India-China Interface and The Road Ahead

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This publication contains the proceedings of a very important international seminar titled India-China Interface and the Road Ahead held in the Asiatic Society during the period November 28 to 29, 2008. The volume has been edited by the well-known Chinese scholar Professor Haraprasad Ray, who also delivered the keynote address in the seminar.

In his inaugural address Shri Mao Siwei, Hon'ble Consul General of People's Republic of China in Kolkata, mentioned ten different points in support of arguments while expressing his belief "that the Chinese and Indian peoples, who account for two-fifths of humanity, have reached a common understanding: the Sino-Indian relationship can have only one destiny, that is, win-win for both the countries." That sets the tone of the seminar.

Professor Haraprasad Ray reciprocates the same sense in his keynote address with the following words: "This international seminar is one such seminar whose purpose is to strengthen the base for comprehensive understanding of China among the intelligentsia, media, non- governmental professionals and worlds of culture and arts." Professor Ray further hopes in his address: "This international seminar hopes to place before us the reviews of the present level of comparative studies and elements of both cooperation and competition on some of the themes touched upon", while expressing his views that: "It will help us learn about and interpret our closest neighbour with whom India has had many civilisational commonalities."

I sincerely hope that scholars, researchers and students in the field will be immensely benefited by the deliberations of this seminar and the relations of the two great nations will be further strengthened.

Because of their importance the Inaugural, Keynote and Valedictory Addresses have been incorporated here as preamble. In addition, as will be evident from the Introduction, the papers have been regrouped for the sake of brevity, compactness and homogeneity. We have provided the abstracts of those papers whose authors could not provide the full texts, and also of those scholars who could not attend the seminar due to visa or some serious personal problems. The abstracts along with the complete texts will provide a bird's-eye view of the extent and depth of studies in this arena both in India and China.

We offer our wholehearted gratitude and thanks to the President Professor Biswanath Banerjee, and Dr. Ramakrishna Chatterjee, the Publication Secretary, for their constant encouragement and guidance which brought the seminar to fruition to the satisfaction of all concerned.

This volume of essays is the outcome of a two-day International Seminar on India-China Interface and the Road Ahead held at the Asiatic Society on 28th and 29th November, 2008. The tone of the seminar was set by Professor R. K. Chakrabarty, the General Secretary of the Asiatic Society, who in his welcome address. stressed that the Asiatic Society is dedicated to the study of Asiatic civilisation by the Asians. Interface, he said, means cultivation of friendship between the countries. India and China should know each other well. The Asiatic Society holds great opportunity in this matter.

Kolkata's industrious Chinese community has made substantial contribution to the economy of Kolkata.

As pointed out by Professor Biswanath Banerjee in his presidential address, this was the first international seminar on India-China relations to be held under the sponsorship of the Society. He pointed out that thousands of Indian Buddhist texts translated into Chinese from Sanskrit are lost to us. An attempt was made in Cheenabhavana (Visva Bharati) by Professors Tan Yunshan and P. C. Bagchi to retrieve the original through retranslation of the Chinese versions into Sanskrit by scholars like Dr. Bagchi himself, Dr. Aiyaswami Shastri and others; but it did not continue. He pleaded that such a project should be taken up anew to revive the scheme. He also said that the great Kumarajiva had translated more than fifty Sanskrit texts into Chinese. The two-day International Seminar was spread over five sessions during the course of which sixteen papers were presented. The valedictory address was presented by Professor Tan Chung and summing-up of the proceedings by Dr. H. P. Ray.

The first paper included in this volume is the Inaugural Address by Honourable Mr. Mao Siwei, the Consul-General of China in Kolkata, who expresses his confidence in the lasting friendship between India and China as both India and China do not consider each other as a security threat which has further paved the way for development of bilateral relations. Among the steps taken to ameliorate the relations, he mentions exchange of hydrological know-how, recognition of Sikkim as a part of India by China, joint military exercises and opening of new Consulate-General in China and in India (in Kolkata). The Consulate here is already issuing visa to Indians in West Bengal and North-east India. He also expresses the hope that the scholars in both the countries will play a big role in advancing our good neighbourly relations. This paper is followed by the Keynote Address of Dr. Haraprasad Ray and the Valedictory Address by Professor Tan Chung.