ChinaToday
SENIOR MEMBER
- Joined
- Jan 31, 2011
- Messages
- 4,557
- Reaction score
- -2
- Country
- Location
Two centuries ago China was the biggest economy in the world. Twenty years from now it will be again.If the question were to be posed which country has done best by its own people over the past three decades? the answer would have to be China. A growth rate of 15% per annum, year after year for over twenty years, is phenomenal yet that is what the Chinese have done. It had been argued by economists that consistent growth at this level was inherently impossible but
China has proven them to be wrong.
Western economic sages predicted that China couldnt possibly maintain the pace of its economic
growth because it would lead to unsustainable inflation. It would lead to internal conflict as the
disparities in wealth between the eastern seaboard and the western provinces increased. Society would tear itself apart. Increased personal wealth would inevitably lead to demands for western style personal freedoms, leading to mass emigration of the rich if refused. None of these things happened. All the predictions were wrong.
In terms of the scale of this achievement no other country can come near China. The fact that economic growth started from a low level, indeed from a profound third world base, is sometimes cited as a reason why its accomplishments over the past three decades should be discounted.
The reverse is true. It is the reason why Chinese achievements should be celebrated.
It is the oldest continuous civilization in the world and the largest and most homogenous society. Overb two millennia it has led the world in science and technology, in innovation and discoveries, in the mastery of nature, the conquest of the seas and the exploration of the skies. Six hundred years ago when Europe was just emerging from the dark ages, and America was as undiscovered, China stood at the pinnicle of human achievements, for example through the invention of the printing press, the telescope, the clock, the compass and printed currency.
At that stage, China had what one economist called an unparalleled transport infrastructure of
twenty‐ eight national highways and fifty‐three provincial main roads intersecting with a dense system of canals and navigable rivers, the cumulative result of two thousand years of investment,
Chinese fleets had already navigated most of the globe in the most advanced sailing ships ever built,long before the Portuguese set sail around the world.
Even as late as two centuries ago China was the worlds greatest power dwarfing the nations of Europe individually and collectively: Napoleonic France, Czarist Russia, Wellingtons Britain and Fredericks Prussia. It accounted for a third of world GDP.
It is important for the world to understand why the miracle of economic growth depends on the
traditions, the values, indeed, all the elements which comprise Chinese civilization.
For me, the big surprise is that China has achieved all that it has without engaging in imperialist
expansion. The Chinese seem to have done something that we in the West have not been able to do.
For example, they have procured the requisite raw materials for economic growth without strife,
without invading anyone, and without deploying any aircraft carriers
China: Leading the World Again. Dr. Eddie O’Connor: - Events - IIEA - The Institute of International and European Affairs
Last edited by a moderator:
So much for not having imperialistic ambitions 
