mentality. Particularly when you consider the appreciation for the Roman Empire, Greek Empire, Holy Roman Empire, and a few other "western" empires even though they ceased to exist a long time ago. Plus, there are other "eastern" empires that existed at the time as the Roman or Greek Empire and they are glossed over in the schools even though they influenced the West at some level. For example, the Ming Dynasty influenced the West in a number of ways. 1. Ming's switch from paper currency to silver-based currency sparked European maritime exploration because of the influence on the global silver trade. 2. Literature - mass production of affordable movable-type books which was adopted in the West and helped increase the number of books in circulation. 3. Porcelain Craze and the perfected technique was adopted at some level into western pottery.