ASIA’S LITTLE

TIGERS
World History II | Chapter 12
 ASIA’S
LITTLE
TIGER
Among the most productive and
profitable in the world

Group of smaller Asian economies

that experienced rapid
industrialization and economic
growth
 ASIA’S
LITTLE
TIGER
Motivated by Japan‘s recognizable
progress and followed the same
strategy

Heavily industrialized by
manufacturing TNCs in particular
ADVANTAGES OF THE
COUNTRIES
Well-developed level of Traditions that appreciate
infrastructures education and achievement

Well-educated population Good geographical location

with existing skills

Less rigid laws and regulations

Government support
on labour, taxation and pollution
SOUTH
KOREA
 SOUTH
In the 1960s, KOREA North Korea: Kim
South Korea's per Il Sung
In 1953, the
capita gross South Korea:
Korean peninsula
domestic product Syngman Rhee
was exhausted
was comparable to
from three years
the poorest Many Koreans
of Korean war
countries in Asia resented Rhee‘s
and Africa. reliance on the
wealthy landlord
AMERICANS FELT THAT
SOUTH KOREA WAS A “RAT
HOLE” SWALLOWING UP
ASSISTANCE WITHOUT
PRODUCING SUSTAINED
Rhee regime relied on US aid and an
ECONOMICovervalued
PROGRESS currency to keep the country
economically afloat
 APRIL REVOLUTION
(1960)
Discovery of the body of a local
high school student killed by police
during demonstrations against rigged
elections in March
SECOND REPUBLIC
Created a parliamentary cabinet
form of government that placed real
authority in the hands of Prime
Minister Chang Myŏn
E X H I L E I N H AWA I ’ I
His presidency terminated in
resignation, and , he was exiled to
Honolulu, Hawaii and spent the rest
of his life there until his death in
1965.
M AY 1 6 C O U P
General Park Chung-hee (Pak
Chŏng-hŭi) seized power on May 16,
1961, the second violent overthrow
of a government in thirteen months
SOUTH KOREA’S
MIRACLE

=
PA RT LY A R E S U LT O F KOREANS WITH
U S A S S I S TA N C E TECHNICAL TRAINING

AFTER 1961: THE CHAEBOL

DOMINATED
Chung Ju-young, the founder of Hyundai
Koo In-hwoi, whose Lucky Chemical Company became LG
Kim Sung Kon, the founder of SsangYong
Lee Byung-chull, the richest man in Korea in 1961, Samsung
 1. SOCIAL
TRANSFORMATION
Massive exodus from the countryside to the cities
South Korea had a citizenry that was restless and open to new opportunities

2. LAND REFORM
National Assembly passed a land reform act in 1949
Some members of the landed aristocracy had been entering businesses
 3. TRANSFORMATION OF
EDUCATION
Between 1945 and 1960, primary school enrollment grew by three times,
secondary schooling eight times, and higher education ten times.

South Korea had the lowest dropout rate of any poor country with reliable
statistics
TAIWAN
 TA I WA N A N D U S
TAIWAN
In the 1950s, Taiwan was
MIRACLE dependent on American aid

A F T E R T H E D E AT H O F
Although diplomatic ties
CHIANG KAI SHEK IN 1975
have been severed, the

began to move toward a more United States continues to

representative form of government provide defensive military

including elections and legal assistance to the Taiwanese

opposition parties. armed forces

LAND REFORM
PROGRAM
Sold public land to Limited rent to 37.5% of the
1 2
tenant farmers expected harvest

Severely restricted the size This land was then

3 2
of individual landholdings redistributed
INDUSTRIALIZATIO
N CHEAP LABOR E X P O RT- O R I E N T E D

Mattel, wishing to lower its labour World’s primary exporter of such

costs, moved its main factory to the consumer goods as shoes, toys, and
island of Taiwan from Japan. umbrellas.

S TAT U T E F O R T H E H E AV Y I N D U S T R I E S
ENCOURAGEMENT OF
Exports from both the maturing light industry
INVESTMENT (1960) and the emerging heavy industry kept
Encourage businesses to engage in expanding during this period and carried
international trade by providing tax Taiwan’s economy forward.
incentives.
INDUSTRIALIZATIO
N
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY GOVERNMENT POLICY

Industrial Technology Research Institute and Taiwan went through a period of import
Hsinchu Science Park were founded substitution policy in the 1950s, followed
by promotion of manufactured exports in
the 1960s and 1970s.
HONGKON
G
 STONE AGE | IMPERIAL CHINA
Relied on fishing, pearl farming and salt
production for their income

B R I T I S H C O L O N Y | 1 9 T H C E N T U RY
Opium Wars
Treaty of Nanking in 1842
FUNCTION AND AESTHETIC

W W I I | J A PA N E S E
Transformed it into a military center for their
campaign in Asia
British took back Hong Kong in 1945
 O N E C O U N T R Y, T W O S Y S T E M S
Joint Declaration, signed on 19 December 1984,
pronounced Hong Kong a Special Administrative Region
of China

HONGKONG AND DEMOCRACY

FUNCTION AND AESTHETIC
The current regime is set to end in 2047, although
there is much speculation as to what this will
mean: Hong Kong could be fully reintegrated into
China, or the territory could continue to be
administered separately.
 HONGKONG’S ECONOMY
Closely linked to commercial activity, PRC began isolation =>
dominated by shipping, banking and Hongkong became vital for
merchant companies. foreign exchange

Diversification to services and retail Industrialization accelerated after

outlets to meet the needs of the local 1945 with the inflow of refugees,
population, and also shipbuilding and entrepreneurs and capital fleeing the
maintenance civil war on the mainland
 HONGKONG’S ECONOMY
1950s: Textile sector in the
Until the late 1960s, the
1960: diversified to clothing, electronics,
government did not engage in
plastics and other labor-intensive
active industrial planning.
production mainly for export.

Low taxes, lax employment laws, absence of 1980s-1990s: manufacturing was

government debt, and free trade are all moved to mainland, sector industry
pillars of the Hong Kong experience of surged
economic development.
SINGAPOR
E