Why the Scientfic and Industrial Revolutions bypassed China

Abstract

This chapter analyzes why China, before the modern era, was more advanced than the West in its economy, science, and technology but was then left far behind. Constant technological innovation and upgrading are the basis for a nation's long-term economic development. In premodern times, when invention was based mostly on the experience of peasants and craftsmen, China enjoyed an enormous advantage because of its large population. But that advantage disappeared with the Industrial Revolution in the West. Why? Because controlled experiments by scientists in labs replaced experience as the basis of invention. The precondition for the Industrial Revolution was the Scientfic Revolution, which featured mathematics and controlled experiments. The Scientific Revolution did not take place in China because its civil service system discouraged talented persons from acquiring the capacity for mathematics and controlled experiments. For the same reason, technological innovation in China failed to change from an experience-based model to a science- and experiment-based model. So, it was left far behind when the West made that shift. But that does not mean however that the Chinese did not have the capacity for industrial and scientfic revolution. In modern China the disincentive to learn mathematics and conduct controlled experiments has been removed, so China will again definitely contribute to scientfic and technological progress, as it did in the old days.