Manichaeism

====China====
{{Main|Chinese Manichaeism}}
In the east it spread along trade routes as far as [[Chang'an]], the capital of [[Tang dynasty|Tang China]].<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KMQeAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA309 |title=Encyclopedia of China: History and Culture |first=Dorothy |last=Perkins |publisher=[[Routledge]] |year=2013 |page=309 |isbn=978-1-135-93562-7}}</ref><ref name="S.N.C.L.">{{cite book|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=Yl2DteLY8jcC&pg=PA129|title= Manachaeism in Central Asia and China|author= [[Samuel N. C. Lieu]]|publisher= [[Brill Publishers]]|year= 1998|isbn= 978-90-04-10405-1|pages= 115, 129, 130}}</ref>

After the Tang dynasty, some Manichaean groups participated in [[peasant movement]]s. The religion was used by many rebel leaders to mobilise followers. In [[Song dynasty|Song]] and [[Yuan dynasty|Yuan]] China, remnants of Manichaeism continued to leave a legacy contributing to sects such as the [[Red Turban Rebellions|Red Turbans]]. During the Song dynasty, the Manichaeans were derogatorily referred by the Chinese as ''Chīcài shìmó'' ({{zh|c=吃菜事魔}}, meaning that they "abstain from meat and worship demons").<ref>{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=BZ8WAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA228|title= Pre-Modern East Asia: A Cultural, Social, and Political History, Volume I: To 1800|author= Patricia Ebrey, Anne Walthall|publisher= [[Cengage]]|year= 2013|page= 228|isbn= 978-1-285-54623-0}}</ref><ref name="Xisha2011">{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=Knui-SpO4GQC&pg=PA55|title= Popular Religion and Shamanism|author= Xisha Ma, Huiying Meng|publisher= [[Brill Publishers]]|year= 2011|pages= 56, 57, 99|isbn= 978-90-04-17455-9}}</ref>

An account in ''Fozu Tongji'', an important historiography of Buddhism in China compiled by Buddhist scholars during 1258–1269, says that the Manichaeans worshipped the "White Buddha" and their leader wore a violet headgear, while the followers wore white costumes. Many Manichaeans took part in rebellions against the Song government and were eventually quelled. After that, all governments were suppressive against Manichaeism and its followers and the religion was banned in [[Ming dynasty|Ming China]] in 1370.<ref>{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=BZ8WAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA228|title= Pre-Modern East Asia: A Cultural, Social, and Political History, Volume I: To 1800|author= Patricia Ebrey, Anne Walthall|publisher= [[Cengage]]|year= 2013|page= 228|isbn= 978-1-285-54623-0}}</ref><ref name="Xisha2011"/> While it had long been thought that Manichaeism arrived in China only at the end of the seventh century, a recent archaeological discovery demonstrated that it was already known there in the second half of the 6th century.<ref name="La Vaissiere">Étienne de la Vaissière, "Mani en Chine au VIe siècle", ''Journal asiatique'', 293–1 (2005): 357–378.</ref>

The nomadic [[Uyghur Khaganate]] lasted for less than a century (744- 840) in the southern Siberian steppe, with the fortified city of [[Ordu-Baliq]] on the Upper [[Orkhon River]] as its capital.<ref name="CA, ABC-CLIO">{{cite book |last1=Hajianfard |first1=Ramin |title=Boku Tekin and the Uyghur Conversion to Manichaeism (763) |date=2016 |publisher=CA, ABC-CLIO |location=Santa Barbara |isbn=978-1-61069-566-4 |id={{ISBN|978-1-61069-566-4}} |pages=409, 411}}</ref> Before the end of the year (763), Manichaeism was declared the official religion of the Uyghur state. Boku Tekin banned all the shamanistic rituals that had previously been in use.  It is likely that his decision was accepted by his subjects. That much results from a report that the proclamation of Manichaeism as the state religion was met with enthusiasm in Ordu-Baliq. In an inscription in which the Kaghan speaks for himself, he promised to the Manichaen high priests (the "Elect") that if they would give orders, he would promptly follow them and respond to their requests. A fragmentary manuscript found in the [[Turpan|Turfan Oasis]] gives Boku Tekin the title of ''zahag-i Mani'' ("Emanation of Mani" or "Descendant of Mani"), a title of majestic prestige among the Manichaeans of Central Asia.

Nonetheless, and despite the apparently willing conversion of the Uyghurs to Manichaeanism, traces and signs of the previous shamanistic practices persisted. For instance, in 765, only two years after the official conversion, during a military campaign in China, the Uyghur troops called forth magicians to perform a number of specific rituals. Manichaean Uyghurs continued to treat with great respect a sacred forest in [[Otuken]].<ref name="CA, ABC-CLIO"/> The conversion to Manichaeism led to an explosion of manuscript production in the Tarim Basin and Gansu (the region between the Tibetan and the Huangtu plateaus), which lasted well into the early 11th century. In 840 the Uyghur Khaghanate collapsed under the attacks of the [[Yenisei Kyrgyz]], and the new Uyghur state of [[Qocho]] was established with a capital in the city of [[Gaochang|Qocho]].

[[Al-Jahiz]] (776–868 or 869) believed that the peaceful lifestyle that Manicheism brought to the Uyghurs was responsible for their later lack of military skills, and eventual decline. This, however, is contradicted by the political and military consequences of the conversion. After the migration of the Uyghurs to Turfan in ninth century, the nobility maintained Manichaean beliefs for a while, before converting to Buddhism. Traces of Manicheism among the Uyghurs in Turfan maybe detected in fragments of Uyghur Manichaean manuscripts. In fact, Manicheism continued to rival the influence of Buddhism among the Uyghurs until the 13th century. It was the [[Mongols]] that gave the final blow to the Manichaeism among the Uyghurs.<ref name="CA, ABC-CLIO"/>