Korean Empire was a similar case as well.
since in Sinosphere the term "empire(帝國)" was closer in meaning to "a state ruled by a supreme sovereign over an independent realm" rather than "a nation that aggressively conquered&occupied vast territories."
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One Proud Bavarian
@ProudBavaria
I blame Napoleon every day for making people think that "empire" was always just a term for "really quite big, innit?" When he crowned himself to make that exact statement. x.com/iamhellenic/st…