China’s technological challenge to the West

In the past China used to be belittled as the workshop of the world that produces cheap, low quality products. Those days are over. We are witnessing a technological changing of the guard: the world’s workshop is becoming the world’s research centre. In the West, some are beginning to understand this in broader, historical terms. In the thousand years between 500 and 1500 AD, China’s technological superiority was apparent in most domains. Only with the Enlightenment was the West able to develop into an innovative force. Critical thinking and scientific advancement took hold…