Why the Industrial Revolution didn't happen in China

Why the Industrial Revolution didn't happen in China

To economic historians like Joel Mokyr, there's nothing inevitable about the incredible wealth and health of the modern world. But for a spark in a little corner of Europe that ignited the Industrial Revolution - which spread incredible advances in technology and living standards first across the north Atlantic coast in the 1700 and 1800s and gradually around the world - we could all be living the nasty, brutish and short lives of our ancestors centuries before.

washingtonpost.com