In the nearly five months I spent in China, going back to last August, I was most impressed by one characteristic:

A capacity for hard work.

And beyond the mere ability to work hard. The eagerness to work hard. The acceptance of hard work as the gateway to progress and prosperity. The drive to work hard and work efficiently, as well.

It made me feel as if I had come from the Kingdom of the Slackers.

And it left me fairly sure the Chinese economy will soon be the pacesetter for the world.

Here are some global economic statistics from 2007, which show China behind only the U.S. in gross domestic product. And at least one group of economists is predicting that by 2010 China’s economy will be larger than that of the U.S.

I know nearly as much about thermodynamics as I do economics, but I can tell you from personal observation that the Chinese are kicking our butts in their willingness to put in the time to make their system work. Whether that system is a mom-and-pop laundry on Triangle Street in Hong Kong, or some blast furnace on the mainland.

Somewhere along the way, most of us have lost the capacity to face up to the challenge of hard work and accept it. Certainly in a way even vaguely similar to what I saw in China.

In China, the idea of a six-day work week is accepted as part of doing business and as critical to being successful. And in many cases, a seven-day week is the norm.

So, let’s see, 1.3 billion Chinese working their butts off … vs. 300 million Americans, about half of whom (and that fraction may be low) are looking for ways to sit their butts down and watch TV.

The U.S. has advantages China does not, in terms of natural resources and more institutions of higher learning. But the first isn’t useful without clever exploitation, and the latter is something the Chinese can outstrip by applying themselves.

Which they probably will.

I don’t know if a command economy, which is what China has, in theory, is the way to go.

I don’t know if the idea of “working hard” is a title to which a nation should aspire, not if it means lives spent with noses to grindstones and little appreciation for reflection and leisure and a few weeks of vacation. Not everyone believes that is a good thing. (Consider Western Europe.)

I’m not sure China’s example is a good one, either. Its concern about the welfare of its workers seems muted. They are often underpaid and overworked in ways that make U.S. assembly lines look like something out of Sweden.

China seems little concerned about the environment, as it charges forward.  And individual rights are seen as impediments to progress. Free elections and multiparty democracy? Not happening in China any time soon. I’m not at all sure any of that is good.

But, yes, if I left China with one idea, it is this: They will work longer and harder than we will. And if you have 1.3 billion people with that frame of mind, how can they possibly not have the planet’s biggest economy again, and soon?

Perhaps 50 years from now, even 20 — even 10 — the more interesting question will be, “What series of events conspired to make China a second-tier economic power for about 300 years?”

Because that period of China as Economic Sinkhole is over and done with.

The Soviets said they would bury us. It actually will be the Chinese.