Three Chinese Travellers in India

Contents: 1. Du Xiao Zhou nighttime in Bengaluru. 2. British colonialism, ayurveda and carnatic music. 3. British colonialism. 4. The financial analyst. 5. Ayurveda. 6. Carnatic music and Mr. Ganapati. 7. British colonialism, ayurveda revisited. 8. Chennai. 9. Final months in Bengaluru. 10. Milton wong. 11. Cupertino, California. 12. The bald hills of Northern California. 13. The revelation. 14. Preparation for Bengaluru. 15. On route to India. 16. At home in Bengaluru. 17. Milton’s IIT ventures. 18. Brenda and South Indian temple architecture. 19. Bengaluru is home (almost). 20. The final stretch. 21. Gao Mei Lin. 22. Hualien, Taiwan. 23. New Delhi. 24. Mahabodhi express to Gaya. 25. Bodhgaya. 26. Rishikesh. 27. Bengaluru.

Our initial motivation for writing this novelette was to expose to the intelligent traveller to India, from Chinese-speaking environments, important cultural themes that are difficult to discover through guidebooks or even from the average tour guide.

Our three characters are from China, Northern California, and Taiwan, and each travels to India for different reasons. Each of our characters introduce different themes according to their respective activities and interests. They each represent composites of real people we have known throughout our 30 years of itinerant life together and all three share an enthusiasm for the energy of the country.

For the Indian reader, knowledge about these three characters and their stories will provide insights into China, Taiwan and the Chinese diaspora. Whatever region you come from, we hope that you care about our characters and we hope you share our excitement about the great land of India.