How could China be a super power sooner

What would have caused China to become a super power sooner, if events in the 1900's played out differently? What would it be like?
 
China in the 1900's needed a unified social and political structure which assuaged the tendency towards internal unrest and tumult.
 
I am talking about China as it appears today. What kind of events in the 1900's could have given it super power status earlier?
 
Best-case scenario is where Chiang takes down the Communists and warlords, then manages to cut corruption in the KMT to something workable. OTL August Storm is a Chinese operation, and America's original plan of a weakened Japan held down by a powerful China comes to pass. Korean War becomes a walkover, and Vietnam War may not even happen. China likely liberalizes come 1970s, and after the fall of the USSR (may happen sooner, with having to outspend NATO and China), China is the definite #2 in the world, with #1 in reach.
 
I am talking about China as it appears today. What kind of events in the 1900's could have given it super power status earlier?

"China as it appears today" could mean many things. An early superpower Communist China would be hard-they only broke off from the governmen in the early '20s, and then as a couple of groups of militia that were teetering on the edge of oblivion. An early victory for them would probably be bad for China as a whole-the Soviets at that point supported the Nationalists, and probably a vicorious ChiCom state would be veeeeeeery shaky, which means that when the Japanese come calling...

A simpler way would be to have the ChiComs wiped out early, the Nationalists have some success against the warlords, and manage to win a couple of heartening battles against the Japanese...

You can read all about it in my TL, if I ever post another update. Hendryk's "Superpower Empire V3.0" is also an excellent tale of a restored Empire
 
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