The article says the artifact comes from Dunhuang, China, which is unsurprising as Dunhunang is part of Central Asia, AFAICT. The nomadic tribes of Central Asia tended to spread religions quite far. They weren't particularly ideological, and you'd often find a mixture of religions among tribes and even within a tribe. Probably not coincidentally, much of the eastern part of the silk road was populated by these peoples.
Nestorianism, an early Christian Church part of the Syriac Orthodox lineage but which is now almost extinct, spread deep into Mongolia by a similar process (as well as down into Southern India), though it only made it to Eastern China twice, the second time when the Mongols conquered China.
China is geographically huge with a not insignificant part in Central Asia, so whenever you hear something about ancient cultural exchanges between China and most anywhere else beyond East or SE Asia, it's usually going to have happened in Western China via nomadic peoples of Central Asia, and getting from Western China to Eastern China is the bigger hurdle. Buddhism is no exception--Buddhism first reached China via Central Asian tribes, only centuries later from across the Himalayas, and it still took quite awhile to reach Eastern China.
Ancient Treasures to "queen" in two hops.