What is "sinosphere"

Sinosphere typically refers to the East Asian cultural sphere, the regions that have historically been culturally influenced by China and its literary traditions.

It may also refer to:

• James Matisoff's name for the Mainland Southeast Asia linguistic area
• the Sinophone world, the area in which Chinese is spoken
• Sinocentrism, the historical ideology that China was the cultural center of the world
• Greater China, comprising Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan

Sinosphere is a term that refers to the Mainland Southeast Asia linguistic area, coined by James Matisoff. The linguist James Matisoff coined the term "Sinosphere" in 1990, contrasting with the Indosphere, "I refer to the Chinese and Indian areas of linguistic/cultural influence in Southeast Asia as the 'Sinosphere' and the 'Indosphere'."

For Mainland Southeast Asia (MSEA) the term has been glossed as "Sinosphere: a socio-political sphere of MSEA, subsuming those countries, cultures, and languages that have historically come under influence from the politics, culture, religion, and languages of China ."