Innovation Nation

Long known as the world ’s manufacturing powerhouse ,China's latest foray into technology-heavy sectors such as space exploration and automobiles is heralding the dawn of a new era.

- Tom O’Malley

WHEN THE QIANLONG EMPEROR RECEIVED GEORGE MACARTNEY, BRITAIN’S FIRST ENVOY TO CHINA, IN CHENGDE IN 1793, HE MADE QUITE CLEAR WHAT HE THOUGHT ABOUT TRADING GOODS AND IDEAS WITH BRITAIN:

“Our Celestial Empire possesses all things in prolific abundance and lacks no product within its borders. There is, therefore, no need to import the manufactures of outside barbarians in exchange for our own produce.”

As his nation had given the world paper, printing, gunpowder, and the compass, and could boast an illustrious civilisation stretching back millennia, Qianlong had justification to be dismissive of the European advances.

But had he taken a different tack, the next couple of centuries might have panned out differently for China. Unknown to the man known as the Son of Heaven, 8,000km away in England, vast new factories were employing power looms and moving from water mills to steam engines. Production was soaring; iron-making technology was leaping forward. The Industrial Revolution was forging ahead at full steam, its technological benefits affecting every aspect of society and reverberating throughout Europe, and later, the US.

China, meanwhile, stood still. Its economy declined in the final years of the Qing Dynasty. And so followed protracted decades of war, hardship and upheaval.