In the West we had glass - glasses to see with and therefore people able to read/write into old age. This was an important advantage, we could learn from the wr

In the West we had glass - glasses to see with and therefore people able to read/write into old age. This was an important advantage, we could learn from the writings of our elders and our old folk could still learn and research even if they had poor eyesight. Meanwhile, in China, they had 'china' instead of glass to make stuff with. The China that existed before the Communists took over had this absurd foot binding practice that took 50% of the working population off the 'job market'. Meanwhile, in the West, women did most of the harder work, with their children in cottage industries that pre-dated the full on Industrial Revolution. Selling opium to China probably didn't help with their economic development either.