Suppose Genghis Khan dies in infancy. What effects would this have?
Eventually, I'm going to start that Tumblr. The premise is that Genghis Khan never unified the Mongols (didn't quite die young - I want a 1200-ish POD rather than an 1162-ish one), so Song China industrialized starting in the 14c, and now that it's 1625 it's studying the traditional culture of the Far West, or, as it calls itself, Europe.
Just because China stays ahead of Europe doesn't mean they're going to turn into Europe. Remember that.