Why Is Taiwan So Rich?

I’ve lived in Taiwan for 3 years and I was surprised how much food there was at low prices. Even more, they grow so much food, even in the city you’ll see small farms right next to the road, irrigated and everything

*This video is Banned in China*

I just hope we can have higher salary in Taiwan.

Taiwanese middle schools should play this video in class. It's basically what we learn but much more lively. Also, the English level is suitable for middle schoolers. Props to you for making such a good explainer.

Regards to part two of the video, Taiwan wasn't failing due to Japanese returning to Japan after the war, Taiwan was failing because the KMT that took over aside from lining their own pockets was shipping things back to China to support the Civil war. There was Taiwanese politicians who championed for Taiwanese parliament under Japanese rule, those people continued to do their part but would be exterminated by KMT in 1947.

The Japanese colonization of Taiwan is fascinating, especially in contrast with it's other colonies. As mentioned, they truly wanted it to be the "next home island" and so it was the one colony that got off better than all the others. That's not to diminish the problems with colonization at all, they still tried to erase the culture of those living there, but they also invested heavily and Taiwan is actually the only place outside of Japan where you can find Shinto shrines! That was the era of State Shinto, and despite most people not really understanding Shinto very well in the west and having weird ideas about them spreading it, there was never really any push whatsoever to expand it outside of the home islands...except for Taiwan. You can still see the difference today where, for instance, Taiwan has a MUCH better relationship with Japan than Korea. Today Japan and Taiwan have probably the closest relations of East Asian nations and citizens of both have highly favorable opinions of the other. There are still some echoes from the past and wrongs left unrighted, along with minor territorial disputes, but altogether it's much better than pretty much any other two east asian nations.

Taiwan's Industrial and Overall Economic Strength. Many people are unaware of the industrial and overall economic strength of Taiwan today. Taiwan has a well-developed technology and manufacturing sector. It is ranked first in the world in semiconductor chip manufacturing, first in the world in ICT equipment manufacturing, third in the world in machinery and components manufacturing, third in the world in biotechnology companies, fourth in the world in machine tools, sixth in the world in chemical plants, and fifth in the world in shipbuilding tonnage. Taiwan's aerospace industry is also ranked sixth in the world in terms of output. Taiwan is also the world's largest and most technologically advanced carbon fiber composite material OEM, with applications ranging from tennis rackets and bicycles to aircraft components. Taiwan has many companies that are hidden champions in the global manufacturing sector. These companies are at the top of their respective industries, but they are not well-known to the general public. Taiwan has developed its own supercomputers, AI computers, quantum chips, satellites, and has successfully test-fired military space rockets on multiple occasions. In terms of overall technology and manufacturing strength, Taiwan is on par with the United States, Japan, and the EU industrial countries. Taiwan is currently the 20th largest economy in the world, with total foreign investment assets of over $2 trillion. It is the fifth largest foreign investor in the world and the fifth largest net creditor nation. Manufacturing accounts for over 36% of Taiwan's GDP and contributes over 50% to economic growth, the highest in Asia. Taiwan's listed companies invest and set up factories overseas, and their overseas offshore processing and manufacturing import and export trade exceeds $1 trillion each year (most of which is included in Hong Kong's import and export trade figures). The import and export trade of these Taiwanese companies is not included in Taiwan's import and export trade figures. If the import and export trade of Taiwanese companies' overseas factories is included in Taiwan's own import and export trade figures, the total global trade volume of Taiwanese companies will reach $1.9 trillion, surpassing Japan and the Netherlands to become the fourth largest trading power in the world after the United States, China, and Germany. Taiwanese companies' overseas factories have supported the families of hundreds of millions of employees in China, Vietnam, and Southeast Asia. It is estimated that Taiwan will enter the top 20 economies in the world in 2023 based on its own domestic production and manufacturing import and export trade, becoming a member of the G20. Among the G20 countries, Taiwan is the only one with no natural resources, relying solely on manufacturing, and with a population of 23.5 million and the smallest land area.

This video should've also sent a direct message to developed countries how to utilize poorer neighbours besides using them as food producers and "recyclers" (read: dumping sites), among other things that aren't very productive.

Amazing. I’m a Canadian living in Taiwan. Bravo

-100000000 social credit points for History Scope

The Taiwanese work hard, are honest, and great to deal with; you could Trust a Taiwanese Person in business, they are great people and intelligent. If you deal with the Taiwanese, they become your friend/family I love Taiwanese and Taiwan…..Love from Christchurch, New Zealand!

They literally did a full automation all industries 100% speedrun

In our Taiwanese history class nowadays, we use "govern" rather than "colonize" to state the era under Japanese rule. Japanese set up a great base for Taiwan to develop, and we are still very thankful to it.

on a side note, Japan in the first 20 years of their colonization loses the equivalent of 6.6 billion dollars in today's money every year just to build up Taiwan. The unlimited budget the Japanese gave to the colonial government just to prove a point (That they are a modern imperial power on equal footing to the west) provided Taiwan with a whole bunch of overengineered infrastructures and buildings of which some are still in use today.

Actually, China did not have authority in Taiwan until Chin dynasty and it only lasted for about 10 years before Taiwan was given to Japan. After Chin toppled Ming Dynasty, some leftover Ming officials escaped to Taiwan. In most of the Taiwan-China history, Taiwan was an unclaimed island providing shelter and new opportunities to some Chinese seeking refugees across Taiwan Strait. Japan, Dutch, Spain, Portuguese all left their marks on this island.

This video is given a thumbs-up by a Taiwanese citizen, which is me. Great job History Scope! 👍👍👍

Although Taiwan is small, it cannot be ignored

10 seconds in and this video is already censored in china

0:23 The part relating to Qing Dynasty was somewhat inaccurate. The Qing Dynasty claimed to conquer "Taiwan" after they defeated a rebel army that desires to restore the Ming Dynasty resides on the west plain areas. However rest parts of the island were under control of the indigenous peoples and wasn't considered as territory or even mapped by the Qing government (this also continued for many years after Japanese took over). More importantly, Qing government never actively ruled or even had much controls over the lands before 1874 and that's not long before ceding Taiwan to Japan. Most of the time Qing government forbids people from mainland moving to Taiwan, or only single men were allowed. So many of the people moved back then were stowaways with no family and small portions of them married with indigenous people then inherited some lands. This gradually grew the settlements of Qing people, yet not really by planned and supports were little from Qing government.

Taiwan loves doing contract manufacturing on huge scale, many probably don't know most of the nike adidas sneakers are OEM by TWnese companies with factories in SEA. Most iphones and game consoles are made by Foxconn.