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I'm a non-native speaker completely stuck trying to formulate a negative question. Full disclosure: I'd like to use it as a title for a university paper and I could not find any help around.

This is the question/title:

Why did the Industrial Revolution did not occur in China during the Ming/Qing period?

I highlighted the sources of my doubts.

In the title I'd like to ask why the Industrial Revolution (which happened in Britain) did not happen (during the same period) in China.

Should I rather say

Why did the Industrial Revolution not occur in China during the Ming/Qing period?

Thank you in advance

Edit: maybe this question should belong to "english language learners"

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  • You should rather say what you "should rather say"
    – SovereignSun
    Dec 6, 2016 at 7:19

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Your second example is correct.

When negating questions, we use the construction auxiliary verb + subject + negation + verb, which in your example translates to "did + the Industrial Revolution + not + occur".

There's some more information here: http://www.englishgrammar.org/negative-questions/

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