Well, for the most of history, China was always the most advanced country, British had their flash, Soviet had their flash but their were short compare to China.
I don't consider Russia/Soviet is on par with China. Russia was conquered by Mongol Empire, which used many Chinese techs, and its capital was Beijing. Basically, China was the largest land Empire on Earth, ever. Compare to Chinese Empires, Soviet is just a barbaric country, it only had science and military power. Meanwhile, China Empires in the past always had science/techs edge over the world, military power, culture/civilization, and economy. And now, history will soonly repeat itself