By some measurements, the Chinese economy is larger than ours. But you probably wouldn't want to live in China.
Texas economist Dr. Ray Perryman says not all is golden in the land of Communism.
"They're trying to basically pretend they're Capitalist in a Communist environment and they do a pretty good job of it but there are too many restrictions on private property and other things that really destroy the incentive system."
So what if China's economy is number one?
"It doesn't mean a whole lot except the U.S. has traditionally been the world's leader and certainly the one the world looks to for economic stability and currency stability and things of that nature for quite some time and I think it will continue to be that way for decades to come."
Dr. Perryman says in everyday terms, the Chinese economy is not number one.
Dr. Perryman says that totalitarian government has some fundamental economic conflicts of interest.
"People have gotten rich and liked it, but at this point in time it's very much a different type of system that doesn't permit the types of incentives and entrepreneurship that really causes our country to thrive."
Dr. Perryman says the change in status is primarily technical and it may not be felt by Americans for decades, if ever.