There is no doubt that China is one of the most powerful countries in the world today.
To some, China’s rise to power has been nerve-racking.
Yet, China has always been powerful and influential, and in the grand scheme of human history,
China being an economic and cultural powerhouse has actually been the norm.
So let’s take a look at the evolution of China and why it may be on track to be the
world’s next number one superpower.
If you want to understand why things are the way they are today, you have to understand
the past.
The Chinese culture is one of the oldest in the world.
And like today, the ancient Chinese were builders.
Construction projects on a massive scale are being built right now, putting millions of
Chinese citizens to work, and over 2000 years ago, China was doing the same thing.
Although there was definitely more slave labor being used in the past.
One of the most famous construction projects of ancient times started at the beginning
of Chinese history.
Qin Shihuangdi had unified much of the Chinese heartland between 221 and 206 BC, and it was
during this time that construction began on the first Great Wall of China.
The period following Qin Shihuangdi’s rule was considered the first Golden Age of the
region.
Between 206 BC and 220 AD, China saw huge leaps in economic growth and its culture spread.
Approximately 400 years later—a relatively short time in the scheme of things—the second
Golden Age of China began and it extended its sphere of its influence all the way into
central Asia.
Just like with all empires, change in power was something to be expected.
By the 13th century, the Mongols had conquered China and united much of the country under
their rule.
During this time, Beijing became the capital, and Westerners such as Marco Polo visited
the country.
This marked the starting point of contact between China and the West, which eventually
evolved into prosperous trading relationships and the exchange of ideas, but also led to
death and destruction when the Mongols swept across the Asian continent and invaded Europe.
In 1368 the Ming Dynasty overthrew the Mongols and took control of the country, and China
moved away from warfare and conquest to start focusing on the country itself.
China’s economy ramped up due to high agricultural output, the bureaucracy and military were
centralized, and the Great Wall of China was completed.
We often forget that when learning about other countries, we are taught about them through
the lens of our own culture.
For people living in the “Western World,” the history curriculum in school rarely touches
on the achievements or cultures of Asian countries.
Make no mistake, just because China’s early power and influence aren’t often taught
or talked about that does not mean they didn’t happen.
China’s past was full of advancements and economic growth, something that continues
to this day.
We know of Chinese influence in the ancient past from written records and archaeological
data.
As we move closer to the present, we have even more information about the chain of events,
which led to China becoming one of the most powerful nations on the planet.
By the 19th century, Western powers had colonized many parts of the world, including Asia.
China had been in a long decline, and the unequal treaties negotiated by European powers
had crippled the Chinese economy even further.
This led to the destabilization of the government, allowing regional warlords to rise to power.
During the 19th and early 20th century, events were set in motion that would lead to modern-day
China.
It was a time of bloodshed and oppression in the country.
Foreign intervention in the affairs of China led to the exploitation of its government
and peoples, which led to massive amounts of poverty.
Along with Russia and Japan, Western countries exploited China and forced the government
into giving concessions while simultaneously weakening the country’s ruling body.
Then in 1931, Japan invaded China.
Over the next decade, they occupied more and more Chinese land.
In 1937 the different factions within China united to fight back against the Japanese
annexation of their country.
Finally, the Chinese took back their lands but immediately fell into civil war, and whoever
won would rule the country.
China had gone through decades of struggle to regain its land and power.
In 1949, Mao Zedong, the leader of the Communist Party of China, was victorious over the opposing
Nationalist side during the civil war.
The foundation of modern-day China had finally begun.
It is essential not to forget everything that led up to this point.
The idea of China’s power and influence in the past was still ingrained in the country’s
cultural history.
The memories of the oppression and exploitation of China by Western nations and their allies
were also still fresh in the collective consciousness of the Chinese people.
And the longing to return to a time where China’s power and economic strength were
respected was a driving force for the decisions made by the new Communist government.
In 1958 Mao launched the “Great Leap Forward,” a five-year economic plan that was meant to
lift the Chinese people out of poverty and jumpstart the country's economy.
It was supposed to collectivize farming and introduce labor-intensive industries.
As with all economic plans, not everyone would benefit, and the plan ended up being a complete
failure.
However, the move towards revitalizing the Chinese economy persisted.
Mao’s follow-up plan was the “Cultural Revolution,” which lasted ten years and
changed the country’s political and ideological systems.
It was a way to inspire a revolutionary spirit in the people, which it did, but not in the
way Mao had intended.
The masses protested, causing disruptions in the economic, social, and political systems
of China.
This primed the country for extreme changes.
When Mao died in 1976, he was succeeded by Deng Xiaoping.
His main goal was to start China on a path to economic reform that would make the country
wealthy and influential in the growing world economy.
Xiaoping knew that to ramp up the economy, the country needed a healthy workforce.
Population growth in China had exploded, which meant there were plenty of workers, but the
resources required to support so many people were lacking.
In response to this, the government imposed a one-child policy to try and curb population
growth.
The government also granted peasants the right to farm their own plots of land instead of
relying solely on the communist distribution system.
These changes resulted in improved living standards and decreased the number of food
shortages.
Xiaoping also started China’s “open-door policy,” which now allowed diplomatic relations
to resume and foreign investments to begin within the country.
It also provided other nations access to China’s very large yet very cheap labor workforce.
All of these things combined led to an enormous amount of money being poured into China, setting
the country up to become one of the largest economies in the world.
China was gaining massive amounts of wealth and influence through relations with different
governments and corporations around the world.
The “open-door policy” also allowed the development of a market economy and private
business sectors.
But just like when wealth and growth come to any country, the average citizen does not
always benefit.
Corruption in the government ran rampant and influential leaders were getting wealthy from
the economic boom, but poverty and cultural shifts led to protests around China.
This culminated in the Tiananmen Square massacre.
International outrage led to sanctions on China, but this did not stop the economic
engine that had already been set in motion.
In 1989, stock markets opened in Shanghai and Shenzhen leading to even more economic
growth.
Three years later Russia and China signed a declaration restoring cooperation between
the two countries, which allowed for further economic opportunities for China.
In that same year, the International Monetary Fund ranked China as the third-largest economy
in the world after the United States and Japan.
It wouldn’t be long until they moved even further up in the rankings.
On October 1st, 1999, the country celebrated its fiftieth anniversary as the People’s
Republic of China.
The following year the government cracked down on corruption with public executions.
Not everyone agreed with the methods of the People’s Republic, but the power that they
wielded allowed for swift change and few actual repercussions.
In 2001, China met with Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan to
create the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.
The mission of this new alliance was to combat ethnic and religious militancy in the countries.
Of even more significant benefit to China though, was the agreement which promoted trade
and investment between the countries.
With economic opportunity looming around every corner, China took the next step in expanding
its power and influence by joining the World Trade Organization.
This allowed for negotiations with other countries to lower trade barriers and tariffs on Chinese
goods.
With fewer restrictions, and the ability to trade worldwide more efficiently, the Chinese
economy grew faster than ever.
Many people still lived in poverty though, and the government continuously turned a blind
eye to unlawful working conditions.
Some workers were even treated as slaves or paid an unlivable wage.
This allowed Chinese companies to make and sell products at lower and lower prices while
still making enormous profits.
As the economy grew, more resources could be spent on other government projects like
military and space programs.
In 2003 China launched its first crewed spacecraft.
Two years after that, China and Russia conducted their first joint military exercises.
With a powerful ally in Russia and several free trade agreements with other countries
in the region, China gained more and more power.
While expanding its global influence, China also has been constructing cities and internal
renovation projects that created jobs and cash flow for its citizens.
In 2006 China finished building the world's largest hydroelectric dam called the Three
Gorges Dam.
Later that year, China met with African leaders for the China-Africa summit in Beijing.
Around 2 billion dollars in business deals were agreed upon in exchange for loans and
credit from China.
This only furthered China’s economic power and gave them leverage in the future.
With the industrialization of China, its numerous large-scale construction projects, and the
desire to keep its economy going, concerns about public and environmental health had
fallen to the wayside.
The government acknowledged that pollution in the country had reached critical levels
and that new policies would be implemented to deal with the problem.
However, this did not stop the economic drive of the country.
The government continued to pour money into technology and the military.
China tested long-range missiles and even shot down an old weather satellite in space,
showing the world that they now had missiles capable of hitting targets in orbit.
In 2008 as the global economy slowed down, the Chinese government announced a 586 billion
dollar stimulus package to ensure their economic growth wouldn’t stall.
To secure the resources they needed, China signed a 25 billion dollar deal with Russia
making sure that the country has enough oil for the next 20 years.
In 2010 China became the world's largest exporter, and the following year China overtook Japan
as the world’s second-largest economy.
And even after China overtook Japan, it continued to grow its economy until 2014, at which point,
things finally started to slow down.
China’s economy is still growing, but not at the incredible rate that it had been over
the previous decade.
Thanks to a strong economy and a government with absolute authority, China grew into one
of the most powerful nations in the world.
But this is not surprising, as even in the past, China was incredibly influential.
They had the workforce to ramp up their economy, and once they switched from isolationist policies
to joining the global economy, there was very little that could stop China’s progress.
The economic gains made by China did pull hundreds of millions of people out of poverty
but at the expense of polluted air and unsafe working conditions.
Whether your political ideology is for or against the way China runs its country, there
is no denying that there were benefits from the reforms and economic policies they implemented.
Education rates have gone up drastically, and it is estimated that by 2030 the same
percentage of Chinese workers will have a university degree as countries in Europe have
today.
However, many poor rural communities in the country have low skill levels and an aging
workforce.
But this is also true in other economically advanced countries around the world.
China became powerful by taking a different path than Western countries, and now with
a thriving economy comes the ability to have a strong military and loan out money to other
countries, which can be used as leverage in the future.
It is no surprise that after a time of relatively low economic and cultural output during European
colonization, China would eventually return to its norm as being one of the most powerful
countries in the world, a position it has held for much of its multi-thousand-year history.
Now check out “Real Reason Why China Wants To Expand.”
Or watch “China vs United States (USA) - Who Would Win?
2020 Military / Army Comparison”