Greater China Region

Greater China
Chinese name
Simplified Chinese	大中华地区
Traditional Chinese	大中華地區
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Dà Zhōnghuá Dìqū Yue: Cantonese Jyutping daai6 zung1 waa4 dei6 keoi1 Southern Min Hokkien POJ Tāi Tiong-hôa tē-khu
Chinese-speaking World/Sinophone World
Chinese	中文世界
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Zhōng wén shì jiè Yue: Cantonese Jyutping zung4 man4 sai3 gaai3 Southern Min Hokkien POJ Tiong-bûn-sè-kài
Japanese name
Kanji	中華圏

Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyin	Dà Zhōnghuá Dìqū
Yue: Cantonese
Jyutping	daai6 zung1 waa4 dei6 keoi1
Southern Min
Hokkien POJ	Tāi Tiong-hôa tē-khu

Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyin	Zhōng wén shì jiè
Yue: Cantonese
Jyutping	zung4 man4 sai3 gaai3
Southern Min
Hokkien POJ	Tiong-bûn-sè-kài

Greater China or the Greater China Region is a term used to refer to Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau 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 or only for the cultural actions. 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". The term is also used with reference to business/economic development, such as Focus Taiwan reporting on "economic integration in the Greater China region". Usage of the term may also vary as to the geographic regions it is meant to imply.

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.

The term was used at least as far back as the 1930s by George Cressey to refer to the entire Chinese Empire, as opposed to China proper. Usage by the United States on government maps in the 1940s as a political term included territories claimed by the Republic of China that were part of the previous empire, or geographically to refer to topographical features associated with China that may or may not have lain entirely within Chinese political borders. The concept began to appear again in Chinese-language sources in the late 1970s, referring 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. 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. It is not an institutionalized entity such as the EU or ASEAN. The concept is a generalization to group several markets seen to be closely linked economically and does not imply sovereignty.

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Wikipedia