Far East
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The far east as a cultural block includes East Asia, Southeast Asia, Northeast Asia and South Asia. Pakistan is occasionally thought of as a middle eastern country, but is part of South Asia. The cultural border of the far east is therefore thought of as India. |
Far East is an inexact term often used for
East Asia,
South Asia and
Southeast Asia combined, sometimes including also the easternmost territories of
Russia, i.e., the
Russian Far East, and the western
Pacific Ocean region.
Far East is sometimes used synonymously with
East Asia, which may be defined in geographic or cultural terms to Russia's extreme northeast, coastal
China,
Taiwan,
Japan, both north and south
Korea, the
Philippines, and
Vietnam. But it commonly encompasses the states and cultures of
Southeast Asia, such as
Cambodia,
Malaysia,
Myanmar,
Thailand,
Indonesia and the
Philippines, and
South Asia such as
India,
Bangladesh,
Sri Lanka and
Nepal.
It was well 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,
German Ferner Osten,
Italian Estremo oriente, and
Dutch Verre Oosten.
In
Orientalist usage, it evokes cultural, as well as geographic separation, an exotic in addition to a distant locale.
Far East never refers, for instance, to the culturally western nations of Australia and New Zealand, which lie even farther to the east of Europe than much of East Asia.
Far East in this sense is comparable to terms such as
the Orient, which means
East; the
Eastern world; or simply the
East.
East Asia,
Southeast Asia and
South Asia, have a close cultural commonality, including religious and philosophical systems, and arts, for instance Indian literature, mythology, religion and art has influenced the region.
The
United Kingdom and
United States historically used "Far East" for several units and commands in the region:
*
British Far East Command*
RAF Far East Air Force*
U.S. Far East Air Force*
U.S. Far East Command* The U.S.
Far East NetworkIn addition, the post-
World War II trials of
Imperial Japanese war criminals was titled the
International Military Tribunal for the Far East.
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 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. Many commercial enterprises and institutions are named "Far East," like that of
Far Eastern National University in Vladivostok,
Far Eastern University in the City of Manila, and as South Korean's
Far East University, and the
Hong Kong-based
Far Eastern Economic Review.
Image:Skyline of BKK.jpg|Bangkok,ThailandImage:Shanghaid01.jpg|Shanghai, ChinaImage:Seoul sykline.jpg|Seoul, KoreaImage:BMAnniversary ROC Taipei 101.jpg|Taipei, TaiwanImage:Shenzhen_night_street.jpg|Shenzhen, ChinaImage:Japon Tokyo1.jpg|Tokyo, JapanImage:Hong_Kong_Skyline_by_mkeky.jpg|Skyline of Hong Kong Island, taken from Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, Hong KongImage:Mumbai Skyline.jpg|Skyline of Bombay*
Chinese world*
East Asia*
East Asian Tigers* Whitaker, Brian. "
From Turkey to Tibet,"
The Guardian, February 23, 2004.
