So it is a place rich in culture, rich in trade and merchants and interested in foreigners.
这个地方，文化鼎盛、商贸繁华，而且对外国人感兴趣。
And if you want to see just how interested, go a few miles outside Luoyang where the most famous Indian of all time is commemorated.
要想知道这兴趣有多浓，去洛阳几里以外，那里供奉着有史以来最著名的印度人。
The Buddha.
佛陀。
The foreigner who most fascinated the Chinese through the whole of their history.
他是整个中国历史中最受中国人喜爱的外国人。
The adoption of this Indian religion would leave its mark on the very DNA of Chinese civilisation.
对这支印度宗教的信仰将在中华文明的基因中留下深深的烙印。
What better symbol is there of the impact of Buddhism on Tang Dynasty China, indeed a symbol of the impact of the exchange of ideas and civilisations,
要说起佛教对唐代中国的影响和彼时文化思想的交流，
than this great cliff pockmarked with devotion, and in the middle, that huge image of the Buddha himself
最好的体现莫过于背后这面窟龛密布的峭壁和正中巨大的佛祖造型。
whose message had been carried along what the Chinese called the Road Carrying the Jewel of Truth?
而佛陀的思想正是沿着丝绸之路传入中国，它也因此得名为真经之路。
How that happened, how China embraced Buddhism, is one of the great stories in history.
真经如何取得，佛教如何进入中国，这是最伟大的历史故事之一。
An adventure that generations of storytellers have turned into China's favourite fairytale.
经过代代流传，这段传奇演变成为中国最受欢迎的神话故事。
SHE SPEAKS OWN LANGUAGE The Emperor had a dream and in the dream a strange man appeared to him with his skin the colour of gold, framed by the sun and moon and stars.
皇帝做了一个梦，梦中出现了一个陌生男子。在日月星辰的照耀下，他遍体金黄。
And the court astrologers and diviners interpreted the dream.
宫里的占星师和占卜师解读了这个梦。
But this man had come from the West and it must be the Buddha himself.
梦里的男人来自西方，一定是佛祖本尊。
The Emperor was fascinated and organised an expedition.
皇帝大感兴趣，组织远征。
18 courtiers and scholars with all their attendants journeyed out to the West to find out more.
十八名朝臣和循着各自带着随从走上向西方的探寻之路。
They got as far as Afghanistan and there in a Buddhist monastery they met two Indian monks who agreed to come back with them to China.
他们的路途远至阿富汗，在一所佛教寺庙里遇到两位天竺僧人，愿意随他们回中国。
They came back here and were established in this monastery, the White Horse Pagoda after the white horses that they rode,
折转回到这里，并在白马寺安身，以他们骑的白马命名。
and they translated the first Buddhist scriptures ever to be rendered into Chinese.
他们首次把佛经译成中文。
And they died here and were buried here.
他们在此去世并在此安葬。
This is the tomb of one of them, Kasyapa Matanga.
这是其中一人--迦叶摩腾的坟墓。
It's not the first exchange between India and China but from that moment onwards the dialogue of civilisations will be continuous.
这并非中印的第一次来往，但这一次奠定了此后延续不断的文明对话。
Now the story moves on in time to the year 600.
到了公元600年。
In the wider world the Roman Empire has fallen, Byzantium is flowering and in China the Mandate of Heaven has passed to a new dynasty, the Tang.
那时，罗马帝国衰落，拜占庭崛起。而在中国，天命授予了新的王朝--唐朝。