Why the Industrial Revolution didn’t happen in China

For economist historians like Joel Mokyr, incredible wealth and health in the modern world is inevitable. But a small European spark ignited the industrial revolution - it first spread the amazing progress in technology and living standards on the North Atlantic coast.

If you are at the cutting edge of an important revolution like science and industrial revolution, what does it mean? It was not clear when the revolution took place. When James Watt started the industrial revolution in the steam engine in 1775, everyone said, "This is the day when everything is changing." Of course, when Noyce and Kilby invented integrated circuits in 1958, the idea of ​​producing 10 to 18 pentagonal transistors a year seems silly.

What happened in 2008 was the end of the industrial era. The industrial revolution began with the steam engine in the early 18th century, maturing from the 19th century to the early 20th century until the industrial era and the world economy connected electronically emerged in the latter half of the 20th century. By that time production materials (ie factories) began to integrate with computerized robots and redefined the whole concept of "industry". Historians can easily pick the beginning of the 1980s as the end of the industrial era. This is an era of shocking economic change, when the big industrial world dominated by the industrial powers of America suddenly went bankrupt. Not only are thousands of people working faithfully for these industry giants unemployed, they have no promised retirement plans.