The Song dynasty in China developed many of the major social and technical innovations we associate with industrialization - paper currency, gunpowder, movable type printing, etc. However, the Song ultimately got stomped in by various northern barbarians, and any nascent industrial revolution that may have existed ultimately failed to take off.
Assuming, for the sake of argument, that the Song were capable of industrializing, and that they do so while holding off the Mongols, Khitan, etc, what are the long term consequences for the world?
My questions are basically twofold:
What does an absolutely economically and militarily dominating "Chinese Empire" (as it would be unbelievably dominant if it was the center of the industrial revolution) look like? It might be checked by some neighbors adopting similar technologies (e.g. Japan), but for example China could easily stretch its tendrils down to Australia or up to Alaska. Would it? Historically China hasn't had much interest in that kind of conquest because it's such a huge, rich, populous, well-educated country and its neighbors mostly sucked in comparison, though industrialization could change the calculus.
Secondly, what are the consequences for European empires? A Song industrial revolution would leave the Song dynasty in a position of enormous technological superiority assuming it goes anything like our own very early, historically speaking. Prevailing currents and disease give Europeans a leg up on native Americans, but will those sorts of empires still manifest in such a world? Would a scramble for Africa occur? Conquest of India?
Assuming, for the sake of argument, that the Song were capable of industrializing, and that they do so while holding off the Mongols, Khitan, etc, what are the long term consequences for the world?
My questions are basically twofold:
What does an absolutely economically and militarily dominating "Chinese Empire" (as it would be unbelievably dominant if it was the center of the industrial revolution) look like? It might be checked by some neighbors adopting similar technologies (e.g. Japan), but for example China could easily stretch its tendrils down to Australia or up to Alaska. Would it? Historically China hasn't had much interest in that kind of conquest because it's such a huge, rich, populous, well-educated country and its neighbors mostly sucked in comparison, though industrialization could change the calculus.
Secondly, what are the consequences for European empires? A Song industrial revolution would leave the Song dynasty in a position of enormous technological superiority assuming it goes anything like our own very early, historically speaking. Prevailing currents and disease give Europeans a leg up on native Americans, but will those sorts of empires still manifest in such a world? Would a scramble for Africa occur? Conquest of India?