diff --git a/README b/README
index f86de8cd7..a65e22a70 100644
--- a/README
+++ b/README
@@ -2416,6 +2416,12 @@ example, `markdown+hard_line_breaks` is markdown with hard line breaks.
 Causes all newlines within a paragraph to be interpreted as hard line
 breaks instead of spaces.
 
+**Extension:  `ignore_line_breaks`**\
+Causes newlines within a paragraph to be ignored, rather than being
+treated as spaces or as hard line breaks.  This option is intended for
+use with East Asian languages where spaces are not used between words,
+but text is divided into lines for readability.
+
 **Extension: `tex_math_single_backslash`**\
 Causes anything between `\(` and `\)` to be interpreted as inline
 TeX math, and anything between `\[` and `\]` to be interpreted
diff --git a/src/Text/Pandoc/Options.hs b/src/Text/Pandoc/Options.hs
index c9a5e27da..61a85cf6e 100644
--- a/src/Text/Pandoc/Options.hs
+++ b/src/Text/Pandoc/Options.hs
@@ -92,6 +92,7 @@ data Extension =
     | Ext_superscript         -- ^ Superscript using ^this^ syntax
     | Ext_subscript           -- ^ Subscript using ~this~ syntax
     | Ext_hard_line_breaks    -- ^ All newlines become hard line breaks
+    | Ext_ignore_line_breaks  -- ^ Newlines in paragraphs are ignored
     | Ext_literate_haskell    -- ^ Enable literate Haskell conventions
     | Ext_abbreviations       -- ^ PHP markdown extra abbreviation definitions
     | Ext_auto_identifiers    -- ^ Automatic identifiers for headers
diff --git a/src/Text/Pandoc/Readers/Markdown.hs b/src/Text/Pandoc/Readers/Markdown.hs
index a3500fbcf..1aa392162 100644
--- a/src/Text/Pandoc/Readers/Markdown.hs
+++ b/src/Text/Pandoc/Readers/Markdown.hs
@@ -1566,6 +1566,7 @@ endline = try $ do
      notFollowedBy' bulletListStart
      notFollowedBy' anyOrderedListStart
   (guardEnabled Ext_hard_line_breaks >> return (return B.linebreak))
+    <|> (guardEnabled Ext_ignore_line_breaks >> return mempty)
     <|> (return $ return B.space)
 
 --