Abstract:

This talk examines aluminum and the importance of aluminum in Taiwan, one of the fastest growing economies in the postwar period. Alongside steel, aluminum is the key alloy in modern economies, and it served Taiwan’s industrial export sectors both directly with inputs and indirectly in the machinery required to produce goods. Drawing on firm archives, internal publications, and local reports I show how Taiwan’s industrial production was made possible through aluminum inputs and aluminum-made machinery. Focusing on key sectors, the talk argues that without domestically produced aluminum Taiwan’s export industry would not have been able to achieve cost-competitive rates in the international market, nor would it have even been able to manufacture export products. In short, without aluminum, there would be no Taiwanese economic miracle.

Biography:

Macabe Keliher is associate professor of History at Southern Methodist University and author of the award-winning book, The Board of Rites and the Making of Qing China. His current research is an institutional study of industrialization and political economy in postwar East Asia.