I've been spending a good deal of time reading about how and why the West rose while the rest didn't. The key event, of course, was industrialization (though I would argue the West was partially dominant even in the 16th and 17th centuries anyway since the "industrial revolution" is largely a historical fiction).
Industrialization happened in Britain, based on my reading, largely because of inclusive institutions (developing over time), unique technological innovations, proton-capitalism, as well as other tertiary things such as geography and religion. All of these things took hundreds of years to develop before it finally culminated, and I'm not exactly sure east Asia had any of those, save technological innovations, so I'm not sure why this is such a common trope.
Was Song really that close to industrializing?