The purpose of this study is to investigate the role of Sogdian Buddhist monks in the spread of Buddhism in southern China. Sogdians played an important role in promoting Buddhism because they knew Chinese and Hindi, and they were not as merchants who only carried goods but also they were carriers of religions such as Manichaeism, Zoroastrianism, Christianity, and Buddhism. Based on available sources, such as biographies of Sogdian monks, tomb inscriptions, and Sogdian Buddhist manuscripts in Turfan and Dunhuang, this study shows how they, in their role as religious messengers, spread Buddhism in southern China during the seventh to tenth centuries AD.

Background: This study investigated the impact of socio-economic factors on the spread and outbreak of COVID-19 based on Chinese data. Methods: Cumulative confirmed cases were collected and divided into the First-stage cases cluster dominated by imported cases, and the Second-stage cases cluster dominated by secondary cases, according to the time of emergency state and Wuhan city lockdown. The linear regression was used for data analysis. Results: A total of 12, 877 cases in 30 provinces were analyzed in the study. The First-stage cases cluster includ-ed 675 cases and Second-stage cases cluster included 12, 202 cases. The socio-economic factors were significantly associated with the cases (P<0. 05). The GDP and proportion of population moving out of Wuhan were associ-ate with the First-stage dominated by imported cases (  0, P<0. 05). The First-stage cases cluster, proportion of population moving out of Wuhan and urban population were associate with the Second-stage dominated by secondary cases (  0, P<0. 05). Conclusion: Socio-economic factors had impacts on the spread and outbreak of COVID-19. The combination of different socio-economic indicators at different stages of the epidemic may help control the epidemic.

Nepeta wuana H. J. Dong, C. L. Xiang & Z. Jamzad, (Lamiaceae), a new species found in Shanxi Province, China, is described and illustrated. The closest relative of the new species is the Chinese endemic N. sungpanensis C. Y. Wu but it clearly differs from it in the prolonged middle lobe of the lower corolla lip, as well as the much larger leaves, and sharper calyx lobes. Microfeatures of leaf epidermis, pollen grains, and nutlets of the new species are also explained.