The Song Dynasty (960–1279 CE) produced more technological and economic innovation than any pre-modern society — printing, gunpowder weapons, the magnetic compass, paper money, proto-industrial iron production — without any of it compounding into an industrial revolution. Understanding why is one of the central questions in world history.
The Song Chinese invented printing, the compass, gunpowder weapons, paper money, and mass-production ironworking — and still did not industrialize. The question of why is not just about China. It is about what makes innovation compound.