Yeah, China has always been a superpower, except after the Opium Wars broke it. And then Mao did a lot of damage. But now they're recovering from those disasters, it makes sense that they take up their original position as a superpower again.

What's different, though, is that China is now looking outward. In the past, China was mostly concerned with itself, it has now learned that it can't afford to ignore the rest of the world.