CULTURAL ASPECTS OF THE CONTINENT

PEOPLE
Orientals and the Orient The term 'Oriental' (from the Latin word for "Eastern")was originally used during the Middle Ages in Europe in reference to the Near East. It was later extended to the rest of Asia, but came to refer to East Asians and in some cases, Southeast Asians in the 19th and 20th century United States,where most Asians were originally Chinese, with later additions of Korean, Japanese, and other groups from Asia.

INDIANS (INDIA)

UZBEKS (UZBEKISTAN)

JAPANESE (JAPAN)

CHINESE (CHINA)

KOREAN (KOREA)

FILIPINA (PHILIPPINES)

RELIGION
Almost all Asian religions have philosophical character and Asian philosophical traditions cover a large spectrum of philosophical thoughts and writings. Indian philosophy includes Hindu philosophy and Buddhist philosophy. They include elements of nonmaterial pursuits, whereas another school of thought from India, Crvka, preached the enjoyment of material world. Christianity is also present in most Asian countries.

Abrahamic
The Abrahamic religions of Judaism, Christianity, Islam and Baha'i Faith originated in West Asia. Judaism, the oldest of the Abrahamic faiths, is practiced primarily in Israel (which has the world's largest Jewish population),[38] though small communities exist in other countries, such as the Bene Israel in India. In the Philippines and East Timor, Roman Catholicism is the predominant religion; it was introduced by the Spaniardsand the Portuguese, respectively. In Armenia, Cyprus, Georgia and Russia, Eastern Orthodoxy is the predominant religion. Various Christiandenominations have adherents in portions of the Middle East, as well as China and India. The world's largest Muslim community (within the bounds of one nation) is in Indonesia. South Asia (mainly Pakistan, India and Bangladesh) holds 30% of Muslims. There are also significant Muslim populations in China, Iran, Malaysia, southern Philippines (Mindanao), Russia and most of West Asia and Central Asia. The Bah' Faith originated in Asia, in Iran (Persia), and spread from there to the Ottoman Empire, Central Asia, India, and Burma during the lifetime of Bah'u'llh. Since the middle of the 20th Century, growth has particularly occurred in other Asian countries, because the Bah' Faith's activities in many Muslim countries has been severely suppressed by authorities.

Dharmic and Taoist

The religions of Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism originated in India, South Asia. In East Asia, particularly in China and Japan, Confucianism, Taoism and Zen Buddhism took shape. Over 80% of the populations of both India and Nepal adhere to Hinduism, alongside significant communities in Bangladesh, Pakistan, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and Bali. Many overseas Indians in countries such as Burma, Singapore and Malaysia also adhere to Hinduism. Buddhism has a great following in mainland Southeast Asia and East Asia. Buddhism is the religion of the majority of the populations ofCambodia (98%),Thailand (95%),Burma (89%),Japan (84-96%), Bhutan (75%), Sri Lanka (69%),Laos (67%-98%), andMongolia (50%). Large Buddhist populations also exist in Singapore (42.5%), Taiwan (35.1%-93%),South Korea(23.2%),Malaysia(19.2%),Nepal (10.7%),Vietnam (9.3-80%),People's Republic of China(880%), North Korea (4.5%-60%), Indonesia (<2%);and small communities in India and Bangladesh. In many Chinese communities, Mahayana Buddhism is easily syncretized with Taoism, thus exact religious statistics is difficult to obtain and may be understated or overstated. The Communistgoverned countries of China, Vietnam and North Korea are officially atheist, thus the number of Buddhists and other religious adherents may be under-reported. Jainism is found mainly in India and in oversea Indian communities such as India and Malaysia. Sikhism is found in Northern India and amongst overseas Indian communities in other parts of Asia, especially Southeast Asia. Confucianism is found predominantly in Mainland China, South Korea, Taiwan and in overseas Chinese populations. Taoism is found mainly in Mainland China, Taiwan, Malaysia and Singapore. Taoism is easily syncretized with Mahayana Buddhism for many Chinese, thus exact religious statistics is difficult to obtain and may be understated or overstated.

LANGUAGE
Afghanistan Pashtu (Pushtu), Dari Persian other Turkic and minor languages. Armenia Armenian (Hayeren) is an independent, one-language subgroup within the Indo-European language family. The unique Armenian alphabet, which consists of 39 characters, was created in 405 AD by a monk named Mesrop Mashtots. Russian widely used Azerbaijan Azerbaijani (Azeri; a Turkic language of the Altaic family) 89% Russian 3%, Armenian 2%, other 6% Bahrain Arabic (Arabiyya) English, Farsi, Urdu Bangladesh Bengali (Bangla) English Bhutan Bhutanese (Dzongkha) The Bhotes (the principal ethnic majority 50%) speak various Tibetan dialects like Tshanglakha and Khenkha, Nepalese speak various Nepalese dialects like Lhotsamkha. Brunei Darussalam Malay, English Chinese

Cambodia Khmer spoken by more than 95% of the population (Khmer language is influenced by spoken and written Thai) some French still spoken, English increasingly popular as a second language. China Putonghua (Mandarin) Wu (spoken in Shanghai), Yue (Cantonese) and other Chinese dialects like Min, Hakka (Kejia), Gan and Xiang. Cyprus Greek, Turkish English Georgia Georgian Russian, Armenian, Azeri and other. note: Abkhaz is the official language in Abkhazia. India Hindi, English (the most important language for national, political, and commercial communication) Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Kashmiri, Malayalam, Marathi, Oriya, Panjabi, Sanskrit, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu Indonesia Bahasa Indonesia (official, modified form of Malay) English, Dutch, local dialects, the most widely spoken of which is Javanese. Iran Persian and Persian dialects 58% (Farsi) Turkic dialects 26%, Kurdish 9%, Luri 2%, Balochi 1%, Arabic Iraq Arabic (Arabiyya), Kurdish (official since 8 March 2004) Assyrian (Syriac-Aramaic), Armenian, Turcoman

Israel Hebrew (Ivrit), Arabic Yiddish, Ladino, Judeo-Arabic, Judeo-Tat, Judeo-Berber, English - is the major foreign language. Japan Japanese (Nihongo) Ryukyuan Languages Jordan Arabic (Arabiyya) English widely understood among upper and middle classes. Kazakhstan Kazakh (Qazaq, state language) 64.4%, Russian (official, used in everyday business, designated the "language of interethnic communication") 95%
Korea (North) Korean (Choso'nmal or Choson'o) Korea (South) Korean (Hangungmal); Korean is written in Hangeul, the Korean alphabet. English widely taught in junior high and high school. Kuwait Arabic (Arabiyya) English widely spoken. Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyz, Russian note: in December 2001, the Kyrgyzstani legislature made Russian an official language, equal in status to Kyrgyz.

Laos Lao French, English, and various ethnic languages Lebanon Arabic (Arabiyya) French, English, Armenian Macau Putonghua (Mandarin), Portuguese everyone speaks Yue Chinese (Cantonese), English is used as a "working language". Malaysia Bahasa Melayu English, Chinese dialects, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Panjabi, Thai; note: in addition, in East Malaysia several indigenous languages are spoken, the largest are Iban and Kadazan. Maldives Maldivian Dhivehi (dialect of Sinhala, script derived from Arabic) English spoken by most government officials. Mongolia Khalkha Mongol (a branch of the Altaic family) Turkic, Russian Myanmar (Burma) Burmese 135 minority ethnic groups have their own languages. Nepal Nepali (official and lingua franca of the country) 90% sixty ethnic groups, who speak seventy different dialects and eleven major languages like Tibeto-Burman, Lhotsamkha, Nepalbhasa, Tamang languages; minorities Bhutanese (Dzongkha), Tibetan languages, possibly Chinese dialects. note: many in government and business also speak English

Oman Arabic (Arabiyya) English, Baluchi, Urdu, Indian dialects. Palestine Arabic (Arabiyya), Hebrew (Ivrit, spoken by Israeli settlers and many Palestinians) English (widely understood) Pakistan Urdu 8%, English (official and "lingua franca" of Pakistani elite and most government ministries) Punjabi 48%, Sindhi 12%, Siraiki (a Punjabi variant) 10%, Pashtu 8%, Balochi 3%, Hindko 2%, Brahui 1%, Burushaski, and other 8% Philippines Filipino (based on Tagalog) and English. Filipino is the national language. English is also widely used and is the medium of instruction in higher education. Major dialects: Tagalog, Cebuano, Ilocan, Hiligaynon or Ilonggo, Bicol, Waray, Pampango, and Pangasinense. Qatar Arabic (Arabiyya) English commonly used as a second language. Saudi Arabia Arabic (Arabiyya) Singapore Chinese, Malay, Tamil, English Sri Lanka Sinhala (official and national language) 74%, Tamil (national language) 18% other 8% note: English is commonly used in government and is spoken competently by about 10% of the population. Syria Arabic (Arabiyya) Kurdish, Armenian, Aramaic, Circassian widely understood; French, English somewhat understood. Taiwan Chinese Mandarin (PuTongHua) Taiwanese (Min), Hakka dialects. Tajikistan Tajik Russian widely used in government and business.

Thailand Thai English (secondary language of the elite), ethnic and regional dialects Timor-Leste Tetum, Portuguese Indonesian, English; note: there are about 16 indigenous languages; Tetum, Galole, Mambae, and Kemak are spoken by significant numbers of people. Turkey Turkish (trke) Kurdish, Arabic, Armenian, Greek Turkmenistan Turkmen 72% Russian 12%, Uzbek 9%, other 7% United Arab Emirates Arabic (Arabiyya) Persian, English, Hindi, Urdu Uzbekistan Uzbek 74.3% Russian 14.2%, Tajik 4.4%, other 7.1% Viet Nam Vietnamese English (increasingly favored as a second language), some French, Chinese, and Khmer; mountain area languages (Mon-Khmer and Malayo-Polynesian) Yemen Arabic (Arabiyya)

ECONOMY/LIVELIHOOD
Asia has the second largest nominal GDP of all continents, after Europe, but the largest when measured in PPP. As of 2010, the largest economies in Asia are the People's Republic of China, Japan, India, South Korea and Indonesia. Based on Global Office Locations 2011, Asia dominated the office locations with 4 of top 5 were in Asia, Hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo, London and Shanghai. Around 68 percent of international firms have office in Hong Kong. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the economies of the PRC and India have been growing rapidly, both with an average annual growth rate of more than 8%. Other recent very high growth nations in Asia include Malaysia, Indonesia, Pakistan, Thailand, Vietnam, Mongolia, Uzbekistan, Cyprus and the Philippines, and mineral-rich nations such as Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Iran, Brunei, United Arab Emirates,Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Oman.

 China was the largest and most advanced economy on earth for much of recorded history,[29][30][31][32] until the British Empire (excludingIndia) overtook it in the mid 19th century. Japan has had for only several decades after WW2 the largest economy in Asia and second-largest of any single nation in the world, after surpassing the Soviet Union (measured in net material product) in 1986 and Germany in 1968. (NB: A number of supernational economies are larger, such as the European Union (EU), the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) or APEC). In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Japan's GDP was almost as large (current exchange rate method) as that of the rest of Asia combined.[citation needed] In 1995, Japan's economy nearly equaled that of the USA as the largest economy in the world for a day, after the Japanese currency reached a record high of 79yen/dollar. Economic growth in Asia since World War II to the 1990s had been concentrated in Japan as well as the four regions of South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore located in the Pacific Rim, known as the Asian tigers, which have now all received developed country status, having the highest GDP per capita in Asia.

It is forecasted that India will overtake Japan in terms of nominal GDP by 2020.[34] In terms of GDP per capita, both nominal and PPP-adjusted, South Korea will become the second wealthiest country in Asia by 2025, overtaking Germany, the United Kingdom and France. According to IMF statistics for the year 2010, the mostly unrecognized Republic of China PPP-adjusted GDP per capita, at USD 34,743, is already higher than that of Finland, France, or Japan.[citation needed] By 2027, according to Goldman Sachs, China will have the largest economy in the world. Several trade blocs exist, with the most developed being the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Asia is the largest continent in the world by a considerable margin, and it is rich in natural resources, such as petroleum, forests, fish, water, rice, copper and silver. Manufacturing in Asia has traditionally been strongest in East and Southeast Asia, particularly in mainland China, Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, India, Philippines and Singapore. Japan and South Korea continue to dominate in the area of multinational corporations, but increasingly mainland China and India are making significant inroads. Many companies from Europe, North America, South Korea and Japan have operations in Asia's developing countries to take advantage of its abundant supply of cheap labour and relatively developed infrastructure. According to Citigroup 9 of 11 Global Growth Generators countries came from Asia driven by population and income growth. They are Bangladesh, the People's Republic of China, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Mongolia, Philippines, Sri Lanka and Vietnam.[35] Asia has four main financial centres: Tokyo, Hong Kong, Singapore and Shanghai. Call centres and business process outsourcing (BPOs) are becoming major employers in India and the Philippines due to the availability of a large pool of highly skilled, English-speaking workers. The increased use ofoutsourcing has assisted the rise of India and the China as financial centres.