Made In China

China is on the rise to once again become the world’s largest economy, a title it eagerly reclaims from the US. For most of us, the idea of China being at the top of the food chain is a little hard to grasp. In general, we have commonly considered China a poor country, one that missed out on the industrial revolution and has suffered under the Communist regime.

The Made in China sticker, whether correct or not, has long been a symbol of cheaper products. This was not always the case. Wealth is not something new to China. For several hundred years before the 1880’s (the time of the industrial revolution), this people of China enjoyed status, it was steeped in wealth and was the envy of all nations. The Economist developed an interactive chart that allows you to predict just when China’s economy will overtake America’s. The magazine suggested that the timing of China’s ascent to the top depends on the following: • Its own growth. • America’s growth. • The evolution of prices in each country. • The exchange rate between them. In the essay What China Wants, published by The Economist, it is pointed out that, along with its goal to once again become on e of the wealthiest and illustrious civilizations on earth, China also wants the respect it once had – but it does not really know how. We still know, besides India, it has more poor people than any other country. We know that the government plunders the environment for resources. From the essay, “China has begun to awe the world – but also to worry it.” The question now by many is whether China can rise to the top peacefully. Its armed forces are still dwarfed by that in America; however, it is growing fast in strength. There is the concern that there will be rivalry between the two nations which may result in confrontation – even conflict. Let’s hope that will not be the case. No doubt, within a few years, China’s economy will surpass America’s. Hard to believe, in the next decade, we will begin to compare the value of our Loonie to the Yuan, as opposed to the US dollar.