As merchants, monks, and travelers moved along the overland routes connecting South Asia, Central Asia, and China, Buddhist teachings, texts, and artistic traditions traveled with them. The Kushan Empire, which controlled key sections of these routes, supported Buddhist monasteries and patronized distinctive Gandharan art that blended Greek, Indian, and Central Asian styles. Oasis towns along the Tarim Basin became way stations where Buddhist communities supported traveling merchants, and merchants in turn supported monasteries with donations. By the first centuries CE, Buddhism had reached China via these same corridors, carried alongside silk, glass, and other trade goods.
Relevance to Trade History
This period illustrates how trade routes functioned as channels for cultural and religious exchange as much as for material goods, a pattern that recurred throughout the history of the Silk Road.
Read the full story in our article The Silk Roads and the Movement of Goods and Ideas.
Source: The Metropolitan Museum of Art — Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History, "Buddhism and the Culture of Gandhara". See our Sources & Methodology page for how we select and verify references.