Xinjiang's Rawak Temple ruins offer window into Silk Road Buddhist heritage

The temple's main structure remains buried under sand. Zhang Huajie, director of the Hotan Museum, said this casing may actually protect the relics from exposure to factors like light and air, thus preventing deterioration.

According to Zhang, ancient Hotan was a flourishing Buddhist center. Buddhism entered present-day Xinjiang via the Kashmir region around the 1st century BC.