[hong_kong]

You could say the same about any undeveloped country, but in reality only a small number of countries have successfully transitioned into developed status - Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, HK. It's not as straightforward a process as it would seem at first glance.

[Udik]

What countries do you know of that have China's educational levels, manufacturing capacity, natural resources and political stability that didn't make it into "developed status"?

I'm thinking about Italy: after WWII, the country was still mainly rural and much had to be rebuilt because of the war. And yet (with the help and blessing of the US, then much interested in keeping Italy on the side of the West) it experienced twenty years of rapid economic growth. It had a good education system, and it had manufacturing capacity (FIAT, Olivetti, Montedison, Ansaldo, Zanussi...) and especially, it had tens of millions who wanted to buy their first car, their first washing machine, their first tv, their first telephone, or wanted to rebuild their houses with modern techniques. It needed workers for the factories and sourced them from the poorest parts of the country, triggering an internal migration and further growth in the economic capitals of the country. China seems to have been in the same phase for the past 30 years, and it's so big it can keep up at the same pace for other 20 or 30.

[oblio]

And several Eastern European countries.

And China has taken 700 (800?) million people out of poverty and shows a trajectory similar to the East Asian tigers.