Fo (or Fuh) is the imperfect rendering of Buddha into the Chinese language, as the initial sound of B is almost unknown in Chinese. Buddhist missionaries visited China as early as 250 B.C., and in the second year before Christ a number of Buddhist sacred books were presented to the Emperor of China by an ambassador of the Tochari Tartars. But it did not receive official recognition and did not really take root in China until about the year 67 A.D. In the year 61 the Emperor Ming-ti saw in a dream the image of a foreign god entering his palace. Impressed with the singular vision, he sent, at his brother’s suggestion, an embassy to secure Buddhist images, books and teachers. An Indian Buddhist priest, named Kashiap-Madanga, accompanied the embassy on its return. He translated some of the Buddhist books into Chinese. The religion spread rapidly after it received the imperial favor. This it did the more readily as, with India-rubber-like elasticity, Buddhism stretched itself to include the greater part of the ancient Chinese faiths. Native Chinese became Buddhist monks about the year 335 A.D. The Emperor Hiau Wu erected a pagoda in his palace at Nankin in 381 A. D. The ancient Chinese historians say that about this time large monasteries began to be established and that nine-tenths of the common people bowed to the faith of the saint and sage of India. In 405 A.D., Kumarajiva, an Indian Buddhist, translated the principal Buddhist books into the Chinese. He was assisted by 800 priests. More than 300 volumes were thus prepared. [Illustration: CHINESE IMAGE OF BUDDHA.] [Illustration: BRONZE LIONS.] [Illustration: A CHINESE MANDARIN.] At this time the celebrated Chinese traveler, Fa Hien, was collecting sacred books and visiting sacred places in India. He went by land as far as Ceylon, and returned from that island by sea after an absence of fifteen years.