India-China Ties at 70: The Power of Cultural Exchange

The culture of any nation develops in the exchange and fusion with cultures of other nations. India and China, two ancient civilizations, have a traditional friendship that can be traced back to very early times. Their close contact spanning more than two thousand years was extremely fruitful in the dissemination of Indian culture in China and Chinese culture in India.

This old cultural link was revitalized in 1924 when Rabindranath Tagore visited China. Tagore’s historic visit to China not only brought the high attainments of Indian civilization to the Chinese but also awakened the grandeur of the Eastern Civilization. In his view, India-China cooperation was not only related to the future development of the two countries but also the future of Asia and the world at large.

Tagore sought to revive and strengthen the historical relationship between the peoples of the two ancient civilizations through various academic research projects. It was his global vision that helped establish Cheena Bhavana (Department of Chinese Language and Culture) at Visva-Bharati University in 1937, the only one of its kind in India at that time. After Tagore’s visit to China, cultural interactions between the two countries developed substantially, both in breadth and in depth.

Through Seven Decades

On April 1, 1950, India and China officially established diplomatic relations, causing a major sensation worldwide. India was the first non-socialist country to establish diplomatic relations with China. In 1954, the two countries jointly advocated the world-famous Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence that laid a new foundation for India-China relations and ushered in the first climax of friendly cooperation.

After India’s independence in 1947 and the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, cultural exchange between the two countries flourished once again. In 1955, the first Indian cultural delegation headed by then Indian Deputy Minister of External Affairs A. K. Chanda visited China. Major moves followed in cultural cooperation between the two countries, especially after Rajiv Gandhi’s epoch-making visit to China in 1988. The broad contours of India-China cultural cooperation were laid down in the Agreement on Cultural Cooperation signed in May 1988.

In 2003, Indian Prime Minister Vajpayee signed an Cultural Exchange Programme (CEP) during his visit to China that facilitated the exchange of cultural troupes, art exhibitions, cultural festivals, and in the field of archaeology and library science, as well as cooperation between India’s National Museum, National Gallery of Modern Art, National Library, Sangeet Natak Academy and their Chinese counterparts. In February 2007, the Xuanzang Memorial Hall was inaugurated at Nalanda, India. In June 2008, joint stamps were released, one depicting the Mahabodhi Temple in Bodhgaya, India and the other depicting the White Horse Temple in Luoyang, China.

The CEP signed in December 2010 led to cooperation in a range of cultural exchanges through mutual visits of performing artists, writers, archivists and archaeologists. Multiple cultural festivals, film festivals and exchanges in the field of mass media, youth affairs and sports were held. In March 2012, leaders of India and China decided to celebrate 2012 as the “Year of Friendship and Cooperation” and both countries resolved to further strengthen cultural exchanges between their people.

Entering the 21st century, India and China have established a strategic cooperative partnership for peace and prosperity. The high-level exchanges between the two countries have been more frequent, along with rapidly growing trade and economic cooperation, as well as cultural and educational cooperation. The two countries have strengthened friendly interactions by properly handling differences and seeking common development.  

During Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to India in 2014, he launched a “China-India Cultural Exchange Program” with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, covering tourism cooperation, youth exchanges, museum exchanges, language teaching, classic and contemporary works translation, film and television exchange, etc. The Encyclopaedia of India-China Cultural Contacts was released in both English and Chinese versions in June 2014. The encyclopaedia features over 700 entries, encapsulating the rich history of contacts and exchanges between the two countries in trade, economic, literary, cultural and philosophical spheres. The willingness to exchange ideas with each other among ordinary people is strong and enthusiastic.

People from India and China, especially the younger generation, show a strong interest in the history and culture of each other and they hope to get a shorter, more direct channel for obtaining information from the other side. Indian movies, music, garments and yoga have become popular in China, and at the same time Indian people are obsessed with Chinese kungfu, food and products. An increasing number of Indians and Chinese choose each other’s countries for tourism, hoping to get a better and first-hand understanding about each other. In addition, many students from both countries decide to pursue studies or research in the other country.

The establishment of the China-India High-level Mechanism on Cultural and People-to-People Exchanges was an important outcome of the first China-India informal summit in Wuhan, central China in 2018. During the second informal summit held in Mamallapuram, India in October 2019, the two sides agreed to designate 2020 as the “China-India Year of Cultural and People-to-People Exchanges.”

Cultural exchange is the basis for mutual trust and long-term cooperation between the two countries. Without understanding each other’s cultures, it would be impossible for cooperation in other areas to thrive, which underlines the importance of educational exchange between the two countries.  

Long back in 2003, China and India signed a programme of educational exchange and in November 2006 the leaders of both countries renewed the educational exchange programme at New Delhi. This programme was renewed with an eye towards strengthening bilateral relations in education, recalling the profound impact of education on human resource, economic and social development, recognizing that greater linkages in education between the two countries would be beneficial.

In recent years, a number of universities from both countries are showing keen interest in collaboration programmes. Visva-Bharati University, founded by Tagore, has taken a pioneering role in these collaboration programmes. Similarly in China, India study centres have been set up in Peking University, Fudan University, Lanzhou University, Shenzhen University and Jinggangshan University. Moreover, Hindi courses are being taught in Peking University, Beijing Foreign Studies University, Shanghai International Studies University, Xi’an International Studies University, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, Yunnan Minzu University, Yunnan University, Sichuan International Studies University and Tibet Nationalities University, and the Bengali language is being taught in Peking University, the Communication University Of China, Beijing Foreign Studies University, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies and Yunnan Minzu University. The mutual exchange in education will inject new vigor in bilateral relations.

Nature of Cultural Exchange

Understanding the cultures of other countries and promoting mutual understanding not only serves as a vital means of avoiding unnecessary friction between countries but also helps refine one’s own culture and raise its level further through contact with and absorption of other cultures. Recent years have witnessed the emergence of multi-channel, multi-faceted, and multi-form cultural exchanges between India and China at both governmental and non-governmental levels.

The significance of cultural exchange is not limited to culture itself. Despite the rapid development of India-China relations in various aspects over the past few years, cultural exchange between the two countries is still lagging. It is high time that the two countries seriously deliberate on how to look at each other objectively, how to prevent or reduce the interference caused by misjudgement, and how to increase mutual trust and understanding. The power of cultural exchange in the development of India-China bilateral relations cannot be ignored. 

The author is head of the Department of Chinese Language and Culture (Cheena Bhavana) at Visva-Bharati University in Santiniketan, West Bengal.