When reading the financial articles of a friend, he mentioned a book I had picked up at the University of Toronto Book sales, When China Rules the World. He was sceptical that this would come to pass.
I find myself fascinated that we may live to see which of the two most populous countries on earth - China and India - will have the greatest success. Most interesting, is trying to predict which of them might ultimately become the next Super Power.
A book titled Unnatural Selection describes the selection of boys in preference over girls which has taken place in both India and China. It is said that India has practiced infanticide against their girl children until a boy is born so that he might be the eldest child. Meanwhile the one child policy in China has also lead to boys being favoured over girls. The result of this is that there are currently a lot of single boys/men now in their 20's and few girls. This has distorted the demography and could seriously influence the reproductive cycle of the current, and perhaps also, later generations.
With China, the world will possibly be living with/under a Communist regime. For the first time in centuries, the world might need to learn a new language and writing to communicate and try and understand the dominant culture, as well as, a very different perspective on life.
India, meanwhile, is comprised of both a younger and more literate population, that shares a common language and a government more in keeping with that of previous Super Powers. Might these factors tip the balance in India's favour?
It will be interesting, if we live long enough, to see whether China's ageing population will surpass India's young one in being the next Super Power and which system the Communist or the Capitalist one will prove to be the most effective in making this possible.
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