An earlier chinese superpower ?

Well, if it's industrialized, it will need a lot of resources from overseas. Oil, for one (Manchurian fields aside...they aren't that large, IIRC). Modern China also imports a number of minerals from overseas, including ones it produces in quantity, because it has a huge economy--the same might be true of this industrialized China (as with other industrialized countries). Food is possible, at least less "staple" crops, vegetables and the like, depending on the efficiency of their food production methods. If they don't have modern rice varieties and the other factors needed to make them extremely productive, China very well might not be able to feed its population and need colonies in the Philippines, Indonesia, and northern Australia (rice is grown commercially in parts of Queensland, IIRC) to make up the difference.

This opinion seems to me very interesting, I didn't thought about the need that an industrial revolution in China could create for this country. I think that this condition is very important to conceive a chinese colonial empire : the most important problem could be after that related with this industrialization. Which dynasty was the most able to make the Mandate an industrial power ? People often think about the Song, but their military weakness would be a problem later.
 
This opinion seems to me very interesting, I didn't thought about the need that an industrial revolution in China could create for this country. I think that this condition is very important to conceive a chinese colonial empire : the most important problem could be after that related with this industrialization. Which dynasty was the most able to make the Mandate an industrial power ? People often think about the Song, but their military weakness would be a problem later.

You'd need some development from any given dynasty before you can seriously have an industrial China. Industry making production much greater and thus products much cheaper requires a large enough market to get going - and with a literal cottage industry in China, that's not as easy as it looks.
 
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