Kissinger’s China, India’s neighbor

“On China” is Henry Kissinger’s effort to draw a long arc that traces the political history of China, from an ancient civilization with “no beginning” to a modern-day state that is fast becoming the 21st century’s most consequential power.

November 24, 1973: Then U.S. Secretary of State
Henry Kissinger, right, with Mao Zedong, left, in Beijing.

Can India learn anything more about its neighbor from a diplomat who has closely watched the country over the last 40 years?


The book’s prologue dramatically starts with a conversation between Mao Zedong and his top commanders on the eve of China’s war with India in October 1962.  The border war is one of the only parts of the book where Mr. Kissinger deals with India directly, giving a blow-by-blow account of events. India gets little attention elsewhere, which may be an accurate depiction of the lack of deep engagement between the two neighbors historically, or perhaps a reflection of Mr. Kissinger’s acceptance of the current Beijing narrative that India is inconsequential to China’s rise on the world stage.

But Mr. Kissinger’s story on how the border conflict came to be is interesting in its own right, given that it sharply contradicts the popular Indian version of itself as the aggrieved party.

The former U.S. Secretary of State goes back to the 1912-1914 Simla conference convened by the British with Chinese and Tibetan authorities to settle the borders between the three countries. The Chinese delegate, citing his country’s weakened condition at that stage, initialed the resulting agreement on the McMahon line but did not sign the document, thus keeping the border dispute open. Decades later, in the late 1950s, upon completion of Tibet’s annexation, Mr. Kissinger says Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai made an offer to accept the Indian position in the west (Arunachal Pradesh) in return for recognition of Chinese claims on Aksai Chin in the east. India Prime Minister Nehru rejected the offer.

Full report here WSJ blogs

A Sinopolar world

Forget about G2, China could be G1 soon. Arvind Subramanian's wake-up call is a must read

An economist and this newspaper’s columnist, Arvind Subramanian, has written a provocative book announcing the potential arrival of China as the world’s “dominant” economic power sooner than widely imagined. Eclipse: Living in the Shadow of China’s Economic Dominance (Peterson Institute of International Economics, 2011) warns a complacent West (a distracted India must also pay attention) that “Chinese economic dominance is more imminent and more broad-based – encompassing output, trade, and currency – than is currently recognised”.

The nineties saw many books predicting the “coming collapse of China”, while more recently there has been a spate of books recognising China’s rise but adding the caveat that the United States is going to remain on the top for the foreseeable future.

Much has, of course, been written about the “power shift” from the West to the East, the decline of the G7 economies, and the rise of China. Till 2008, and well into 2009, many in the United States, led by Fred Bergsten, had assumed that China and the US could create a G2 and run a bipolar condominium.
The Chinese pooh-poohed the G2 idea, seeking to retain their status as a voice of the developing world and preferred the French view of a “multi-polar” or “polycentric” world, perhaps partly to assuage fears in Asia about the rise of an “assertive” China.

Full report here Business Standard

China honours Indian with top lit prize

China has conferred its highest literary award on B.R. Deepak for his book, which is a translation of 88 classical Chinese poems into Hindi.

Prof. Deepak, who is from Centre of Chinese and Southeast Asian Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, was the first Indian to receive the “Special Book Award” for his contribution to Chinese studies, translation, publication of Chinese books and cultural exchange.

The award was presented by the State Counsellor, Liu Yandong, at an investiture held in National Theatre of Performing Arts and the awards were given away by the State Counselor Liu Yandong.

The book is first-of-its-kind translation of 88 classical poems from 11th to 14th Century BC into Hindi that have been selected from various periods of Chinese history starting from Shijing of pre Qin to Xixiangji of the Yuan dynasty, Prof Deepak, currently visiting professor of Chinese and Dean of the School of Languages, Doon University, Dehradun, Uttrakhand told PTI here on Friday.

Full report here Hindu

Smoke and mirrors

The author of a new book on the Opium Wars on how these kick-started a rare century of decline for China, their place in modern memory, and what they can tell us about globalization today

The Anglo-Chinese Opium Wars of the mid-19th century have sprung back into public memory in India recently. River of Smoke, the second instalment of Amitav Ghosh’s swashbuckling naval Ibis epic, which was published last month, is set in the bustling global city of Guangzhou, or Canton, and follows its Indian, Chinese and European characters, enmeshed in the opium trade through to the brink of the war.

The Opium Wars, conducted in two phases—1839-42 and 1856-60—were a bitter conflict between a British empire eager to expand its global trade, and Qing Dynasty China opposed to British ideas of trade and political relations, and severely displeased with the illegal British supply of opium (which came from the poppy fields of north India) entering the country and raising addiction rates among Chinese at alarming rates.

China’s defeat in the wars is considered the mark of a long period of decline for the country. The world’s oldest nation, and one of its most powerful for much of human history, was to spend the next century fighting against Western empires on the one hand, and the belligerent Japanese empire on the other.

Full review here Mint

Smoke on the water

In the second of his ‘Ibis’ trilogy, Ghosh is at the pinnacle of his prowess. It’s a triumph, a truly global novel

We’re just halfway into the year, but if there’s one novel in 2011 that will make the pulse race and the mind wonder with sweep, scale, power and a riveting, multi-threaded story, it is Amitav Ghosh’s River of Smoke. Coming three years after Sea of Poppies, which was the first volume in the Ibis trilogy, the middle panel of the triptych is even vaster, denser with action and richer in backdrop.

Poppies was set primarily in the Calcutta of 1838—the fulcrum of the British empire in the east, where trade was the lubricating agent of colonization—and on board the Ibis, transporting indentured workers to Mauritius, along with convicts. But River of Smoke abandons this centre, for the most part, stretching its action from Mauritius in the West to Canton in the East, with passing cameos by other parts of the world, such as the island of St Helena where Napoleon is exiled after losing the Battle of Waterloo, which puts in an appearance in the novel.

Much of the action continues to take place on board merchant ships—either in mid-voyage, or anchored off the coast of China, as events come to a slow boil in the world’s largest market for the opium that British and Indian traders make a killing on. The line from the poppy fields of eastern India is thus drawn all the way to Canton. Here, local opium dealers supplying a willing population of addicts not only help reverse the trade deficit of the British empire with China—while adding to the wealth of individual opium traders from all countries who’ve joined the gold rush—they also lead the Chinese empire to clamp down on opium imports. The outcome, of course, will be the Opium Wars, in not one but two editions.

Full review here Mint 

E-book industry booms in China

The e-book industry in China is booming and is now the second biggest in the world after the US industry.

In 2009, the number of e-books sold in China reached 3.82 million, and that in the first half of 2010 amounted to over 20 per cent of the world's total.

However, there had been a few problems in the popularity of the e-book industry, leading to the country's General Administration of Press and Publication (GAPP) releasing a few instructions, Xinhua reported.

The problems include weak protection of intellectual property rights (IPR), lack of industry-wide standards and a dearth of domestically-produced reading material. The administration also outlined a few tasks for the promotion of the industry.

Full report here Hindustan Times

Literary project to highlight Tagore's love affair with China

China's love affair with Rabindranath Tagore will be the theme of an Indo-Chinese literary collaboration which will see contributors of the likes of Amartya Sen among others.

The publication of the book on Tagore will be the first of a series of works to come out following an agreement between Sage Publications India and Central Compilation and Translation Press, China.

The two parties had signed a pact to publish Indian management books in Chinese and original scholarly works by Chinese scholars into English.

As the first step of this agreement, Sage India will publish in English the book on Tagore, which will have both Indian and Chinese contributors, says Sage India, MD-CEO Vivek Mehra.

"The first write-up is an original essay by Amartya Sen," Mehra said.

Full report here Times of India 

Tenure over, envoy continues Tagore tryst

Twenty-four thick and short volumes squat on the racks of the Chinese consulate in Salt Lake. Pick any one and leaf through the pages. To the average Calcuttan, the Chinese letters will be all Greek. Till one looks at the cover where in golden letters is inscribed in Bengali the name of our greatest philosopher-poet.

Mao Siwei smiles fondly at the books. “Yes, these are the complete works of Tagore. A Chinese publisher brought this out on his 140th birth anniversary. It costs 890 Yuan, which is equivalent to Rs 6,000-plus.”

The first Chinese consul-general in Calcutta since 1962, who ends his tenure in the city this month, claims that among all languages outside India his mother-tongue has done the most for popularising Tagore.

“Every educated Chinese knows of Tagore. Last May, the Indian President unveiled his bust in Shanghai.”

Siwei himself has done his bit too. His brainchild is a China gallery in Rabindra Bharati University. “Three years ago, when the foreign minister of China was due here to open the consulate, he wanted to see Tagore House. When I went there to make the arrangements, I saw the Japan gallery and suggested to the vice-chancellor that there be one on Tagore’s link with China too. His visit in 1924 is important in our cultural history.”

Full report here Telegraph 

'China thinks India is a democratic mess'

China thinks India is democratic mess, without seeking to understand why it is a democracy in the first place. The view has been changing in recent years, according to Richard McGregor, the author of The Party: The Secret6 World of China's Communist Rules.

In an interview with R Rajesh Kumar, Sify News, the author said that relations between India and China are always difficult. The two countries' political systems are starkly different.

India's nuclear bomb gained New Delhi respect in Beijing. Chinese strategists complained that Beijing did not respect New Delhi until India had the bomb. They believed that China should have tried to engage India much earlier than that. India's technological advances and companies have helped change the country's image in China.

Full report here Silicon India

SAGE India's foray into Oriental publishing

India was the country of honour at the recently concluded Beijing International Book Fair, SAGE India also participated in the fair and had a stall in the Indian pavilion.

Vivek Mehra, MD & CEO SAGE India met He Yan, President, Central Compilation & Translation Press, China at the fair and signed a MOA (Memorandum of Agreement) to publish Indian management books in Chinese and original scholarly works by Chinese scholars into English. The Central Compilation & Translation Press is a wing of the Central Compilation & Translation Bureau, the highest authority in China when it comes to certifying translation from any global language into Chinese and whenever Chinese works are published abroad. Mr He, a highly respected figure is also a member of the Upper House of the Chinese Parliament

As part of this landmark agreement SAGE India will publish (in English with world rights) a recently published bi-lingual edition of 'Tagore and China' by Prof Tan Chung a leading China scholar, currently living in Chicago. Prof Tan has lived in India for many years and taught at the Jawaharlal National University. His father was also a scholar who was brought to India (specifically to Shanti Niketan) by none other than the legendary Rabindranath Tagore. In China this book is published by the Central Compilation & Translation Press. The book is a fantastic scholarly work which includes an original essay by Amartya Sen. We hope to bring this book out in May 2011 to coincide with Tagore's 150th birth anniversary.

This is a landmark moment in the history of SAGE India as we add another dimension to our language publishing programme and begin our Oriental sojourn

Full report here Afaqs

A new chapter in literary exchange

Within minutes of the inauguration of the Indian stand - designed to resemble a typical rural Indian courtyard, with images etched in relief on the faux mud walls - at the Beijing International Book Fair (BIBF), those manning its neat stalls began receiving questions.

Kumar Vikram, press and programs officer of the National Book Trust (NBT), India - the nodal agency for publishing and distributing Indian books worldwide - and his colleagues had difficulty fielding queries about how visitors might take home some of the eye-catching offerings on display. Most of them did not speak any of the 18 languages in which these books were written.

Unfortunately, the titles were not on sale, although a few select ones, translated into Chinese, were being handed out.

"Our main agenda is to arouse curiosity about Indian books among writers, readers, publishers and distributors on a larger scale (rather) than being able to sell 50-odd copies at the fair," Vikram says.

Full report here Xinhua

At book fair, China confronts Nehru's sensitive legacy

“Nehru gave China Panchsheel,” remarked Li Changchun, one of China's most powerful leaders, on Tuesday, August 31, morning, as he found himself standing, somewhat surprised, in front of a bust of India's first Prime Minister in the heart of Beijing.

A Chinese visitor poses in front of a replica of Jawaharlal Nehru's
desk, at the India Pavilion at the ongoing Beijing Book Fair 

“In fact,” Mr. Li added, referring to the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence which India and China signed in 1954, “we're still using this to solve our problems with many countries.”

Mr. Li, China's propaganda and media chief and fifth highest ranking leader in the Communist Party, was speaking during a visit to the Indian pavilion at the ongoing Beijing International Book Fair.

India, which is the country of honour at the fair, has brought 26 publishers and is showcasing three main themes — Buddhism, given its close resonance with China, and the writings of Rabindranath Tagore and Nehru. Tagore, who visited China in the 1920s, is widely popular here. He was — and continues to be — a hit with the intellectuals, and is still read in colleges. So, for the Indian organisers, Buddha and Tagore were easy choices.

Full report here Hindu

India exporting English to China

Beijing's publishers are lining up to check if books by Indian authors could teach Chinese students and call-centre employees better English than American textbooks. At a time when bilateral ties are strained, the neighbours are finding common ground over a foreign language. India is the country of honour at the 58-nation Beijing International Book Fair that opened on Monday with 27 Indian publishers showcasing 3,500 titles.

“The Chinese are greatly interested in copyright and translation rights for books to learn call-centre English," Sanjiv Chawla, manager of exports at the Delhi-based Orient BlackSwan told HT at the fair. “The Chinese have a fixed idea that English is best taught by the Americans and British, so we have to explain that English is like a second-language for Indians.’’

Books on Buddhism, Rabindranath Tagore and Jawaharlal Nehru are the centrepiece of India’s pavilion so that past cultural linkages strike a bond with China. But the Chinese publishers are mainly interested in India’s legacy of English education, to see if the books could be adapted to modernise Chinese teaching.

Full report here Hindustan Times

Indian focus at Beijing book fair

India, the country of honor at the Beijing International Book Fair 2010 (BIBF), which kicks off Monday, August 30, is focusing on publications on Buddha and Buddhism, works by Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore and those on and by the country's first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru to mark 60 years of Sino-Indian diplomatic ties.

India's 27 major English language publishers also have a special exhibition of recent books centering on areas such as science and technology, children's literature, medical and social sciences and English language learning books and aids. In total, nearly 3,500 titles are on display at the India pavilion named A Courtyard of Possibilities.

The organizer said that they hope to deepen ties between Indian and Chinese publishers and intellectuals.

"The slogan of the presentation is Exploring the Middle Path, which not only connects it with the Buddhist tradition shared by India and China but also finds a connect with and echoes India's contemporary endeavors to find a common platform of social, economic, cultural and political dialogue with China," said Satish Kumar, director of India's National Book Trust (NBT), organizer of BIBF's Indian programs.

Full report here Global Times

Tibetan blogosphere is vibrant and empowering

As a place to meet, share and exchange, the Tibetan blogosphere has created opportunities for Tibetan netizens that would be unimaginable in the offline world. Keeping in mind the state of internet censorship in the People’s Republic of China today, these new spaces can be seen as new outlets but also as new areas involving personal risk. Tibetan cyberspace has opened up a new opportunity for expression, which has also brought new risks to this community.

There are several blog-hosting sites, both Tibetan and Chinese, that are favoured by Tibetans in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) today. One of the of the most popular Chinese language sites is called Tibetan Culture Net or simply TibetCul. TibetCul was started by two brothers, Wangchuk Tseten and Tsewang Norbu, and their head office is in Lanzhou, capital of Gansu Province. According to Alexa, the web Information Company, TibetCul receives over 400,000 hits every month. TibetCul is primarily a news and blog-hosting site but there are many different sections on the site related to Tibetan music, literature, films and travel. There is a BBS forum (bulletin board) and there is even a section dedicated to “overseas Tibetans”.

For all Tibet related news, blogs and cultural activities, TibetCul is an invaluable resource and source of information. Many posts translated into English by High Peaks Pure Earth come from TibetCul, such as the translation of the popular Tibetan hip-hop song “New Generation” by Green Dragon that was first featured on the group’s TibetCul blog in February 2010 in which a gang of Amdo rappers boldly proclaimed:

“The new generation has a resource called youth
The new generation has a pride called confidence
The new generation has an appearance called playfulness
The new generation has a temptation called freedom”

Full report here thecommentfactory

India showcases literary works at China book fair

India, which participated as the ''Country of Honour'' at the Beijing International Book Fair, today showcased its literary works with focus on the great Indian philosophers like Rabindranath Tagore and Jawaharlal Nehru.

India has been accorded the ''Country of Honour'' status by China to commemorate the establishment of 60th year of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

Twenty seven noted Indian publishing houses displayed a variety of books in areas such as science and technology, information technology, children''s literature, social sciences, education, books for general reader, English language learning books and aids.

In total, nearly 3500 Indian books are on display at the special pavilion built at the fair to house the Indian books.

The focus of India at the week long book fair is Lord Buddha''s "middle path", Rabindranath Tagore''s travels to China making a lasting impression on a generation of Chinese, Jawaharlal Nehru''s endeavours to promote Sino-Indian ties and India''s growing influence in English publishing.

Full report here MSN

China donates 53.6 lakh to Tagore Museum

China has decided to donate 53.6 lakh for the establishment of a gallery on Rabindranath and China' at the Tagore Museum in Rabindra Bharati University (RBU). A formal agreement on this was signed on Friday at Tagore House by Chinese consul general in Kolkata Mao Siwei and RBU vice-chancellor Karuna Sindhu Das.

According to the agreement, the China gallery will cover 180 sqm and display motifs, including that of Chinese civilization, Lord Buddha, the great liaison between India and China, Tagore's inquisitiveness and respect for China from his boyhood days, Visva Bharati and studies in Chinese literature and culture and Tagore's visit to China in 1924.

Mao said the gallery would be inaugurated in May 2011 during Tagore's 150th birth anniversary celebrations. "Tagore was still popular in China. Ten years ago, The Complete Works of Tagore' was published in 24 volumes in China. As far as I know, Chinese is the language which has done the most for Tagore's publications, second only to Indian languages and English", he added.

Full report here Times of India 

The hare-tortoise myth

The twin stories of India and China are the most dramatic in the world economy. In 1820, the two countries contributed to nearly half of the world’s income. In 1950, their share was less than a tenth; and currently the two contribute a fifth. By 2025, their share of world income will be a third, according to projections. Both remain the world’s fastest growing big economies.

China, of course, hogs most of the glory. India was ahead of China in 1870, as well as in the 1970s, in terms of per capita income levels at international prices. But since 1990, China has surged ahead of India—China’s per capita income growth in the past two decades has been at least double India’s rate. It has invested nearly half its GDP, a scale of capital investment—mostly in building world-class infrastructure—that is unprecedented in the world’s economic history.

So the title of Raghav Bahl’s book Super Power? The Amazing Race between China’s Hare and India’s Tortoise, is a bit fey. Is there really a race? Is India even interested in playing catch up? Does China even need to look over its shoulder for a bounding India? Or is this phantasmagorical race purely the spin of feel-good entrepreneurs, phoney management gurus and an uncritical, gung-ho media?

Full report here Mint

Tagore's works being translated into Chinese

Complete works of Rabindranath Tagore are being translated into Chinese, according to a city-based consortium which will participate in the Beijing international Book Fair beginning from August 30.

A marble statue of Tagore will be installed in Shanghai to mark the poet's 150th birth anniversary, president of the Consortium for Books and Culture Debajyoti Dutta said Kolkata on Aug 25.

He said there has been a sea-change in attitude of the Chinese authorities towards Rabindranath who visited that country in the first half the 20th century.

Dutta said India is the theme country at the Beijing Book Fair.

Read more at NDTV: 

Cheek by jowl

There is much talk of a race between India and China. The truth is that both countries pay remarkably little attention to each other, except in a few military and diplomatic arenas. Neither side is impressed by the other’s political systems and draws curiously few lessons from the other's economic policies.

Superpower: The Amazing Race
Between China's Hare
 and India's Tortoise
Raghav Bahl
Allen Lane
Rs 699; Pp 482

  

But the idea of two Asian giants caught in a giant nation-state rivalry makes good copy. Media magnate Raghav Bahl attempts to dig a little deeper, comparing the Indian tortoise and the Chinese hare. The two are compared at various levels, showing where one has an advantage and the other one is shackled. There is a set of interesting case studies of how the two handled areas like power, civil aviation and railways — generally with India getting the worse of it.

This is a fast moving text, at times veering close to incoherence. Skipping through history, geopolitics, demography, entrepreneurship, different bits of the economy, it tosses up a lot of data, a fair number of quotes (some of which are repeated) and an honest share of unanswered questions.

Full review here Hindustan Times