Almost a fifth population of the world resides in China and the country is home to eminent people. Forty years of economic growth at an average of nearly 10% per year has transformed the country into a leader around the world in manufacturing and technology.
China is the second most powerful economic country in the world trailing behind the United States and is larger if we take trades in the comparison. Below are the top 10 facts about why China is a superpower in the world today.
1. China is home to World’s Corporate Unicorns
In 2018, China had a total of 186 unicorn start-ups (Unicorns are companies that worth more than $1 billion), and it boosted 97 new unicorns, or one every 3.8 days, according to the South China Morning Post.
China is building a giant tech hub comprising 11 cities of the country to contest Silicon Valley. The Pearl River Delta, home to nearly 70 million people, will be united into a giant central city to be known as the Greater Bay Area.
2. China is a world leader in Artificial Intelligence
China is moving forward in technology faster than any other country as the Chinese businesses have filed 473 of the 608 Artificial Intelligence patents lodged with the World Intellectual Property Organisation last year and a third of all blockchain patents.
The Government of China is reportedly investing billions to support AI developers, including creating a $2 billion AI development park in Beijing.
3. China landed a space rover on the far side of the moon
Chang’e-4 its unmanned probe landed successfully in a large crater near the Moon’s South Pole in January to analyze the geology of an unexplored region. China’s National Space Agency called the landing “an important stride toward China being a strong country in space exploration”.
The mission carried experiments from the Netherlands, Germany, Sweden and Saudi Arabia. Missions to Mars and Jupiter, a manned Moon landing and a permanent Chinese space station are also planned as told by the officials.
4. China accounts for one-third of the world’s new vegetation planting
China accounts for a more than 25% of the human-caused greening observed since 2000, despite containing only 6.3% of the world’s landmass. Two-fifths comes from expanding its forests.
The Shandong Ecological Afforestation Project of China individually planted trees on 67,000 hectares of barren mountainous slopes and saline coast over five years, increasing the forest cover and improving biodiversity.
Last year, China created three sustainable development zones based on United Nations 2030 Sustainable Development Goals in Shenzhen, Guilin, and Taiyuan.
5. China is a world leader in renewable energy, but also in emissions
In 2018, China constructed more solar and wind electricity generating capacity than any other nation. Three of the world’s five largest floating solar plants are in China.
As the wealth of the nation grows, demand for electricity also grows and the International Energy Agency says the average Chinese household will use twice as much electricity by 2040 than it does today.
China is also the world’s biggest energy-related carbon dioxide emitter.
6. China has more than half of the Electric Cars in the world
Chinese drivers bought more than 1.2 million new electric cars last year and at the recent Shanghai Motor Show, Chinese car makers unveiled 10 new electric car models for 2019.
China makes more than half of the world’s vehicle batteries and prices are forecast to drop to the point where electric cars will be cheaper in China than that of fossil fuel-powered vehicles.
China is also home to 99% of the world’s electric bus fleet with 400,000 vehicles already on the roads. Shenzhen was the first city to replace all its buses and is now replacing all its taxis too.
7. Chinese Tourists are pushing the Global Tourism
Chinese tourists are exploring the globe the most and spending the most with the number of Chinese citizens taking foreign holidays is growing at over 6% a year and McKinsey forecasts 160 million will take holidays outside China next year.
In 2017, Chinese tourists spent a quarter of a trillion dollars abroad. One London station now announces departures in Mandarin as well as English.
8. China tops the BRIC countries in competitiveness
China ranked up at number 28 in the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Index scoring highly on investment in research and development, infrastructure and IT adoption.
China’s innovation score is among the highest in the world, trailing behind only Germany, the US, and Switzerland. But the Index says it needs to “improve performance on softer drivers of innovation, such as diversity, collaboration and various aspects of openness”.
9. China’s GDP is slowing, but still high
For years China has been connected with rapid growth, starting from the late 1970s the nation has averaged nearly 10% a year and 850 million people have been lifted out of poverty.
But, since the early segment of the decade, the growth has slowed as the economy has made a transition away from rapid, export-led growth towards domestic consumption.
By global standards, it’s still high, however – 6.3% in the latest IMF World Economic Outlook compared to a global average of 3.3%.
10. China is reaching close to end the gender gap but still very far
China’s progress towards gender parity slowed in 2018 and China was ranked 103 out of 149 countries in the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap report.
It did see marginal improvements in the share of women in parliament and has fully closed its gender gaps in professional and technical roles and women’s tertiary enrolment.
