[ 英文摘要 ]

Past studies of Taiwan’s post-war development mostly focus on the impact of Japanese colonialism, U.S. aid to Taiwan, and the statepolicy. This thesis argues that human resources and capital brought inby mainlanders around 1945-1949 also played a significant but often overlooked role in Taiwan’s post-war development. Taiwanese under Japanese colonialism from 1895 to 1945 had little access to higher education other than medical schools and saw little development in manufacturing sector, while in the mainland China both the access to higher education and the development of manufacturing sector were much more comprehensive. After the restoration of Taiwan to China in 1945, and especially upon the Nationalist government‘s loss of mainland in the Chinese civil war and its relocation to Taiwan in 1949, the inflow of significant number of mainlander with higher education, manufacturing skill, and capital helped Taiwan overcome the deficiency in human resources and capital caused by the departure of Japanese colonists, and therefore facilitated Taiwan’s economic development afterward. On the other hand, the inflow of large number of mainlanders with better education probably crowded out many Taiwanese from employment opportunities left open by the departure of Japanese.