View source for Greater China

{{Short description|Region with cultural ties to Chinese people}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2022}}
{{Infobox Chinese
| pic = Chinaimg.png
| s = 大中华
| t = 大中華
| p = Dà Zhōnghuá
| bpmf = {{bpmfsp|ㄉㄚˋ|ㄓㄨㄥˉ|ㄏㄨㄚˊ}}
| j = Daai6 zung1 waa4
| poj = Tāi Tiong-hôa
| order = ts
| w = {{tonesup|Ta4 Chung1-hua2}}
| mi = {{IPAc-cmn|d|a|4|.|zh|ong|1|.|h|ua|4}}
| ci = {{IPAc-yue|d|aai|6|-|z|ung|1|-|w|aa|4}}
}}

In [[ethnogeography]], "'''Greater China'''" is a loosely defined term that refers to the region sharing cultural and economic ties with the [[Chinese people]], often used by international enterprises or organisations in unofficial usage.<ref>{{cite news |title=Pact row could harm Greater China economic integration: ANZ |url=http://focustaiwan.tw/news/aeco/201404020006.aspx |access-date=6 November 2018 |work=Focus Taiwan |date=2 April 2014}}</ref><ref>[http://www.mtvasia.com/News/200901/20017375.html MTV Channels In Southeast Asia and Greater China To Exclusively Air The Youth Inaugural Ball]{{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090522023815/http://www.mtvasia.com/News/200901/20017375.html |date=22 May 2009}} – MTV Asia</ref><ref>1 June 2008, [https://tva.onscreenasia.com/2008/05/universal-music-group-realigns-presence-in-greater-china/ Universal Music Group realigns presence in Greater China] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171214184139/https://tva.onscreenasia.com/2008/05/universal-music-group-realigns-presence-in-greater-china/ |date=14 December 2017}}, Television Asia</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Lee |first=James |title='Greater China' is a harmful myth |url=https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2021/08/06/2003762109 |access-date=30 October 2023 |website=Taipei Times |date=6 August 2021}}</ref>{{Failed verification|date=January 2025}}<!--I couldn't find a definition of the term in reliable sources. Moreover, based on the context, it seems that the term only refers to the two sides of the Taiwan Strait and the four regions.--> The notion contains a "great deal of ambiguity in its geographical coverage and politico-economic implications",<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Huang |first=Jianli |year=2010 |title=Conceptualizing Chinese Migration and Chinese Overseas: The Contribution of Wang Gungwu |journal=Journal of Chinese Overseas |pages=12}}</ref> because some users use it to refer to "the commercial ties among ethnic Chinese, whereas others are more interested in cultural interactions, and still others in the prospects for political reunification".<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Harding |first=Henry |year=1993 |title=The concept of "Greater China": Themes, variations and reservations |journal=The China Quarterly |volume=136 |pages=660–686 |doi=10.1017/S030574100003229X |s2cid=154522700}}</ref> The term encompass "linkages among regional Chinese communities",<ref name="Journal2">{{Cite journal |last=William |first=Yat Wai Lo |year=2016 |title=The concept of greater China in higher education: adoptions, dynamics and implications |journal=Comparative Education |volume=52 |pages=26–43 |doi=10.1080/03050068.2015.1125613 |quote=However, some analysts see the Greater China concept as a way to summarise 'the linkages among the fair-flung international Chinese community', thereby incorporating Singapore and overseas Chinese communities in their usage of the term (Harding 1993, 660; also see Wang 1993). |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Harding |first=Harry |date=December 1993 |title=The Concept of "Greater China": Themes, Variations and Reservations* |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/china-quarterly/article/concept-of-greater-china-themes-variations-and-reservations/FAED34F84F7A8CF25CB3328991218293 |journal=The China Quarterly |volume=136 |pages=660–686 |doi=10.1017/S030574100003229X |s2cid=154522700 |issn=1468-2648|url-access=subscription }}</ref> but usually refers to an area encompassing the [[People's Republic of China]] ([[mainland China]], [[Hong Kong]], [[Macau]]) and the [[Republic of China]] (known as [[Taiwan]]), places where the majority population is culturally Chinese.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.ft.com/content/af5dbc86-c977-11e0-9eb8-00144feabdc0 |title=Apple overtakes Lenovo in China sales |publisher=Financial Times |date=18 August 2011 |access-date=19 November 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111127212949/http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/af5dbc86-c977-11e0-9eb8-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1eCA9hvjd |archive-date=27 November 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |script-title=zh:4月29日日间新闻摘要(大中华区)|trans-title=29 April: Daily news summary (Greater China) |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/《路透晚报》-4月29日日间新闻摘要大中华区-idCNL3S22B0EP |work=Reuters |date=29 April 2019 |language=zh}}</ref> Some analysts may also include places which have predominantly [[Overseas Chinese|ethnic Chinese populations]] such as [[Singapore]].<ref name="Journal1">{{Cite journal |title=The concept of greater China in higher education: adoptions, dynamics and implications |journal=Comparative Education |volume=52 |pages=26–43 |last=William |first=Yat Wai Lo |doi=10.1080/03050068.2015.1125613 |year=2016 |quote=This term can be narrowly defined as referring to a geographic concept that consists of the People's Republic of China, the Republic of China, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and the Macau Special Administrative Region, where ethnic Chinese comprise the majority of the population. In this sense, the term is used to describe the ethnic and the associated political, economic and cultural ties among these Chinese societies (Harding 1993; Cheung 2013). |doi-access=free}}</ref>

The term's usage is contested; some observers in Taiwan characterise the term as harmful or a conflation of distinct polities and markets,<ref name=":0" /> while the Chinese government has avoided it, either to allay fears of its economic expansionism or to avoid suggesting Taiwan (known as the Republic of China) and the People's Republic of China are on equal footing.{{original research inline|date=June 2025}} Chinese-Australian sinologist [[Wang Gungwu]] has characterised the concept as a "myth", and "wrong" if applied to [[overseas Chinese]] communities.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |year=2001 |title=Greater China |encyclopedia=Dictionary of the Political Thought of the People's Republic of China |publisher=M. E. Sharpe |last=He |first=Henry Yuhuai |pages=47–48 |isbn=978-0-765-60569-6 |script-title=zh:大中华}}</ref>

==Usage==
[[Multinational corporation]]s frequently use the term when naming their [[Corporate headquarters|headquarters]] in the region. For example, [[Procter & Gamble]] uses the term to name its regional headquarters in [[Guangzhou]] that also operates in [[Hong Kong]] and [[Taipei]];<ref>{{cite web |title=P&G in Greater China |url=https://www.pgcareers.com/location-greaterchina |website=www.pgcareers.com |access-date=16 March 2020 |language=en}}</ref> [[Apple Inc.]] uses it when referring to its regional headquarters in [[Shanghai]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Isabel Ge Mahe named Apple's managing director of Greater China |url=https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2017/07/isabel-ge-mahe-named-apple-managing-director-of-greater-china/ |access-date=16 March 2020 |work=Apple Newsroom}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last2=Mickle |first1=Andrew|last1=Dowell|first2=Tripp |title=Apple Closes All Its Stores Outside China Over Coronavirus |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/apple-closes-all-its-stores-outside-china-over-coronavirus-11584172214 |website=Wall Street Journal |access-date=16 March 2020 |date=14 March 2020}}</ref>

The term is often used to avoid invoking sensitivities over the [[political status of Taiwan]].<ref name="Aretz 2007"/> Contrastingly, it has been used in reference to [[Chinese irredentism]] in [[Chinese nationalism|nationalist]] contexts, such as the notion that China should reclaim its "lost territories" to create a Greater China.<ref name="source">{{Cite book |title=Revolution, State Succession, International Treaties and the Diaoyu/Diaoyutai Islands |last=Tseng |first=Hui-Yi |publisher=Cambridge Scholars Publishing |year=2017 |isbn= 9781443893688 |page = 66 }}</ref><ref name="Source2">{{Cite book |title=China, the United Nations, and World Order |last=Kim |first=Samuel S. |publisher=[[Princeton University Press]] |year=1979 |isbn=9780691100760 |page=[https://archive.org/details/chinaunitednatio0000kims/page/43 43] |url=https://archive.org/details/chinaunitednatio0000kims/page/43 }}</ref>

==History==
[[File:China Proper 1944.png|thumb|upright=1.2|Map from the 1944 American propaganda film ''[[The Battle of China]]'', showing the territories of the [[Republic of China (1912–1949)|Republic of China]]: [[China proper]], [[Manchuria]], [[Outer Mongolia|Mongolia]], [[Xinjiang Province, Republic of China|Sinkiang]], and [[Tibet Area (administrative division)|Tibet]]]]
[[File:烏坵嶼地標.jpg|thumb|Territories claimed by the Republic of China on a monument to [[Chiang Kai-shek]] in [[Wuqiu, Kinmen|Wuqiu]]]]

The term has been used for a long time, but with differing scopes and connotations.

During the 1930s, [[George Cressey]], an American academic who did work for the US State Department throughout his career, used the term to refer to the entirety of the territory controlled by the [[Qing dynasty]], as opposed to [[China proper]].<ref name="Harding">{{cite journal
  | first = Harry
  | last = Harding
  | title = The Concept of 'Greater China': Themes, Variations and Reservations
  | journal = The China Quarterly
  | issue =  136, Special Issue: Greater China
  | pages = 660–686
  | date = December 1993| volume = 136
 | doi = 10.1017/S030574100003229X
 | s2cid = 154522700
 }}
</ref> Usage by the United States on government maps in the 1940s as a political term included territories [[History of the Republic of China|claimed by the Republic of China]] that were part of the previous Qing Empire, or geographically to refer to topographical features associated with China that may or may not have lain entirely within Chinese political borders.<ref name="Harding" />

The concept began to appear again in Chinese-language sources in the late 1970s, referring to the growing commercial ties between the mainland and Hong Kong, with the possibility of extending these to Taiwan, with perhaps the first such reference being in a Taiwanese journal ''Changqiao'' in 1979.<ref name="Harding" />

The English term subsequently re-emerged in the 1980s to refer to the growing economic ties between the regions as well as the possibility of political unification.<ref name="Harding" /> It is not an institutionalized entity such as the [[European Union|EU]], [[ASEAN]], or [[African Union|AU]]. The concept is a generalization to group several markets seen to be closely linked economically and does not imply [[sovereignty]].<ref name="Aretz 2007">{{cite book  | first = Tilman  | last = Aretz  | title = The greater China factbook  | publisher = Taiwan Elite Press  | location = Taipei  | year = 2007  | url = http://www.books.com.tw/exep/prod/booksfile.php?item=0010380377  | isbn = 978-986-7762-97-9 <!--9867762975-->  | oclc = 264977502  | url-status = live  | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090131200221/http://www.books.com.tw/exep/prod/booksfile.php?item=0010380377  | archive-date = 31 January 2009 }}</ref> The concept does not always include Taiwan, for instance Cisco uses "Greater China and Taiwan" to refer to the market.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Rundown: Pegatron's Tesla Ambitions, Tech Sector Bonuses, and Cisco's New Software Center |url=https://topics.amcham.com.tw/2021/01/january-rundowns-business-w2/ |website=topics.amcham.com.tw |date=18 January 2021 |publisher=Taiwan Topics |access-date=18 January 2021}}</ref>

== See also ==
{{colbegin}}
* [[Adoption of Chinese literary culture]]
* [[Bamboo network]]
* [[Chinese expansionism]]
* [[Chinese imperialism]]
* [[Chinese irredentism]]
* [[Chinese nationalism]]
* [[Sinosphere]]
* [[Nanyang (region)|Nanyang]]
* [[History of China]]
* [[List of tributaries of China]]
* [[Nine-dash line]]
* [[Sinocentrism]]
* [[Sinophone]]
* [[Greater Britain]]
{{colend}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Cross-Strait relations}}
{{Pan-nationalist concepts}}

[[Category:Chinese nationalism]]
[[Category:Country classifications|China, Greater]]
[[Category:Cross-strait relations]]
[[Category:Cultural regions|China, Greater]]
[[Category:Geography of China]]
[[Category:Historical regions]]