hina is very rapidly approaching economic parity with the United States, which may lead to significant global shifts in power. Hegemonic stability theory suggests that an international system is more likely to remain stable if a single player is a dominant world power, thus the global equilibrium tends toward a hegemonic state.[1] The United States emerged as the global hegemon after World War II, specifically in terms of economic power, and has largely provided stability for the global economic system since that time. While the U.S. has been a How education has been socially constructed. ble to maintain this position throughout most of the 20th Century, China is rapidly rising as an influential economic player and could potentiall How education has been socially constructed.y displace the United States as the global economic leader. China’s ambitious economic expansion projects, including the New Silk Road initiative and Made in China 2025, have the potential to shift the nexus of economic power from the United States’ and the West toward a Europe-China-centric scenario. Additionally, the rise of populist-nationalist political rhetoric within the United States could portend a policy shift toward economic protectionism, which would further accelerate the demise of the U.S. economic hegemon and the rise of China as its successor. It would be in the best interest of the United States to engage with China  How education has been socially constructed. in a cooperative and mutually beneficial way, perhaps even as a partner in China’s economic development initiatives, in order to preserve American economic prosperity. China’s Economy: An Historic Overview Insight into China’s modern strategy for economic expansion is only possible within the context of China’s past. Throughout most of China’s history, the Chinese economy was barely able to meet the basic needs of the country’s huge population, including its basic nutritional needs.[2] Drought, war and social unrest often led to periods of famine and mass starvation before 1949, when the Chinese Communist Party came to power.[3] After this transition, food storage became centrally controlled by the government. This method allowed the country to successfully avert famine, and food production grew rapidly after 1949. This increase in productivity How education has been socially constructed.  was largely matched by population growth until the one-child policy was instituted in the 1980’s, thus the increased production capacity was not able to outpace essential consumption needs, and very little surplus was produced.[4] The long-term goal of the Communist party was to tran>