**6. Conclusions**

Gilded Buddha statues are typical examples of cultural communication and integration between different civilizations. Their emergence and spread reflect the close relationship between body decoration, technological dissemination, and religious development in the complex social and historical background of Asia. With the help of the precious material medium of gold, Buddhism not only constructed the ideal paradise but also shaped and decorated the skin of various Buddha statues in reality. Gandhara was not only one of the birthplaces of the early Buddha statues but also took the lead in decorating them with precious and easily malleable gold. In this case, it made this the fixed and standard paradigm for Buddha decorations in all Buddhist traditions. Thanks to the universal recognition of the value of gold in human society, the gilded statues of the Buddha that originated in Gandhara were powerfully spread across Asia. Consequently, the gilded statues of the Buddha strengthened the communication between regions, being endowed with multi-level connotations such as craft, culture, and religion in the process of transmission.

With the spread of Buddhism to the east, gilded Buddha statues also actively absorbed and influenced the gold technologies in different regions. As research has shown, this situation changed the inherent trend of the distribution, processing, and application of gold resources in traditional Chinese society. As a matter of fact, existing data show that, even though the production of gold amalgam, gold leaf, mercury gilding, and gold leaf gilding technologies all originated in China, the introduction of Buddhism and gold leaf-gilded Buddha statues from Grandhara accelerated the application of gold resources and technologies to Buddhism in China. In particular, it played an important role in promoting the production of gold leaf and gold leaf gilding technology in the Northern and Southern dynasties. This provides a double guarantee of the material and technology for the surface treatment of Buddha statues with different scales and materials. Since the Wei, Jin, Northern, and Southern dynasties, Buddhism has used the greatest volume of gold, resulting in a large amount of gold resources in society flowing to the temples, which once had an impact on the national economy at that time. The driving force behind the evolution and progress of gold technology comes from solving the problem of the rational and efficient utilization of gold materials. However, with the progress and popularization of technology, as well as the change and development of society and the economy, there will be dislocation or even alienation between the purpose and result of technological processing, which will lead to deeper social and economic problems. The wearing and stripping of the gold costumes of ancient Chinese Buddha statues are a periodical reflection of the mutual influence and restriction between gold processing technology and social resource allocation and moral orientation.

**Author Contributions:** Conceptualization, X.L. and X.H.; methodology, X.H.; investigation, X.L.; writing—original draft preparation, X.L.; writing—review and editing, X.H.; visualization, X.L. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

**Funding:** This research received no external funding.

**Institutional Review Board Statement:** Not applicable.

**Informed Consent Statement:** Not applicable.

**Data Availability Statement:** Not applicable.

**Conflicts of Interest:** The authors declare no conflict of interest.
