It depends on what's the criteria you want to use.
In the following paragraphs, I included only civilizations that existed before the industrial revolution.
If you want to use the Architectural criteria, I would answer without any doubt, China. The Chinese civilization (1600BC-700BC) had developed a lot of new architectural design. There are many different styles of buildings. This is what made other civilizations and countries like Korea, Japan and Vietnam get influenced with these styles of buildings and tried copying them. It's well known that the Roman, Arabian and Chinese civilizations were the best in architecture. But I chose the Chinese because it's the most ancient one between these three.
Let's move to the military criteria. We can distinguish two civilizations who got a lot of territory in no time. The first one is the Islamic civilization (during Rashidun and Umayyad Chaliphates). The Islamic civilization could destroy two of the most powerful civilizations at that time who are Persia and Byzantine. The Islamic civilization fought both Persia and Byzantine at the same time. Persia got defeated quickly specially because they suffered from a lot of defeats in Iraq . Also, Byzantine got defeated in many battles like the battle of Yarmuk. Sources mention that the number of Muslims during this battle was 30000 while the opposite side had troops 9 times more than Muslims which means around 300000, plus the Byzantine troops were better equipped, but despite these two facts, Muslims could win, and this war leader to the conquest of Turkey by Muslims. The other civilization that can be ranked as first is the Mongol civilization. This one could conquer almost all Asia, plus the eastern part of Europe in no time. They were so powerful that no civilization could stop them. They fought with a lot of other civilizations like the Indian one, and the Islamic civilization. And they won all their battles. Everyone feared Mongol and its power. The Mamluks who are a part of the Islamic civilization coumd finally take back the land from Mongols in the end of the 13th century, and since then, the mongols started to lose their territories and get defeated. This is what explains the conversion of many Mongols to Islam. This is why I classify the Islamic civilization as number one in this criteria.
If we talk about the scientific criteria, I would again choose the Islamic civilization. Everyone knows about the Islamic Golden age (800BC-1400BC). Science, economic development and cultural works flourished during this period. Muslims also worked hard on mathematics. There were many mathematicians like Al-Khawarizmi and Al-jayyani . Also, Muslims developed science, for exemple Ibn Am-Haitham is known as the world's first true scientist.Al-Biruni estimated the radius of the earth as 6339.6 km, the best estimate at that time. Today, we know that its radius is 6371 km which is amazing. I can continue mentioning hundreds of discoveries. I know other civilizations also had a lot of discoveries, but it's admitted by European scientists hat Europe wouldn't be Europe if Muslims didn't do these discoveries.
Maybe you won't trust me, but watch Neil Tyson's speech about the Islamic golden age and you will be impressed.
So, as you see bro, there are different criterias we can use to choose which is the greatest civilization in history.
这取决于你想要使用什么标准。
在接下来的段落中，我只列举了工业革命前存在的文明。
如果你想使用建筑的标准，我肯定会回答，中国。中华文明(公元前1600年-公元前700年)就已经发展了很多全新的建筑设计。有许多不同风格的建筑。这是其他文明和国家，如韩国，日本和越南，都受到这些建筑风格的影响并试图模仿它们。众所周知，罗马、阿拉伯和中国文明的建筑是最好的。但我选择了中国，因为它是这三个中最古老的。
让我们看看军事的标准。我们可以区分为两个文明，他们在任何时候都有很多领土。第一个是伊斯兰文明(四大哈里发和倭玛亚王朝)。伊斯兰文明可以摧毁当时波斯和拜占庭两个最强大的文明。伊斯兰文明同时与波斯和拜占庭作战。波斯很快就被打败了，因为他们已经在伊拉克遭受了很多失败。此外，拜占庭在许多战役中都被打败，比如亚穆克战役。当时这场战役穆斯林的数量是30000，而另一侧拜占庭的军队是9倍，即300000左右，加上拜占庭军队的装备更好，尽管有这两个事实，但穆斯林赢了这场战争并征服了土耳其。另一个可以被列为第一的文明是蒙古文明。它们在这一地区几乎可以征服所有的亚洲地区，同时也征服了欧洲东部。它们是如此强大，任何文明都无法阻止它们。他们与许多其他文明如印度和伊斯兰文明都进行了斗争。他们赢得了所有的战斗。每个人都害怕蒙古及其势力。作为伊斯兰文明的一部分的马穆鲁克人终于在13世纪末从蒙古人手中夺回了土地，从那以后，蒙古人开始失去他们的领土并被打败。这就是后来许多蒙古人皈依伊斯兰教的原因。这也就是为什么我把伊斯兰文明划分为这个标准中的第一个。
如果我们谈论科学标准，我将再次选择伊斯兰文明。每个人都知道伊斯兰黄金时代(公元前800年-1400年)。在这一时期，伊斯兰的科学、经济发展和文化事业蓬勃发展。穆斯林在努力学习数学。有很多数学家，比如Al-Khawarizmi和贾亚尼。此外，穆斯林也发展了科学，例如Ibn Am-Haitham被称为世界上第一位真正的科学家。还有阿尔比鲁尼估计地球的半径为6339.6公里，是当时最好的估计。今天，我们知道它的半径是6371千米。我还可以说出成百上千的发现。我知道其他文明也有很多发现，但欧洲科学家都承认，如果穆斯林不做出这些发现，欧洲就不会是现在的欧洲。
也许你不会相信我，但看看尼尔&泰森关于伊斯兰黄金时代的演讲，你会被打动的。
所以，正如你看到的，我们可以用不同的标准来选择哪个是历史上最伟大的文明。
------------------------------------------
Modern Western civilization, of course.
In terms of technology, ethics, not enslaving people, human rights, average standard of living, advancement, etc, it is without a doubt the greatest civilization in history.
Throughout nearly all of history, no matter where you lived, things were pretty similar. You lived in a small shitty house, farmed enough food to eat, dealt with the environment, and prayed the barbarians from the north didn&t come steal your crops, rape your wife, and kill you. Sure, in some places the houses were bigger and more insulated, in others the farming techniques were better, and in others the barbarians were a distant threat you didn&t think about much, but things were pretty similar.
In the last 200 years in the West, everything changed. Only a very small group of people farm, and they do it completely differently than before. Houses that we&d look down upon as tiny, cramped, and cold would have been seen as fit for a king by pre-modern people. Your average middle-class Westerner lives a better, longer, healthier, and more comfortable life than any pre-modern king could ever hope for in their wildest dreams.
Here I am, a non-noble, non-famous nobody, typing on a hunk of metal and plastic, using a complex writing system that 99% of Westerners can understand (a mind-bogglingly high literacy rate for pre-modern societies), creating an answer to send across a magical force that anyone in the West and outside can read. I&m sitting in a comfortable bed made of near perfect materials, in a well-light room, heated by a complex system of pipes, in the middle of a massive city with amazing infrastructure (at least compared to pre-modern cities), with no need to worry about famine, crop failures, barbarian invasions, the winter, etc.
We have eliminated slavery in the West, given equal rights to almost everyone, created a very high standard of human rights, eliminated many devastating diseases, and just generally fixed everything.
I&m sure I&m going to get all sorts of non-Westerners claiming that their civilization is much better, that their culture is richer, their history is longer, etc. Guess what, Western culture is pretty rich, and even if it wasn&t, I&d rather have a great life than the other way around.
Also, please recognize that I&m talking solely about modern Western civilization. Before the Industrial Revolution it was no better than others.
当然是现代西方文明。
在技术、伦理、不奴役人民、人权、平均生活水平、进步等方面，这毫无疑问是历史上最伟大的文明。
在几乎所有的历史中，无论你住在哪里，事情都很相似。你住在一个简陋的小房子里，在种植粮食，应付着环境变化，并祈祷着北方的野蛮人不来偷你的庄稼，你的妻子，并杀了你。当然，有些地方的房子更大，更隔热，在另一些地方，农业技术更好，而在一些地方，野蛮人是一个遥远的威胁，你无需考虑它。但事情还是很相似。
在过去的200年里，在西方，一切都变了。只有一小群人耕种，他们的做法与以前完全不同。我们瞧不起这些房子狭小、拥挤、寒冷，而这个房子是被前现代人认为是适合国王的。现在普通中产阶级西方人过着比任何前现代国王希望过的都更美好、更长久、更健康、更舒适的生活。
我在这里,不是贵族，不是知名人士，打字是用一大块金属和塑料,使用一个复杂的书写系统，但99%的西方人都可以理解(这个高识字率是被前现代社会认为是难以置信的),创建一个答案，用一个神奇的力量发送，在西方和外部任何人都可以阅读这个答案。我坐在一个近乎完美材料做的舒适的床上，在光线充足的房间里，被一个复杂的系统管道加热，在一个巨大的城市中，有着惊人的基础设施(至少与前现代城市)相比,不需要担心饥荒,农作物歉收,蛮族入侵,冬天,等等。
我们废除了西方的奴隶制，赋予了几乎所有人平等的权利，创造了很高的人权标准，消除了许多毁灭性的疾病，并且基本上解决了一切问题。
我相信我将会被所有非西方人说，他们要说他们的文明更好，他们的文化更丰富，他们的历史更悠久，等等。你猜怎样，西方文化也很丰富，即使不是，但我也宁愿生活在这样伟大的生活里，而不是其它的。
还有，我也承认我说的是现代西方文明。在工业革命之前，它并不比其他国家好。
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每天分享有趣的事儿外国网友Quora讨论：为什么其他穷国不能复制中国的成功
关键字: 中国模式Quora复制中国成功
【文/观察者网廖志鸿】国内外学者一直在研究中国成功的原因，争论其它发展中国家能否复制中国的成功乃至超越中国。国外著名问答网站Quora的用户对这一问题也发起了讨论。
他们将中国和其它发展中国家进行了对比，分析了中国独特的优势，例如中国的历史、文化、制度、人口结构等等，例举了其它发展中国家的不足，比如缺乏资金，缺乏共同的国家发展目标等等。从今年八月至今，该问题不断有新的用户补充答案。
（新闻配图为重庆市）
观察者网摘译了其中点击量和点赞量最高的一批回答，以飨读者。
最受欢迎和详细的答案来自一位自称是印度裔加拿大人的用户，叫Sam Arora。他自称曾到中国进行长途旅行，和许多中国人有过深度交流。他例举了很多原因解释为什么中国发展迅速，但是其它国家很难照搬模仿。
Sam Arora：“想要匹配世界上最古老和最伟大的文明的高超技能，你需要中国人来执行你的伟大构想。否则，这些构想只是停留在书本里的蓝图。这只是我个人的看法。其它国家可以模仿中国的体制，但是不可能移植中国的文化。中国文明不曾中断，是世界上最长的文明之一。中国人民族自豪感很强，虽会犯错但善于从历史中学习。中国近代史上的对外屈辱一直激励着中国人发奋图强。只有中国人能做到这一点，在逆境中保持韧性，凤凰磐涅，浴火重生。同时，中国有雄厚的资本积累，但是许多发展中国家没钱，依赖外部捐款和贷款。
中国城市夜景（资料图）
中国的基础设施非常完善，有全世界最好的公共交通系统，这是其它发展中国家可望而不可及的。
中国的犯罪率非常低，我曾亲眼看见年轻的女孩子夜里走在街道上行走，或者去工作，或者是回家，或者去乘坐交通工具，但许多发展中国家陷入没完没了的内战中。
中国人节俭，不爱炫耀，储蓄率很高。但是，据我所知，一些发展中国家毒品肆虐、民众酗酒、热衷借贷消费，变卖资产以维持奢侈的生活。
中国人非常重视教育，渴望能够进入大学学习。
中国人家庭观念很强，尊老爱幼，家族财富代代相传。中国人可能是最好的学生，就像海绵一样不停地学习吸收知识。和其它民族相比，中国人更爱自己的国家和文化，并不断将文化传承给下一代。
外界认为中国人不善发明研究，但是当全世界多数人都还在穴居的时候，中国人已经发明了火药、指南针和纸，对天文学也颇有研究。”
Austin Fagbade：“中国过去的落后贫穷是因为超过一个世纪的屈辱历史和一些错误的经济政策。中国取得成功主要是因为人口和文化。
中国的优势在于它的人口和民族结构稳定，抑制腐败，国家目标明确，这使得中国能够确保社会和谐稳定，最大程度地发挥它的人力资源优势，创造财富，改善民众的生活水平。除了日本、韩国、瑞典、乌拉圭和美国等国家外，很少有国家能做到这一点。
同时，中国的语言和文化使得国家能够保持强大的凝聚力和向心力，并催生了共同的国家目标。而印度、俄罗斯、巴拉圭和约旦这些国家，经济依赖自然资源出口，工业凋零，腐败盛行，人心散乱，缺乏明确的国家目标，也没有强有力的执行力量。”
Jerald Siah：“中国的成功是因为改革开放，建立了社会主义市场经济。中国历史上曾经长期是世界上最先进和最发达的经济体，只是在16世纪中国经济陷入了停滞，而由于外部因素，19世纪和20世纪的中国陷入了衰退。改革开放以后，中国以出口工业产品为导向的经济政策使得中国经济迅速发展，而大多数发展中国国家只是出口一些发达国家能自给的农产品。”
繁忙的中国港口（来源：新华社）
Tisho Yanchev：“简单地说，发展中国家缺乏政治意愿，对于该做什么也缺乏充分的认识。看起来简单，为了取得经济增长和进步，发展中国家需要制定许多好的经济政策，他们必须确立市场经济原则，创造稳定的社会环境。中国的领导人充分认识到了改革的必要性，并决心这样做，但很多发展中国家或者因为傲慢不愿模仿，或者因为无知不知如何入手，或者不愿承认中国模式所带来的巨大改变。即使有些发展中国家有心师从中国，也缺乏足够的政治意愿，因为这意味着下放权力。"
Seng Ghee Tan：“中国人、日本人和韩国人都是普遍勤奋和自律的人种。儒家文化的熏陶是中国成功的重要因素。东亚成功的经济体比如日本、韩国、新加坡、香港等，都深受儒家文化的影响。越南可能将小规模地复制中国的成功。”
Rodney L'Huillier：“我认为把中国称为第三世界国家是不正确的，不公平的。中国历史悠久，文化蔚然，社会高度进化。从邓小平时代开始，中国以经济建设为中心，注重提高民众的生活水平。同时，中国和美国建立了外交关系，和国际社会接轨，融入世界经济，加入国际贸易，吸引了大量外国投资。中国独特的地方还在于它超过13亿的人口和中国共产党的领导地位，这使得中国能加速发展。复制中国或许不是正确的措辞，但可以借鉴学习中国的经济发展模式。"
Gwydion Madawc Williams: “中国的成功取决于中国共产党统一认识，巩固统一。只有越南有机会用同样的方式取得成功。朝鲜在上世纪60年代曾一度有希望，但玩砸了。”
Caterina Liu：“感谢再问。就这个问题，我认为我们很难说受政治、历史乃至文化影响的经济模式是容易选择的，所以复制成功要求极高。更重要的是，中国的情况真得非常复杂，我认为中国人自己都还在找寻中国成功的关键因素是什么。考虑到制度迥异，我不认为许多国家会把太多时间花在中国身上。”
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原标题：外国网友Quora讨论：为什么其他国家不能复制中国的成功
请支持独立网站，转发请注明本文链接： 责任编辑:廖志鸿Is China really the worlds 2nd largest economy?
中国真的是世界第二大经济体吗?
George Tait Edwards, P.h.D. Integration of Shimomuran With Wernerian Macroeconomics, University of Southampton (2020)
1 China is the largest economy in the world at GDP PPP $2016 prices
China is by far the largest economy in the world according to the CIA World Factbook (see Central Intelligence Agency which lists the size of economies at the most relevant index of economic strength, at Purchasing Power Parities [PPP). The United States is the third largest world economy, behind that of the EU at present, although when the UK leaves the EU the USA will become the second largest economy in real terms.
I am continually surprised by the misleading information produced on this topic by people whose major source of information is either the Western media (who usually have a West-is-best agenda) or Washington-based US-dominated organisations who use Exchange Rate Values (ERV) in order to show the USA as being much larger economically than it now is at PPP.
George Tait Edwards, 博士 南安普顿大学（2020） 将Shimomuran经济学与Wernerian宏观经济学的整合
1、按2016年GDP购买力平价计算，中国是世界上最大的经济体。
根据中央情报局（CIA）的《世界概况》(CIA world Factbook)，中国是世界上最大的经济体(参见中央情报局，它列出了各大经济体的规模，【基于购买力平价计算】)。美国是世界第三大经济体，仅次于欧盟，尽管英国退出欧盟后，美国将成为世界第二大经济体。
我对这一主题所产生的误导性信息感到惊讶，这些信息的主要来源要么是西方媒体(通常是西方媒体最好的议题)，要么是总部位于华盛顿的以美国为主导的机构，它们使用汇率价值(ERV)，为了表明美国在经济上比现在（PPP 购买力平价）要大得多。
2 The CIA World Facebook Source of Data
Fortunately the CIA World Factbook (excellent in its data, doubtful its Washington-Consensus economic opinions) provides a useful corrective to these misleading commentators. PPP GDP provides by far the best comparative data of the productive power of each economy. By totalling the value of all goods and services produced at the same dollar purchasing prices, a &best estimate& of the comparative economic strength of a country and a most valid comparison of incomes per head can be made and other relevant comparisons arrived at. National governments can set the exchange rate very low in order to achieve a trading advantage and PPP calculations correct that major form of economic distortion by comparing goods and services outputs at the same prices.
2、《CIA世界概况》资料数据
幸运的是，中央情报局的世界事实书(它的数据很出色，质疑它的华盛顿共识的经济观点)，为这些误导性的评论人士提供了有效的纠正。购买力平价(PPP)GDP提供了迄今为止各经济体生产能力的最佳对比数据。通过将同一美元购买价格所产生的所有商品和服务的价值合计起来，对一个国家的比较经济实力进行&最佳估计&，并对人均收入进行最有效的比较，并得出其他有关的比较。各国政服可以把汇率设置得非常低，以达到贸易优势，购买力平价计算通过比较商品和服务产出以相同价格进行比较，纠正了这种主要形式的经济扭曲。
3 National Income Data
Here&s my table of the CIA-data derived data on the relative sizes of the largest 20 economies at $2016 trillion at the misleading ERV estimate and at the Purchasing Power Parity estimates (ERV is in Column 2, PPP in Column 3):
3、国民收入数据
以下是我从CIA数据推导出来的关于全球最大的20个万亿美元经济体的相关数据的表格，这些数据来自于具有误导性的ERV估算以及购买力平价估算(ERV在第2列，PPP第3列):
4 Commentary on this data
The Chinese yuan is extremely undervalued. That&s why China has an ERV estimate of its outputs which is only a bit more than half of the productive power of its economy at PPP. China is by far the largest economy in the world, with a PPP GDP in 2016 of $21.14 trillion, about $2.58 trillion ahead of the USA. Furthermore, the Chinese Economy has an industrial sector which is producing in $2016 an output of about $8.41 tr, over twice that of the USA which is at $3.6tr. China&s industry is slightly smaller than that of the (USA plus the EU) and on current growth trends will be larger than both of these in 2017.
Furthermore, China due to its practical understanding and practice of Shimomuran no-cost investment credit creation now has &Gross National Savings& of 46% of GDP (of which I estimate about 25% of GDP is created no-cost credit) and is investing 43.75% of GDP in fixed capital. About a third of that is in infrastructure, which has no quick returns, so the real rate of investment in industrial plant and equipment is probably about 30% of GDP and their underlying equipment-output ratio would be (30/6.7) or about 4.5, very similar to Japan&s when their economy was at similar levels of income per head.
4、对这一数据的评论
人民币被极度低估。这就是为什么中国对其产出有一个ERV估计值&&按购买力平价计算，这仅仅是其经济生产力的一半多一点。中国是目前世界上最大的经济体，2016的PPP-GDP为21.41万亿美元，比美国高出2.58万亿美元。此外，有一个工业部门，2016年产值约为8.41万亿美元，是美国（3.6万亿美元）的两倍多。中国的工业规模略小于（美国+欧盟）的规模，就目前的增长趋势而言，2017中国的增长趋势将比这两者都大。
此外，中国现在的&国民储蓄总额&占GDP的46%，并将GDP的43.75%投资于固定资产，其中约三分之一是基础设施，没有快速回报，因此，工业厂房和设备的实际投资比例可能约为GDP的30%，其基础设备产出比率将为(30/6.7)或4.5左右，与日本的经济状况类似，那时他们的经济水平与人均收入水平相当。
5 The USA in Past Years and the Future Of China
The United States of America was once the greatest industrial power in the world, thanks to FDR&s economic miracle from 1938&44, when the size of its economy doubled due to the use of no-cost investment credit creation at he FED, just like China is doing now with the People&s Bank of China. The USA was the largest economy in the world from 1945 until about 2010. For more information about this see
How powerful can the US economy potentially be?
The most significant observation in that Answer was perhaps at para 5.1
&Low US economic growth during the post-war period is an American self-inflicted injury.&
and it remains to be seen if Trump or some subsequent President will climb partly to the economic competence of FDR and remedy that.
5、过去的几年的美国以及中国的未来
美国曾经是世界上最大的工业强国，这要归功于罗斯福1938-44年的经济奇迹，从1938年到1944年，美国经济规模翻了一番，原因是他使用了不花钱的投资信贷，就像现在的中国和中国人民银行一样。从1945年到2010年，美国是世界上最大的经济体。
有关此问题的更多信息请参见
【链接：美国经济有多大的潜力?】
在这一答案中，最重要的观察可能是在段落5.1
&战后美国经济增长低迷是美国自己造成的伤害。&
而特朗普或随后的某个总统是否会在一定程度上提升到罗斯福的经济能力，并对此加以补救，还有待观察。
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