China is generally considered one of the oldest civilized nation in East Asia as well as the whole world. It is a country that experienced better political, economic, theoretical, artistic and scientific technology that enabled it to a strong distinctive identity to the rest of the world. The last century has seen china struggle of gaining its identity by redefining its cultural values in the modern world, this goal of restoring its glory that ever existed before the coming of the west has made its leaders too ambitious to attain power and wealth once more.
Way back in the history of the world’s civilization, China had consolidated the global power and superiority compared to the rest countries. It was the major source of the world’s steel that enabled her to gain more wealth and invest in other productive economic activities. It is considered to be the earliest world’s leading in innovations that gave the whole world its backbone in industrial development, an example is the textile manufacturing industries that were seven centuries older than those that were invented in Britain.
With the floating capital, china was the leading nation in trade that earned it more wealth. It engaged in the long distance trade with other countries in the various continents such as Africa, Europe, the Middle East and Southern Asia. With the interaction to the rest of the world nations, China borrowed more ideas that were utilized effectively thereby making her agricultural and industrial revolution move much steps ahead; it engaged in the production of writing materials that ensured proper records were kept for more production activities. This further earned her the opportunity to be the world superpower that exported her goods across all nations by the use of her commercial ships.
However, China’s prosperity set a blaze to other nations more especially the British and the Europeans that had sleepless nights in the bid to interact with her, so that they can be able to borrow more from their technological advancement. The British imperialism therefore challenged the china’s superiority and the dominant global position in the world market. Therefore, the British and the Western engaged on an imperial conquest of the East that was instigated by the material gain in order to prosper in their economies and to ensure they do not allow china to dominate any longer as a superpower.
This was not an easy task for them; as a result they were unable to overhaul Chinese market just through economic competition. Around 16th century under the Ming dynasty, it was China that still led the whole world with a complicated and the most productive economy, probably it was the best place to be with the better living standards on earth. For that reason, British led and mobilized its armed forces to succeed in exporting to China and also forced unfair treaties in a bid to lower tariffs. With no option but to accept, China was full of dubious goods from British. The Western infiltration to the China’s market ensured that there was a new class, this saw China descend from being the world superpower economically to a semi-colonial nation with a large impoverished population.
This vulnerable condition continued up to around mid-20th century when China adopted a communist revolution that made it re-united independent state. The new leadership helped rebuild Chinese economy by breaking all the barriers that were imposed by the capitalists. The government engaged on the construction of infrastructure, education, military and their basic industries that in the mean time allowed China to stand on its feet again. It sustained it economic growth once more by investing her high profits in technological innovations in the foreign nations, she has been able to prosper on the basis of her firm guidelines of non-interference with the internal dealings of her trading partners, this in turn has enable her attract and retain more partners as compared with the other capitalist competitors.
China has become a trend in the whole globe; it has gone as far as covering even the nations that were economically competing with her. Her links have become part and parcel of the continued growth of the third world countries, she has offered support to these countries and in return it has gained economically. Today it has become a world power and it is outstandingly stronger than it used to be even before the western invasion. And they have vowed never to be intimidated economically by her rivals, considering the fact that it is even contributing vastly in their economic development and that of the whole world.