The world is experiencing“major change unseen in a century”. Protectionism and unilateralism, which have been turning into the main options for western countries, have brought a lot of instabilities and uncertainties to the future world economy under the impact of COVID-19. If China, at this historical turning point, maintains the good momentum in economic development and respond to the challenges of this secular change successfully, it will be confident to say that opportunity windows for China’s development are still open. We believe it is essential to go back to the basics of economy, and clarify the“century change”from the perspective of the evolutionary path of the international economic order. The previous“century change”has seen the“paradox of imperialist war”shift capitalist colonial system to the new international economic order. We predict that the next“century change”implies adjustment and improvement of the existing international economic order. Therefore, to understand how the current international economic order works and evolves and what might cause differences and disputes, are the most fundamental issues regarding the future of the world economy.