Fostering South Afria's Future: The Training of Second-Language Journalists in English-Language Newspapers (2004)

Undergraduate: James Whitlock III

Faculty Advisor: Ralph Byrns
Department: Economics

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China, a country home to over twenty percent of the world's population, has a civilization dating back to second millennium B.C. A precocious people, the Chinese invented the printing press, gunpowder, and the compass. Over a millennium before Remus leapt over the wall Romulus constructed, China had a centralized government and an empire. The Chinese enjoyed unchallenged military power, economic might, scientific accomplishment, and cultural sophistication. However, China, unlike her Western contemporaries, displayed little interest in the world beyond her geographic boundaries. She never explored the oceans or established a global colonial network. She was content to mature in isolation. However, beginning in the nineteenth century, China suffered from civil wars, major famines, military defeats, and foreign occupation. The West conquered and humiliated China, while the world watched as the illusion of Chinese superiority completely dissipated. The Middle Kingdom could no longer pretend it was a hegemony, let alone the center of the universe. Furthermore, after being trampled by 'foreign devils', the Chinese were forced to acknowledge that not only had they lost their absolute advantage, but that the very existence of China was left in the hands of these 'barbarians'. Why did China not only lose her remarkable advantage, but also fall dramatically behind the West? And, what does this decline imply about China's potential for future economic growth?