It is well known that Chinese Buddhist statuary had its origins in India. Chinese images were of the Gandhara style. But though this style was transmitted to China, it was not to continue in its original form. Relations between India and China did not consist of religious missions and pilgrimages alone, but also included frequent economic exchange, with its influence acting, on occasion, as a source of changing forms of imagery. The fact that through such relations between the two countries certain tendencies were shared between them is indicative of the existence of a genuine history of the human race.
