The Stunning Rise Of China, And Mandarin-Speaking Guides In Parisian Shops

The single most significant global economic trend since the second half of the 20th century has been the phenomenal rise of China. The country has transformed itself from a stagnant, over-populated, hopeless basket case to the world’s most dynamic, fastest-growing, most exciting major economy within a generation. China overtook Japan to become the world’s second largest economy in 2010, and is on course to overtake the US to become the world’s biggest economy in the foreseeable future. Its GDP or gross domestic product, the total amount of goods and services produced by an economy in one year, exploded from US$186 billion to US$12 trillion between 1978 and 2017. The size of the Chinese economy thus grew by an astonishing 65 times in 39 years. It is as if a dwarf morphed into a giant within a generation! One would be hard pressed to think of a more powerful testament to the unparalleled superiority of capitalism as an engine of economic growth and progress than the stunning economic transformation of China. As a result, more than a billion Chinese enjoy far more productive, abundant, and humane lives…