>>115104260>>115104260China has had extensive factory manufacturing for over a thousand years, though this was largely unmechanized.
The Fire Nation has been building metal hulled ironclad warships for decades. For perspective HMS Warrior was launched in 1860, some 70 years before the 1920s.
China lagged in terms of industrial development behind Europe considerably during the 19th century due to a large number of reasons that are better explained in an textbook on Qing Dynasty History than by some random anon.
