A bad title, I know, but I digress.
Partially inspired by the Songs of Roland TL, under which circumstances would the political development of Europe and China switch.
By this I mean Europe develops into largely a single, unified Empire. This one empire dominates the continent with a huge population and is considered the centre of the civilised world.
China, on the other hand, develops into a large collection of small states vying for control. Warfare and death are commonplace, but from this vast amount of competition significant strides are taken by the local states.
No PoD is allowed before the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 AD. The rest is up to you.
Is this possible? What can you come up with?