Sinosphere

thumb|Chinese dragons, legendary creatures in Sinosphere mythology and culture thumb|A map of the families of List of writing systems|writing systems in East Asia, Southeast Asia, and South Asia. Red: [[Chinese characters; Green: Brahmi script; Blue: Aramaic (Mongolian script, Manchu alphabet, Old Uyghur alphabet, and Arabic script).]] thumb|Map of the Sinosphere nations (Japan, Korea, China and Vietnam) in the 11th century The Sinosphere, also known as the Chinese cultural sphere, East Asian cultural sphere, or the Sinic world, encompasses multiple countries in East Asia and Southeast Asia that were historically heavily influenced by Chinese culture. The Sinosphere comprises China, Taiwan, Japan, Korea, Vietnam and historically the Ryukyu Kingdom. Singapore might also be included due to modern-era overseas Chinese migration. The Sinosphere is different from the Sinophone world, which indicates regions where the Chinese language is spoken.

Imperial China was a major regional power in Eastern Asia and exerted influence on tributary states and neighboring states, including Japan, Korea and Vietnam. These interactions brought ideological and cultural influences rooted in Confucianism, Taoism and East Asian Buddhism. The four cultures were ruled by their respective emperors under similar administrative systems, furthermore, the adoption of the Confucian-based imperial examination system deeply influenced the bureaucracy and social structure of Korea and Vietnam. Chinese inventions influenced, and were in turn influenced by, innovations of the other cultures in governance, philosophy, science, and the arts. Literary Chinese became the written lingua franca for bureaucracy and communications, and Chinese characters became locally adapted as kanji in Japan, hanja in Korea, and in Vietnam.