Regarding Taiwan,

There is substantial agreement that what Chiang Kai Chek did, when he fled in the end to his island fastness of Formosa (as we liked to call Taiwan then), was loot mainland China of its ancient art, of which it had a lot, most of which is now on tempting (or taunting) display in museums on Taiwan.  Suppose that the People's Republic invades--There will be a diaspora, as in fleeing Greeks, bearing arcane knowledge. I'll bet they find the lost masterworks of the Isabella Gardner museum. This is probably the last opportunity we'll have, before that happens, for anyone to get acquainted with Bei Song ceramics and brush-painting (in those capacious museums on Taiwan). I'm seriously thinking of booking passage to a land where they eat snakes and puppies.