Kucha, which is located in today's Xinjiang Province, China, was once the most important Buddhist centre on the northern route of the Silk Road. Buddhist art that survives in this region is known by two very different styles of two phases in terms of the subject matter and style of the wall paintings. One is the indigenous Kucha style, which was replaced by the Chinese/Uighur style. However, in between these two successive styles, standing Buddha figures used to be popular for a short period of time. This feature is often overlooked in the study of Buddhist art along the Silk Road. More intriguingly, the inspiration for this subject derives from Khotan, the Buddhist and cultural centre on the southern route of the Silk Road, on the other side of the Takla-Makan Desert in the Tarim Basin. The ancient Silk Road is known today mainly for its facilitation of culture exchange between the East and West; whereas so little is known about the exchanges between the regional centres, which for certain must have been active. The study of the standing Buddha figures in Kucha not only reveals an important aspect of Buddhist art, but also a facet of the interaction between the northern route and southern route in Central Asia.