Buddhism brought to China a large range of divine beings, all of whom came to be depicted in images at temples, either on their walls or as free standing statues. 

The earliest Buddhist images in China owed much to traditions developed in Central Asia, but over time Chinese artists developed their own styles. Here we look separately at the evolution of the different divine beings in the Buddhist pantheon, then look briefly at groupings of deities.

The images of each of these types of divine beings have been arranged in chronological order. To keep in mind geographical differences, look at the map below which shows the sites of the major temples represented here.