Why do we in China and Koreans (Koreans) and Japanese have so much in common in culture and customs?

China, Japan and North Korea are located in East Asia, separated by a river, separated by a strip of water and facing each other across the sea. As close neighbors, the three countries have had contacts since ancient times. China's contacts with Korea in ancient times have a history of 3,000 years since Ji Zi entered Korea in China's Shang and Zhou Dynasties. Between China and wuyue, as early as the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, Japanese ancestors in May came to the Japanese archipelago from the sea. The legend of Xu Fudong's crossing the sea is a microcosm of China's emigration to Japan during the pre-Qin, Qin and Han Dynasties, and the gift of the golden seal to the Japanese king by Emperor Guangwu of Han Dynasty is the beginning of the exact communication between the two regimes.

From the Han and Wei Dynasties in China to the Ming and Qing Dynasties, China, Japan and South Korea had close contacts in ancient times. China, Japan and the DPRK have frequent diplomatic exchanges, and China and the DPRK have always maintained the relationship between suzerain and vassal and friendly exchanges from generation to generation; Sino-Japanese suzerain-vassal relations are intermittent, complicated and unstable. The three countries have always had close trade relations. Even in the period of political hostility or interruption of diplomatic exchanges, various trade exchanges between the people have been continuous. It is particularly worth mentioning that in the prosperous Tang Dynasty, China and Tang Wenhua had a comprehensive and far-reaching influence on Japan and Korea. At that time, Japan and Silla on the Korean Peninsula frequently sent envoys, overseas students and monks to the Tang Dynasty to learn advanced civilization, which wrote a brilliant chapter in the history of ancient friendly relations between China and Japan and Korea.

Of course, there have been wars between China and Japan and between China and North Korea in history, but this is only an episode in the history of friendly exchanges between China and Japan and North Korea for thousands of years. In ancient times, the communication between Japan and the DPRK was closer. With the gradual strength of Japan, the ambitions of Japanese rulers on the Korean peninsula gradually expanded.

Thanks to the efforts and interaction of the three East Asian countries, the ancient East Asian region created splendid culture and was in the leading position in the world for a long time. Brilliant history has proved that friendly coexistence, exchanges and cooperation are the source of development.

In the development of ancient East Asian countries, China was the first region to enter civilization. The splendid culture created by ancient China radiated and attracted Japanese, Korean and other East Asian countries with its powerful radiation and huge magnetic field force, which affected their development comprehensively and profoundly. It is precisely because China, South Korea and other ancient countries generally accepted the influence of Japanese culture that they formed a unique China cultural region, also known as "Chinese cultural circle" or "Chinese cultural circle". Based on this fact, when describing the exchanges and relations between the three countries, the author of this book focuses on the influence of China's advanced culture on Japan and Korea in ancient times, especially in the prosperous Tang Dynasty.

Today's China, after a century of humiliation in modern times, presents a new atmosphere of realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. By reviewing the contribution of ancient China to the world and East Asian civilization, we can draw spiritual strength from it. Today's East Asia, after experiencing mainly friendly exchanges in ancient times and Japan's invasion and plunder of China and North Korea in modern times, also urgently needs to correctly understand the history and mutual relations of neighboring countries, so as to create a peaceful, friendly and developed new East Asia.