, East and
Southeast
Asia
JAMES E. HOARE
The
World
Today
Series®
2025–2026
57th edition
,
BLOOMSBURY ACADEMIC
Bloomsbury Publishing Inc, 1359 Broadway, New York, NY 10018, USA
Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 50 Bedford Square, London, WC1B 3DP, UK
Bloomsbury Publishing Ireland, 29 Earlsfort Terrace, Dublin 2, D02 AY28, Ireland
BLOOMSBURY, BLOOMSBURY ACADEMIC and the Diana logo are trademarks of Bloomsbury
Publishing Plc
First published in the United States of America 2026
Copyright © Bloomsbury Academic Publishing, 2026
For legal purposes the Acknowledgments on p. v constitute an extension of this copyright page.
Cover design: Chloe Batch
Cover images: © iStock.com/sorendls and iStock.com/Gile68
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be: i) reproduced or transmitted in any form,
electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by means of any information
storage or retrieval system without prior permission in writing from the publishers; or ii) used
or reproduced in any way for the training, development or operation of artificial intelligence
(AI) technologies, including generative AI technologies. The rights holders expressly reserve
this publication from the text and data mining exception as per Article 4(3) of the Digital Single
Market Directive (EU) 2019/790.
Bloomsbury Publishing Inc does not have any control over, or responsibility for, any third-party
websites referred to or in this book. All internet addresses given in this book were correct at the
time of going to press. The author and publisher regret any inconvenience caused if addresses
have changed or sites have ceased to exist, but can accept no responsibility for any such changes.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Available
ISBN: PB: 979-8-8818-0245-5
ePDF: 979-8-8818-5620-5
eBook: 979-8-8818-0246-2
Series: World Today
Typeset by Sue Murray
Printed and bound in the United States of America
For product safety related questions contact .
To find out more about our authors and books visit www.bloomsbury.com and sign up for our
newsletters.
ii
, CONTENTS
Acknowledgments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . v Korea
East and Southeast Asia Today. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii The Republic of Korea (South Korea) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Map: East, Southeast Asia and the Western Pacific. . . . . . . . . . . viii “South Korea’s ‘Rasputin’ Style Presidential
Scandal” by Mark Jihun Suk. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea). . . 162
A Diversity of People . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Mongolia. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
Religious Beliefs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Women in Traditional Asia. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 SOUTHEAST ASIA
The Impact of the West. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Brunei Darussalam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
Nationalism, Communism, and Revolution. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 The Kingdom of Cambodia. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
Women in Modern East and Southeast Asia. . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 East Timor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
From Postcolonialism to Globalization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 The Republic of Indonesia. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
“Asia and the Climate Crisis” The Laos People’s Republic. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230
Reprinted with permission of the Association of Malaysia. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238
Asian Studies from Education about Asia. . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 The Union of Myanmar (Burma). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252
Papua New Guinea. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266
EAST ASIA
The Republic of Philippines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273
China
The Republic of Singapore. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291
The People’s Republic of China. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
The Kingdom of Thailand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300
“Energy Consumption in China” by
The Socialist Republic of Vietnam. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315
Toby Michelena . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Hong Kong. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 WESTERN PACIFIC
Macao. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81 Australia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 336
Tibet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 New Zealand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 350
“Tibetan Buddhism” by Jeannine Chandler . . . . . . . . . . . 88 Island Communities of the Western and
Taiwan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 Southern Pacific. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 361
Japan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109 Bibliography and Additional Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366
About the Author. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 381
Mongolia’s increasingly globalized capital city of Ulaanbaatar Courtesy of Steven A. Leibo
iii
Southeast
Asia
JAMES E. HOARE
The
World
Today
Series®
2025–2026
57th edition
,
BLOOMSBURY ACADEMIC
Bloomsbury Publishing Inc, 1359 Broadway, New York, NY 10018, USA
Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 50 Bedford Square, London, WC1B 3DP, UK
Bloomsbury Publishing Ireland, 29 Earlsfort Terrace, Dublin 2, D02 AY28, Ireland
BLOOMSBURY, BLOOMSBURY ACADEMIC and the Diana logo are trademarks of Bloomsbury
Publishing Plc
First published in the United States of America 2026
Copyright © Bloomsbury Academic Publishing, 2026
For legal purposes the Acknowledgments on p. v constitute an extension of this copyright page.
Cover design: Chloe Batch
Cover images: © iStock.com/sorendls and iStock.com/Gile68
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be: i) reproduced or transmitted in any form,
electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by means of any information
storage or retrieval system without prior permission in writing from the publishers; or ii) used
or reproduced in any way for the training, development or operation of artificial intelligence
(AI) technologies, including generative AI technologies. The rights holders expressly reserve
this publication from the text and data mining exception as per Article 4(3) of the Digital Single
Market Directive (EU) 2019/790.
Bloomsbury Publishing Inc does not have any control over, or responsibility for, any third-party
websites referred to or in this book. All internet addresses given in this book were correct at the
time of going to press. The author and publisher regret any inconvenience caused if addresses
have changed or sites have ceased to exist, but can accept no responsibility for any such changes.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Available
ISBN: PB: 979-8-8818-0245-5
ePDF: 979-8-8818-5620-5
eBook: 979-8-8818-0246-2
Series: World Today
Typeset by Sue Murray
Printed and bound in the United States of America
For product safety related questions contact .
To find out more about our authors and books visit www.bloomsbury.com and sign up for our
newsletters.
ii
, CONTENTS
Acknowledgments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . v Korea
East and Southeast Asia Today. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii The Republic of Korea (South Korea) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Map: East, Southeast Asia and the Western Pacific. . . . . . . . . . . viii “South Korea’s ‘Rasputin’ Style Presidential
Scandal” by Mark Jihun Suk. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea). . . 162
A Diversity of People . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Mongolia. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
Religious Beliefs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Women in Traditional Asia. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 SOUTHEAST ASIA
The Impact of the West. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Brunei Darussalam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
Nationalism, Communism, and Revolution. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 The Kingdom of Cambodia. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
Women in Modern East and Southeast Asia. . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 East Timor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
From Postcolonialism to Globalization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 The Republic of Indonesia. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
“Asia and the Climate Crisis” The Laos People’s Republic. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230
Reprinted with permission of the Association of Malaysia. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238
Asian Studies from Education about Asia. . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 The Union of Myanmar (Burma). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252
Papua New Guinea. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266
EAST ASIA
The Republic of Philippines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273
China
The Republic of Singapore. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291
The People’s Republic of China. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
The Kingdom of Thailand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300
“Energy Consumption in China” by
The Socialist Republic of Vietnam. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315
Toby Michelena . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Hong Kong. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 WESTERN PACIFIC
Macao. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81 Australia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 336
Tibet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 New Zealand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 350
“Tibetan Buddhism” by Jeannine Chandler . . . . . . . . . . . 88 Island Communities of the Western and
Taiwan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 Southern Pacific. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 361
Japan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109 Bibliography and Additional Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366
About the Author. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 381
Mongolia’s increasingly globalized capital city of Ulaanbaatar Courtesy of Steven A. Leibo
iii
