The East Asian Cultural Sphere

 The Eastern world was molded through the economic and cultural predominance of China. The East Asian cultural sphere otherwise known as the Sinosphere refers to those conturies in close proximity to China with heritable commonalities in literature, philosophy, food, commerce, and industry which were spread through conquest and trade. The realm of the Sinosphere incorporates modern China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Vietnam, and parts of Central Asia.

 

 The most apparent connection amongst Sinic nations is language. At the dawn of the Sinosphere, Chinese ideographic characters were the only writing system available in East Asia. Historically, they were implemented primarily for administrative and governmental purposes, and as a result Chinese was widely used to print religious texts, government documents, and other formal writings in Korea, Japan, and Vietnam. Eventually, these conturies invented their own writing systems which displaced Chinese in most areas of literature and official documentation. However, Chinese is still used today in places like Japan where the writing system incorporates Chinese characters.

 

 To understand the Sinosphere, one must understand its shared cultural identify arising from the ingrained and mutually dominant philosophy Confucianism. One principle is filial piety which stresses the importance of respecting one's elders. The philosophy also holds that the pursuit of knowledge never stops. Across the Sinic world today, Confucius ideals are evident in the commitments of people to educational pursuits as well as to the importance of family members. Along with these is the Buddhist religion which remains influential. For instance, it is still the main religion in Vietnam and Korea where estimates show that a large number of people follow this system of belief.

 

1. The word realm in the passage is closest meaning to 

 

(A) diversity

(B) reality

(C) territory

(D) mission

 

2. It is NOT mentioned in paragraph 1 that

 

(A) China was dominant in the East Asian cultural sphere.

(B) Chinese values were spread through invasion and commerce.

(C) common elements are found in several of the spoken languages of East Asia.

(D) nations in the Sinosphere are geographically close to China.

 

3. The word apparent in the passage could best be replaced by

 

(A) widespread

(B) splendid

(C) equitable

(D) obvious

 

4. Which of the sentences below best expresses the essential information in the highlighted sentence in the passage? Incorrect choices change the meaning in important ways or leave out essential information.

 

(A) Administrations and governments in some East Asian countries used to rely on Chinese characters for most official writing.

(B) Government officials at one time needed to speak Chinese to carry out official business.

(C) Some East Asian countries still rely on Chinese for most official documentations.

(D) Due to the dominance of Chinese, religious and government documents in other languages had to be translated into Chinese.

 

5. What is the author's main purpose in paragraph 3?

 

(A) To show the teachings of Buddha

(B) To introduce the origins of the region's shared cultural identify

(C) To explain the principles of Confucius

(D) To demonstrate the commitments to education and family in the Sinic world