<P> The West had a series of unique advantages compared to Asia, such as the proximity of coal mines; the discovery of the New World, which alleviated ecological restraints on economic growth (land shortages etc .); and the profits from colonization . </P> <P> China had a larger population than Europe throughout the Common Era . Unlike Europe, it was politically united for long periods during that time . </P> <P> During the Song Dynasty (960--1279), the country experienced a revolution in agriculture, water transport, finance, urbanization, science and technology, which made the Chinese economy the most advanced in the world from about 1100 . Mastery of wet - field rice cultivation opened up the hitherto underdeveloped south of the country, while later northern China was devastated by Jur'chen and Mongol invasions, floods and epidemics . The result was a dramatic shift in the center of population and industry from the home of Chinese civilization around the Yellow River to the south of the country, a trend only partially reversed by the re-population of the north from the 15th century . By 1300, China had fallen behind Italy in living standards . </P> <P> In the late imperial period (1368--1911), comprising the Ming and Qing dynasties, taxation was low, and the economy and population grew significantly, though without substantial increases in productivity . Chinese goods such as silk, tea and ceramics were in great demand in Europe, leading to an inflow of silver, expanding the money supply and facilitating the growth of competitive and stable markets . By the end of the 18th century, population density levels exceeded those in Europe . China had more large cities but far fewer small ones than in contemporary Europe . The traditional view is that the Great Divergence between China and Europe had begun by 1750, before the Industrial Revolution . Revisionist scholarship, however, estimates that the Great Divergence did not begin until the 19th century, during the Industrial Revolution . </P>

Who had the most advanced economy in the world before the eighteenth century