Language
This writing system is common between East Asian languages. However, in modern times, Korean and Japanese supplement it with their own scripts.
What are Chinese characters?
The river to the south of the Chinese river basin. To the north is the Yellow.
What is the Yangtze River?
This term is used in the periodization of Chinese history until the 20th century. But it is only used sometimes in Korean periodization, and never in Japanese periodization.
What is "dynasty?"
Although the shortened phrase fengshui literally means "wind and water," this is the third element important to East Asian geomancy indicated in its full Chinese character name.
What is earth/land/soil?
Although the imperial family has always been present, Japan's premodern states were primarily ruled by these feudal military dictatorships.
What are shoguns/shogunates?
Standard Mandarin employs four of these. Although, there is an additional neutral one.
What are tones?
The central city in Japanese history until the capital was moved east to Edo. It is now its own prefecture as well.
What is Kyoto?
The earliest dynasty in Chinese historical periodization. Though, there are no direct sources from the period to suggest its existence.
What is the Xia?
Appearing in both the Nihon Shoki and the Kojiki, it is from this mythical heavenly ruler that the Imperial House of Japan is believed to be descended.
Who is Ameterasu?
Although the last dynasty of China, the Qing imperial family was not actually ethnically Han-Chinese, but this ethnicity, from this northeastern area of modern China.
What is Manchu?
Used in standard Korean and Japanese, these added syllables indicate important grammatical information such as the object of a verb.
What are particles?
Although seemingly named after a carbonic Buddhist sutra, there is no direct source suggesting this range of mountains in Korea's Kangwon province, now in North Korea, takes its name from anything related to Buddhism.
What are the Keumgang/Diamond Mountains?
According to the foundation myths of the modern nation-states belonging to this ethnic group in East Asia, their earliest state was founded in 2333 BCE.
What is Korea(n)?
At this early life event as it is celebrated in modern Korea, a child picks up one or two of a plethora of objects from a table to predict what profession they will eventually pursue.
What is 100-day birthday?
This former South Korean president is not the first to be impeached, but the most recent. On a more positive note, she was the first elected female head-of-state in all East Asia.
Who is Park Geun-hye?
Although categorized as a Japonic language, Japan had a tough time colonizing its native-speaking archipelagic kingdom in the late 19th century due to the language barrier.
What is Okinawan?
Looking at a European map from before World War II, it may be difficult to locate Taiwan because it was labeled this, by the Portuguese for "beautiful."
What is Formosa?
By the end of this century, Buddhism was present in all major East Asian states after King Seong of Paekje sent a mission with Buddhist imagery to Emperor Kinmei in Yamato.
What is the sixth?
There remain these from the Shang dynasty used in pyromantic rituals to divine answers from deities to important questions like: "what will the weather be like?"
What are oracle bones?
Perhaps inspired by socialism and communism, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's official ideology is actually this original Kim-centric belief.
What is juche/chuch'e/self-reliance?
Although they use Chinese characters, Korean and Japanese are not categorized as Sino-Tibetan languages, but rather this. However, linguists debate this categorization.
What is/are Altaic language(s)?
Xinjiang, though within the bounds of the national borders of the People's Republic of China, is titled officially this, rather than a province. It may or may not actually allow it self-determination.
What is an "autonomous region?"
There are actually two of these periods in East Asian history. One refers to a period of Korean history from the first century BCE until the seventh century CE and one to a period of Chinese history during the third century CE.
What are the Three Kingdoms?
In traditional Confucianism, there are this many Classics. Only one of them is not called "Book of..." or "Classic of..." in English.
What is five?
This political party opposed the Chinese Communist Party until they and their leader Chiang Kai-shek were forced to flee to Taiwan in 1949.
What is Kuomintang?