”
Please turn off your pagers and cell phones or put them on
silent mode so they do not go off during the service
”
intones the lector just before the service begins. This is the
second message delivered, after the greeting, to the faithful at
St. Benedict’s Church before Mass begins on any given weekend.
“Please turn off your pagers and cell phones or put them on silent mode so they do not go off during the service” intones the lector just before the service begins. This is the second message delivered, after the greeting, to the faithful at St. Benedict’s Church before Mass begins on any given weekend. But on this Sunday I am not at St. Benedict’s Church in Hollister, but rather at the 10:30am service at St. Christopher’s Church in downtown Taipei. This consistent worldwide reach, across the timezones and across the centuries, by the Catholic Church is truly remarkable. It is said the Catholic Church is the longest continuously operating organization in the history of the world. But that reflection is for another column.
The first time I visited Taiwan was in the winter of 1980. I remember opening my blinds to a bright morning sun – it was late at night when our flight arrived – and to an amazing beehive of scooter and bicycle traffic. Automobiles were nearly completely absent from the traffic scene. Not true today; the scooters are still in evidence but the traffic is clogged with automobiles of every size from all corners of the world. This week I have the opportunity of visiting all three Chinas: Taiwan, Hong Kong, and People’s Republic of China. At the time of that first visit, the vision for China was to one day unite the strength of the three Chinas – the technology of Taiwan, the financial might of Hong Kong and the labor force of the mainland. In some ways, this vision has come to pass.
The development of the island country of Formosa into the technological powerhouse of Taiwan is truly remarkable. The tallest building in the world and the largest semiconductor foundry in the world are here in Taipei. The Taipei 101 building, at 1671 feet and 101 stories, became the tallest building in the world in 2003. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp. produces more than half of the foundry-based semiconductor products in the world. A foundry produces products for many semiconductor companies that do not have a fab of their own. TSMC is ranked No. 4 overall as a worldwide producer of semiconductors. Intel is the largest producer of integrated circuits in the world.
Taiwan is a country of some 23 million inhabitants. When the Mao revolution drove the Nationalist Chinese out of mainland China in 1949, the defeated army and the Chinese citizens fleeing the Maoists moved to Taiwan. Native Taiwanese refer to them as “mainlanders.” Mainlanders make up some 15 percent of the population. The last two elections have been open affairs and the present premier is not from the mainlanders.
Beijing, China’s capital and second largest city, is gearing up for the 2008 summer Olympics. Population of the urban Beijing area is 8.2 million. Everywhere are the signs of movement, optimism, and growth. The National bird of China is certainly the crane; construction cranes are everywhere and the new buildings and infrastructure are ubiquitous. The development of the major trade areas of China in the last decade has been stunning. The contrast between the emerging middle class and the working poor is very graphic; however it is clear that the rising tide of wealth in China is raising the living standard of all.
There are several themes to the ascendancy of Asian economies over the last 25 years. Some of these are: first, a stable political system – that is the rule of law; second a consistent commitment to education and educational excellence; third, the embracing of and the exercise of free markets; fourth, a belief in technology as a vehicle of growth. The countries and regions of the world that did not have one or more of these factors have lagged in their development. The three Chinas have all featured these elements; in many ways the three Chinas defined these factors. The development of technologies such as consumer electronics, semiconductors, automobiles and computers in these Asian economies has been the driving force in raising the standard of living in the same countries. The latest of these is the PRC. The embracing of free markets beginning around 1980, at least in the trade regions of China, have fueled the rapid rise of China as an economic powerhouse.
The countries that have not been able to advance as quickly do not have the defining factors listed above. The fourth of these, technology development, has become a defining factor in the movement from third-world to second-world, and second-world to first-world. Growth, driven by participation in technological development, has been the great leveler of the last century.
Al Kelsch is a Hollister resident who writes a weekly column for the Free Lance. He can be reached at [email protected]
