China got there @$$ handed to them by the lowly island of Japan back in the day.
They would still be a province of The Japs if we didn't nuke them
For over a thousand years China was the most powerful and technically advanced country in the world. It is inevitable that they will once again reclaim that position. The past two hundred years of their history has been an anomaly. China would crush Japan today in warfare. Japan at its strongest fought in China for years and couldn't defeat them even when the Chinese were completely disorganized and weak.