That is what React does, though: you write your page using a data structure (in JSX, an XML-based DSL, or you can use the createElement function directly), and

That is what React does, though: you write your page using a data structure (in JSX, an XML-based DSL, or you can use the createElement function directly), and then the React engine parses, diffs and renders your data structure into the DOM. This was React's most touted advantage at the beginning: you write what you know (JavaScript), and React handle's the tricky DOM stuff. JSX isn't templates, it's JavaScript. Clojure(Script) benefits greatly from the fact that Clojure's data structures are much more expressive and robust than JavaScript's, and so a thing like JSX that paints over some of the language's warts is less necessary. Many people opt for using something like virtual-dom or snabbdom instead, which provide a more Hiccup-like API on a surface level. There are wrappers for React (react-hyperscript) as well.