China has the world's largest population with plentiful natural resources. It is the world's largest producer of gold, rice, wheat, rare earth metals, industrial metals and coal (with a huge lead over #2 position on most of these). Oil is one of few major commodities where China is not #1, but even there China has a respectable #5 rubbing shoulders with Iran [1] and in natural gas it is #7. In both these commodities China is quickly ramping up its production.
Water
Some of the world's largest rivers - the Yangtze, Huang He, Brahmaputra, Indus, Mekong, Pearl, Amur originate there, giving China world's biggest potential for hydropower and bountiful water. This is an enormous luxury for a country located around the Tropic of Cancer. Most areas in this latitude are deserts.
History
It has a great history and during most of human history, 25% of the world's population lived in China. Humans have been living there over 100,000 years and have discovered key cereals (such as Rice) before anyone else.
For most of recorded history, China has been in the top 2 when it comes to GDP. However, in the 19th and first half of 20th century, China was hugely distracted by domestic politics. Protests against Qing dynasty and a period of anarchy in the period of warlords destroyed its economy. In the middle of the 19th century, China had the worst ever domestic conflict - Taiping Rebellion - where 20 million perished.
Having been a global superpower for most of the past 20 centuries, China's re-emergence should come as no surprise to any economic historian. With GDP growth expected to continue growing at a blistering pace, and with domestic consumption only accounting for a paltry 35% of GDP as compared to the 70% of the US, the peaceful rise of China would represent one of the greatest economic opportunities of the 21st century.
Water
Some of the world's largest rivers - the Yangtze, Huang He, Brahmaputra, Indus, Mekong, Pearl, Amur originate there, giving China world's biggest potential for hydropower and bountiful water. This is an enormous luxury for a country located around the Tropic of Cancer. Most areas in this latitude are deserts.
History
It has a great history and during most of human history, 25% of the world's population lived in China. Humans have been living there over 100,000 years and have discovered key cereals (such as Rice) before anyone else.
For most of recorded history, China has been in the top 2 when it comes to GDP. However, in the 19th and first half of 20th century, China was hugely distracted by domestic politics. Protests against Qing dynasty and a period of anarchy in the period of warlords destroyed its economy. In the middle of the 19th century, China had the worst ever domestic conflict - Taiping Rebellion - where 20 million perished.
Having been a global superpower for most of the past 20 centuries, China's re-emergence should come as no surprise to any economic historian. With GDP growth expected to continue growing at a blistering pace, and with domestic consumption only accounting for a paltry 35% of GDP as compared to the 70% of the US, the peaceful rise of China would represent one of the greatest economic opportunities of the 21st century.