The rise of China: China may soon overtake the United States as world's largest economy. What does that mean for the U.S.--and for you?

• Author: Wines, Michael
• Position: INTERNATIONAL

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Yin Ruohua, a high school senior in Beijing, dreams of going to Peking University, one of the most prestigious in China. To do that, he needs to ace the national exam that will determine what college he goes to.

Little wonder that Yin's days are focused on academics. His 14-hour school day begins with a half-hour study session before classes start at 8 a.m. When classes are over at 4, he studies Chinese, math, physics, chemistry, biology, and English. Then he usually goes to his school's evening study hall, from 6:40 until 9:40 p.m.

"As a freshman, I used to play basketball in the afternoon," says Yin, 17. "But then I saw my classmates spend their time studying, and now I usually study then, because I don't want to fall behind."

The 100 million Chinese ages 15 to 19--about four times as many as in the U.S.--are the first generation to come of age as China assumes its new role as a global power. As adults, they will live in a nation that's expected to overtake the United States as the world's largest economy in the next 20 to 40 years.

Yin's generation symbolizes the challenge that China presents to the U.S. While China's economic growth has pulled millions of Chinese out of poverty, it's also put China in direct competition with the U.S. on many fronts--economic, political, and military.

China has already had an enormous impact on the American economy, particularly on manufacturing jobs. But Yin and his classmates, who are much better educated than their parents' generation, will want the kinds of high-tech and engineering jobs that have so far stayed largely in the U.S.

As China becomes more powerful economically, it's demanding a larger role on the world stage. That means any issues the U.S. wants to deal with--from the global economic slump to nuclear proliferation and climate change--will be impossible unless Washington and Beijing can work together.

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"The relationship between the U.S. and China is perhaps the most important relationship in the world today between two countries," says Orville Schell of the Asia Society in New York. "But right now we're in a period of uncertainty about whether we're friends, partners, competitors, adversaries, or potential enemies."

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Modern China was born a little more than 60 years ago, when Mao Zedong's Communist forces won a civil war and founded the People's Republic of China in 1949. Over the next three decades, the country endured great turmoil as Mao's Communist economic and social policies played out.

By the time Mao died...