What was the quality of the ancient chinese economic system?

Question

- how long did their economy last?

-did they have an economy to even speak of?

- who lead it?

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i would also like to know the same things posted above about; egypt, greece, and or any other cicilizations... ty

Answer 1

According to some Western and Indian sources, China was the largest economy on earth for most of the recorded history of the past two millennia.

The Financial Times noted that "China has been the world’s largest economy for 18 of the past 20 centuries", while according to The Economist, "China was not only the largest economy for much of recorded history, but until the 15th century, it also had the highest income per capita — and was the world’s technological leader."

As recently as 1820, China accounted for 33% of the world's GDP. Barely a hundred years later, the tables had turned. By the early part of twentieth century, China accounted for only 9% of world's GDP. The primary explanation for the relative eclipse of China lies in the fact that the industrial revolution of the nineteenth century, which made Europe and then America rich, almost completely bypassed China.

Answer 2

Do you read chinese? If you do, you may want to refer to the classic text:《史记》one of the last chapter on 货殖列传. It's a very short chapter, but already reflect how well the Chinese understood how the economy work since ancient times. Pretty interesting. Roughly read through, and realize that fundamental concepts like demand and supply are already discussed.