Greater China, or Greater China Region, is a term used to refer to Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan. As a "phrase of the moment", the precise meaning is not entirely clear, and people may use it for only the commercial ties, only the cultural actions, or even as a euphemism for the Two Chinas, while others may use it for some combination of the three. The term is not specifically political in usage; ties common between the geographical regions, for instance Chinese-language television, film and music entertainment is commonly attributed to be a cultural aspect of "Greater China". Usage of the term may also vary as to the geographic regions it is meant to imply. In China, the most common geographic uses include those areas claimed by the government of the People's Republic of China.
The term Greater China is generally used for referring to the cultural and economic ties between the relevant territories, and is not intended to imply sovereignty. But to avoid any political connotation, the term Chinese-speaking world or Sinophone world is often used instead of Greater China.
Read more about Greater China: History, Usage in Finance, Political Usage
Famous quotes containing the words greater and/or china:
“Charity is a cop-out so traditionally female in its apparent self-effacement that there seems resonant comfort in it. We’re no longer supposed to serve the imaginations of men who have dominated us. We are to give up ourselves instead to those whose suffering is greater than our own. Looking down is just as distorting as looking up and as dangerous in perpetuating hierarchies.”
—Jane Rule (b. 1931)
“Riot in Algeria, in Cyprus, in Alabama;
Aged in wrong, the empires are declining,
And China gathers, soundlessly, like evidence.
What shall I say to the young on such a morning?—
Mind is the one salvation?—also grammar?—
No; my little ones lean not toward revolt.”
—William Dewitt Snodgrass (b. 1926)