Why East Asia Keeps Producing Economic Superpowers
Why does East Asia keep producing economic superpowers while other regions struggle?
In this video, we break down the “East Asian Miracle”—the fastest wealth creation in human history. We explore how nations like Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and China rose from total devastation in the 1950s to become the world’s manufacturing and tech leaders today.
Is it just luck, or is there a cultural blueprint for success? We dive into the “Confucian Secret”—a system of values emphasizing education, discipline, and loyalty that transformed starving populations into the world’s most productive workforces. From the “Miracle on the Han River” to China’s 800-million-person poverty escape, discover the smart strategies and ancient wisdom that changed the global balance of power forever.
References and Sources
World Bank: Report on China’s Poverty Reduction (770 million+ lifted out of poverty since 1978).
Maddison Project Database (2020/2023): Historical Statistics of the World Economy.
IMF Staff Papers: Appraisal of Japan’s Plan to Double Income (1963).
The World Bank (1993): The East Asian Miracle: Economic Growth and Public Policy.
Tu Wei-ming (Harvard University): The Confucian World Observed: A Contemporary Discussion of Confucianism in East Asia.
OECD Data: Historical car production statistics and GDP rankings.
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41 Comments
When they say 21th century is asian century, they actually mean east asia.
You forgot to mention one most important thing, Righteousness, The Mandate of Heaven, which is glue keep all the people in same path. In West, we don’t question right or wrong. We only ask profit whether it’s right or wrong. History has proven profit only policy is not Sustainable.
CCP steals IPs. Chaebols are corrupt.
East Asia is nothing just look at India 10 years from now.
Institutions make things go well. Establishing norms and standards. That is why Africa is still poor. They have no national instituions and if they have isntitions it is not a real one.
Don't forget Asia four dragons, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan & Korea.
East Asian women are also the best!! Kimochi
There's another culturally 'East Asian' miracle: Singapore.
They're not hindered by religions 😂
Vietnam is the next country
Temperate zone, wet climate, ocean facing. The trifecta.
You forgot about the SEA country that helped bring Confucius values back in trend to China after communist economy failed them. The Chinese people brought back Confucius values because Singapore told them it works! And that Confucius values permeates Singapore’s many governmental polices.
Because in eaat Asia, theres no such thing as "affirmative action" for ethnic majority. If virtually everyone is entitled to special treatment from the government then in the long run, you'll be in ruins. 😅😅😅
Singapore has meteoric rise. East Asian but in South East. It has the highest per capita GDP (2024) – US$90.7K, HongKong $54.1K, South Korea $36.2K, Japan $32.5K, China $13.3K. Just to put things in perspective, real data.
Now if this could only work for other parts of the world…..
Because the US keep propping them up. Duh!!
Any country that is owned by the US always do great. Look at Israel. They get everything free, all their people get access to top jobs and high political positions in our govt. They have nuke and more F16s than anyone outside of America.
All our best tech have been given or taught to japan, korea and china. We invest trillions into Asia. We're currently making Vietnam rich and powerful beyond their wildest dreams by decoupling from chinaand brining everything to Vietnam. Same thing is going on with India.
What would the world be or do without America?
5:30 accent change was crazy
There is only 1 real superpower East Asia.
The PRC 🇨🇳, which even has a Veto-vote in UNSC as a permanent member.
SK & JPN = not independent countries.
Colon-nised by the USA aka IOU-country.
Vietnam is dependent on Chinese electricity.
The Chinese Island of Taiwan is not even a country.
Read the UN Charter.
From my perspective, the best-developed country in East Asia should be Taiwan.
Its per capita GDP reaches as high as 40,000 US dollars, and its total GDP ranks among the top twenty in the world.
This performance is astonishing for a country with a population of only 23 million that has faced decades of international isolation politically and economically.
Taiwan’s economic performance is truly remarkable.
Taiwan features open and transparent elections, making it one of only two fully democratic regimes in Asia.
It ranks among the top ten globally in democracy indices.
It has an extremely low Gini coefficient, reflecting a relatively equitable society.
Taiwan also ranks in the top ten for global competitiveness.
The economy is primarily driven by small and medium-sized enterprises.
Taiwan boasts one of the best healthcare systems in the world.
Despite its small size, Taiwan is home to ten of the world’s top fifty non-American technology companies.
Compared to China, Japan, and South Korea, where large conglomerates or state-led enterprises dominate, Taiwan’s model is more SME-driven.
Large enterprises in other countries often become sources of resource monopolies once they reach a certain scale.
Therefore, Taiwan’s model can serve as a better example for emerging economies worldwide aiming for sustainable and inclusive development.
If your country aims to become more democratic, lawful, transparent, clean, and efficient, you should take a close look at Taiwan.
It's high IQ …
They need to expand their territory.
Australia and Siberia.
Brilliant video keep it up. We Indians and other South Asian countries have to grow like the east Asian countries. India is already growing fast into a potential superpower and overcoming the difficulties and bad image slowly but steadily. After East Asian countries and Vietnam, India is undergoing the same phenomenon. After India, its probably Indonesia. Can you make two videos, one about how India is rising into a super power, what are its future potentials outcomes and challenges. And second is how the Asian century trend is going on, from Japan to Korea to Taiwan to China to Vietnam to India to Indonesia. How they come together to beat the west?
The common factor = CONFUCIUS
Demographic collapse: Hello 👋🏾
都是儒家文化和中华文化圈的呗
Large consumption of fish, especially by Japanese and Korean which helps in brain activity.
South Korea and Japan needs to thank America
Indian public😅😊
Respect for east Asina countries …
From india (we will also catch soon) 😊
Nations that work hard and rise up…In certain dimension… just like Walk for peace Monks …step by step from Texas to DC…sheer determination…I can only walk to store from house…but not that long distance… certainly not through snow and ice…
yes, 然後引進美國文化，美式民主，一切就毀了
Yes, sacrifice now for the better future. This didn't just happen in the personal scales, also happened at the national level. When these east Asian nations had initial success which generated large revenue for the state. The govenment didn't just dish out the perks to the people, like cash back or freebies on a lot of things. Instead, the government invested the new found wealth into the modernising infrastructure and education. Making it easier for business and producing more better educated work force. This resulted in the better and more competitive productivity. Thus, these east Asian nations could catch up with the west within just one generation .
China is not an economic superpower. It's a paper joke.
Basically central planning with markets and credit infusion
This is nonsense. Japan prior to ww2 succeeded without any of these. The real reason is population that care for their country combined with benevolent government. You can see this by seeing no grafitti in east Asian country's languages, not even in Chinatown or Korea town, and Korea when it was worlds poorest country had no graffiti and clean streets (dirt but free of trash) as opposed to trash filled streets of India or graffiti covered walls of south America. This is the real reason why "third world" fail cuz their population would rather shit in their own homes than work to improve.
Money spent wisely on economic development instead of wars. It's that simple
All used momentum from Western power.
I couldn't careless but some of the explanation are so flawed, I have to meow. Confucius did not create those values over night, did he? Those values were preexisting. He just codified it and wrote some books about their importance. By no means he invented it.
South East Asia.p average iq is 80. 😂😂 it explains everything
It would be silly to see Confucianism as a "magic formula." Japan and South Korea were absolute economic powerhouses of the recent past. Their performances were absolutely spectacular. However, now problems are starting to appear. These societies still highly value education (to pass exams and get top jobs). They still value group harmony and hierarchy in the workplace. Yet, their workers are less productive than they might be. Their birthrates have plummetted, and people are struggling economically. Japan's economic performance is worse than South Korea's. But both countries have significant issues. I hope these problens will be fixed. My own feeling about Confucianism is nuanced. It depends on the situation. Confucianism works better when the ruling classes enact policies that work well for the whole of society. Confucuanism can be a hindrance when the ruling class too jealously augments its own privileges at the expense of other classes and the economy. Or when the ruling class stubbornly clings to outmoded policies that are now harmful.
Vietnam is the next one!