Many Western economists have predicted the coming collapse of China, but the world’s second-largest economy continues to demonstrate its resilience and confound the pessimists.It will soon overtake the US in terms of overall GDP, having already become the world’s top trading and investor nation.But its importance is not limited to the world of business and ?nance; China has become a more signi?cant and more con?dent country in terms of global politics, technology, the environment and culture.