Greater China

Proper noun

Greater China

1. The whole territory of China, including China proper, Tibet, Manchuria, Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia.
   • Greater China is traversed by two immense mountain systems, which have their rise in the plateau of the Pamirs (q.v.), and which throw off numerous chains as they cross the continent.1920, John H. Finley, William Peterson, Edward Parrott, editors, Nelson's Perpetual Loose-Leaf Encyclopædia: An International Work of Reference, volume 3, New York: Thomas Nelson and Sons, page 90
   • The vast area of Greater China in its traditional sense holds within it five politicogeographic regions that have survived for centuries in one form or another and are still known today: Manchuria, Mongolia, Sinkiang, Tibet, and China Proper.1959 October, G. Etzel Pearcy, Geographpic Regions of Asia: South and East, U.S. Department of State, via Google Books, page 8
2. The historic territories of China or its tributary states, or the imagined future territories of China, including e.g. Taiwan, Outer Mongolia, Indochina, and Outer Manchuria.
   • Chinese imperial power for centuries exacted tribute from much of what is now Burma and Indo-China, and Chinese Communist maps today include these areas in "greater China."1954 October, Chester Bowles, “A Fresh Look at Free Asia”, in Foreign Affairs, volume 33, number 1, Council on Foreign Relations, →DOI, →ISSN, page 55
   • According to this understanding, not only are Taiwan, Tibet, the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR), and Hong Kong part of ‘Greater China’, but also the islands and shoals of the South China Sea – anything within the nine-dash line. For the most extreme, even parts of Korea are included...2017 April, John M. Friend, Bradley A. Thayer, “The Rise of Han-Centrism and What It Means for International Politics”, in Studies In Ethnicity & Nationalism, volume 17, number 1, Wiley, →DOI, →ISSN...
3. Majority Chinese-speaking territories in East Asia taken as a whole.
   • [Robert] Theleen's theme is investing with entrepreneurs in "Greater China"—by which he means the region of 120 million Chinese encompassing Taiwan, Hong Kong and China's two southern provinces of Guangdong and Fujian, all of which are rapidly becoming one integrated economy.1992 August 3, Andrew Tanzer, “Greater China, greater profits”, in Forbes, volume 150, number 3, via EBSCOhost, →ISSN, page 84
   • Less obvious are the differences between cultures that are located fairly close together on the continuum. For example, let's look at Greater China: the constellation of the PRC, Hong Kong (culturally distinct from the rest of China) and Taiwan.2005, Richard R. Gesteland, “Communicating Across The Great Divide”, in Cross-Cultural Business Behavior: Negotiating, Selling, Sourcing and Managing Across Cultures, 4 edition, Copenhagen Business...