WI: Unified Rome, Balkanized China

What if history turns out differently? Say Qin Shi Huang never manages to unite China under the Qin dynasty and eventually balkanizes, making unification almost impossible. At the same time the Roman Empire unifies and later falls but periodically reunites like OTL’s China’s dynastic cycle.


I understand this is not super-plausible, especially due to geographic reasons that make a Unified China easier then a Unified Rome,but let’s just explore the world in which this AH prompt happens.


What’s the result of this change, how would it change history? When does industrialization develop, does the Age of Exploration still happen?
 
I'd say China would be better off in the long run. Over-centralization coupled with it's near economic autarky at various stages in it's dynastic history often led to stagnation; which until the Qing was only continually broken by massive, genocide level, internal revolts. More competing states maybe could help abate this while mainting a fluid, decentralized environment for innovation
 
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