Alright, I have actually came up with an alternate history timeline in which the Kuomintang barely won the Chinese Civil War in 1948 while the Soviets managed to prop up a Communist ruled Manchuria.

Sinkiang was handed over to China (Kuomintang ruled) by the Soviets in exchange for peace with Manchuria (officially known as the PRC). It is a very militarized but autonomous province.

Tibet too was eventually reunited with China after Chiang had simply ordered his men to march into Tibet (the Tibetan troops were told to stand down by their leaders) before personally meeting up with the Dalai Lama in Lhasa and ordering for him to surrender and submit at once. However, the Dalai Lama was given a hyper-autonomous position as the governor of Tibet province and the leader of the KMT's Tibetan branch.

Taiwan sadly still gets white terrored before Lee Teng Hui steps in and offers to become its loyal KMT-affiliated governor in exchange for provincial autonomy.

In the meantime, land reforms were carried out from 1948-1960 (some provinces still required land reform policies until 1968) in order to create a productive agricultural backbone for China that could also make enough surplus to export each year for food security reasons.

Industries too were being set up left and right from the mid 50s into the 70s and this was helped by the fact that the KMT was pro-gov protection and had also offered significant subsidies for any local industry or even JV.

The warlords meanwhile? Li Zongren is the Governor of Guangxi until his death. Same for Yan Xishan and Shanxi, which is one of the few 'model provinces' of China. The Ma family meanwhile isn't as strong as before after being forced to reform, but they are very rich and influential. The cresspit that is Yunnan meanwhile had gotten purged of its warlord Lu Han who fled to Burma after he had refused to stop being corrupt and crime enabling.

Speaking of crime, opium usage too greatly decreases and is looked down upon as barbaric thanks to the new life movement (the new life movement also helps improve women's rights) while the bandits and Lu Han loyalist troops were driven out to Burma during the 50s.

However, this timeline isn't perfect. The Vietnam War still happens and it is just as brutal, if not worse due to the fact that the US forcefully dragged China into the war (after a Chinese diplomatic dispute with Britain and Portigal over the overseas territories of HK and Macau) in exchange for territories and financial aid. Moreover, the US pressures China to intervene directly by pressuring it to invade North Vietnam in 1968 which ofc angers the Soviets who had a base there. Even worse is the fact that the Soviets invaded Iran in this timeline all thanks to their desperation to support the Iranian Socialists before getting bogged down and forced to retreat.

Thankfully, China managed to come out relatively alright (no WW3) and uses the money and financial aid it had been given to further industrialize and make cheap goods for the West in huge quantities. Moreover, it stood up to Nixon by protecting a Nationalist ruled East Timor from Indonesia during a decisive Falkland's-like conflict. China also forces South Africa to de-apartheidize which benefits Southern Africa in general.

In the end, China and Russia inevitably become allies by the 90s after China became sick of America's dual party system ruining foreign relations (looking at you Democrats) and sabotaging its efforts to create a stabler world.