The Phags-pa Script: Kublai Khan's Universal Alphabet

In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore Kublai Khan's ambitious attempt to create a universal script for his polyglot empire. The Phags-pa script, designed by the Tibetan lama Drogön Chögyal Phagpa in 1269, was meant to unify the writing of Mongol, Chinese, Tibetan, and other languages under the Yuan Dynasty. Lucas traces Phagpa's rise as imperial preceptor, the script's square, alphabetic design inspired by Tibetan, and its official use on coins, seals, and paizas. But the script faced resistance from Chinese literati attached to characters and Mongols loyal to the Uighur script. Luna asks about its legacy, and Lucas notes its survival in Tibetan Buddhist seals and its influence on the Korean Hangul script. They discuss the tension between Kublai's cosmopolitan vision and practical realities, ending on a reflective note about scripts as tools of power and identity. #PhagsPaScript #KublaiKhan #YuanDynasty #DrogonChogyalPhagpa #MongolEmpire #TibetanBuddhism #ImperialPreceptor #UniversalScript #Paiza #Hangul #ScriptHistory #Linguistics #ChineseHistory #MongolianStudies #MedievalAsia #WritingSystems #History #FexingoHistory Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo