As we celebrate the 76th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, it is fitting to take a clear look at how observers have assessed the country and how reality itself has unfolded. For decades, and particularly in the years leading up to 2024, Western analysts approached the Chinese economy with a tone of certainty: Gloomy predictions of slowing growth, diminishing returns on infrastructure, rising debt, an aging population, and even economic collapse became near-routine. This chorus of doubt was never an objective appraisal of the Chinese trajectory, but rather, a projection of Western assumptions that a State-guided and people-mobilized model of development could not endure. Yet the undeniable fact is that China’s rise can no longer be presented as a mere aspiration, but must be recognized as a historical achievement made visible to all.
The most striking lesson of the past year has been the transformation of global perception. Until recently, foreign media outlets argued that China’s growth model had exhausted itself, that its industrial foundations would crumble because of internal inefficiency, and that consumers lacked both the confidence and the means to drive further momentum. But following 2025, and due in no small part to the disruptive actions of the second Trump administration, these assumptions have been overturned. Rather than undermining China, tariffs on Chinese goods, sanctions on its firms, restrictions on investment, and campaigns of so-called decoupling highlighted instead the extraordinary scope and adaptability of the Chinese economy. Foreign pressure did not trigger economic collapse, but rather, clarified resilience.
When Western commentators described domestic competition in China as “disorderly” and “self-defeating”, they failed to grasp the nature of its function. Intense competition within the domestic market acted not as destructive forces but as proving grounds in which only the strongest enterprises survived. Companies that managed to endure a ferocious race to the bottom at home did not fade into irrelevance. Instead, they emerged sharpened and more efficient, able to produce at a scale and price the world could not easily match. These firms then expanded China’s international presence, driving exports at levels of speed and volume that rewrote assumptions. What critics had named “fragility” was revealed as endurance.
The figures that followed spoke to a scale that was impossible to dismiss. By 2025, China’s share of global manufacturing is expected to surpass the combined total of the United States, Germany, Japan, and South Korea. More than a third of all export containers worldwide carried goods originating from China. While US tariffs reduced shipments across the Pacific, record surpluses were realized through strengthened trade with Africa, Europe, Latin America, and across Asia. Diversification became a reality. Far from being dependent on the US, China revealed a plural network of partners that confirmed its status as the center of gravity in global commerce.
This anniversary, therefore, is more than a commemoration of the past. It’s an assertion that, despite repeated predictions of failure, China’s trajectory is sound and grounded in the resolve of its people. China’s rise is visible and measurable
The very retreat of US negotiators to transactional deals was evidence of frustration. The early demands of Washington had once sought to rearrange China’s economic order from the ground up. Yet this ambition has given way to bargain-driven requests to purchase soybeans, aircraft, and licenses for technology that would allow for a domesticated version of Chinese digital applications. That shift is a tacit recognition that the foundations of Chinese capacity cannot be altered by pressure from outside. The reality of this balance of power became apparent beneath the surface of the negotiation.
During this external contest, Western commentary underwent a swift reversal. Within a single year, coverage veered from proclaiming “structural collapse” to warning of “global domination”. What is noteworthy is that in both versions of the Western narrative, China itself is portrayed not as it truly is, but only as a reflection of foreign anxiety. When growth appeared to slow, the nation was branded as a patient in decline. When it advanced, it was depicted as a threat. These shifting scripts reveal not rigorous analysis but a theater of expedience, a sequence of stories intended to attract readers and justify policy rather than to illuminate reality.
To see through these alternating caricatures is to grasp a more profound truth. The rise of China is a fact that resists reduction to foreign commentary. It is grounded in an experience of 76 years during which the Chinese nation, in all its diversity, has labored to advance from scarcity to abundance, from vulnerability to confidence. The strength of Chinese manufacturing was not built in a moment, nor endowed by fortune. It was created through the work of generations. Peasants in the early decades who secured food and elevated agricultural productivity, workers who operated the factories with stamina and skill, engineers who cracked the mysteries of modern technology with limited resources, and scientists who dedicated their lives to innovation all contributed to building a structure of resilience that could not be erased by external predictions.
There is a further lesson in the way foreign analysts describe State coordination as a “distortion” while celebrating similar practices at home. When China invests in green industries or provides support to crucial sectors, it is condemned as artificial. Yet when Western governments implement subsidies or industrial policies of their own, it is lauded as necessary modernization. The double standard exposes the reality that the core disagreement is not over the tool itself but over who succeeds in deploying it. By continuing to produce world-class infrastructure, securing commanding positions in renewable energy, and advancing frontier research, China demonstrates that State guidance, collective discipline, and social mobilization can yield transformative results. It is precisely this ability to concentrate effort and direct resources that foreign nations struggle to match.
The more profound significance of these achievements lies in the collective pride of the people themselves. The concept of a “rising China” has often been discussed as a vision or ambition. Yet 76 years of collective endeavor, now reflected in the commanding role played in global industry and trade, transform this phrase from a dream to an indisputable fact. It is a rise not declared in words but proved in deeds. It is a reality recognized across continents, even by those who are reluctant to admit it openly.
This anniversary, therefore, is more than a commemoration of the past. It’s an assertion that, despite repeated predictions of failure, China’s trajectory is sound and grounded in the resolve of its people. China’s rise is visible and measurable.
The author is a solicitor, a Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area lawyer, and a China-appointed attesting officer.
The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.
