I don't play Victoria 2,
I destroy Victoria 2. China all goddamn day. As soon as you hit Westernization and factories, oh dear lord jebus, you just swallow everything in Asia. The expansions nerf'd that hard with the substates, but it's still so feasible.
Though, I did go as the Sikhs in Punjab once and rekt the British Empire. India stretched from Thailand to the Ottoman Empire and automatically Westernizes, so I just spammed Capitalists who built factories without me ever building one. I just started colonizing Africa and building troops because I had so much money flowing in from the factories. I think I broke that game.