That would... well, it would take a wide variety of factors to prevent Mao The Dong's rise to power. First and foremost, the Nationalists not being quite so shit at their job, or hopelessly corrupt and overstretched. Or having Yuan Shikai keel over of a heart attack before he proclaimed himself Emperor, preventing him from weakening the Nationalist push and actually allow China a chance to develop. Sure, the Japanese would have still made a mess of things, but a more unified/centralized Chinese command would have reduced the damage and even prevented the rise of the Communists.
Alternatively, a last-ditch move would be Jiang not wasting the best of his trained troops in pointless skirmishes in 1946-8, allowing him to finally grind down the ChiComms. Then again, that would predicated on the KMT, again, not being shit at their job.