The East Asian cultural sphere, Sinosphere, or Chinese sphere of influence, is a region in Asia that has many influences from Chinese culture. These including the use of Chinese characters, clothing, art, food, inventions, social structures, government structures, religious ideas, and many other influences. The area is made of the Greater China region (mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan), Japan, Korea, Singapore, and sometimes Mongolia and Vietnam (depending on who you ask). Since China had a very large trade network, it was able to easily share its goods and ideas across Eurasia, and especially its neighboring countries in East Asia.