The East Asian cultural sphere or Sinosphere refers to a grouping of countries and regions that were historically influenced by the culture of China. Other names for the concept include the Sinic world, the Confucian world, and the Chinese cultural sphere, though the last is also used to refer particularly to the Sinophone world: the areas which speak varieties of Chinese.
The East Asian cultural sphere shares a Confucian ethical philosophy, Buddhism, political and legal structures, and historically a common writing system. The core regions of the East Asian cultural sphere are China, Korea, Taiwan, Japan and Vietnam, although Mongolia and parts of Central Asia are sometimes included.
The terms East Asian cultural sphere and Chinese character cultural sphere are used interchangeably with "Sinosphere" but have different denotations.