Greater China
{{Short description|Region with cultural ties to Chinese people}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2022}}
{{Infobox Chinese
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| s = 大中华
| t = 大中華
| p = Dà Zhōnghuá
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| poj = Tāi Tiong-hôa
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}}
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.{{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}}[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 Asia1 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{{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}}{{Failed verification|date=January 2025}} The notion contains a "great deal of ambiguity in its geographical coverage and politico-economic implications",{{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}} 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".{{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}} The term encompass "linkages among regional Chinese communities",{{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}}{{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 }} 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.{{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}}{{cite web |url=http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/af5dbc86-c977-11e0-9eb8-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1eCA9hvjd |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}}{{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}} Some analysts{{Who|date=January 2025}} may also include places which have predominantly ethnic Chinese population such as Singapore.
The term's usage is contested; some observers in Taiwan characterise the term as harmful or a conflation of distinct polities and markets, 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. Australian sinologist Wang Gungwu has characterised the concept as a "myth", and "wrong" if applied to overseas Chinese communities.{{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}}
Usage
Multinational corporations frequently use the term when naming their 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;{{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}} Apple Inc. uses it when referring to its regional headquarters in Shanghai.{{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}}{{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}}
The term is often used to avoid invoking sensitivities over the political status of Taiwan. Contrastingly, it has been used in reference to Chinese irredentism in nationalist contexts, such as the notion that China should reclaim its "lost territories" to create a Greater China.{{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 }}{{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 }}
History
File:China Proper 1944.png, showing the territories of the Republic of China: China proper, Manchuria, Mongolia, Sinkiang, and Tibet.]]
File:烏坵嶼地標.jpg in 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.{{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
}}
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 Qing 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 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.
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, ASEAN, or AU. The concept is a generalization to group several markets seen to be closely linked economically and does not imply sovereignty.{{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 | 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 }} The concept does not always include Taiwan, for instance Cisco uses "Greater China and Taiwan" to refer to the market.{{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}}