So really, in a lot of ways, China was at least as prime for an Industrial Revolution as Britain was. So why didn't it happen? Well, Europeans, specifically the British, had two huge advantages. First, coal. When you trace the story of improved transportation or communication or industrial efficiency or better chemical manufacturing, it always comes back to coal, because the Industrial Revolution was all about using different forms of energy to automate production. And England had large supplies of coal that were near the surface, which meant that it was cheap to mine, so it quickly replaced wood for peating and cooking and stuff. So that encouraged the British to look for more coal.