How come china was so poor in the 19-20 th. century. China had 2-percent of the WORLD -GDP in 1980. do you know ?

4 Answers
- 7 months agoFavorite Answer
Maybe you didn't know but China was dominated by Japan leading up to World War II. The Japanese were ruthless and stole China's coal, oil and other resources. After the defeat of the Japanese by the United States, the anti-Japan resistance group under Mao took control of China by force and set up a communist society. This was not a fruitful economic system. Millions died of starvation and were put to death during political purges. In 1997 the United Kingdom turned Hong Kong over to the Communist Chinese. The communists did not impose communism on Hong Kong but allowed it to continue to be a lucrative center for free trade. Using the riches of Hong Kong, Communist China was able to finance a more normal, somewhat prosperous nation.
- samLv 67 months ago
yes, they transformed into a more capitalistic system and are kicking america's A$$
- Rona LachatLv 77 months ago
Decades of external and internal war.
Then decades of building the neglected infrastructure and industrial base to take advantage of the already large educational resources.
- HenryLv 57 months ago
Because they get to make all our stuff now and take our debts and prop up Walmart and Amazon now.