favorable economic co-operation and beneficial security policies. Some of defining East Asian cultural characteristics are the Chinese language and traditional writings systems of Hanzi as well as shared religious and ethical ideas, that are represented by the Three teachings Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism. The Chinese script is one of the oldest continuously used writing systems in the world, and has been a major unifying force and medium for conveying Chinese culture in East Asia. Classical Chinese was the literary language of elites and bureaucrats. Historically used throughout the region, it is still in use by Chinese diaspora communities around the world, as well as in Japan, Korea, Vietnam, and pockets of Southeast Asia. However, as Chinese writing concepts were passed on to Korea, Japan and Vietnam, these nations developed their own characteristic writing systems to complement Hanzi. Vietnam invented their own Chữ Nôm glyphs, Japan invented Kana, and Korea invented their own alphabet Hangul. To this day, Vietnam mostly writes in Chữ Quốc ngữ (a modified Latin alphabet) but there is also a resurgence of Hán-Nôm (a type of writing that combines both Chữ Hán and Chữ Nôm) as well. Sino cognates compose a vast majority of the vocabulary of these languages (see Sino-Vietnamese vocabulary, Sino-Korean vocabulary, Sino-Japanese vocabulary). In the 20th century, China has also re-borrowed terms from Japan to represent western concepts known as Wasei-kango. Apart from the unifying influence of Confucianism, Taoism, Chinese characters and numerous other Chinese cultural influences, East Asian national customs, architecture, literature, cuisines, traditional music, performing arts and crafts also have developed from many independent and local concepts, they have grown and diversified as many rank among the most refined expressions of aesthetic, artistic and philosophical ideas in the world. Notable among others are Japanese gardens and landscape planning, Heian literature, Vietnamese Water puppetry and the artifacts of the Đông Sơn culture. Modern research has also focused on the several nations pivotal role on the collective body of East Asian Buddhism and the Korean influence on Japanese culture as well as Japanese influence on Korean culture. South Asia Evidence of Neolithic culture has been found throughout the modern states Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka that represent South Asia (also known as the Indian subcontinent). Since 3,300 B.C. in modern-day northeastern Afghanistan, in Pakistan and northwestern India a sophisticated Bronze Age cultural tradition emerged, that after only a few