[throwaway_1987]

>But you know, if you are trying to put HTML templates in separate files, you have to now send extra HTTP requests.

Most projects that I have been involved with have some kind of build system that does all sort of magic. It should be possible to include the template in the JS file during the build process

[nicoburns]

Yep, and that's what was being done before React existed. JSX took over because people (including me) prefer to have the full power of JavaScript for their templates rather than a half-based templating language.