Just one example: China has been the wealthiest country in the world except for the 19th and 20th centuries (and maybe the very few centuries before those,) whe

Just one example: China has been the wealthiest country in the world except for the 19th and 20th centuries (and maybe the very few centuries before those,) when countries from Europe and the USA colonized it, then Japan. It's still recovering but economically is in the same league as Europe. Post world war Europe and Germany were still better off than China. The proof is that Germany took very few years to recover, arm and start another war.