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Hello and welcome to the history of China. Episode 183, Cultural Hot Pot for the soul. But it is the religion of Zingus that best deserves our wonder and applause.

The Catholic Inquisitor of Europe, who defended nonsense by cruelty, might have been confounded

by the example of a barbarian who anticipated

the lessons of philosophy and established by his laws a system of pure theism and perfect

toleration.

Many of the Tartars and Moguls had been converted by the foreign missionaries to the religions of Moses, of Muhammad, and of Christ.

These various systems in Freedom and Concord were taught and practiced within the precincts of the same camp, and the Bonza, the

the Amam, the Rabbi, the Nestorian, and the Latin Priest enjoyed the same honorable exemption

from service and tribute.

From Edward Gibbon, the decline in fall of the Roman Empire, chapter

64.

Last time in our UN suite, we looked at the political, financial, and social changes wrought by Kublai Khan's total domination over China,

and his own ongoing transformation from the son of a conqueror of the step,

to an emperor and world leader in his own right in a much more Chinese tradition.

Now I'd said before that I meant to move on directly into the final years of Kublai's life

and reign last time, but sitting down and looking over the materials it became

apparent that there was just more there there.

Especially in terms of the unique blend of cultures, ideas, beliefs, and religions, that was truly one of the hallmarks of the Mongolian Apex.

So today we're going to take a deeper look at those, and their complex interplay with and

around China, the UN Imperial Court, the wider Mongol Empire, and even beyond.

We began in the new imperial center, the nexus and beating heart of Kublai's grand and

...