The Chinese first used the stuff in weapons--including rockets and cannon--about 600 years later.

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But it also makes the people making the stuff better off: see that 6 times rise in Chinese wages in only 13 years.

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That means Americans are consuming about six times as much stuff per person as the Chinese are.

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My parents, brothers and other relatives are stumbling around, trying to stuff my words, anecdotes and remembrances of the past back into the locked Chinese box.

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Mr. WESSEL: If Chinese workers were as productive as American workers, meaning if they - if the stuff they produced per hour of work were as valuable as the stuff that American workers produce, their wages would be much higher.

NPR: U.S. Productivity and Economic Forecasts