Asia and its peripheral islands, the home of 1.7 billion persons and half the world's total, have been a testing ground for various approaches to rapid economic, social and political stability. Japan, mainland China, the U.S.S.R. and India demonstrate diversities of method and achievement. Newer and smaller states have studied these developments in searching for helpful answers to their own problems.
The island of Taiwan, a province of the Republic of China, represents another approach to the problem of providing enough and to spare for a rapidly expanding populace in a densely populated agricultural economy. Taiwan's economic accomplishments have been admired with interest by many observers. This is surely one of the outstanding cultural achievements of the mid-20th century. How could a relatively poor, mountainous island of 7.5 million people absorb approximately a million new persons between 1949 and 1950 and then continue to improve its standard of living without military revolution or serious cultural strain?
The answer for Taiwan lay in the cooperation of the governments of the Republic of China and the United States, financial assistance from the United States and the eager support of free Chinese people for the Chinese-American plan of overall development. An important part of the cooperation involved the Joint Commission on Rural Reconstruction. On July 1, 1965, when the formal U.S. economic aid program ended, JCRR had cost only US$7,106,400 and NT$4,050,000,000 (equivalent to US$101,250,000 or the cost of 25 jet fighters) in counterpart funds for 15 years. Appropriately, the work of JCRR is continuing.
A brief analysis of physical characteristics is appropriate to understanding of the Taiwan situation. This sweet potato or tobacco leaf-shaped island straddles the Tropic of Cancer and is 90 miles from mainland China's southeastern coast. Taiwan shares a subtropical position with Cuba. But Taiwan's 13,885 square miles is only a third the size of Cuba. Dominating Taiwan are steep, rugged mountains extending north-south the entire 240-mile length and occupying the central and eastern portions of the island. The main body of this mountain system, in which more than 20 peaks exceed two miles in height, is composed of slate and metamorphic rocks surrounded by sandstone and shale hills and flanked on the west by gravels, sands and alluvium. Owing to steep slopes and heavy precipitation, the slate mountains of central Taiwan produce podzolic soils of low fertility. The sandstoneshale alluvial soils produce a sandy loam of light texture and some calcareous shaly-mud soils useful for rice production. Plains and alluvial fans comprise the western third of Taiwan with 55% of the land lying between sea-level and 1,500 feet.
Taiwan is wet. The northern third receives an even amount of moisture in all seasons while southeastern Taiwan receives summer rainfall and enjoys fine, clear weather in winter. With annual precipitation varying from 50 inches in the southwestern lowlands to over 250 inches in the highlands, Taiwan supports a luxuriant and diverse vegetation cover. A year-round growing season characterizes areas below 1,500 feet. Short, cool winters are followed by long, hot, humid summers which are frequently enlivened by an average of three destructive typhoons.
Thanks to numerous swift-flowing streams fed by heavy mountain rains, many hydro-electric plants have been constructed and distribute inexpensive power throughout most of the island. Considerable additional hydro-power can be developed. Annual floods, however, cause much damage to farms and transportation systems. Good fishing opportunities exist in the shallow and deep seas surrounding Taiwan as well as in the irrigated paddies and ponds.
When the National Government moved its capital from mainland China to Taipei in 1949, the population of Taiwan was estimated at 7,500,000 persons, of whom 150,000 were non-Chinese aborigines, 6.8 million were Taiwan-born Chinese and one-half million were mainland Chinese refugees. In 1950, Taiwan's 770,000 farm families were crowded on an island equal to Vermont and Connecticut in size and were cultivating some of the world's smallest farms, approximately 2½ acres each. Virtually every habitable acre on the island was occupied but only 57% of the farmers owned part or all of their land. Only 29% of Taiwan was cultivated, of which 16% was paddy, 12% dry land agriculture and 1% farm woodland.
The population was increasing fast enough to double the 1950 total in 23 years. This meant that 313,900 new citizens were born each year, 860 each day, or one every 1½ minutes. Taiwan had a higher proportion of women of child-bearing age than virtually any other country as well as a higher fertility rate. For example, among women over 45, there were 26.4 births per 1,000 each year. In other countries the rate is negligible for this age group. No wonder two-fifths of Taiwan's total population is under 15 years of age. Population density was 2,900 persons per cultivated square mile in 1956. If the United States were as densely populated, it would have 3,330,000,000 persons. The ideal family size included 10 children.
The postwar years were difficult ones in Taiwan. Port, transportation and productive facilities were damaged, essential imports arrived sporadically and inflation was a serious threat. Taiwan needed money, technical services and supplies.
As the majority of Taiwan's citizens worked in agriculture, the National Government hoped to improve farm productivity and use agriculture as the catalyst to develop additional industry, commerce and foreign markets for the goods produced. The objective was a balanced development in agriculture, industry and trade and not an emphasis on heavy industry or the sacrifice of the well being of the current population for the good of future generations.
The significant starting point was reform of the customary Chinese land-tenure system. Traditionally, landlords demanded that tenants pay the full predetermined rent even though the entire crop had been a failure. Landlords could unilaterally terminate a lease and demand advance payments as security. In 1951, the National Government decreed a maximum farm rent of 37.5% of the annual main crop instead of the usual 50% to 60%. Approximately half of all farming families benefited. More important was the "land-to-the-tiller" program of 1953 in which public land was sold to tenant farmers and others at a reasonable price. The government also purchased land from landlords whose holdings exceeded 7.4 acres for resale to tenants at modest prices. Thirty percent of the government reimbursement to landlords was in shares of four large public enterprises acquired from the Japanese. The remainder was paid in bonds redeemable in rice or sweet potatoes.
This shrewd policy treated the landlords fairly and directed their energies and capital toward a second government objective - the development of industry. The traditional landlord-farm tenant system was eliminated and a wholesale restructuring of society accomplished through legal and peaceful means. By 1965, about 80% of all farms were owner-cultivated. The significance of private land ownership cannot be overemphasized. Ownership increased the incentive to invest in better seeds, fertilizers and tools, while rent reductions and easy terms of land purchase helped to improve the standard of living by increasing the size of commercial crops and simultaneously creating a larger market for industrial goods.
Taiwan is short of many natural resources. If industrial expansion was to occur, raw materials had to be imported. This meant that if agricultural commodities such as sugar, pineapples, bananas, tea, rice, citronella and lumber could be produced in excess of domestic needs, such needed products as petroleum, cotton, wheat and bauxite could be imported.
The Joint Commission on Rural Reconstruction does not conduct rural programs. It serves as a catalyst to stimulate interest in rural improvement and provides technical and financial aid in conducting projects. This is accomplished chiefly by working with such local groups as Farmers' Associations, Irrigation Associations and Fishermen's Associations. The rural people have been helped to help themselves. JCRR projects include activities designed to increase crop and livestock quality and production, control disease, extend irrigation, control floods and erosion, improve forest management, stabilize prices, improve health and sanitation and encourage strong local government. Any proposal that contributes to increased agricultural production, promotes rural welfare and encourages good government is of interest to the JCRR.
Taiwan was significantly favored in its quest for economic renascence by the following advantages:
1. Owing to Taiwan's strategic location 90 miles from the coast of Communist mainland China, the United States helped build up the island as a fortified bastion in the Western Pacific. As a consequence, much money and material have been invested in Taiwan.
2. The compact size and shape of Taiwan, and the concentration of the population on the western third of the island, simplified organization of the people and speeded the spread of new ideas and products.
3. An intelligent industrious, persevering and land-owing population provided the motivation and the manpower to engineer the national objectives.
4. A subtropical climate with a year-round growing season often made possible triple-cropping and multiplied the effectiveness of the land.
5. The high mountains provided vertical variations in climatic and soil conditions and permitted a wide diversity of crops.
What were the achievements of this extraordinary interaction between man, land and institutions during the 15 years from 1950 to 1965?
Here is a brief profile of some of the changes. A growth in population of approximately 5 million persons (to 12.5 million) occurred. Half were farmers who supported families that averaged 6.77 persons. An increasing number of farm family members worked away from the farm. Ninety per cent of the total population over 6 years of age were literate. At the end of 1965, 86% of the farmers owned the land they cultivated. Farmers cultivated up to 25% of the total land area, 60% of which was irrigated paddy and 40% unirrigated upland. Average farms were approximately 2.5 acres (worth about US$4,300) although 36% were less than half that size and 11% were larger. Farms were still fragmented. Most cultivated land supported more than two crops annually. Farm earnings averaged US$700 per year, up 90% from 1965. Rice accounted for 37% of the total value of agricultural production, while sweet potatoes, sugar cane, bananas, pineapples, citrus, vegetables and hogs accounted for no more than 8.5% each. Taiwan increased its crop and livestock production about 7% per annum between 1956 and 1965; forestry increased 11 % and fisheries 9%. Most of the 70 varieties of crops raised were marketed in urban areas. Of the 2,412 calories consumed per capita in 1965, 70% were supplied by rice, wheat and sweet potatoes. Only 18% of the protein intake was from fish, meat, eggs, and dairy goods.
Many improvements in farming procedures were necessary to attain the 1965 standards. Farmers' marketing cooperatives increased rapidly in numbers and effectiveness. Inspecting, grading, processing, marketing, warehousing and financing were services rendered to improve quality and price. In 1965, 65% of Taiwan's exports were agricultural commodities - sugar, bananas, timber, rice, canned mushrooms, pineapples and asparagus in order of importance.
All crops increased markedly in yields per acre. Use of fertilizers, pesticides, increased irrigation, new, improved or hybrid seeds, use of powered pumps, crop rotation, more intensive planting, intertillage of crops and additional fish ponds were adopted. Small power tillers, rice threshers, cement threshing floors, and weather forecasting services, improved plows and new livestock varieties raised the farming cash return.
Increased mechanization allowed time for farmers to supplement their income by non-farm work (for example, handicrafts - bamboo, fibers and wood - and industries newly located in rural districts - electrical and rubber goods and bicycle parts). Increased education and literacy, township arbitration committees to settle disputes, village administrative assemblies and voluntary labor service to repair typhoon damage, plant trees or maintain roads were examples of community improvement activities.
Vastly improved health services, medical attention and the virtual eradication of malaria, diphtheria, smallpox and TB, coupled with better-balanced and more nutritious diets, led to a large population increase. To provide enough and to spare for this growth, agriculture and industry valiantly sought to keep pace. Aside from emigration and more intensive agriculture, the planning of smaller families, postponement of marriage until the age of 25 (instead of the customary 16 to 18) and use of the intrauterine loop offer the best opportunities for assuring the people of Taiwan an improved living standard during coming decades. Qualities of cheerfulness, industriousness and alertness are also essential to this goal.
Although certain aspects of the Taiwan story are unique, many of the techniques adopted are applicable elsewhere. Today the people of the Republic of China are effectively sharing their skills and experience with other developing nations of the world.
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Editor's note: Professor J. Rowland Illick Middlebury College, Vermont, was born in Nanohang, Kiangsi. His father was professor of zoology at the University of Nanking and later dean of the College of Sciences at Tunghai University, Taichung. This article is adapted from a paper presented at the annual meeting of the Association of American Geographers.