I think the real problem is that China is too big and too small. At its strong points it is the uncontested power in Eastern Asia which gives it little reason to innovate, the same happens to any large dominant nation where internal unrest is a greater threat than external invasions such as Rome, Spain, and several Chinese dynasties. But when it does arrive at its weak points it collapses surprisingly fast and the previous dynasty is replaced by another, either homegrown rebel, the greatly feared internal unrest, or by a rare barbarian dynasty who then fall into the previous too big trap.
China has only rarely found itself split into multiple, and equally powerful, nations and when it does it was never for very long periods of time and each part wanted to unite the whole, just with its particular dynasty in charge. It is like if when Rome fell each part had been taken over by a Roman Dynasty and then fought with the express purpose of reuniting Rome until one did. Europe's problem is that several different barbarian tribes invaded and settled, but were not Latinized, competing versions of Christianity, which Islam's emergence did not help, and the complete collapse of even regional bureaucracies caused the emergence of several strong regional cultures with no real unifying culture, language, or structure the way Han Chinese and the Imperial bureaucracy did for China.
While not a guarantee of sparking an industrial revolution, having China broken up into parts, early Warlord Era, would certainly help. Even if it came down to one of the Warlords doing a Meiji in his particular part of China it would strengthen China overall, even a part of China is larger than most European nations. Having it where one does it and conquers the others or where several modernize to protect themselves from each other would make it where China remains a significant power in East Asia and the world. The last one could even end in a Chinese Confederacy (or the Chinese Union, CU for short) to combat European influence.