The so-called "GDP" is the gross domestic product, which refers to the final result of the production activities of all permanent units in a country (or region) calculated according to the national market price in a certain period of time, and is often recognized as the best indicator of the country's economic situation. Therefore, GDP is also an important comprehensive statistical indicator in the accounting system.
Many friends who understand economics like to use the technical term "GDP" to explain the problem, but they do not know that the economic level reflected by GDP is very one-sided.
In the case of old China, China's GDP in 1936 was several steps higher than Japan's, but the judgment of the strength of the two countries was the same: Japan was stronger than China. It can be seen that a high GDP does not mean that the country is strong.
According to the British economist Madison, from the seventeenth century until the beginning of the nineteenth century, the economy of the Great Qing Dynasty remained at a relatively excellent level. For one hundred and twenty years after 1700, China's GDP continued to dominate the world and its share of the world continued to rise.
However, when Britain carried out the industrial revolution and spread to Europe and the United States, China did not conform to this development momentum (the harm of closing the country), but still stayed in the backward handicraft and agricultural era. At this time, the gap in national strength between China and other countries is not reflected in the GDP data.
When historians evaluate the history of the late Qing Dynasty, they always use the four words "poor and weak", but in fact, they are not precise. According to the data given by world economists in recent decades, even in the late Qing Dynasty, when its national strength was weakest, the Qing Dynasty was still one of the world's largest economies, and the title of China's first GDP was only taken away by the United States after 1890.
To be precise, China lost the "world's first GDP" after the signing of the Maguan Treaty.
So, can we say that China was a great power until 1895?
Obviously impossible.
Since 1840, the Great Qing Dynasty has tasted the suffering of isolation in foreign wars, and has lost its dignity and sovereignty in the continuous indemnity of land. According to statistics, in the past fifty years, the Qing Dynasty has surrendered one-tenth of the land to people, and its international influence has been so low that it has been terrible. In any sense, such a state cannot be linked to a "great power".
In the two decades after 1890, although the late Qing Dynasty experienced the most painful period of history, its GDP was still second in the world after the United States. Until 1950, when China had experienced many years of war, its GDP remained at the fifth highest level in the world. According to the theories of some economists now, China was one of the world's largest economies until this period, but no country regarded it as a great power.
After the end of World War I, the great powers expressed their intention to transfer sovereignty over the Shandong region to Japan during the conference. In the course of this meeting, none of the great powers spoke from China's side, nor did anyone consider that China was also on the side of the "victorious powers." From this, it can be seen that China was not respected at that time, at least no country regarded China as an economic power with a high GDP.
In the 1920s, there were still literati who did not know it, and described old China as a powerful country with "vast land and vast things" in the article. For this argument, Mr. Lu Xun's evaluation is very precise:
"If you are a lion, it is okay to boast about how fat you are, but if it is a pig or a sheep, it is not a good sign to be fat."
Why, then, did China's status as an "economic powerhouse" not live up to its name until after liberation? Let's take a look at a sentence in "The Rise and Fall of Great Powers":
The total economic output (including the GDP we mentioned above) is not much sense, and the total production of hundreds of millions of peasants is enough to dwarf the total production of five million workers, but the material produced by the peasants is "produced and sold by themselves", so there is no surplus wealth or military power.
Why did Britain suddenly become a world power in 1850?
It is because the country has an industrial base for wealth creation that it reaps benefits.
According to the calculations of this book, Britain's pig iron and coal production accounted for one-half of the world's production at that time, and industrial productivity was equivalent to 40% of the world's total. What was The level of industrialization in China at that time?
According to the data, the level of industrialization of the Qing Dynasty at that time was only one-fifteenth that of Britain. It is obvious to look at the strength of the two countries using these data, but if we look at GDP alone, we would fallacy. You know, At that time, China's GDP was seven times that of Britain, and even after the end of the Opium War, China's GDP still crushed Britain. However, significant GDP did not change the situation, and the British and French allies remained unscrupulous in the Yuanmingyuan.
What was missing in the Qing Dynasty?
In addition to spiritual ideas, transportation conditions and modern industry are places where the Qing Dynasty lagged behind the world powers. Most of those dazzling GDP were used in royal gardens and works of art treasured by the royal family. It is conceivable that if all the funds for the construction of the Summer Palace, the Yuanmingyuan and even the summer resort are invested in the development of modern industry, the Qing Dynasty will easily become a modern power.
It should be known that the human, material, and financial resources invested by the rulers of the Qing Dynasty in this regard were enough to affect the world pattern. Ironically, instead of giving the Manchus self-esteem, these riches became the most vulnerable shortcomings of the Qing government.
Resources:
【The Rise and Fall of Great Powers", "Comparison of World GDP during the Qing Dynasty"】