Beyond China’s central role in East Asia was its economic interaction with the wider world of Eurasia generally. On the one hand, China’s remarkable economic growth, taking place during the Tang and Song dynasties, could hardly be contained within China’s borders and clearly had a major impact throughout Eurasia. On the other hand, China was recipient as well as donor in the economic interactions of the third-wave era, and its own economic achievements owed something to the stimulus of contact with the larger world.