Korea. Chinese cultural influences spread into outlying countries during the imperial period (617-1644). Korea, a mountainous peninsula situated among more powerful states, suffered politically from its position. In the seventh century, Buddhism spread to Korea from China, and Koreans in turn played an important role in exporting it to Japan. In the tenth century, when Chinese control declined, a rebel founded the Koryo dynasty, from which the name Korea is derived. The Koryo dynasty continued as a vassal of imperial China from the Yuan or Mongol dynasty (1279-1368) through the Ming dynasty (1368-1644).

Japan. As an insular country Japan came within the cultural, but not the territorial, sphere of Chinese interest. The Japanese, emerging from a relatively primitive society, began to adopt much of Chinese culture, including the written script, the Buddhist religion, and the concepts of centralized economic and political power. Tang dynasty (618-...