I wish them all the best, and I hope that the interactions with the great qualities of YC produces an excellent step forward for China and its technologists.
As a result, China was invaded over and over again by colonizers who levied punitive fines for losing the war. And then there were a series of revolutions. (I know, I was born in a part of Shanghai that's commonly called "the French Concession.") The Bolsheviks were the first to give a bunch of that money back ... maybe because they wanted an ally or because they had a conscience.
Oh, also the Versailles Treaty, which ended WW I, involved a clause that gave Shandong province to Japan (from German control), which caused students to take to the streets in protest against the KMT who ratified it, the political party that eventually lost popular support and went to Taiwan and prevented the international community from recognizing the CCP's government as official China because the KMT maintained that they're the official China.
Is that what you're referring to?
It depends on how you define "China", "3000 years years[sic] old", "still" and "emerging". China has been a "developed market" a few times throughout its history. The modern China (ROC and PRC) lagging behind the Western world in part is due to industrialization in Europe.
To be fair this has been known since the early 90's maybe even late 80's
The 2000s have allowed, in my opinion, a more mature understanding of China with less stereotypical hyperbole. I expect part of that is the commercial and cultural interchange, part of that is time, and part of that is the Internet.
I also think there's something of an ideas stagflation in the US, against which China might be considered to be a bright spot in the world.