John! Lovely to hear from you, always a pleasure receiving feedback and comments. I actually wonder whether you have much knowledge of the Chinese Classical history. I know from earlier posts that you studied classics and so probably know Turkey quite intimately..
As for the food, sometimes people say food is a guilty pleasure. I disagree. I think food is a necessary pleasure. Forget gluttony!
As for technological change, Taiwan and South Korea spearheaded the Asian economic development in the 70's 80s and 90's, but most of the reliance is now firmly on China. It's quite evident now that Taiwan and Korea have stagnated, meanwhile China has pulled ahead quite significantly.
I believe there still remains a greater wealth disparity in China though, and this is something that will take several generations to mitigate (but never eliminate).
My knowledge of Chinese history is very thin - I love aspects of the literature and philosophy . I once spent a whole summer with Lao Tzu and from time to time read Sei Shonagan and delve into Confucianism and Buddhism, but lately I've been fascinated with South Korea (spending time with my friend, @slowwalker).
I'm intrigued by contemporary China as most Canadians are - one poll suggests we're more open to China at the moment than the United States. We have a very large Chinese population in Toronto and I taught TOEFL courses to Chinese students here. But that's my meagre background when it comes to really understanding the panorama of Chinese history, but I'm eager to learn more.
You are so perceptive about the economy of China based on what I read in the financial pages. It will be interesting to see if they commit more fully to cryptocurrency - they seem to vacillate on that matter.
And finally, there is a wealth disparity in China but I truly admire the strides they've made, their technological progress and the more equal distribution of wealth they've achieved to date, although as you say, there is further to go and true equality for all is an ideal to be sought but will probably never be achieved.