 Due to the Chinese civil war that led Chiang Kai-Shek to retreat to Taiwan from Mainland China to escape Mao Zedong and the Communists, 2 million Chinese refugees and soldiers flooded the island inducing widespread poverty and chaos.Fortunately, pre-war development of Taiwan's agricultural sector allowed the Taiwanese economy to sustain itself despite the upsurge in the number of refugees.With Taiwan's prewar industrialization being well set, most of Taiwan's modern industries began to burgeon with a wide range of light and heavy industries that would propel the resource-poor island for further modernization.