Mr. Pit, I admire your tenacity! Can't say that about your "sensitivity", though. Well, why not rip yourself a confederate flag to give your avatar a new shine if you are so "ashamed" of your "Yankeeship"? Granted, there is a possibility that you could be a naturalized Chinese "Yank", among a host of other likelihoods. Anyhow, far be it from me to care to hazard a guess should you wish to stay vague.
As for me, I like WYSIWYG.
Anyways, let's continue:
1. If you can sign off with a line from Shakespeare, then I can't be faulted for expecting you to be familiar with the use of "literary devices", can I? Why did I term Buddhism the "export version" of Hinduism? Well why did Benjamin Disraeli call Christianity "Judaism for the masses"? Sure, who am I to compare myself to him? But then again, in this age of Internet, us Shudra should not be denied the pleasure of grabbing a keyboard and shooting off a "hyperbole" or two to emphasize a point, don't you think, Mr. Égalité?
I maintain that Buddhism is worth "5 fingers", although I wouldn't excessively fault you for claiming "3 1/3" each for the three that you listed. However, IMO, comparing Buddhism and Confucianism's effects on Chinese Cultural Development is akin to comparing the effects of Greek philosophy with Christianity on the West. The two are rather complementary than contradicting. They address different questions confronting civilizations. As for "indigenous" Taoism vs Buddhism, what does it tell you if even "cultural" Mongols treasure Lamaism over Shamanism? There is no contest. BTW, I am the last person to dismiss Lao-Zhuang's philosophical/metaphysical contributions!
Now this quoting "scholars" back-and-forth will not see us the end of the day (but I appreciate your research, really). Allow me to build on your quote of "儒释道" with something straight from the mouth of one of the Emperors himself: "以佛治心,以道治身,以儒治世" (
中国文化中的儒释道), which, for our interested friends and hosts, translates to something roughly along the line of "
Buddhism for the soul, Taoism for the body, and Confucianism for the realm" ...
Don't think I can be blamed for assigning "5 fingers" to the Classic Chinese "Soul", can I?
2. As to the Yuan "Jatis", what more do you want me to say? They are all in the books - history books! I can't stop Ah-Qs from believing what they choose to believe. So let's just agree to disagree.
3. War of 1971 and the "vestiges" of casteism - again, I personally prefer not to discuss this here. However, by the grace of your hosts and mine, perhaps someone wish to remind you that there might have been a tad more than "regional differences" about "Urdu-wallas" vs Bengalis back in the days. Again this is not particularly germane to our topic, which was launched in response to a perception that you were trying to claim Casteism as an evil unique to Hindu society while China was somehow an inborn "meritocracy" (please deny it, and I'll gladly apologize for my "mis-ception").
BTW, the existence of castes per se is not an unmitigated liability everywhere and at all times. Apart from the better-known examples of the Samurai, what do you call the Junkers? Actually don't answer it - more Wikipedia is probably heading my way ...
Granted, it seems to me that both Maoism and political Islam tend to foster an environment whereby casteism and its effects can be eradicated more readily, compared to a classic Hindu milieu perhaps. Whether their methods are "better" is a different question ... The true long-term effects of the PRC "Naxalite" experiment are yet to be fully revealed.
4. Why do you think the Chinese in the 1930s wondered out loud whether Jiang (Chiang Kai-shek) was going to be then China's Mustafa Kemal? Not everything is internet-accessible, friend. But you can find bits of that online. Feel free to hit the library, too.
5. Your verbatim "...
that doesnt rule out that China bears many times more Mongol weight than Mongolia" - care to explain? You are not going to quote me the "weight" of the mythical "Genghis Khan" Y-Chromosome across the nation, are you?
6. Finally, my translation
"recalls" you? I don't recall that, I'm sorry.