ABSTRACT
Throughout the past century, Taiwan has been described by its rulers and
other political entities as a model of economic or political development.
Such perceptions have shaped the views of scholars, who have come to see
Taiwan’s experience as the basis of a development model. As the first Japa-
nese colony – one that offered little resistance to Japan’s economic and
social transformational aspirations on its behalf – Taiwan assumed an
exemplary character. In the years before World War II, through its infra-
structural development, agricultural growth and cultural assimilation, it displayed the benefits of Japanese colonial practices and thereby became a
model for other Japanese colonies.
