direction in geography. It is one of the four cardinal directions or compass points, opposite of west and at right angles to north and south....
; the Eastern world
Eastern world

The term Eastern world refers very broadly to the various cultures, society and philosophy systems of "the East", namely Asia and Eastern Europe ....
; or simply the East. South East Asia and the Russian Far East
Russian Far East

Russian Far East is a term that refers to the Russian part of the Far East, i.e., extreme east parts of Russia, between Siberia and the Pacific Ocean....
 might now be included in the Far East to some extent due to recent Chinese migration
Russian Far East

Russian Far East is a term that refers to the Russian part of the Far East, i.e., extreme east parts of Russia, between Siberia and the Pacific Ocean....
 to Russia
Russia

Russia , or the Russian Federation , is a list of countries spanning more than one continent country extending over much of northern Eurasia....
, and the Korean diaspora
Koryo-saram

Koryo-saram is the name which Korean people in the post-Soviet states use to refer to themselves. Approximately 500,000 ethnic Koreans reside in the former Soviet Union, primarily in the now-independent states of Central Asia....
 in Russia
Russia

Russia , or the Russian Federation , is a list of countries spanning more than one continent country extending over much of northern Eurasia....
.

Eurocentrism

Use of the term in the Western world
Western world

The term Western world, the West or the Occident can have multiple meanings dependent on its context . Accordingly, the basic definition of what constitutes "the West" varies, expanding and contracting over time, in relation to various historical circumstances....
 has become somewhat circumscribed due to its Eurocentrism
Eurocentrism

Eurocentrism is the practice of viewing the world from a European perspective, with an implied belief, either consciously or subconsciously, in the preeminence of European culture....
 and association with European imperialism in Asia
Imperialism in Asia

Imperialism in Asia traces its roots back to the late fifteenth century with a series of voyages that sought a sea passage to India in the hope of establishing direct trade between Europe and Asia in spices....
. 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
Eastern Hemisphere

The Eastern Hemisphere, also Eastern hemisphere or eastern hemisphere, is a geography term for the half of the Earth that is east of the Prime Meridian and west of 180? longitude....
) rather than to the Far East of Europe.

Despite its shortcomings, the term persists in the names of many Asian-based commercial enterprises and institutions. Examples include: Far Eastern National University
Far Eastern National University

Far Eastern National University is an institution of higher education located in Vladivostok, Russia. Established in 1899, the university was closed in the late 1930s under Joseph Stalin, and reopened in 1956, two years after Nikita Khrushchev visited Vladivostok....
 in Vladivostok, Far Eastern University
Far Eastern University

Far Eastern University in the City of Manila, West Sampaloc, University Belt area is a nonsectarian, private university in the Philippines. It was founded as a domestic educational institution in 1928 and incorporated in 1933, being the 6th oldest university in the Philippines and the 4th oldest private, non-sectarian university in the coun...
 in the City of Manila, South Korean's Far East University
Far East University

Far East University is located in Gamgok-myeon, Eumseong County, North Chungcheong province, South Korea. It was founded in 1994 by Dr. Taek-hee Lyu....
, and the Hong Kong
Hong Kong

Hong Kong , officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, is a territory located in Southern China in East Asia, bordering the province of Guangdong to the north and facing the South China Sea to the east, west and south....
-based Far Eastern Economic Review
Far Eastern Economic Review

The Far Eastern Economic Review is an English language Asian news magazine. The Hong Kong-based business magazine was originally published weekly on every Thursday....
. Furthemore, the United Kingdom
United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom , the UK or Britain,is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe....
 and United States
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 of America have historically used Far East for several military units and commands in the region:
  • British Far East Command
    British Far East Command

    The Far East Command was a British military Command which had 2 distinct periods.* 18 November 1940 – 7 January 1942 succeeded by the American-British-Dutch-Australian Command ...
  • RAF Far East Air Force
    RAF Far East Air Force

    The former Royal Air Force Far East Air Force, more simply known as RAF Far East Air Force, was the Command organisation that controlled all Royal Air Force assets in the east of Asia ....
  • U.S. Far East Air Force
  • The U.S. Far East Network
    Far East Network

    The Far East Network was a network of United States Military of the United States radio and television stations, primarily serving U.S Forces in Japan, Okinawa, the Philippines, and U.S....


Territories and regions conventionally included under the term Far East


order="1" cellpadding="4" class="references-small" cellspacing="0" style="border:1px solid #aaa; border-collapse:collapse" |- bgcolor="#ECECEC" ! Name of region
Subregion

A subregion is a conceptual unit which derives from a larger region or continent and is usually based on location. Cardinal directions, such as south or southern, are commonly used to define a subregion....
 and
territory, with flag
Flag

A flag is a piece of cloth, often flown from a pole or Mast , generally used symbolically for signaling or identification. The term flag is also used to refer to the graphic design employed by a flag, or to its depiction in another medium....
 ! Area
(km²) ! Population
List of countries by population

This is a list of Country ordered according to population. The list includes list of sovereign states and inhabited dependent territories.Areas that form integral parts of sovereign states, such as the countries of the United Kingdom, are counted as part of the sovereign states concerned....

(2008 est.) ! Population density
List of countries by population density

This is a list of countries and dependencies ranked by human population density and measured by inhabitants/km?. The list includes sovereign states and self-governing dependent territories that are recognized by the United Nations....

(per km²) ! Capital ! Government
Government

Government is the body within any organization that has the authority to make and the power to enforce laws, regulations, or rules. Typically, the government refers to a civil government -- local, provincial, or national -- but commercial, academic, religious, or other formal organizations are also administered by governing bodies....
 ! Currency
Currency

A currency is a Medium of exchange, facilitating the trade of goods and/or Service s. It is coins and paper bills used as money. It is one form of money, where money is anything that serves as a medium of exchange, a store of value, and a standard of value....
 ! Official languages ! Coat of Arms
Coat of arms

A coat of arms, more properly called an armorial achievement, armorial bearings or often just arms for short, in European tradition, is a design belonging to a particular person and used by them in a wide variety of ways....
 |- !colspan="9" align="center" bgcolor="#F0F8FF"|East Asia |- | People's Republic of China (PRC)
People's Republic of China

The People's Republic of China , commonly known as China, is the largest country in East Asia and the List of countries by population in the world with over 1.3 billion people, approximately a fifth of the world's population....
 | align="right" | 9,640,821 | align="right" | 1,321,851,888 | align="right" | 140.0 | Beijing
Beijing

is a metropolis in northern China and the Capital of the People's Republic of China. It is one of the four municipality of China, which are equivalent to province in China's Political divisions of China....
 | Single-party state
Single-party state

A single-party state, one-party system or single-party system is a type of party system government in which a single political party forms the government and no other parties are permitted to run candidates for election....
,
Socialist republic
Socialist state

The term socialist state can carry one of several different meanings:*Strictly speaking, any real or hypothetical state organized along the principles of socialism may be called a socialist state....
 | Yuan (Renminbi)
Renminbi

The renminbi is the currency of the People's Republic of China, whose principal unit is the Chinese yuan , subdivided into 10 jiao , each of 10 fen ....
 | None
Chinese
Chinese language

Chinese or the Sinitic language is a language family consisting of language mutually unintelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the two branches of Sino-Tibetan languages of languages....
 (Mandarin
Standard Mandarin

Standard Mandarin, or Standard Chinese, is the official modern Spoken Chinese used in People's Republic of China and Republic of China, and is one of the four official languages of Languages of Singapore....
) as de facto
(see Languages of China
Languages of China

List of Chinese ethnic groups speak many different languages, collectively called Zhonggu? Yuw?n , literally "speech and writing of China" which mainly span six linguistic families....
) | |- | Hong Kong
Hong Kong

Hong Kong , officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, is a territory located in Southern China in East Asia, bordering the province of Guangdong to the north and facing the South China Sea to the east, west and south....
 (China) | align="right" | 1,104 | align="right" | 6,985,200 | align="right" | 6,352.0 | — | One country, two systems
One country, two systems

"One country, two systems" is an idea originally proposed by Deng Xiaoping, then Paramount Leader of the People's Republic of China, for the Chinese reunification during the early 1980s....
 | Hong Kong dollar
Hong Kong dollar

The Hong Kong dollar is the currency of Hong Kong. It is the 9th most traded currency in the world. In English language, it is normally abbreviated with the dollar sign $, or alternatively HK$ to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies....
 | Chinese
Chinese language

Chinese or the Sinitic language is a language family consisting of language mutually unintelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the two branches of Sino-Tibetan languages of languages....
 (Cantonese
Standard Cantonese

Standard Cantonese, or Guangzhou dialect, is the prestige dialect of Cantonese language. It is used in Hong Kong and Macau as the spoken language of government and instruction in the schools....
),
English
English language

English is a West Germanic language that originated in Anglo-Saxon England and has lingua franca status in many parts of the world as a result of the military, economic, scientific, political and cultural influence of the British Empire in the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries and that of the United States from the mid 20th century onwa...
 | |- | Japan
Japan

Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south....
 | align="right" | 377,873 | align="right" | 127,433,494 | align="right" | 337.0 | Tokyo
Tokyo

, officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan of Japan and located on the eastern side of the main island Honshu. The twenty-three special wards of Tokyo, each governed as a city, cover the area that was once the Tokyo City in the eastern part of the prefecture, and total over 8 million people....
 | Parliamentary democracy
Parliamentary system

Parliamentary systems are characterized by no clear-cut separation of powers between the executive and legislative branches, leading to a different set of checks and balances compared to those found in presidential systems....
,
Constitutional monarchy
Constitutional monarchy

A constitutional monarchy is a form of constitutional government, where in either an elected or hereditary monarch is the head of state, unlike in an absolute monarchy, wherein the king or the queen is the sole source of political power, as he or she is not legally bound by the constitution....
 | Yen
Japanese yen

The is the currency of Japan. It is the third most-traded currency in the forex after the euro and the United States dollar. It is also widely used as a reserve currency after the U.S....
 | None
Japanese
Japanese language

IPA: [n?iho?go] is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is related to the Ryukyuan languages....
 as de facto |
Imperial Seal of Japan
|- | Macau
Macau

The Macau Special Administrative Region, , commonly known as Macau or Macao , is one of the two special administrative region of the People's Republic of China, the other being Hong Kong....
 (China) | align="right" | 28.6 | align="right" | 520,400 | align="right" | 17,310.0 | — | One country, two systems
One country, two systems

"One country, two systems" is an idea originally proposed by Deng Xiaoping, then Paramount Leader of the People's Republic of China, for the Chinese reunification during the early 1980s....
 | Macanese pataca
Macanese pataca

The pataca is the currency of Macau. It is subdivided into 100 avos , with 10 avos called ho in Cantonese. The abbreviation MOP$ is commonly used....
 | Chinese
Chinese language

Chinese or the Sinitic language is a language family consisting of language mutually unintelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the two branches of Sino-Tibetan languages of languages....
 (Cantonese
Standard Cantonese

Standard Cantonese, or Guangzhou dialect, is the prestige dialect of Cantonese language. It is used in Hong Kong and Macau as the spoken language of government and instruction in the schools....
),
Portuguese
Portuguese language

Portuguese is a Romance language that originated in what is now Galicia and Portugal. It is derived from the Latin language spoken by the Romanization Pre-Roman peoples of the Iberian Peninsula around 2000 years ago....
 | |- | Mongolia
Mongolia

Mongolia is a landlocked country in East Asia and Central Asia. It borders Russia to the north and People's Republic of China to the south, east and west....
 | align="right" | 1,564,116 | align="right" | 2,951,786 | align="right" | 1.7 | Ulaanbaatar
Ulaanbaatar

Ulan Bator, or Ulaanbaatar , is the Capital and largest city of Mongolia. The city is an independent municipality not part of any aimags of Mongolia, and its population as of 2008 is just over 1 million....
 | Parliamentary republic
Parliamentary republic

A parliamentary republic or parliamentary constitutional republic is a form of a republic which operates under a parliamentary system of government ....
 | Tögrög | Mongolian
Mongolian language

The Mongolian language is the best-known member of the Mongolic languages. It is the language of most residents of Mongolia and of many of the Mongolian residents of Inner Mongolia, totalling about 5.7 million speakers....
 | |- | North Korea
North Korea

North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea , is a state in East Asia, occupying the northern half of the Korean Peninsula....
 | align="right" | 120,540 | align="right" | 23,301,725 | align="right" | 190.0 | Pyongyang
Pyongyang

Pyongyang is the Capital and largest city of North Korea, located on the Taedong River, at . According to preliminary results from the 2008 population census, it has a population of 3,255,388....
 | Juche
Juche

The Juche Idea is the official state ideology of North Korea and the political system based on it. The doctrine is a component part of Kimilsungism, the North Korean term for Kim Il-sung's family regime....
,
Socialist Republic | North Korean won
North Korean won

The won is the currency of North Korea. It is subdivided into 100 chon. The won is issued by the Central Bank of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea....
 | Korean
Korean language

Korean is the official language of North Korea and South Korea. It is also one of the two official languages in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture in People's Republic of China....
 | |- | South Korea
South Korea

South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea , ), often referred to as Korea and the "names of Korea#Revival of the names", is a Semi-presidential system republic in East Asia, located in the southern half of the Korean Peninsula....
 | align="right" | 100,032 | align="right" | 49,044,790 | align="right" | 493.0 | Seoul
Seoul

Seoul is the Capital and largest city of South Korea. With a population of over 10 million, It is one of the world's List of cities proper by population.The Seoul National Capital Area - which includes the major port city of Incheon and satellite towns in Gyeonggi-do, has 24.5 million inhabitants and is the world's second largest List of me...
 | Presidential
Presidential system

A presidential system is a system of government where an executive branch exists and presides separately from the legislature, to which it is not wikt:accountable and which cannot, in normal circumstances, wikt:dismiss it....
 republic
Republic

A republic is a state or country that is not led by a hereditary monarch but in which the people have an impact on its government. The word originates from the Latin term res publica....
 | Won
South Korean won

The won is the currency of South Korea. A single won is divided into 100 jeon, the monetary subunit. The jeon is not used anymore for everyday transactions, and appear only on foreign exchange rates....
 | Korean
Korean language

Korean is the official language of North Korea and South Korea. It is also one of the two official languages in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture in People's Republic of China....
 | |- | Republic of China (ROC)
Republic of China

The Republic of China , also known as Nationalist China is a country in East Asia that has evolved from a single-party state with full global recognition into a multi-party democratic state with Political status of Taiwan....
 | align="right" | 36,188 | align="right" | 22,911,292 | align="right" | 633.12 | Taipei
Taipei

Taipei has been the de facto capital of the Republic of China, commonly known as Taiwan, since the Chinese Civil War in 1949, and the capital of Taiwan since Japanese rule that began in 1895....
 | Semi-presidential system
Semi-presidential system

The semi-presidential system is a system of government in which a Prime Minister and a president are both active participants in the day-to-day administration of the state....
 | New Taiwan dollar
New Taiwan dollar

The New Taiwan dollar , or simply Taiwan dollar, is the official currency of the Taiwan Area of the Republic of China since 1949. Originally issued by the Bank of Taiwan, it has been issued by the Central Bank of the Republic of China since 2000....
 | Chinese
Chinese language

Chinese or the Sinitic language is a language family consisting of language mutually unintelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the two branches of Sino-Tibetan languages of languages....
 (Mandarin
Standard Mandarin

Standard Mandarin, or Standard Chinese, is the official modern Spoken Chinese used in People's Republic of China and Republic of China, and is one of the four official languages of Languages of Singapore....
) |
Republic of China National Emblem
|- !colspan="9" align="center" bgcolor="#F0F8FF"|Southeast Asia |- | Brunei
Brunei

Brunei Darussalam, officially the State of Brunei, Abode of Peace , is a country located on the north coast of the island of Borneo, in Southeast Asia....
 | align="right" | 5,765 | align="right" | 381,371 | align="right" | 66.0 | Bandar Seri Begawan
Bandar Seri Begawan

Bandar Seri Begawan, estimated population 27,285 , is the Capital and largest city of the Sultanate of Brunei....
 | Absolute
Absolute monarchy

Absolute monarchy is a monarchy form of government where the king or queen has absolute power over all aspects of his/her subjects' lives. Although some religious authorities may be able to discourage the monarch from some acts and the sovereign is expected to act according to custom, in an absolute monarchy there is no constitution or legal...
 Islamic
Islamism

Islamism is a set of Ideologies of parties holding that Islam is not only a religion but also a political system; that modern Muslims must Islamic fundamentalism, and unite politically....
 Sultanate | Brunei dollar
Brunei dollar

The ringgit Brunei or the Brunei dollar , has been the currency of Brunei since 1967. It is normally abbreviated with the dollar sign $, or alternatively B$ to distinguish it from other dolar-dominated currencies, It is divided into 100 sen or cents ....
 | Malay, Bruneian
Malay language

The Malay language is an Austronesian languages spoken by the Malays and people of other ethnic groups who reside in Peninsular Malaysia, southern Thailand, Singapore, central eastern Sumatra, the Riau Islands and parts of the coast of Borneo....
 | |- | Cambodia
Cambodia

The Kingdom of Cambodia is a country in South East Asia with a population of over 13 million people. The kingdom's capital and largest city is Phnom Penh....
 | align="right" | 181,035 | align="right" | 14,241,640 | align="right" | 78.0 | Phnom Penh
Phnom Penh

Phnom Penh is the Capital and largest city of Cambodia. It is also the capital of the Phnom Penh municipality. It is an economic, industrial, commercial, cultural, tourist and historical center....
 | Constitutional monarchy
Constitutional monarchy

A constitutional monarchy is a form of constitutional government, where in either an elected or hereditary monarch is the head of state, unlike in an absolute monarchy, wherein the king or the queen is the sole source of political power, as he or she is not legally bound by the constitution....
 | Riel | Khmer
Khmer language

Khmer , or Cambodian, is the language of the Khmer people and the official language of Cambodia. It is the second most widely spoken Austro-Asiatic languages, with speakers in the tens of millions....
 |
Coa Cambodia
|- | East Timor
(Timor-Leste)
East Timor

East Timor, also known as Timor-Leste is a country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the nearby islands of Atauro Island and Jaco , and Oecussi-Ambeno, an exclave on the northwestern side of the island, within Indonesian West Timor....
 | align="right" | 15,410 | align="right" | 1,115,000 | align="right" | 64.0 | Dili
Dili

Dili, also spelled D?li, is the Capital and largest city of East Timor. It lies on the northern coast of Timor island, the easternmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands....
 | Parliamentary republic
Parliamentary republic

A parliamentary republic or parliamentary constitutional republic is a form of a republic which operates under a parliamentary system of government ....
 | U.S. Dollar
United States dollar

The United States dollar is the unit of currency of the United States and was defined by the Coinage Act of 1792 to be between 371 and 416 grains of silver ....
 | Tetum and Portuguese
Portuguese language

Portuguese is a Romance language that originated in what is now Galicia and Portugal. It is derived from the Latin language spoken by the Romanization Pre-Roman peoples of the Iberian Peninsula around 2000 years ago....
 | |- | Indonesia
Indonesia

The Republic of Indonesia , is a transcontinental country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Comprising Islands of Indonesia, it is the world's largest Archipelago state....
 | align="right" | 1,419,588 | align="right" | 237,512,355 | align="right" | 159.9 | Jakarta
Jakarta

Jakarta is the Capital and largest city of Indonesia. It also has a List of urban areas by population than any other city in Southeast Asia. It was formerly known as Sunda Kelapa , Jayakarta , Batavia, Dutch East Indies , and Djakarta ....
 | Presidential republic
Presidential system

A presidential system is a system of government where an executive branch exists and presides separately from the legislature, to which it is not wikt:accountable and which cannot, in normal circumstances, wikt:dismiss it....
 | Rupiah
Indonesian rupiah

The rupiah is the official currency of Indonesia. Issued and controlled by the Bank Indonesia, the ISO 4217 currency code for the Indonesian rupiah is IDR....
 | Indonesian
Indonesian language

Indonesian is the official national language of Indonesia. It is based on a version of Malay language from the Riau islands in western Indonesia, today called Riau Indonesian....
 | |- | Laos
Laos

Laos , officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic, is a landlocked country in southeast Asia, bordered by Burma and People's Republic of China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south, and Thailand to the west....
 | align="right" | 236,800 | align="right" | 6,521,998 | align="right" | 25.0 | Vientiane
Vientiane

Vientiane is the capital city of Laos, situated in the Mekong Valley. It is also Laos's largest city. The estimated population of the city is 200,000 while the number of people living in the Vientiane metropolitan area is believed to be over 730,000....
 | Socialist Republic | Kip
Lao kip

The kip is the currency of Laos since 1952. Its ISO 4217 code is LAK and it is usually written or N. One kip is divided into 100 att ....
 | Lao
Lao language

Lao or Laotian is a tonal language of the Kradai language family. It is the official language of Laos, and also spoken in the northeast of Thailand, where it is usually referred to as the Isan language....
 | |- | Malaysia
Malaysia

Malaysia is a federation that consists of States of Malaysia in Southeast Asia with a total landmass of . The capital city is Kuala Lumpur, while Putrajaya is the seat of the federal government....
 | align="right" | 329,847 | align="right" | 27,730,000 | align="right" | 83.0 | Kuala Lumpur
Kuala Lumpur

Kuala Lumpur , is the largest city of Malaysia. The city proper, making up an area of , has an estimated population of 1.6 million in 2006. Greater Kuala Lumpur, also known as the Klang Valley, is an urban agglomeration of 7.2 million....
 | Federal constitutional monarchy
Constitutional monarchy

A constitutional monarchy is a form of constitutional government, where in either an elected or hereditary monarch is the head of state, unlike in an absolute monarchy, wherein the king or the queen is the sole source of political power, as he or she is not legally bound by the constitution....
,
Parliamentary democracy | Ringgit
Malaysian ringgit

The ringgit , is the currency of Malaysia. It is divided into 100 sen and its currency code is MYR . The ringgit is issued by the Bank Negara Malaysia....
 | Malay
Malay language

The Malay language is an Austronesian languages spoken by the Malays and people of other ethnic groups who reside in Peninsular Malaysia, southern Thailand, Singapore, central eastern Sumatra, the Riau Islands and parts of the coast of Borneo....
 |
Coat of Arms of Malaysia
|- | Myanmar (Burma) | align="right" | 676,578 | align="right" | 55,390,000 | align="right" | 75.0 | Naypyidaw
Naypyidaw

Naypyidaw is the Capital of Myanmar. Naypyidaw means "Royal City", but is also translated as "abode of kings". On 6 November 2005, the administrative capital of Burma was officially moved to a Greenfield land site 3 km west of Pyinmana, and approximately 320 km north of Yangon....
 | Military junta
Military junta

A military junta is a government ruled by a committee of military leaders. The term derives from the Spanish junta meaning committee, specifically a board of directors....
 | Kyat | Burmese
Burmese language

The Burmese language is the official language of Burma. Although the government officially recognizes the language as Myanmar in English, most continue to refer to the language as Burmese....
 | |- | Philippines
Philippines

The Philippines, officially known as the Republic of the Philippines, is a country in Southeast Asia with Manila as its capital city. It comprises 7,107 islands in the western Pacific Ocean....
 | align="right" | 300,000 | align="right" | 90,500,000 | align="right" | 295.0 | Manila
Manila

The 'City of Manila' , or simply 'Manila', is the Capital of the Philippines and one of the 17 cities and municipalities that make up Metro Manila....
 | Unitary
Unitary

Unitary may refer to:* In automotive design, unitary construction is another common term for a unibody or monocoque construction* In Christian doctrine, unitarianism is the belief in a "unitary God" as opposed to the concept of the Trinity....
 presidential
Presidential system

A presidential system is a system of government where an executive branch exists and presides separately from the legislature, to which it is not wikt:accountable and which cannot, in normal circumstances, wikt:dismiss it....

constitutional
Constitutional republic

A constitutional republic is a state where the head of state and other officials are election as Representation of the people, and must govern according to existing constitutional constitutional law that limits the government's power over citizens....
 republic
Republic

A republic is a state or country that is not led by a hereditary monarch but in which the people have an impact on its government. The word originates from the Latin term res publica....
 | Peso (Piso)
Philippine peso

The peso is the currency of the Philippines. It is subdivided into 100 centavos or sentimo . Before 1967, the language used on the banknotes and coins was English language and so "peso" was the name used....
 | Filipino
Filipino language

The Filipino language is the national language and an official language of the Philippines as designated in the 1987 Philippine Constitution. It is an Austronesian language that is the de facto standard language of Tagalog language....
 and English
English language

English is a West Germanic language that originated in Anglo-Saxon England and has lingua franca status in many parts of the world as a result of the military, economic, scientific, political and cultural influence of the British Empire in the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries and that of the United States from the mid 20th century onwa...
 | |- | Singapore
Singapore

Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country microstate located at the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula. It lies 137 kilometres north of the equator, south of the Malaysian state of Johor and north of Indonesia's Riau Islands....
 | align="right" | 707.1 | align="right" | 4,588,600 | align="right" | 6,489.0 | Singapore
Singapore

Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country microstate located at the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula. It lies 137 kilometres north of the equator, south of the Malaysian state of Johor and north of Indonesia's Riau Islands....
 | Parliamentary republic
Parliamentary republic

A parliamentary republic or parliamentary constitutional republic is a form of a republic which operates under a parliamentary system of government ....
 | Singapore dollar
Singapore dollar

The dollar is the currency of Singapore. It is normally abbreviated with the dollar sign $, or alternatively S$ to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies....
 | Malay
Malay language

The Malay language is an Austronesian languages spoken by the Malays and people of other ethnic groups who reside in Peninsular Malaysia, southern Thailand, Singapore, central eastern Sumatra, the Riau Islands and parts of the coast of Borneo....
, English
English language

English is a West Germanic language that originated in Anglo-Saxon England and has lingua franca status in many parts of the world as a result of the military, economic, scientific, political and cultural influence of the British Empire in the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries and that of the United States from the mid 20th century onwa...
,
Mandarin
Standard Mandarin

Standard Mandarin, or Standard Chinese, is the official modern Spoken Chinese used in People's Republic of China and Republic of China, and is one of the four official languages of Languages of Singapore....
, and Tamil
Tamil language

Tamil is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent. It has Official language in India, Sri Lanka and Singapore....
 | |- | Thailand
Thailand

The Kingdom of Thailand is an independent country that lies in the heart of Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Laos and Myanmar, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the west by the Andaman Sea and Myanmar....
 | align="right" | 513,115 | align="right" | 63,038,247 | align="right" | 122.0 | Bangkok
Bangkok

The city of Bangkok is the Capital , largest urban area and primary city of Thailand. Known in Thai language as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon or Krung Thep for short, it was a small trading post at the mouth of the Chao Phraya River during the Ayutthaya Kingdom and came to the forefront of Thailand when it was given the status as the...
 | Parliamentary democracy
Parliamentary system

Parliamentary systems are characterized by no clear-cut separation of powers between the executive and legislative branches, leading to a different set of checks and balances compared to those found in presidential systems....
,
Constitutional monarchy
Constitutional monarchy

A constitutional monarchy is a form of constitutional government, where in either an elected or hereditary monarch is the head of state, unlike in an absolute monarchy, wherein the king or the queen is the sole source of political power, as he or she is not legally bound by the constitution....
 | Baht
Thai baht

The baht is the currency of Thailand. It is subdivided into 100 satang . The issuance of currency is the responsibility of the Bank of Thailand....
 | Thai
Thai language

Thai , is the national language and official language language of Thailand and the mother tongue of the Thai people, Thailand's dominant ethnic group....
 | |- | Vietnam
Vietnam

Vietnam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam , is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by People's Republic of China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea to the east....
 | align="right" | 331,690 | align="right" | 86,116,559 | align="right" | 253.0 | Hanoi
Hanoi

Hanoi , estimated population 3,398,889 , is the Capital of Vietnam. From 1010 until 1802, with a few brief interruptions, it was the political centre of an independent Vietnam....
 | Socialist Republic | d?ng
Vietnamese d?ng

The d?ng is the currency of Vietnam since May 3, 1978. It is issued by the State Bank of Vietnam. It has the symbol ?. It is subdivided into 10 h?o....
 | Vietnamese
Vietnamese language

Vietnamese , formerly known under French colonization as Annamese , is the national language and official language language of Vietnam. It is the mother tongue of the Vietnamese people , who constitute 86% of Demographics of Vietnam, and of about three million overseas Vietnamese, most of whom live in the United States....
 | |- !colspan="9" align="center" bgcolor="#F0F8FF"|North Asia |- | Russian Far East
Russian Far East

Russian Far East is a term that refers to the Russian part of the Far East, i.e., extreme east parts of Russia, between Siberia and the Pacific Ocean....
 (Russia
Russia

Russia , or the Russian Federation , is a list of countries spanning more than one continent country extending over much of northern Eurasia....
) | align="right" | 6,215,900 | align="right" | 6,692,865 | align="right" | 3.0 | Moscow
Moscow

Moscow is the capital and the largest types of inhabited localities in Russia of the Russian Federation. It is also the largest European cities and metropolitan areas, with the Moscow metropolitan area ranking among the largest urban areas in the world....
 | Federal semi-presidential
Semi-presidential system

The semi-presidential system is a system of government in which a Prime Minister and a president are both active participants in the day-to-day administration of the state....
 republic
Republic

A republic is a state or country that is not led by a hereditary monarch but in which the people have an impact on its government. The word originates from the Latin term res publica....
 | Ruble
Russian ruble

The ruble or rouble is the currency of the Russia and the two partially recognized republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Formerly, the ruble was also the currency of the Soviet Union and the Russian Empire prior to their breakups....
 | Russian
Russian language

Russian is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages, and the largest native language in Europe....
 and
27 other co-official languages
Languages of Russia

HistoryRussian was the sole official language of the Russian Empire which existed until 1917. During the Soviet Union period, the policy toward the languages of the various other ethnic groups fluctuated in practice....
 | |}

Gallery of the major cities in the Far East



See also

  • Sinosphere
    Sinosphere

    Sinosphere, also known as East Asian Cultural Sphere, Chinese world, Chinese cultural sphere or Chinese-character cultural sphere , a term coined by linguist James Matisoff, is a grouping of countries and regions that are currently inhabited with a majority Han Chinese population or were historically under heavy Cultu...
  • Indosphere
    Indosphere

    Indosphere is a subgrouping of Tibeto-Burman languages as defined by linguist James Matisoff, which includes languages that are Linguistic typology and Morphology a closeness to Indo-Aryan languages....
  • Four Asian Tigers
  • East Asia
    East Asia

    East Asia is a subregion of Asia that can be defined in either Geography or cultural terms. Geography and geopolitically, it covers about 12,000,000 km?, or about 28 percent of the Asian continent, about 15 percent bigger than the area of Europe, though some categorize Tibet, Xinjiang, and Mongolia as Central Asia....
  • South Asia
    South Asia

    South Asia, also known as Southern Asia, is the southern region of the Asian continent, which comprises the sub-Himalayan countries and, for some authorities , also includes the adjoining countries on the west and the east....
  • Southeast Asia
    Southeast Asia

    Southeast Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India and north of Australia....
  • Russian Far East
    Russian Far East

    Russian Far East is a term that refers to the Russian part of the Far East, i.e., extreme east parts of Russia, between Siberia and the Pacific Ocean....
  • Spanish East Indies
    Spanish East Indies

    Spanish East Indies , was a term used to describe Spain territories in Asia-Pacific which lasted over three centuries . It encompassed the Philippine Islands , and its dependencies including the Mariana Islands and the Caroline Islands, and for a period of time, parts of Formosa , Sabah, and parts of the Moluccas....