Question: what technology did china have in the 17th century? 

Answer: Printing press (not Gutenburg), block printing, compass, clock, seismograph, gunppoweder, the best pottery skills in the world, production of silk, huge ships that could hold over a thousand people, ability to build with wood (see discovery channel regarding the higher technology required to build with wood rather than stone), repeater crossbows fired with gunpowder etc etc
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