This MedLibrary.org supplementary page on Economic History of China is provided directly from the open source Wikipedia as a service to our readers. Please see the note below on authorship of this content, as well as the Wikipedia usage guidelines. To search for other content from our encyclopedia supplement, please use the form below:
Related Sponsors
 |
Please help improve this article or section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion. (November 2007) |
China was the largest economy on earth for most of the recorded history of the past two millennia.[1][2][3][4]
The Financial Times noted that "China has been the world’s largest economy for 18 of the past 20 centuries",[5][6] while according to The Economist, "China was not only the largest economy for much of recorded history, but until the 15th century, it also had the highest income per capita — and was the world’s technological leader."[5][7]
As recently as 1820, China accounted for 33% of the world's GDP. Barely a hundred years later, the tables had turned. By the early part of twentieth century, China accounted for only 9% of world's GDP. The primary explanation for the relative eclipse of China lies in the fact that the industrial revolution of the nineteenth century, which made Europe and then America rich, almost completely bypassed China. [8]
Contents |
Qing Dynasty
 |
This article does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. (February 2008) |
1625 - 1650
China was the world's largest economy followed by India and France. During this period, the territorial domain of the Qing empire expanded substantially. Due to the demand for Chinese products such as porcelain and tea, Qing China was the largest market for Spain's silver exports from her colonies in South America.
1650 - 1675
China was the world's largest economy followed by India and France. From this time to about the 1800s, the seclusion of China on a world-scale grew to its peak during the Ming Dynasty after the Yung-lo emperor's reign in the 1400s.
1675 - 1700
India was the world's largest economy followed by China and France.
1700 - 1725
China was the world's largest economy followed by India and France. Collapse of the central authority of the Mughal Empire and the resultant chaos triggered India's long but slow decline on the world stage.
1725 - 1825
China was the world's largest economy followed by India and France.
1825 - 1850
China was the world's largest economy followed by the UK and India. Industrial Revolution in the UK catapulted the nation to the top league of Europe for the first time ever.
1850 - 1875
China was the world's largest economy followed by the UK, USA and India.
1875 - 1911
USA was the world's largest economy followed by China, UK, Germany and India. Collapse of the central authority of the Qing Dynasty and the resultant chaos triggered China's short but rapid decline on the world stage. The gross domestic product of China in 1900 was estimated at about 50 per cent that of the USA.
Nationalist Republic
1911 - 1925
USA was the world's largest economy followed by the UK, China, France, Germany, India and the USSR. The gross domestic product of China in 1925 was estimated at about 20 per cent that of the USA.
1925 - 1950
USA was the world's largest economy followed by the USSR, UK, China, France, Germany, India and Japan. The gross domestic product of China in 1950 was estimated at about 10 per cent that of the USA.
People's Republic
1950 - 1975
USA was the world's largest economy followed by the USSR, Japan, Germany and China. The gross domestic product of China in 1975 was estimated at about 10 percent that of the USA. Though Mao's collectivization reforms helped arrest the economic decline, China was no longer the largest Asian economy.
1975 - 2000
USA was the world's largest economy followed by Japan, Germany and China. The gross domestic product of China in 2000 was estimated at about 10 per cent that of the USA. Communist reforms initiated by Deng Xiaoping in the early 1980s initiated the current wave of export-oriented economic expansion.
2000 - Present
The size of China's economy has been rapidly increasing, though some now question whether the cost has been too great, and whether the economy has 'overheated', with side effects such as pollution and a substantial gap between rich and poor worrying many Chinese. Hu Jintao, the Chinese President, has appeared to share these concerns, stating a desire to measure progress not only through GDP growth, but through social surveys.
See also
References
- ^ Professor M.D. Nalapat. Ensuring China's "Peaceful Rise". Accessed January 30, 2008.
- ^ Dahlman, Carl J; Aubert, Jean-Eric. China and the Knowledge Economy: Seizing the 21st Century. WBI Development Studies. World Bank Publications. Accessed January 30, 2008.
- ^ Dr Rosita Dellios. The Rise of China as a Global Power. Accessed January 30, 2008.
- ^ International Presence. Accessed January 30, 2008.
- ^ a b The Globalist. Globalist Factsheet. Global History. China in History — From 200 to 2005. Accessed January 30, 2008.
- ^ Chris Patten. Financial Times. Comment & Analysis: Why Europe is getting China so wrong. Accessed January 30, 2008.
- ^ The Economist. The Real Great Leap Forward. Print edition. Accessed February 1, 2008
- ^ The Quest for Global Dominance. Page 239. Anil K. Gupta. Jossey-Bass. 2008 ISBN978-0-470-19440-9.
Further reading
- Duara, Prasenjit, State Involution: A Study of Local Finances in North China, 1911-1935, in Comparative Studies in Society and History, Vol. 29, No. 1 (Jan., 1987), pp. 132-161, Cambridge University Press
External links
- Economic History of Premodern China (from 221 BC to c. 1800 AD) Kent Deng, London School of Economics (LSE)
|
|||||||||||
Wikipedia content modification information:
- This page was last modified on 10 October 2008, at 21:52.
Wikipedia Authorship and Review
Wikipedia content provided here is not reviewed directly by MedLibrary.org. Wikipedia content is authored by an open community of volunteers and is not produced by or in any way affiliated with MedLibrary.org.
Wikipedia Usage Guidelines
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article on "Economic History of China".
The URL for this specific entry is:
All Wikipedia text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. (See Copyrights for details). Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.