In the beginning of the first century, along the silk-road, Buddhism was transmitted from India to Chine through central Asia. At that time, China was under the later Han dynasty. Chinese government adopted Confucian thought to rule the country. On the other hand, a form of Taoist mysticism was followed by the common people who practiced the casting of spells to attain mundane benefits such as longevity and others. Under such circumstances, Buddhist monks came to China and brought their doctrines along through the exchange routes while teaching the Buddhist doctrines to the merchants and the peoples of central Asia. In the end of the 2nd century, the Han dynasty had collapsed, and so had Confucian thought. So China became unstable. The people were in distress and strived to survive. They were looking for any sort of relief to their agony, even if it came from the hands of gods. At that time, Buddhism entered China and soon became one of the Chinese official religions. Buddhist doctrines were embedded in the lives of the Chinese people as shown in the archaeological traces and remains of the later Han dynasty. This paper aims to investigate those archaeological traces and remains from the approach of iconographic study, and to draw some points of view from it.
