Three Opportunities that China Lost during the First Wave of Globalization

Abstract

Four centuries after Columbus voyage witnessed the first wave of globalization. During this period Europeans took the lead of globalization and modernization, while China lost precious historical opportunities of globalization, which resulted in the situation in which China remained at a standstill of feudalism. Zheng He voyage is earlier in time and broader in scale than Columbus voyage and Vasco da Gama voyage, however it is Columbus voyage but not Zheng He voyage that is the indication of the beginning of the age of globalization. Portugal, Spain and the Netherlands are three marine powers in the world that rose the earliest in the modern world history. Chinese marine groups of merchants during the Ming Dynasty fought against the Portuguese, Spaniards and Dutchmen in the East and South China Sea and overwhelmed them, but groups of Chinese marine merchants failed at last under pincer attacks of Chinese governments and Western marine colonial powers. Moreover, the communication between China and Western countries and the integration of Chinese culture and Western culture during the end of the Ming Dynasty and the beginning of the Qing Dynasty failed either. We should draw instructive and severe lessons of the opportunities China lost during the first wave of globalization.