I think there are economic factors under the play, although it will be more subtle than just a plain comparison of “alleged GDP per capita”.
I recall that both China and the Middle East went through a process of “de-industrialisation“ from the European High Middle Ages to the Early Modern period. Essentially both China and the Middle East started substituting machines for simple human labour, causing cranes, water mills, etc to become rarer over time.
And strangely enough a study showed that when this was happening there was little difference in real wages between Western Europe and the Middle East (so the substitution of capital with labour was not due to low wgaes), and I guess China won’t be too different in this regard.
Why did this happen is beyond me, I think susceptibility to nomadic raid/invasion was mentioned.
I think there are economic factors under the play, although it will be more subtle than just a plain comparison of “alleged GDP per capita”.
I recall that both China and the Middle East went through a process of “de-industrialisation“ from the European High Middle Ages to the Early Modern period. Essentially both China and the Middle East started substituting machines for simple human labour, causing cranes, water mills, etc to become rarer over time.
And strangely enough a study showed that when this was happening there was little difference in real wages between Western Europe and the Middle East (so the substitution of capital with labour was not due to low wgaes), and I guess China won’t be too different in this regard.
Why did this happen is beyond me, I think susceptibility to nomadic raid/invasion was mentioned.