The Great Divergence (aka the Industrial Revolution's impact on GDP) is the obvious candidate: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Divergence https://en.wikiped

The Great Divergence (aka the Industrial Revolution's impact on GDP) is the obvious candidate: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Divergence https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Divergence But the population of Europe at the time or even America is only a fraction of China's, and the speed of China's growth has been even more spectacular. It took Britain ~50 years to double GDP between 1840 and 1890: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Biaroch_European_GDP_per_capita_1830-1890.svg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Biaroch_European_GDP_per_... While China tripled their GDP/capita (both US$ and PPP) in a bit over 10: https://www.lowyinstitute.org/sites/default/files/interpreter-images/2012/1/120127-thirlwell-1.png https://www.lowyinstitute.org/sites/default/files/interprete...