Four Asian Tigers

Four Asian Tigers
A map showing the Four Asian Tigers  Hong Kong  Singapore  South Korea  Taiwan
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese	亞洲四小龍
Simplified Chinese	亚洲四小龙
Literal meaning	Asia's Four Little Dragons
Transcriptions Mandarin - Hanyu Pinyin Yǎzhōu sì xiǎo lóng Cantonese (Yue) - Jyutping aa3 zau1 sei3 siu2 long4
Korean name
Hangul	아시아의 네 마리 용
Literal meaning	Asia's four dragons
Transcriptions - Revised Romanization asia ui ne mari yong

The Four Asian Tigers or Asian Dragons is a term used in reference to the highly developed economies of Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan. These nations and areas were notable for maintaining exceptionally high growth rates (in excess of 7 percent a year) and rapid industrialization between the early 1960s and 1990s. By the 21st century, all four have developed into advanced and high-income economies, specializing in areas of competitive advantage. For example, Hong Kong and Singapore have become world-leading international financial centres, whereas South Korea and Taiwan are world leaders in manufacturing information technology. Their economic success stories have served as role models for many developing countries,^[1][2][3] especially the Tiger Cub Economies.

The tigers experienced decades of supercharged growth based largely on industrial policies supporting exports to rich, industrialized nations. Many of these policies, including import substitution in Taiwan and South Korea, contradicted the neo-liberal economic ideas promoted by the United States. All the same, these economies enjoyed extremely high growth rates sustained over decades. Other common characteristics of the tigers included heavy government investment in education, non-democratic and relatively authoritarian political systems during the early years of development, high levels of U.S. bond holdings, and high public and private savings rates.^[4]

The first major setback experienced by the tiger economies was the 1997 Asian financial crisis. While Singapore and Taiwan were relatively unscathed, South Korea underwent a major stock market crash brought on by high levels of non-performing corporate loans, while Hong Kong came under intense speculative attacks against its stock market and currency necessitating unprecedented market interventions by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority. In the years after the crisis, all four economies rebounded strongly. South Korea, the worst-hit of the tigers, has managed to triple its per capita GDP in dollar terms since 1997.

Territory and region data

Skyline of Central Hong Kong's central business district viewed from Victoria Peak, Hong Kong.

Downtown Singapore skyline before dusk.

Skyline of the Central Business District of Seoul, South Korea.

The skyline of Taipei, capital of Taiwan and its financial center.

Demographics

Country or territory	Area km²	Population	Population density per km²	Human Development Index (2011)	Capital
Hong Kong	1,104	7,108,100	6,349	0.898 (13th)	Hong Kong
Singapore	710	5,076,700	7,148	0.866 (26th)	Singapore
South Korea	100,210	48,219,000	487	0.897 (15th)	Seoul
Taiwan	36,191[5]	23,197,947	639	0.868 (24th)[6]	Taipei

Economy

Country or territory	GDP nominal millions of USD (2010)	GDP PPP millions of USD (2010)	GDP nominal per capita USD (2010)	GDP PPP per capita USD (2010)	Exports millions of USD (2010)	Imports millions of USD (2010)
Hong Kong	224,459	327,232	31,514	45,944	388,600	437,000
Singapore	222,699	292,829	43,117	56,694	358,400	310,400
South Korea	1,014,482	1,466,125	20,756	29,997	464,300	422,400
Taiwan	429,845	824,671	18,558	35,604	274,400	251,400

Politics

Country or territory	Democracy Index (2010)	Property rights index (2008)	Press Freedom Index (2010)	Corruption Perceptions Index (2010)	Political Status
Hong Kong	5.92	7.7	10.75	8.4	Partially Democratic SAR
Singapore	5.89	7.9	47.50	9.3	Parliamentary Republic
South Korea	8.11	6.2	13.33	5.4	Presidential Republic
Taiwan	7.52	6.5	14.50	5.8	Semi-Presidential Republic

Organizations and groups

Country or territory	G20	OECD	APEC	EAS	ASEAN
Hong Kong	×	×	○	×	×
Singapore	×	×	○	○	○
South Korea	○	○	○	○	○ (APT)
Taiwan	×	×	○	×	×

See also

• Asian Century
• BRICs
• Economic miracle (full list of miracles and "tigers")
• Taiwan miracle
• 1997 Asian financial crisis

References

1. ^ "Can Africa really learn from Korea?". afrol News. 24 November 2008. http://www.afrol.com/articles/22953. Retrieved 2009-02-16. 
2. ^ "Korea role model for Latin America: envoy". Korean Culture and Information Service. 1 March 2008. http://www.korea.net/news/news/newsView.asp?serial_no=20080301004&part=103. Retrieved 2009-02-16. ^{[dead link]}
3. ^ Leea, Jinyong; LaPlacab, Peter; Rassekh, Farhad (2 September 2008). "Korean economic growth and marketing practice progress: A role model for economic growth of developing countries". Industrial Marketing Management (Elsevier B.V. (subscription required)). doi:10.1016/j.indmarman.2008.09.002. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6V69-4TR37CX-3&_user=10&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=5614827be8562007c3b0d6865ef92d15. Retrieved 2009-02-16. 
4. ^ "East Asian Tigers- Definition". WordIQ.com. 1 February 2010. http://www.wordiq.com/definition/East_Asian_Tigers. Retrieved 2011-03-01. 
5. ^ Monthly Bulletin of Interior Statistics 2011.4, Department of Statistics, Ministry of the Interior, Taiwan/R.O.C.
6. ^ http://www.dgbas.gov.tw/public/Attachment/11715383471.doc

Further reading

• Ezra F. Vogel, The Four Little Dragons: The Spread of Industrialization in East Asia (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1991).

External links

• BBC report on the Asian Tigers in the aftermath of the 1997 Financial Crisis (includes map of the Asian Tigers)
• ASEAN tigers
• The Elephant at the Gate in China Economic Review