139. Why China Should Have Industrialised First!: The Song Dynasty and the Industrial Revolution (English Vocabulary Lesson)
Thinking in English
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The Ming Dynasty
China didn't industrialise until the middle of the 20th century, literally a thousand years after the Song dynasty. Why was China not the first industrial country? According to Johann Norberg, it was a problem of politics. The Mongols even introduced new improvements learned from their territories across Asia, the Middle East and Eastern Europe. Then the Bubonic Plague, also known as the Black Death, killed millions of people around the world,. It ended international trade, and caused the loss of much of China's wealth. Some historians have described it as an anti-modern revolution. People were not allowed to leave their hometowns or cities. Citizens were forced to wear traditional clothes from 500 years earlier.
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