Buddhism in Chinese, Central Asian, Kāśmiri, and Tibetan forms influenced Mongolia's ancient and medieval nomadic empires in varying degrees. From 1580 to 1920 Tibetan-style Buddhism dominated Mongolia and touched every aspect of life. Communist antireligious campaigns destroyed this hegemony, but after 1985 liberalization led to a renewed religious revival. The Mongolian plateau can be divided into Mongolia proper (Outer Mongolia, now the independent State of Mongolia) to the north, and Inner Mongolia (now an autonomous region in China) along the borders of China proper. From the fourth century on, the Mongolic-speaking Xianbi in Inner Mongolia and north China patronized Chinese Buddhism. The Kitans, another branch of the Xianbi, whose Mongolic language has been partly deciphered, became avid patrons and practitioners of Chinese Buddhism under their Liao dynasty (907–1125). Many rulers of the Türk empires, which dominated Mongolia proper from 552 to 745, also patronized Buddhist monks from the...