Is it plausible for the ERE and WRE to switch fates? ERE gets destroyed within a century or two, the WRE survives for a similar length as OTL ERE. Emphasis on 'survive'.
You can post your own thread for that you know, you'll get more responses.
Is it plausible for the ERE and WRE to switch fates? ERE gets destroyed within a century or two, the WRE survives for a similar length as OTL ERE. Emphasis on 'survive'.
Taoism was for a long time the true religion of the masses in China, but the Confucian gentry had mixed views towards it and a number of Emperors were downright hostile towards the practice. Buddhism and Taoism both seeped into the ruling classes and were absorbed into a greater Confucian ethic which reinvented itself every few centuries or so.It was still top-down though. Pretty much every major religion in Chinese society was promoted from top, if mostly not coercively.
As mentioned before, Daoism definitely appealed to the masses. Buddhism did as well. It's correct to say that the Chinese government supported Buddhism and Daoism (and Confucianism), but that wasn't intrinsic to the success of those religions, since those religions already had a considerable amount of adherents already. Rather, it was the case of the imperial family betting on the right horse. By Sui and Tang times, they already came from the same religious milieu as the rest of China, so there was also the aspect of personal devotion as well. Looking at the Yuan and Qing periods, when China was conquered, I should point out that the specifically Tibetan style of Buddhism that the Emperors followed was never more than a niche amongst the Chinese population as a whole.It was still top-down though. Pretty much every major religion in Chinese society was promoted from top, if mostly not coercively.
I was just reading something that brought me back to this idea... Zheng He was a Hui, and his father and grandfather had apparently made the hajj pilgrimage to Mecca.
I'm imagining a Chinese emperor (possibly a Muslim Yuan emperor) doing the hajj with grandeur comparable to Mansa Musa's famous journey.
There were already relations between the two, but I could see it strengthening relations and possibly lead to a China more interested in the affairs of the Indian Ocean.That would be interesting and might put China on the map in Europe. Could that foster relations between the Islamic world and China?