If I remember correctly, first versions of React were similar in that respect: you could just add a script tag to your page and you that’s it (save for the mount-point thing).
1) Your "templates" look like this:
React.createElement(
"div",
null,
React.createElement(MyComponent, null),
React.createElement(
"ul",
null,
React.createElement(
"li",
null,
"Thing 1"
),
React.createElement(
"li",
null,
"Thing 2"
),
React.createElement(
"li",
null,
"Thing 3"
)
)
)