Pacific Asia - from Burma to Papua New Guinea to Japan - is a new name for a region which no longer looks to the West for geographical definition. It is the most dynamic and productive region in the developing world, the result of an economic explosion fuelled by the industrial activity of the "four little tigers" of Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan. Pacific Asia is the most predominantly socialist region in the Third World. It is also where the Green Revolution began and where there are more women in factory work than anywhere else. Pacific Asia reviews the historical development of the region and considers its present position in the global context. This invaluable introduction places general issues - resources, urbanization, ethnicity, population, gender, rural development and industrialization - common to all the countries of the region, in local context. The author argues that these issues must be examined before successful policy responses can be determined.