StudentShare
Contact Us
Sign In / Sign Up for FREE
Search
Go to advanced search...
Free

Chinas Economic Advantages - Essay Example

Cite this document
Summary
The present essay "China’s Economic Advantages" dwells on the economic situation of China. As the author puts it, it still remains a mystery to see China rise from great economic turmoil to being the second biggest economy judging by its gross domestic product, after the USUS. …
Download full paper File format: .doc, available for editing
GRAB THE BEST PAPER91.5% of users find it useful
Chinas Economic Advantages
Read Text Preview

Extract of sample "Chinas Economic Advantages"

China’s Economic Advantages and its continued global Dominance Introduction It still remains a mystery to see China rise from great economic turmoil to being the second biggest economy judging by its gross domestic product, after US. Today, China dominates over the once economic giants. China’s economic breakthrough has had a number of challenges dating back from its early trade with the rest of the world in the pre modern trade; before the end of the Dark Ages. It was during this time that China’s success in commerce also expanded to its military base, owning the world’s best navy at that time. It also was during that time, around the 15th Century, that China experienced a number of threats that changed its economic and military pride. This essay aims at looking at some of the factors that led to China’s rise in both commerce and military ability in Eurasia in the 14th and 15th century and why it had advantage over other nations that traded together with it. It will also strive to explain some of the factors that eventually led to its downfall, and getting farther from achieving the global economic dominance. The first factor that made China thrive economically and militarily was the presence of the Mongols in China who invaded the nation and took control of its administration under the Yuan dynasty. Before the emergence of the Mongols who conquered China, the Chinese were not very active in trade. In fact, trade was much discouraged by their ruler under Song Dynasty, and thus they only received goods they wanted through an elaborate system of tribute. When these Mongols eventually conquered China, the nation began trading with the outside world. This led to trade expansion not only in China but also opened room for trade in the outside world (Deal 129). The Mongols promoted trade in China by offering security to caravan traders who were moving long distances for exchange of goods and services. They guarded the path which cut from Asia to Russia hence ensuring safety of caravans from robbers who instilled fear on the earlier traders. The Mongols were united under Yuan and were well organized both in war and in trade. Their emergence reshaped China, rising from a humble nation to one that caught the world’s attention with its commerce and highly advanced technology. Added to China’s advantage was the fact that it had a large population which provided labor and ready market for its produced goods. Its population offered a great advantage to traders who channeled their goods to China since there was large market with willing buyers and willing sellers dealing in silk and other products. Slaves were in abundance for exchange. Another factor which boosted Chinese expansion of trade was the opening of the Silk Road. The Silk Road covered parts of the Middle East and extended to parts of Russia. The road was a convenient way through which traders could transport their goods to and from China to their destination. This was a boost to the growing influence of China as a hub of commerce in the world. Another factor that made China thrive in trade is the kind of political peace it enjoyed under the Mongol’s Yuan dynasty. Being a dynasty with strong political background, China enjoyed peace and was free from external attack. The Mongols were an organized lot with strong military base; a factor which had a direct impact on trade. China’s economic meltdown came as a result of a number of factors. It is important to look at such factors in relation to their effect not only in China but also in other countries that formed part of Eurasian trade. The most known cause for the decline in China’s economic strength is the emergence of the Black Death. It is believed that the plague commonly known as the Black Death began its spread from the Chinese Mongols, spreading all the way to other parts of Europe and many parts of the Middle East (Lin 19). The Black Death also known as the bubonic plague fuelled the collapse of Yuan dynasty. It is this establishment of this dynasty upon which the Eurasian trade depended on. When this plague began to spread, its impact was largely felt in China. It reduced the Yuan population drastically, leaving it incapable of taking control of the trade. Most goods could not reach the Mongols since people feared physical contact with them. This factor weakened China’s commerce hence could not continue to dominate in the global market (Benedictow 202). What might have perhaps reduced its naval strength is the too much struggle in the imperial court between the Confucians who were at the mercy of the palace eunuchs. The Confucian courtiers deeply relied on the power of the eunuchs who offered much support to them. Due to this reason, China’s navy stood at a great step of vulnerability from any attack that would have cropped up. What finally led to the collapse of its naval base is the completion of the Grand Canal, which was considered to be very safe and efficient mode of transporting grains. Prior to that, China boasted of owning the largest army by size with sophisticated war machines and warships. China’s navy could not be compared to any navy on earth. Most of the navy’s ships were used on trade mission to carry goods and to offer maximum security to Chinese merchants. However, with the establishment of the Grand Canal to complement marine transport, the navy had little or no work in offering security to the ships that were ferrying goods since the Canal proved the most efficient mode of transport. They were thus rendered irrelevant since China did not rely on it for security against external attacks (Chai 84). China’s collapse in trade and naval base was further heightened by its pride in seeing themselves rise from a humble beginning to being superior to the West in both commerce and technology. It therefore ignored the West, refusing absolutely to trade with them. At one time they even turned down the British merchants who brought their goods for exchange citing that they did not want any foreign good since there was nothing they lacked. Their pride made their rulers ignore commerce; the natives were no longer interested in education or acquisition of technological advancement. The military was no longer interested in offering external security as well. This made China vulnerable to the subsequent attacks that followed. Its economy deteriorated by the constant rebellion from its people, a remarkable one being the Taiping rebellion which weakened its economy even further and when world war II began, China’s economy reduced to a mere financially struggling nation. Works Cited Benectow, Jorgen. The Black Death 1346-1353: The Complete History. Woodbridge: The boydell press, 2004. Print Chai, Joseph. An Economic History of Modern China. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar publishing, 2011. PrintBottom of Form Top of Form Bottom of Form Deal, William, Handbook to Life in Medieval and Early Modern Japan. New York: Infobase, 2006. Print Lin, Justin. Demystifying the Chinese Economy. Cambridge: Cambridge university press, 2012. Print Read More
Cite this document
  • APA
  • MLA
  • CHICAGO
(“Chinas Economic Advantages Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words”, n.d.)
Chinas Economic Advantages Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words. Retrieved from https://studentshare.org/macro-microeconomics/1475995-chinas-economic-avantages
(Chinas Economic Advantages Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 Words)
Chinas Economic Advantages Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 Words. https://studentshare.org/macro-microeconomics/1475995-chinas-economic-avantages.
“Chinas Economic Advantages Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 Words”, n.d. https://studentshare.org/macro-microeconomics/1475995-chinas-economic-avantages.
  • Cited: 0 times

CHECK THESE SAMPLES OF Chinas Economic Advantages

Economic globalization in China

In fact China was one of the strong protestors of globalization when it came into existence for the first time like many other… It opposed the global economic order, political order and the major global institutions such as the IMF and the World Bank before the reforms started in China (Overholt, p.... Moreover the emergence of Deng Xiaoping as the leader of China after Mao gave momentum to the economic development activities.... his paper briefly explains the revolutionary changes happened in China due to economic globalization....
5 Pages (1250 words) Essay

Evaluation of Chinas Policies

However, for China, economic growth is the headlight, which the country should never put off and this… Numerous questions still disturb analysts and this has to do largely with perspectives the analysts decide to take.... For example, issues such as whether China's international policy is premised on ration or conflict, how the country has adjusted to period of G-Zero world, behavior of its policy with the changing geopolitics of energy, and how diaspora groups of China affect the country's economic development remain disturbing to many analysts....
5 Pages (1250 words) Research Paper

CHOOSE A COUNTRY (OTHER THAN CANADA) AND AN ISSUE IMPACTING THE HUMAN GEOGRAPHY WITHIN THAT COUNTRY

Globalization is an aspect promoted by a synergy of socio-cultural, technological and economic aspects.... It has social, economic, political and environmental implications on the china population.... It has notable impacts on the world population through diverse china is among the world's greatest countries with a high human population.... It is evident from the GDP growth that china benefits from globalization in diverse aspects....
4 Pages (1000 words) Essay

Advantages and Disadvantages of Chinese Interventions

There are many advantages which China has incurred due to state interventions.... The emergence of China as a global economic power represents the effectiveness of state capitalism model under which it has governed for so many years.... Similarly tens of thousands of state-owned enterprises (SOE) dominate half of the economic output of China and the Chinese government protects them by providing subsidizes to them.... The economic growth of China is built on the back of cheap labour....
11 Pages (2750 words) Essay

Chinas Economic Policies

This paper discusses China's economic policies.... hellip; The nation's general acceptance of foreign trade and investment, high government savings and investment in technology have fostered economic growth in the region.... The region that consists of china, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and Singapore has integrated numerous local policies.... According to global investors, china provides the most profitable investment opportunity compared to other East Asian countries....
6 Pages (1500 words) Coursework

Chinas Economic Development Since 1978

This paper examines the most important features of China's economic development since 1978 and considers how they explain China's rapid economic growth.... hellip; The essay has demonstrated that a number of reforms were implemented in the post-1978 period that directly contributed to economic growth.... Since 1978, China has experienced staggering economic growth that has positioned the country at a pace to become the world's largest economy....
8 Pages (2000 words) Research Paper

Advantages and Disadvantages of Migration to China

This paper "advantages and Disadvantages of Migration to China" discusses several reasons for migration to China.... hellip; One of the advantages of migrating to China is that the country is experiencing rapid economic growth in addition to the fact that it is one of the largest growing economies of Asia and the world (Skeldon).... Somehow, the fact that China is one of the world's emerging economies and an economic giant itself is the reason why it is good to move to China for residence....
8 Pages (2000 words) Essay

China's One-Child Policy

he current China government encourages the grassroots level people to vigorously contribute to the nation's current favorable global economic environment.... "china's One-Child Policy" paper focuses on china's compulsory one-child population policy that was initially crafted to benefit future china generations.... nbsp;… china's compulsory one-child population policy created an 'aged' china population....
5 Pages (1250 words) Coursework
sponsored ads
We use cookies to create the best experience for you. Keep on browsing if you are OK with that, or find out how to manage cookies.
Contact Us