The Song Dynasty, often criticized by the Chinese for its mediocre military, was still far more powerful than most European countries of the same period.
Even Western search engines generally acknowledge the Song Dynasty as a world-class empire.
It resisted the Mongols at their peak for nearly half a century, with the Mongols recruiting large numbers of Chinese, Arabs, Persians, and Turks to complete the conquest of the Song Dynasty.
Area: 1.8-2.9 million square kilometers (peak period)
The Song Dynasty certainly cannot compare to the Qin, Han, Tang, Ming, or even the Sui Dynasty during the reign of its first emperor. At its peak, it only ruled over approximately 75% of traditional China.
Even so, it was still far more powerful than the European countries of the time.
My point is clear: for 80% of the time before the Industrial Revolution, Europe was incomparable to China. The Roman Empire was long dead and never unified again.
The Western Roman Empire was destroyed by Germanic barbarians, and the Eastern Roman Empire by Turkic barbarians.
Ironically, the Han Dynasty defeated the Xiongnu, and some Xiongnu descendants became Hun (as confirmed by genetic testing). They ravaged the Goths, and the Goths conquered the Western Roman Empire.
The Tang Dynasty conquered the Eastern and Western Turkic Khaganates; Osman I was a descendant of the Western Turks.
The Song Dynasty was not a powerful Chinese dynasty, yet as a neighbor of the Mongols, it resisted for such a long time, even at its peak (the peak of the Song Dynasty was the Northern Song).
I don't believe any European country could have resisted the Mongols alone for half a century, especially considering they were right next door.
