ded, sent
first to the court of Wei, and afterwards to the Liang, Chou and Sui.
The notices respecting the country are to a large extent repetitions.
They praise its climate, fertility and mineral wealth: the
magnificence of the royal palace, the number and splendour of the
religious establishments. Peacocks were as common as fowls and the
Chinese annalists evidently had a general impression of a brilliant,
pleasure-loving and not very moral city. It was specially famous for
its music: the songs and dances of Kucha, performed by native artists,
were long in favour at the Imperial Court, and a list of twenty airs
has been preserved.[504]

When the T'ang dynasty came to the throne Kucha sent an embassy to do
homage but again supported Karashahr in rebellion and again brought on
herself a punitive expedition (648). But the town was peaceful and
prosperous when visited by Hsuan Chuang about 630.

His description agrees in substance with other notices, but he praises
the honesty of the people. He mentions that the king was a native and
that a much modified Indian alphabet was in use. As a churchman, he
naturally dwells with pleasure on the many monasteries and great
images, the quinquennial assemblies and religious processions.
There were more than 100 monasteries with upwards of 5000 brethren who
all followed the Sarvastivada and the "gradual teaching," which
probably means the Hinayana as opposed to the sudden illumination
caused by Mahayanist revelation. The pilgrim differed from his hosts
on the matter of diet and would not join them in eating meat. But he
admits that the monks were strict according to their lights and that
the monasteries were centres of learning.

In 658 Kucha was made the seat of government for the territory known
as the Four Garrisons. During the next century it sent several
missions to the Chinese and about 788 was visited by Wu-K'ung, who
indicates that music and Buddhism were still flourishing. He mentions
an Abbot who spoke with equal fluency the language of the country,
Chinese and Sanskrit. Nothing is known about Kucha from this date
until the eleventh century when we again hear of missions to the
Chinese Court. The annals mention them under the heading of Uigurs,
but Buddhism seems not to have been extinct for even in 1096 the Envoy
presented to the Emperor a jade Buddha. According to Hsuan Chuang's
account the Buddhism of Karashahr (Yenki) was the same as that of
Kucha and its monasteries