thegreglowe.com

It is folly to talk of Asia as if it was a unified entity. It is home to more than half the world’s population and comprises some 53 countries.

However, the continent today does suffer from a “certain commonality of problems”, according to Colin Mason author of A Short History of Asia. Underdevelopment, poverty, disease, cronyism, corruption and shoddy governments, are all too common daily realities for many of the region’s inhabitants.