From a distance these two categories may seem unlikely partners. Standard historical interpretation on the high school level often uses the Ming Dynasty as an example of decline and decay when in fact the early Ming Dynasty was innovative and forward thinking. It is only after Neo-Confucian Orthodox philosophers gained dominance in the Ming court that the exam system stagnates into standard interpretations and produces the lack of foresight on the part of the imperial court. This Neo-Confucianism reasserted the classical social structure and produced an imperial anti-commercialism. This type of rigidity is not unlike the control the Counter-Reformation and Inquisition exercised over scientific theories. However, Europe had strong Protestant interests that kept the momentum of the Renaissance, whereas innovative Chinese coastal merchants were forced to work within the system and continued to actively trade in Southeast Asia despite Beijing restrictions.