扒车喵西方历史学家说：中国几乎在每个时代都处于世界国家的顶端，即使陷入低谷，也可以触底反弹，重回巅峰。在美版知乎Quora上，印度网友提问道：中国算是一个强国吗？该问题一经提出，就引来各国网友的围观和热议，我们来看看他们的观点。
问题：中国算是个强国吗？
美国专家格雷格•凯姆尼兹的回答
Once, in a Harvard class, I answered a hypothetical question: if Israel and China go to war, who will win? I replied without hesitation that China could easily crush Israel if they wanted, but China is a civilized and friendly country, and he would not do so. However, this has greatly dissatisfied Israel’s hardcore nationalists, who believe that they can destroy China as long as Israel wants.
有一次，在哈佛的课堂上我回答了一个假设性的问题，如果以色列和中国开战，谁将获胜？我毫不犹豫地回答道，如果他们愿意，中国可以轻而易举地粉碎以色列，但中国是一个文明友好的国家，他不会这样做。然而，这却令以色列的铁杆狂热民族主义者大为不满，他们认为只要以色列愿意，他们可以摧毁中国。
Based on these people’s lack of understanding of the real world, I think we can explain this problem, especially for some nationalists.
基于这些人缺乏对现实世界的理解，我认为可以就这个问题做一个解释，尤其是对某些民族主义者。
I have studied Chinese before and read books about China. I deeply understand that China is not so simple.
我以前学过中文，读过关于中国的书，深深了解到，中国并不那么简单。
China is not just like this:
中国不仅仅是这样的：
还是这样的：
They are a country with strong economic and political power. The history of their empire in the past thousands of years is impressive! In ancient times, their total economic output accounted for more than 60% of the world all year round.
他们是一个拥有强大的经济和政治力量的国家。他们过去数千年的发展历程令人印象深刻，他们曾经拥有世界上最大的帝国，秦汉帝国、唐帝国和明清帝国！在古代他们的经济总量常年占世界的60%以上。
In ancient times, China also conquered many territories through bloody invasion and cruel conquest, such as Annan and other countries in the western regions, making them part of China. They also traded with many countries in the NGA sea and subdued the whole world.
古代中国王朝还通过血腥入侵和残酷征服征服了许多领土，如安南，西域诸国，使其成为中国的一部分，他们还与许多国家进行贸易，恩加海内，威服四海。
But there must be times of weakness. China became weak in the Song Dynasty, and then was conquered by the Mongols. The Qing Dynasty was defeated in the Opium War, and then gradually lagged behind the west, which also created a series of humiliating events since modern times.
但肯定也有软弱的时候。中国在宋朝时期变得衰弱，后来被蒙古人征服，清朝在鸦片战争中战败，后来逐渐落后于西方，也造就了近代以来一系列的耻辱事件。
At that time, China completely collapsed, surrounded by wolves, weak countries had no diplomacy, and a large number of Chinese emigrated overseas. They became foreigners in the eyes of today’s Chinese people. From 1945 to 1949, China was left with devastated rivers and mountains:
那时的中国彻底崩溃了，群狼环伺，弱国无外交，有大量中国人移民海外，他们在今天的中国人眼里都成了外国人。1945年至1949年之后，留给中国的是满目疮痍的河山：
家园破碎
Therefore, the Chinese people have always remembered the tragedy and shame before 1949: this period caused huge material and human losses. The United States replaced China as the only global power. Due to geopolitical influence, they were isolated from the global front until 1978.
因此，中国人一直铭记1949年之前的悲剧与耻辱：这一时期造成了巨大的物质和人员损失，美国取代中国成为唯一的全球大国，由于地缘政治影响，导致他们在1978年之前一直与全球阵线隔绝。
Later, Chinese leaders realized that China could not compete with the world by isolating itself and covering up its shame. What they want is to restore China’s power and political strength and free trade and exchanges with countries around the world. Later, through the efforts of the Chinese people, we saw an earth shaking China.
后来中国高层意识到，中国无法通过孤立自己、掩盖耻辱来与世界竞争。他们想要的是：恢复中国的权力和政治实力，与世界各国自由贸易和交往。后来通过中国人民的努力，我们看到了一个翻天覆地的中国。
This is China in the 1980s:
这是20世纪80年代的中国：
Did you see? A relatively poor China.
看到了吗？一个相对贫穷的中国。
It is no longer their cowardly and old-fashioned opponent that the Americans are trying to expand their real strength to a higher level. I suspect that these Israeli nationalists are still living in their fictional world. They should wake up from the illusion.
我们美国人面对的是一个真正的对手，他不再是古板的、懦弱的、贫穷的中国，他们正在试图把自己的力量扩大到一个更高的水平。我怀疑这些以色列民族主义者仍然生活在他们虚构的世界中，他们应该从幻觉中醒来。
There are many reasons why China has been reborn and become extremely powerful:
中国脱胎换骨，变得异常强大的原因有很多：
China is not Russia. Although Russia has rich natural resources, its economy has long been stagnant, heavily dependent on military forces, and its economic scale is very small. China is different: it is not only growing at a high speed, but also reflected at all levels. It has a huge economic scale, growing political power, huge amount of funds, strong military power and influential cultural soft power, which are being exported to the world.
中国不是俄罗斯，尽管俄罗斯拥有丰富的自然资源，但它的经济早已陷入停滞，严重依赖军事力量，经济规模非常小。中国则不同：它不仅在高速增长，而且体现在各个层面上，它拥有庞大的经济规模，不断增长的政治权力，巨量的资金，强大的军事力量，颇具影响力的文化软实力正在面向全世界输出。
China has great economic influence and increasing investment. China announced one belt, one road plan, Making friends with Iran and Russia, fall over each other to fight against the US led western governance system. Many Chinese sponsors also vie for the FIFA World Cup, which shows that China is not a country that can be easily handled.
中国有着巨大的经济影响力和不断增加的投资。他们宣布“一带一路”计划，与伊朗和俄罗斯交好，对抗以美国为首的西方治理体系，许多中国赞助商也在FIFA世界杯上争先恐后，这表明中国并不是一个可以轻易对付的国家。
China has a long diplomatic history. The five thousand year history of foreign struggle has taught them how to formulate foreign policies that are independent without falling into isolation, vertical and horizontal, in order to achieve their games and goals, which trump cannot understand. Of course, his supporters and Israeli nationalists cannot understand.
中国有着悠久的外交历史。五千年的对外斗争史，让他们知道如何制定外交政策，既独立自主又不至于陷入孤立，合纵连横，以实现他们的游戏和目标，这是特朗普无法理解的，当然他的支持者，以色列民族主义者也无法理解。
China has a higher degree of industrialization and more advanced technology. Now, although the United States still has the upper hand, if we do not act quickly, we will encounter big trouble.
中国的工业化程度更高，技术也益加先进，现在，美国虽然仍占上风，但如果不迅速采取行动，我们将遇到大麻烦。
That’s why China has become as powerful as it is today. Anyone who still believes that he can humiliate China as he did in 1840 should be ashamed of his ignorance. We need to take China seriously, otherwise we will lose the competition of great powers.
这就是为什么中国会变得像今天这样强大。任何仍然相信自己可以像1840年那样羞辱中国的人都应该为自己的无知而羞愧，我们需要认真对待中国，否则我们将输掉大国角力的这场比赛。
英国网友Ray Comeau的回答
There is no doubt that China is now the second largest country on earth, not Russia, let alone India.
毫无疑问，中国现在是地球上第二强国，不是俄罗斯，更不是印度。
China is the world’s second largest economy. It has the second or third largest army. It has a population of 1.4 billion and has the highest average IQ. In the near future, China is indeed the only country that challenges us hegemony. Russia has a strong military power (conventional military power is not even as good as China, and China is making progress at an alarming rate. There are numerous examples in this regard), but Russia’s economy is far from that of China.
中国是全球第二大经济体，它拥有第二或第三强大的军队，它有14亿人口，平均智商最高。在不久的将来，中国确实是唯一一个挑战美国霸权的国家。俄罗斯拥有强大的军事力量（常规军事力量甚至不如中国，中国正在以惊人的速度取得进步，这方面的例子不胜枚举），但俄罗斯的经济与中国相去甚远。
China is also investing in projects around the world, some of which are large-scale. In the future, China’s GDP will exceed that of the United States (about 10 years), which will naturally invest more in military spending. I don’t think China will surpass the US military just because it doesn’t want to be a global “policeman”. Even now, China’s military spending still accounts for about 2% of its GDP, while the U.S. military spending is about 3.3%.
中国还在世界各地投资项目，其中一些项目规模巨大。在未来，中国的GDP将超过美国（大约10年），这自然会投入更多的军费开支。我认为中国不会仅仅因为不想成为全球“警察”就超越美国军队。即使是现在，中国在军事上的支出仍占其GDP的2%左右，而美国在军事上的支出约为3.3%。
Therefore, in about 10-15 years, the world will become multipolar, and the United States and China will become two major powers and take the lead. In the foreseeable future, China will have a larger GDP, while the United States may have greater soft power, and China may even lead slightly.
因此，在大约10—15年后，世界将变得多极化，美国和中国将成为两个主要大国并处于领先地位。在可预见的未来，中国将拥有更大的GDP规模，而美国可能拥有更大的软实力，中国甚至可能略微领先。
Other countries, such as Russia and India, may catch up with the United States and China in the new multipolar world. If they want to achieve this goal, unless they can achieve revolutionary progress or unprecedented retrogression between China and the United States.
其他国家，如俄罗斯和印度，可能会在新的多极化世界中赶超美国和中国，如果他们想实现这一目标，除非能够实现革命性的进步或中美会发生史无前例的倒退。
The concept of asking how “powerful” a country is is absurd in itself. China is leading the production and circulation of global goods. It can be compared with the north and South in the American Civil War. The North dominated the industrial production process, while the South was mainly agriculture. Because of this, the production capacity of the North was able to catch up with the South and create a more effective war machine.
问一个国家有多“强大”这个概念本身就是荒谬的。中国正在主导全球商品的生产和流通。可以将其与美国内战中的北方和南方进行比较，北方主导了工业生产流程，而南方主要是农业。正因为如此，北方的生产能力才得以赶超南方，创造出一台更有效的战争机器。
Similarly, with the strengthening of China’s dominant position in production and circulation, the market and important resources will be controlled by China. Coupled with a huge population, standardized and self-discipline professional ethics and abundant natural resources, China is fully capable of dominating the global market.
类似地，随着中国在生产流通中主导地位的加强，市场和重要资源将受到中国的控制，再加上庞大的人口数量、规范自律的职业道德和丰富的自然资源，中国完全有能力主宰全球市场。
If China’s military strength is still in the midst of the cold war, it is likely that China’s military strength will be overwhelmed by the current US military strength.
如果美国仍陷于冷战思维或质疑中国的军事实力，认为目前美国很可能会在战争中压倒中国，可以恢复昔日制造业的荣光，那么美国就危险了。
On the contrary, if China follows the development path of European and American countries and pursues prosperity and wealth at home and abroad, its citizens are eager to demand greater personal wealth and equality. Over time, the demographic dividend will disappear, which will lead to the decline of the competitiveness of China’s manufacturing industry. Then, the global market will be taken over by more economical manufacturing centers such as Southeast Asia, Africa and India, and China will enter roughly the same situation as the United States. This is a global trend.
相反，如果中国追随欧美国家的发展路径，在国内外追求繁荣和财富，他的公民渴望要求更大的个人财富和平等，随着时间的推移，人口红利消失，这将导致中国制造业竞争力下降。然后，全球市场将被东南亚、非洲和印度等更经济的制造业中心接管，中国将步入与美国大致相同的处境。这是一种全球性的趋势。
When Donald Trump talks about making the United States great again, he refers to the memory of the 1940s and 1950s, when the United States had just ended World War II and was dominant in global manufacturing. This dominance is the result of a series of unique environmental impacts.
当唐纳德·特朗普谈到让美国再次伟大时，他指的是对20世纪四五十年代的追忆，当时美国刚刚结束第二次世界大战，处于全球制造业主导地位。这种主导地位是一系列独特环境影响的结果。
The first is before the establishment of the trade union, so the labor cost is very low. Secondly, during the global economic crisis and war, the United States made a lot of war money, which can not be copied in modern America. Our labor cost is too high. Usually we lack enough skilled workers in engineering and other fields. In the material supply chain, although the progress of technology and mechanization can improve our productivity, they can not provide additional low skilled and high paid jobs in Asia.
首先是工会成立前，所以人力成本很低。其次，当时正值全球经济危机和战争期间，美国大发战争财，这种情况在现代美国是不可复制的。我们的劳动力成本太高，通常我们在工程等领域缺乏足够熟练的工人，材料供应链在亚洲，虽然技术和机械化的进步可以提高我们的生产力，但它们不能提供额外的低技能高薪工作。
China is also very aware of this situation. They have very long-term thinking. Therefore, they have made a lot of investment and layout in Africa, India and South America, which deeply scares the United States and other developed countries. They understand that once China’s local manufacturing industry is no longer competitive, their role in the world must be dominated by management and high technology, which will impact or even shake the capital and hegemony of the West.
中国同样非常清楚这种情况，他们非常具有长线思维，因此，他们在非洲、印度和南美进行了大量投资和布局，这让美国和其他发达国家深深忌惮，他们明白，一旦中国本土的制造业不再具有竞争力，他们在世界上的角色就必须以管理和高科技为主导，这将对冲击甚至动摇西方的资本和霸权。
