Immediately prior to Mao however they had colonialism, the Opium Wars, the Boxer rebellion, civil war, invasion by the Japanese and WWII. They were a poor, war

Immediately prior to Mao however they had colonialism, the Opium Wars, the Boxer rebellion, civil war, invasion by the Japanese and WWII. They were a poor, war ravaged agrarian state. And in ~65 years the world's largest economy.