The recent launch of China’s artificial intelligence (AI) app, DeepSeek, seems to have taken the world by surprise. Its American competitors, previously unchallenged in their AI dominance, saw their investors react with something akin to panic. Billions were wiped off stock values. Western media reports labeled it a “Sputnik moment”, referencing the first satellite launch that shocked the world in 1957 by displaying Soviet Union technological superiority over the United States.
For many of us, however, it was a surprise that the West was surprised. After all, China has more science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) graduates than anywhere else in the world. It also has approximately half of the world’s top AI researchers. Once the US slapped sweeping semiconductor export controls on China in 2023, it was only a matter of time before China’s AI boffins caught up with and surpassed those in America’s Silicon Valley. After all, necessity is the mother of invention, and AI was duly made a key target for development in Beijing’s “Made in China 2025” industrial policy. There’s a clear lesson here for US President Donald Trump: Imposing export controls (or sanctions or punitive tariffs) inevitably has unintended consequences.
Despite my lack of surprise at the remarkable advancement of AI in China, I remain completely in awe of the individual geniuses responsible for this technological wizardry. I’m of the generation that still marvels at the wonders of electricity, radio and television. Even the steam engine is a mystery to some of us. So while I don’t claim to understand AI, I applaud the achievements of those who do.
However, despite AI now seeming to be at the forefront of China’s economy, we should remind ourselves that China’s economic (and social) success is rooted not in cyberspace but in something much more basic — transport systems. Transport may not be as glamorous a topic as the magical world of AI, but it is at the very heart of China’s economic miracle.
Throughout history, transport has always been a major determinant of economic progress. Over 2,000 years ago, the construction of a well-built road network was central to the success of the Roman Empire. The purpose of its road-building program was a military one — to allow legions of troops to move quickly and efficiently from one part of the empire to another. However, a hugely beneficial side effect was the facilitation of trade, promoting economic growth and prosperity across the empire. Ironically, after being a key factor in 600 years of Roman domination, the military purpose of the roads ultimately backfired, with enemy armies taking advantage of the same roads to attack Roman settlements. Nevertheless, long after the fall of the Roman Empire, its road network survived, leaving valuable commercial trade routes as one of Rome’s greatest legacies.
However, despite AI now seeming to be at the forefront of China’s economy, we should remind ourselves that China’s economic (and social) success is rooted not in cyberspace but in something much more basic — transport systems. Transport may not be as glamorous a topic as the magical world of AI, but it is at the very heart of China’s economic miracle
This legacy has persisted ever since, with spurts in economic progress invariably being linked to transport infrastructure improvements. This was true in early 19th-century France, for example, when Napoleon Bonaparte emulated the Romans, seeing the same military and commercial value of constructing good-quality roads. Visitors to France will still recognize Napoleon’s trademark rows of “marching trees” on either side of his roads, intended to shelter troops (and traders) from the sun.
The military and economic dominance of the British Empire was also rooted in improved transport systems. The British Industrial Revolution of the 18th and 19th centuries was central to the expansion of the empire. It was facilitated by the creation across Britain of first a canal and then a rail network to transport the raw materials and manufactured goods of industry. Without this transport infrastructure, there would have been no industrial revolution, no manufacture of state-of-the-art military and naval hardware, no British Empire, and no economic boom.
It was a similar story in mid-20th-century America, with the vital importance of transport systems being recognized by then-president Dwight Eisenhower. His Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 was intended to create an interstate road network that would speed up the transportation of military supplies in the event of a land war on US soil. Its main effect, however, was to facilitate the shipment of goods throughout the country and increase connectivity between cities. It was the catalyst for the expansion of small local businesses, allowing them to become national conglomerates. Economically, this helped create a boom in manufacturing, and socially, it enabled Americans to move out of their cities into more pleasant suburban environments.
More recently, over the past 30 years, it is China that has been most successful in emulating the examples of the Roman Empire, Napoleonic France, the British Industrial Revolution and Eisenhower’s America. The key element in China’s rapid economic transformation has been the creation of a quality transport infrastructure as an essential prerequisite for economic growth.
From the 1990s onward, China has embarked on a major initiative to create a world-class road, rail, subway and port infrastructure across the country. In his book The Split, entrepreneur, Shaun Rein devotes a whole chapter to this remarkable development. At the heart of the initiative is China’s high-speed national rail network, with train speeds of up to 350 kilometers per hour. Rein highlights the scale of this achievement, pointing out that in China, 9,600 high-speed trains now run every day, compared with only 300 such trains in the US. There are over 5,500 train stations in China, covering the whole country and connecting with its 235 airports and 4,660 subway stations. Rein’s use of the phrase “technological marvel” for this fast, cheap, convenient and clean transport network is no exaggeration. Overall, the infrastructure spending on road, rail and airports has created a boom in manufacturing, services, job creation, internal trade and commuter-belt affordable housing. It has also helped bring greater connectivity and prosperity to China’s more-remote, poorer regions, including the Xizang autonomous region (known in the West as the Tibet autonomous region) and the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.
No doubt AI advances such as DeepSeek will continue to steal the headlines, but the foundations of China’s economic strength are rooted in its remarkable transport infrastructure. This is what connects the whole nation and provides the essential arteries for commerce, manufacturing, services, and social mobility. In the best traditions of the Roman Empire, Napoleonic France, the British Industrial Revolution, and Eisenhower’s post-war America, China has invested wisely in the most important form of AI — advanced infrastructure.
The author is a British historian and former principal of Sha Tin College, an international secondary school in Hong Kong.
The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.
