Japan was a highly industrialized and highly educated country that happened to be down in the dumps 50 years ago due to WWII. For instance, the city I live in

Japan was a highly industrialized and highly educated country that happened to be down in the dumps 50 years ago due to WWII. For instance, the city I live in (Shizuoka) was pretty much obliterated by napalm. Then they rebuilt. China's not rebuilding anything---they're building up a modern economy pretty much for the first time.