Today, crumbling walls and the mounds of tombs stretch out as far as the eye can see. The earthen buildings have all fallen and melted over the centuries, making them look like eroded sandcastles on the beach. In rooms that once may have housed Buddhist monks, arched doorways still stood. Broken bottles and toilet paper littered the corners. Paintings from here, now mostly carried away by Europeans, show processions of rich merchants and monks paying reverence to images of Buddha.
Chinese texts name specific people and events.
Cheap was right. Along with the silk and spices and other goods that traveled the Silk Road came religion. Buddhism began in India over 2,500 years ago and gradually spread out from there, reaching Western China by the third century. The key is overcoming worldly desires. As an old-fashioned Christian, he didn't have much time for Buddhists or Muslims and didn't really understand the nature of their religions very well.