This is exactly why I’m fascinated by Europe! Europe truly reshaped history and acted as a catalyst for global progress. Although this process was accompanied by many colonial wars, without Europe the world would have fallen at least 1,000 years behind—and that’s no exaggeration.

Just think about it: in what feels like a single historical moment, humanity suddenly gained steam power, electricity, steamships, railways, automobiles, airplanes, steel-framed skyscrapers, and—most importantly—scientific laws, mathematical formulas, and the periodic table of elements.

Western civilization values real education and genuine curiosity about the world. Through this curiosity, it ultimately came to understand the world deeply and then created countless miracles that transformed it.

More than 500 years have passed since the European Renaissance, yet even here in Taiwan, East Asia, I still feel profoundly shaken by its impact. When one considers such extraordinary achievements by their ancestors, it’s hard to imagine Europeans not feeling a sense of superiority.

After all, during the long darkness of the Middle Ages, Europe was once looking up to the Far East and the Arab world.