"Without the west China would also remain a feudal backwater."
When Europe was going through feudalism, China was generally much more advanced in technology.
Joseph Needham asserted that Europe's development depended significantly upon its readiness to learn from China,
though, of course, Western textbooks rarely, if ever, give the Chinese any credit for inspiring advances in the West.
_The Genius of China_ is a book of highlights from the continuing historical series _Science and Civilisation in China_
While pursuing the Republican nomination in the 2016 US Presidential campaign, Carly Florina (a former Hewlett-Packard CEO)
stated or implied that Chinese scientists and engineers were incapable of original or creative work--a popular belief in the USA.
In response, some ethnic Chinese scientists and engineers at Hewlett-Packard criticized her for her ignorance of their original or
creative work. Did Carly Florina imagine that all they could do was copy (or 'steal') the work of their superior white colleagues?
Yet Carly Florina (a white woman) was considered the best qualified person to lead Hewlett-Packard.