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| title | chunk | source | category | tags | date_saved | instance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Orient | 3/3 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orient | reference | science, encyclopedia | 2026-05-05T07:21:06.763632+00:00 | kb-cron |
=== British English === In British English, the term Oriental is sometimes still used to refer to people from East and Southeast Asia (such as those from China, Taiwan, Japan, Korea, Mongolia, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Singapore, Myanmar, Philippines, Indonesia, Timor-Leste and Brunei). Judges in the United Kingdom have been issued with guidelines to encourage political correctness where oriental should be avoided because it is imprecise and may be considered racist or offensive. Oriental is still a common name for Chinese takeaways and traditional chip shops in Britain. "Asian" in Great Britain usually refers to people who come specifically from South Asia (in particular Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Maldives, Bhutan, and Afghanistan), since British Asians as a whole make up approximately 9.3% of the population within the United Kingdom, and people of an ethnically South Asian background comprise the largest group within this category. "Orientals" refers exclusively to people of East and Southeast Asian origin, who constitute approximately 0.7% of the UK population as a whole. Of these, the majority are of Chinese descent. Orient is also a word for the lustre of a fine pearl. Hong Kong, a former British colony, has been called "Pearl of the Orient" along with Shanghai. In the UK, and much of the commonwealth, it is not considered a pejorative term, with many East Asian people choosing to use it themselves - notably in the names of East Asian businesses such as restaurants and takeaway outlets. People in the United Kingdom from Southwest Asia, Asia Minor and Near East are often referred to by the term, "Middle Eastern". These can include Arabs, Kurds, Turks, Assyrians, West Asian Armenians, Yezidis, Egyptians (including Copts), Mandaeans, among others. In some specific contexts, for example the carpet and rug trade, the older sense of "oriental" to cover not just East Asia but Central Asia, South Asia and Turkey may still be used; an Oriental rug may come from any of these areas.
=== American English ===
The term Oriental may sound dated or even be seen as a pejorative, particularly when used as a noun. John Kuo Wei Tchen, director of the Asian/Pacific/American Studies Program and Institute at New York University, said the basic criticism of the term began in the U.S. during a cultural shift in the 1970s. He has said: "With the U.S.A. anti-war movement in the '60s and early '70s, many Asian Americans identified the term 'Oriental' with a Western process of racializing Asians as forever opposite 'others'", by making a distinction between "Western" and "Eastern" ancestral origins. This is particularly relevant when referring to lands and peoples not associated with the historic "Orient": outside of the former Byzantine (Eastern Roman) Empire and Sasanian Empire (Persia), including the former Diocese of the Orient, as well as others lands sharing cultural legacies with the Oriental Orthodox churches and Oriental Catholic Churches. In contrast, regions of Asia further East, outside of the cultural domination of Abrahamic religions, do not share these same historical associations, giving way for the term "oriental" to have different connotations. In 2016, President Obama signed New York Congresswoman Grace Meng's legislation H.R. 4238 replacing the word with Asian American in federal law.
=== China === The Chinese word 东方 (東方 dongfang, tungfang) is translated as "oriental" in the official English names of several entities, e.g. Oriental Art Center, Oriental Movie Metropolis. In other cases, the same word is more literally translated as "eastern", e.g. China Eastern Airlines.
=== Uruguay === The official name of Uruguay is Oriental Republic of Uruguay; the adjective Oriental refers to the geographic location of the country, east of the Uruguay River. The term Oriental is also used as Uruguay's demonym, usually with a formal or solemn connotation. The word also has a deep historical meaning as a result of its prolonged use in the region, since the 18th century it was used in reference to the inhabitants of the Banda Oriental, the historical name of the territories that now compose the modern nation of Uruguay.
=== German === In German, Orient is usually used synonymously with the area between the Near East and East Asia, including Israel, the Arab world, and Greater Persia. The term Asiaten (English: Asians) means Asian people in general. Another word for Orient in German is Morgenland (now mainly poetic), which literally translates as "morning land". The antonym "Abendland" (rarely: "Okzident") is also mainly poetic, and refers to (Western) Europe.
== See also == Orientalizing period of Archaic Greek art
== Notes ==
== Further reading == [Ankerl, Guy] Coexisting Contemporary Civilizations: Arabo-Muslim, Bharati, Chinese, and Western (INUPRESS), Geneva, 2000. ISBN 2-88155-004-5 Bitar, Amer (2020). Bedouin Visual Leadership in the Middle East: The Power of Aesthetics and Practical Implications. Springer Nature. ISBN 9783030573973.
== External links ==
The American Oriental Society Archived 15 June 2015 at the Wayback Machine Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures, West Asia & North Africa, formerly the Oriental Institute at University of Chicago On Asian and Oriental Model Minority posting by Alan Hu. The Critic in the Orient by George Hamlin Fitch What's the Matter with Saying the Orient? Archived 21 May 2009 at the Wayback Machine by Christopher Hill for "About Japan: A Teacher's Resource" Archived 28 May 2009 at the Wayback Machine