China Becomes World's Second Largest Economy

This Valentine's Day China officially became the world's second largest economy finally beating out Japan for the spot. China had been slowly climbing to the top for several years, so it was an inevitable thing that economists were not surprised about. China even has a faster growth rate than the U.S., which leaves people to question when it will take the top spot. China has been able to raise its economy to the top since its switch to a capitalist economy for a very simple reason. They have a cheap work force that makes lots of cheap goods. China is not a developed nation and therefore can pay their workforce far less than those of developed nations who also produce lots of products. Yet their rise due to this is what is slowly making them not be able to have this advantage. The more that China's economy develops, the more their middle lass grows and eventually the more they will have to pay their work force. Already companies are moving their factories to places like Indonesia and Cambodia form China because wages are lower. Eventually China will have to change from making things cheap for cheap to making more quality products that will cost more on the world market. As their economy becomes fully developed, they will no longer be able continue the way that they are now, because of the need to pay everyone more. Overall, China's ascent to number two will mean the slow of their steamroll, but will ultimately lead to more quality goods and services paired with the increased standard of living for the work force of China.

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