Across the Himalayan Gap : An Indian Quest for Understanding China

Contents: Foreword/Kapila Vatsyayan. Preface/Karan Singh. Introduction/Tan Chung. I. Indian Leader\'s Speeches in Chinese Universities: 1. Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi at Qinghua University, Beijing, 1988. 2. Prime Minister Narasimha Rao at Beijing University, 1993. 3. Vice-President K.R. Narayanan at Fudan University, Shanghai, 1994. II. Indian Savants\' Observations on China: 4. Raja Rammohun Roy. 5. Gurudeva Rabindranath Tagore. 6. Mahatma Gandhi. 7. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. 8. A.K. Coomaraswami. 9. P.C. Bagchi. III. Perspectives: 10. A holistic eye on cultural interface and synergy/Kapila Vatsyayan. 11. The critique of modernity in India and China/Prasenjit Duara. 12. Enchantment and disenchantment: a Sino-Indian introspection/Ravni Thakur & Tan Chung. 13. Gandhi and Mao: National Identity for an alternative future/Mira Sinha Bhattacharjea. 14. Body, state and Cosmos: Mao Zedong\'s "Study of Physical Education" 1917/Patricia Uberoi. 15. A Sino-Indian perspective for India-China understanding/Tan Chung. 16. Unveiling Xuanzang and the Xuanzang spirit/Haraprasad Ray. 17. Towards an understanding of socialism with Chinese characteristics/Hemant Adlakha.

IV. Culture and Art: 18. Some aspects of Jataka paintings in Indian and Chinese (Central Asian) Art/M.C. Joshi & Radha Banerjee. 19. India and China: beyond and the within/Lokesh Chandra. 20. My tryst with Chinese art/M.N. Deshpande. 21. Icons of cultural linkage/D.C. Bhattacharyya. 22. Cultural synthesis in the Buddhist art of China/Arputharani Sengupta. 23. New revelations of Xinjiang art/Priyatosh Banerjee. 24. The creation of Goddess of Mercy from Avalokitesvara/Bagyalakshmi. 25. The Manichaean input to Chinese culture and art/Radha Banerjee. V. Socio-Political Changes and Economic Development: Socio Political Institutions: 26. Development and Democracy: The Indian and Chinese experience/Manoranjan Mohanty. 27. Understanding "Human Relationships" in China/Kamal Sheel. Economic Developments: 28. The economic ideas of Mao Zedong: agricultural transformation/Utsa Patnaik. 29. Roads for large populations towards development and prosperity/S.P. Gupta. Gender Issues: 30. Change and continuity: Orthodox discourse on gender relations in China/Ravni Thakur. 31. Women and family in India and China/Bidyut Mohanty. 32. Women and adult literacy in China/Shreemati Chakrabarty. VI. History and Literature: Tagore and China: 33. The controversial guest: Tagore\'s 1924 visit of China/Sisir Kumar Das. 34. Tagore\'s inspiration in Chinese new poetry/Tan Chung. Ancients on War: 35. Strategic thinking in ancient India and China: Kautilya and Sunzi/Giri Deshingkar. 36. Arthashastra and Sunzi Bingfa/V.R. Ragavan. Modern Chinese Literature: 37. The lofty height of a writer: my evaluation of Lu Xun/Manik Bhattacharyya. 38. Comeback of hundred flowers in Chinese literature: 1976-1989/Sabaree Mitra. India-China Relationship: 39. Mao Zedong\'s vision: China, the world and India/Mira Sinha Bhattacharjea. 40. The Nehru years revisited/Giri Deshingkar. 41. Retrace Indian steps in the agricultural scene in China 40 years back/S.K. Bhutani. VII. Diplomats\' Reminiscences: 42. Interwoven memories about China/K.P.S. Menon. 43. My tryst with India-China friendship a talk at IGNCA/K.P.S. Menon. 44. Diary of an old China hand/A.K. Damodaran. 45. Delicious memories--a talk at IGNCA/A.K. Damodaran. 46. Walk out of the dinner and eat it--a talk at IGNCA/Brajesh Mishra. 47. Memories of an Indian Ambassador, 1987-1991/C.V. Ranganathan. 48. A young Indian Diplomat in China in the 1960s and 1970s/K.S. Rana. 49. How I arrived on the China scene/Vinod Khanna. VIII. Better Understanding: 50. How to understand China?/V.V. Paranjpe. 51. How to understand Deng Xiaoping\'s China?/C.V. Ranganathan. 52. Positive agenda for positive action: better India-China understanding/Eric Gonsalves. 53. Indian policies towards China--a talk at IGNCA/Salman Haidar. 54. Looking at China across the border/Dipankar Banerjee. 55. India--China relations: a military perspective/V.R. Raghavan. 56. Three agreements and five principle between India and China/Swaran Singh. 57. Building confidence with China/Swaran Singh. 58. China becoming a superpower and India\'s options/Sreedhar. 59. The importance of understanding China/Surjit Mansingh.

This book is the fruition of Step 1 of a project launched by the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA) which is a premier Indian research institution dedicated to a holistic understanding of world civilization and to the promotion of information and insight between different cultures of the world. \'Sino-Indian Studies" is a special window of IGNCA drawing inspiration from Gurudeva Rabindranath Tagore\'s longing for reenacting the history of the "great pilgrimage" and path-opening"--"to maintain the [Sino-Indian]" "Intercourse of culture and friendship", in Tagore\'s own words. The Academic Director of IGNCA, Dr Kapila Vatsyayan, blazed a new trail in 1990, leading scholars of India and China to "look at each other" instead of trying to see each other\'s country through the Western Hemisphere. All the 40 Indian authors in this volume have contributed their mite to this endeavour-- making it a book that parades the various Indian perspectives on China, on her civilization, history, society and present developments. While scrutinizing their writings, readers also get a glance over Indian savants\' observations and Indian leaders\' addresses at Chinese universities. The book also targets the Chinese readership with the aim of creating its companion volume of Chinese perspectives on India which is the Step II of the IGNCA project in promoting indepth understanding between the two most populous countries--close neighbours and partners of the 21 century." (jacket)