Now, this might been asked a million times over (not sure) , but what other industrialisations could have been possible in history aside from 19th century Europe? I'm aware the conditions needed for industrialisation to occur are quite unique, but surely past civilisations have come close/could have come close.
What about an industrial China? I see the Song get mentioned a lot in this forum for their urbanisation and potential industrialisation. How much truth is there to this notion? What about an industrial India, or Rome, or Japan or maybe even classical Mediterranean civilizations aside from Rome? The Greeks and Romans used steam to open doors in their temples, is it possible in an alternate world they could've have used it for more than that?