This book is Volume 3 of Silk Road Cultural Exchange between East and West and the Art of the Northern Steppes. Through comparative study of artistic forms, historical settings, and cultural meanings, it interprets Buddhist art in northwestern China and examines visual cultures linked to other foreign religions. It shows how Silk Road art embodied multicultural encounters and how external influences were localized and reshaped within Chinese contexts. Drawing on classical texts, major archaeological finds, rich visual evidence, and first-hand fieldwork, the volume analyzes Dunhuang murals, sculpture from the Yungang Grottoes, and artistic expressions associated with Islam, Nestorian Christianity, Zoroastrianism, and Manichaeism. It also surveys crafts and decorative motifs circulating along Silk Road routes. By combining cross-regional stylistic comparison with cultural interpretation, the book offers a grounded account of how diverse traditions were transformed into distinctive local forms while clarifying both shared features and East-West differences.

Professor Shen Aifeng, editor and lead author of this volume, is a professor at Soochow University School of Art. He also serves as a doctoral supervisor at Lahore University of Education and Varna Free University. He graduated from Nanjing college of Arts and Herzen University in St. Petersburg. His research focuses on world art history and the ancient art of the Silk Road; he is also a painter and contemporary art critic. He has led two national research projects and published two monographs—From the Lapis Lazuli Road to the Silk Road (2 volumes) and Ancient Art of China’s Western Regions along the Silk Road (co-authored). He also co-authored the textbook History of Chinese and Foreign Design and has written around 60 academic papers.