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 Industrial Revolution in China
Britain was not the first place to have such a period of development, progress and open exchange. Karl Marx claimed that Britain's use of the compass, gunpowder and printing press allowed the country to undergo the industrial revolution. But nearly a thousand years earlier another civilisation across the world already used all of that technology. Between the years 960 and 1279, China's Song Dynasty came so close to industrialisation. In key areas of the economy, government, social structure and scientific investigation, Song China was as close to modernity as 18th century Europe.
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