The Kashgar region of Xinjiang, China, known as “Shule” during the Han dynasties (206 BC-220 AD). Tang (618-907), was a famous center of Buddhism. Xuanzang, a monk of the Tang dynasty (the prototype of the Tang monk in Journey to the West, a wonderful ancient Chinese novel), reported that there were “hundreds of monasteries and dozens of thousands of monks”.
However, with time and the devastation wrought by violent sandstorms, 20 Buddhist sites have survived.
Among them, the site of the Mo’er Temple, situated in the desert northeast of Kashgar, is well preserved, with a virtually intact stupa and a multi-tiered square pagoda that appears somewhat damaged on its surface.
Since 2019, Chinese archaeologists have conducted excavations at the site, revealing a complex of large-scale temple buildings. They unearthed a significant number of relics, adding plaster Buddha statues, pottery, and copper coins, proving that this was a Buddhist temple from the third to the early 10th century.
So what was discovered during the excavation of the Mo’er Temple site?What are the notable architectural features of Buddhist structures?And what cultural influences were exerted? To answer those questions, the journalist interviewed Professor Xiao Xiaoyong, head of the archaeological excavation team at the Mo’er Temple site, who is also a professor of archaeology at Minzu University in China.