How important is China to the world?

The official name of China is the People's Republic of China. 

The country has the largest population in the world: more than 1 billion and 400 million inhabitants in the third largest country territorially. It currently has the second largest economy on the planet, therefore…

… is a world power!

But, for you to understand the importance of this Asian giant, you need to know a little history.

From antiquity to today: a long journey

If we look at a graph from the birth of Christ, the China had the greatest generation of wealth until the 19th century. But this situation changed with the Opium War of 1839. 

A China tried to stop the opium trade, which came from England, to the Chinese.

The war was suffered, and although China was the country to invent gunpowder, it had not been included in the industrial revolution in Europe, so it had less firepower. 

A China fought against Japan between 1839 and 1949, and this became known as “the century of Chinese humiliation”.

The years of war caused the Asian nation to become, until the 1990s, 1990, one of the poorest countries in the world.

Between 1958 e 1961 The population experienced the great Chinese famine, the country was at a level of misery. 

The country prioritized the industrial revolution and left the population lacking food: thousands died, but the exact number is not known.

Em 1978 China underwent a political transformation and became a socialist economy: invested in factories, with extremely cheap labor.

With this, the China was responsible for 10% of all global production and became the world's factory. O TAX ID No grew and so did per capita income. 

Em 2013, the president Xi Jinping reflected on the tech, and realized that the country needed to invest in this to become competitive in the future.

Technology

The country began supporting four technology companies: Alibaba, Tencent, Baidu e Iflytek. And so it created a valuable ecosystem, as companies are committed to keeping technologies open to other Chinese companies.

In the West, companies implement very strong laws on data protection, which LGPD. 

Na China, companies have all the user data and no rules against it. Easier, right?

For some experts, data is the oil of the future. 

So, whoever has more information about citizens has the potential to build the next empires, if they do a good job.

Big Brother or Truman Show?

A China There are more than 400 million cameras with facial recognition technology spread across the streets, capable of identifying each person. The state is able to control the population's lives so that they follow the rules, as companies share citizens' data with the government. An effective system for public safety and compliance with traffic rules. 

Economy

Speaking of global economic power, the China It is behind the United States, but is considered the country that has grown the most economically in the last 25 years. Annually, the TAX ID No of the country grows by around 10%. The wealth there exceeds US$12 trillion. 

A China It is one of the best nations for foreign investment, according to the World Trade Organization. 

Ranking

• Largest exporter in the world 
• 3rd largest importer in the world.

In 2017 the China exported around US$2,41 trillion and imported US$1,4 trillion, according to the Economic Complexity Observatory. 

And what does China have to do with Brazil?

A China is increasingly relevant in the economy of Brazil, if considered the destination of Brazilian exports. The Asian giant generates around US$35 billion a year.

Exports from Brazil to China had an increase of 2.900%, compared to the beginning of the historical series, in 1997.

For Alexandre Ratsuo Uehara, PhD in political science from the University of São Paulo (USP) and professor of international relations at Faculdades Integradas Rio Branco (FRB), the growth of China It is sustainable in the medium and long term because the country has realized and combatted its own weaknesses. The professor spoke to Agência Senado about China's potential.

Still according to the scholar, the China It was known for products considered “disposable”, but today it provides value-added items with the development of its human resources. Uehara recalled that the country invests in the higher education system and technology at universities.

“A China appears among the top five partners in import and export, if we look at the main economies in the world. She is all over the world, owner of multinational brands that are part of our daily lives,” she adds.

Therefore, the professor considers it important for Brazil to include the relationship with China among foreign policy priorities.

Curto Explain: everything you need to know and are embarrassed to ask!😉

Click to see more explanatory content ⤴️

See also:

Fiscal deficit and surplus: what are they and how do government finances work?

The two terms frequently appear in the news, but not everyone knows their meanings. Knowing what deficit and surplus values ​​represent is useful for understanding how a country's accounting is doing. How is the government managing its resources? Are the goals being achieved or is the debt growing? O Curto News helps answer these and other questions.

Receive news and newsletters do Curto News by Telegram e WhatsApp.