There will definitely be something to say about your question – and I'd start by saying I'd be really interested to hear what your source for this statement is, so I can have a look into it myself – but in the meantime you might like to review an excellent earlier thread that ran here a few weeks ago and took a close look at claims for proto-industrialisation as they relate to the part of the world most often associated with this phenomenon: Song-era China:

The Mongols while invading Song Dynasty China, destroyed what some consider to be the first signs of industrialisation. What was the state of industrialisation in the late Song Dynasty China? How much did they utilise steam power and mining? How was the quality of life in their factories?" with /u/cthulhushrugged, which was our "Users' Choice" best post winner for January 2021.