Far East

 

in the most restricted sense, region comprising the countries of E Asia, namely China, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Mongolia, and Taiwan, and the easternmost portion of Russian Siberia (see Russian Far East). In a more extended sense, the term includes the countries of Southeast Asia, including the Philippines, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Myanmar, Brunei, and Indonesia. Historically, it denotes those portions of the Asian continent and archipelagoes farthest from the 19th cent. W European maritime powers.

The Far East refers to the countries of East Asia^[1] 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, Spanish Extremo Oriente, German Ferner Osten, Italian Estremo oriente, and Dutch Verre Oosten.

In Orientalist usage, it evokes cultural as well as geographic separation; that is, it evokes a locale which is not just geographically distant, but also culturally exotic. 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. South East Asia and Russian Far East might be included in Far East at some extend due to recent Chinese diaspora to Russia, the Koryo-saram the Great Chinese Diaspora.

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
• The U.S. Far East Network

In 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.

Gallery

Singapore City, Singapore	Seoul, Korea, ROK	Osaka, Japan	Shanghai, China, PRC
Tokyo, Japan	Vladivostok, Russian Far East, Russia	Hong Kong, PRC	Manila, Philippines
Bangkok, Thailand	Taipei, Taiwan, ROC	Guangzhou, China, PRC	Jakarta, Indonesia
Fukuoka, Japan	Hanoi, Vietnam	Phnom Penh, Cambodia	Yangon (Rangoon), Myanmar (Burma)
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Vietnam	Kaohsiung, Taiwan, ROC	P'yŏngyang, Korea, DPRK

See also

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

References

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

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