Eastern world
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The term Eastern world refers very broadly to the various cultures, social structures and philosophical systems of "the East", namely Asia and East Europe (including Russia, China, Nepal, India, Japan, Persia, the Middle East, and surrounding regions).
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Eastern culture
Eastern culture has developed many themes and traditions. Some important ones are:
- Eastern religion, Eastern philosophy
- Far Eastern religions
- Confucianism—social hierarchy where position is based upon merit as determined through the imperial examination system. This social hierarchy promoted respect for elders and authority, and valued harmony within family.
- Far Eastern Buddhism
- Shinto
- Taoism—concepts of good and bad energy, the connectedness of mind and body and nature, etc.
- Indian religions
- Buddhism—path of liberation attained through insight into the ultimate nature of reality
- Hinduism- an umbrella term for religious sects native to India
- Jainism
- Sikhism—A religion that developed in the warring plains of Punjab in an atmosphere of ideological clash between Islam and Hinduism. Its followers retain spiritual as well as martial qualities.
- The Middle East, today largely coterminous with the Islamic world
- Christianity — like other Abrahamic religions like Judaism and Islam, originates in the Middle East, where it is now a small minority religion.
- Islam—the majority of the world Muslim population have always lived in Asia, due to Islam spreading and becoming the dominant religion of these areas.
- Judaism — although not as much of a presence as it once was, Judaism still exists in Asia (see Mizrahi Jews).
- Zoroastrianism, the monotheistic state religion of Sassanid Persia
- Far Eastern religions
- Oriental medicine
Unless indicated otherwise, the text in this article is either based on Wikipedia article "Eastern world" or another language Wikipedia page thereof used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License; or on original research by Jahsonic and friends. See Art and Popular Culture's copyright notice.
