 For much of East Asia's economic history, China was one of the most developed economies.After the Fall of the Western Roman Empire, for a thousand years from 500 AD to 1500 AD, China was the wealthiest country in East Asia in the aggregate total in addition to per capita income.According to "The Economist", China was not only the largest economy for much of recorded history for 1800 years of the past two millennia, but it was the world's largest until the end of the 15th century boasting the worlds highest per capita income and most advanced technology at the time.