After 1820, China’s total GDP began to shrink, and by 1870 it was less than half that of Western Europe. The country experienced a seemingly unending run of famines, rebellions, and humiliating defeats by external enemies. The worst catastrophe was the Taiping Rebellion (1850–1864), which has the sad distinction of being the bloodiest civil war in human history. How did China become the “Sick Man of East Asia,” and what accounts for its miraculous recovery in the past fifty years?
