The Industrial Revolution Vs. The Eighteenth Century China

Introduction

For many decades, China has always been technologically and economically more advanced than Europe. The inventions of gunpowder, printing, and the compass started in China and later dispersed throughout Europe. These inventions changed China as much as they changed Europe. These inventions also created technological and economical gap between China and Europe. In the late eighteenth century, the industrial revolution started its spread from Europe to other parts pf the world. The transformations within Europe, especially England, began to speed up whilst China was falling behind. In England, economic and social changes also influenced political development. Conversely, China constrained itself from the outside world and focus

the Eighteenth Century Given its superior technologies and the hyper economic prosperity around the Yangtze region, Industrial Revolution did not start in the eighteenth century China. Although with not much changes in the cultural and societal platforms, China was able to industrialize in the past quarter of a century. The few changes that had been made by China to set off an Industrial Revolution were an agricultural revolution and a proto-industrialization in the rural area that led to the implementation of both the labor-intensive and capital-intensive

However, over the past thirty years, the Chinese has been relying on the combination of labor-intensive and capital intensive industries. Inland regions focus on labor intensive while major cities like Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen focus on high-tech industries. Different regions focus on different approaches. China has emerged as a global power because of their massive exportation of goods, and inflow of foreign capital. Their labor-intensive industries promote inexpensive labor. Because of this, there is an increase in the inflow of foreign investment. Its ability to mass-produced and cheap labor, has led “more automakers and large suppliers to buy components there and export them to the United States and other operations throughout the world” (Kosdrosky). The combination of labor-intensive and capital-intensive industries have increased their economic efficiency and capacity of acquiring resources that contribute to their agricultural growth. This, of course, plays a major role in China’s rapid economic growth. It also has a great impact on China attitude toward technological advancement. In 1982, China became more interested in interacting with big powers mainly, the Soviet and a bit with the United States. China was “seeking more advanced technology, as well as