Blade Runner Cities and Shark Fin Soup - how China is changing the world at lightning speed

 

China eyes the world

China's huge workforce and abundant natural resources have driven massive economic change.

China has the world's largest standing army and second-largest defense budget. They've currently got the Pentagon and Japan very worried about their activities in the South China Sea.

China is the second largest economy in the world, after the United States of America. It overtook Japan's back in 2010.

China was humiliated for many years by the Western powers, especially Britain. Now China controls much of the British economy and is geared up to build its next generation of nuclear power stations.

Hong Kong has more skyscrapers than any other city in the world. Think Blade Runner without the gloom - and androids.

In 2003, China became the third country to successfully send a person to space.

In the last 20 years, China has changed faster than any other country in the world.

The Chinese love of shark fin soup is decimating global shark populations.

Traditional Chinese medicine is wiping out the last remaining tigers, rhinos and elephants on Earth.