China's rise has been touted in the past couple decades as being one of the greatest threats to American hegemony in the world, but China's place as a superpower is no new phenomenon. In fact, a vast majority of well-documented history (500 BCE – the present) has seen China as not only the largest power in Asia but the most powerful in the world.
Even back in the day, as Rome was expanding in Europe, Han dynasty China rivaled Roman power. Had Rome and China been more closely connected, any struggles for power between the two would have been close contests. Chinese power only continued to grow as time went on. Before the industrial revolution, nearly all the world’s most populous cities were in Chinese territory. China’s huge population was at first a boon to agriculture but as Europe began to industrialize, traditional Chinese methods of production could no longer compete.
The final nail in the coffin for China’s dominance came in 1839 when British military power began to be able to force British economic interests in China. Even though Britain never gained control over China on the same scale that they had in India, British interests in China dominated Chinese politics until after WW2. Ever since the Communists came to power, China has been growing. Deng Xiaoping's economic reforms during his rule (1978-1989) brought the country into a new period of rapid growth through economic liberalization, bringing the country more in line economically with capitalism than communism.
So next time you see a sensationalist article with warnings of China’s new-found place as a superpower, just remember two things. Firstly, the country has been a superpower for a majority of its long and rich history. Secondly, China still has a long way to go before it is on the same economic level as the United States. Although China’s national GDP is comparable to that of the US’s, the GDP per capita of China is still far lower than ours due to the nation’s massive population. Today’s China is going through a time similar to our own industrial revolution. The problems of pollution, poor treatment of workers, political censorship, and other issues will be resolved as the country becomes wealthier, more educated, and more technologically advanced. China may not be on the same level as the US today, but China’s reemergence as a major world power is a reality that we have to prepare for in the near future.
