Xuanzang Departs China on Pilgrimage to India

Buddhist monk Xuanzang defied a Tang Dynasty travel ban and slipped out of Chang'an, traveling by night to avoid imperial patrols. He crossed the Gobi Desert, nearly dying of thirst, then followed the Silk Road through Turfan, Samarkand, and Bactria before reaching India. Over sixteen years he studied at Nalanda Monastery, collected 657 Sanskrit manuscripts and 150 sacred relics, and visited over one hundred kingdoms. His travelogue, Records of the Western Regions, became an essential source for Central and South Asian history.