Vai trò của con đường tơ lụa trong nghệ thuật phật giáo đại thừa TQ (the role of the silk road on the development of mahayana buddhism art in china)

Central Asian monks from other kingdoms also contributed to thespread of Indic traditions to China, as they had trade relations with China.The horses of Ferghana were sent for the Chines

Volume-11 No 4 April-June, 2010

DIALOGUE, Volume-11 No 4 3

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Naxalism: Politicians and Intellectuals continue to be confused

Th Muivah episode: Government of India blunders again Return to pre-partition British Agenda

Patricia Mary Mukhim

A Tale of Two ADCs 22

Dinh Hong Hai

5 Looking at India-China Relations in a Wider Perspective 58

DIALOGUE, Volume-11 No 4 7

8 Western Tibet: A Pilgrims’ Impressions 85

K.T.S Sarao

9 Diversion of Brahmputra Water to North China 108

Yogendra Narain Roy

10 China During Mao and After 121

13 Questioning Modern Education: A Way Out 164

Pawan Kumar Gupta

14 Analysis of Generation, Dynamics and Structure of 168

the External Debt of the Kyrgyz Republic

Erkin S Mansurkhodjaev

15 Theoretical Vector in Study of the Transformation 177

of the National Economy

Ayupov Asylbek Nurgazievich

Editorial Perspective

Naxalism: Politicians and Intellectuals continue to be selfish and confused

Following two serious attacks in Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh

by the Maoists on April 6 and May 17, the Union Home Minster P.Chidambaram is under attack both from the politicians and the liberalsand intellectuals In the first incident 76 CRPF personnel lost their livesand in the second one 35 persons including 15 SPO’s and the civilianswere killed Across the spectrum allegation is that the strategy of theHome Minister of primacy to security approach has failed and we shouldget back to the “root cause” route of dialogue and development The problem is made complicated due to (i) convergence of self-interests of various over-ground interest group and (ii) the lack of properunderstanding of the real face and objectives of the Maoists in thecountry Confused politicians and liberals thus dignify a nihilisticideology which is out-of-date and not in cynch with Indian anddemocratic ethos Main problem is that the liberals equate the justgrievances of the tribals and the marginalised with the political objectives

of the Maoists and that the Maoists are fighting for the cause of thedeprived They are not They are only using their grievances to encadrethem and use them The self declared objective of the Maoists is tobring about a New Democratic Revolution (NDR) with People’s ProtractedWar Azad, the spokesperson of the Maoist in interview (Hindu April

14, 2010), has made it clear that offer of dialogue is only tactical and in

no circumstance are they going to compromise on the NDR Besides,the Maoist movement is neither a tribal movement nor is it led bytribals and the deprived It is not about development, it’s about politicalpower At the same time the Government must accept that theresponsibility of neglect of the marginalized.has enabled the Maoists

to exploit a section of them Of course, a large section of the peoplegiving the impression of being with them are only due to the fear ofgun

DIALOGUE, Volume-11 No 4 9

Now as regards the allegations of failure it must be understood that

we have allowed the malaise to fester for nearly a decade and acquire a

menacing proportion It happened because of confused thinking that

they are “misguided brethren” It will take considerable time to effectively

deal with it Home Minister’s statements and new policy formulations

to deal with it strictly, have been taken to mean action Direction is

right; it only requires strategic and tactical adjustments on the way and

a will which can take setbacks in its stride It will take years to be

effective For the earlier results, at least the mischievous acts of (i)

politicians, who are soft on the Maoists keeping an eye on deriving

latter’s help in elections and (ii) left intellectuals’ propaganda establishing

Naxals that they are fighting for just cause, must be countered

Those who advocate “root cause” and development panacea, to deal

with the problem, do not say how to do it in Maoist dominated areas,

without neutralizing them Shri Digvijay Singh, former CM of M.P and

now Gen Secy of AICC, has stated (CNN-IBN, May 17) that Maoist

leaders cannot be described as terrorists and they are misguided

ideologues, and that the root cause must be addressed He was the

Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh for 10 years, when this problem in

Bastar festered and acquired roots Why did he not attend to the “root

cause” then? Had be done it, we would not be tackling the problem

now It is because root cause is only an excuse and not the real reason

The menace requires a bipartisan response and not confused signals

Nothing gladdens the heart of Maoist leadership than the confusion

they succeed in generating in media, civil society and even in political

parties

Only patience, political will/determination and a bipartisan approach

will succeed Those who are unnerved by the present upsurge in Maoist

violence will only help its cause At the moment one point agenda of

the Maoists is to get the offensive against it across the states called

off It will be a folly to fall in the trap because of a few serious incidents

of Maoist violence It calls for strategic and tactical adjustments in the

operations and not retreat Simultaneously, the message, that the

Government shall take care of their grievances and not victimize them,

must go to the people

Th Muivah episode: Government of India blunders again

The way govt of India has handled the issue of Th Muivah’s visit

to his native village Somdal in Ukhrul district.of Manipur, is the

bench-mark of how things should not be done, and the administrative naivette

A simple administrative issue has been allowed to fester intocontentious political problem The consequences of this lapse havebeen serious and some may last longer than we assume Four personshave died in police firing on Nagaland Manipur border, and the Manipurstate is under economic blockade (not for the first time) from variousNaga bodies led by the Naga Students Federation over the issue ofrefusal of the Manipur Government to allow Muivah’s visit apprehendinglaw & order problem and political unrest as NSCN (IM) under Muivah

is agitating to include Manipur’s Naga inhabited districts in greaterNagaland or Nagalim

Muivah and his supporters immediately went into sulk claiming thatgovernment of India/ PMO had assured to take Muivah to his villageand must do it Govt of India immediately got into the act, sent itsHome Secretary and Interlocutor to persuade Muivah to postpone hisvisit in view of refusal of Manipur Government Muivah claims that hehas deferred his visit in view of request from the PMO, but holdsGovernmentt of India (GoI) responsible for arranging his visit

Administratively, Muivah’s proposed visit to Somdal was a privatevisit except that he had been accorded a Z+ security cover in Delhi He

is in dialogue with government of India as representative of NSCN(IM) If he wants to visit his village, it’s a matter between Muivah andManipur Government to permit him, not to permit him or regulate hisentry, etc If Muivah has any grievance he can take recourse to legalremedies and approach the court of law against the ManipurGovernment’s decision We routinely prevent Imam Bukhari and Hindureligious leaders from visiting areas during communal tension In Kashmir,the secessionist leaders are prevented or put to house arrest on grounds

of public order

It is not understood how GoI comes in the picture Interlocutor’s role

is connected with ongoing negotiations and dialogue and not as afacilitator of visits of individuals Home Secretary will now be expected tointervene every time a Sadhvi or a Maulana is prevented from visitingcommunally sensitive areas Stark reality is that GoI has tied itself intoknots, and walked into a minefield fully knowing the sensitivities of theManipur Government over the issue Besides sending a wrong politicalmessage, it’s now burdened with dealing with an economic blockadewhich will alienate Manipuris more and further embitter Meitei and Nagarelations Sooner the govt of India distances itself from this self-inflictedfolly better The GoI will also have to think as to how long the state ofManipur will be held to ransom by this kind of economic blockade on

DIALOGUE, Volume-11 No 4 1 1

an initiative taken earlier by Dr Indira Goswami had led to the formation

of the People’s Consultative Group (comprising almost entirely of ULFAsupporters) to prepare a blueprint for the talks and to chalk out themodalities of holding the talks The PCG had a round of preliminarytalks with the government Thereafter, lack of enthusiasm on the part ofthe government and a split within the PCG brought that well-intendedinitiative to an end

The convention of the Citizen’s Forum of April 24 adopted resolutions

on carrying out a drive for mobilization of public opinion for peace

*Eminent Journalist, former Editor, The Sentinel, Guwahati (Assam).

one pretext or the other, including refusal to pay tax to the underground?

This aspect should concern GoI more than visit of individuals to their

birth places

Return to Pre-partition British Agenda

It was difficult for the national leaders in pre-partition days to counter

the British agenda of ‘Divide and Rule’ and yet they endeavoured to do

the same; at least they understood the British game; tried to keep their

folk together It is, however, an altogether different matter that they

could not succeed and the country was divided After independence,

there was change in the political culture of the country and that in the

objectives and modus-operandi of the political parties Mass

mobilization, as the Congress did under the leadership of Mahatma

Gandhi, gave way to group/caste mobilization People-centric politics

became chair-centric Saddest part of the recent development is that

our national politics, now, is trying to cross the ‘Lakshman-rekha’ It

is back to reviving the pre-partition agenda of the British for their

short-term political gains The casualness in doing so is frightening.

Caste in the present form and untouchability, as it existed half a

century earlier, is a post-Turk phenomenon in India, as attested by

al-Beruni We had only four castes (four endogamous varnas) a millennium

earlier, when he came to India, and all the four dined together at the

same place The numerous shrenis/guilds gradually converted themselves

from exogamous units to become endogamous castes The life-style of

all the varnas and shrenis in India, as attested by our classical literature/

epics, was simple and non-exploitative There was practically no bar on

education and every community attended the traditional schools The

social reality about the same has come out in the scholarly works of

Dharmapal

The British used ‘Census of India’ for the nefarious game to divide

Indian society The Church, for obvious reason, was the willing partner

in that game Their first attempt was to divide castes and tribes Then

they tried to insert wedge between the caste groups Thus the Caste

Census, conducted in 1931, when Irwin was Viceroy Indian politics,

finding political use of the caste and communal divide, secured the nod

of the GoI to revive the pre-partition colonial agenda, such as Caste

Census and opening branches of Aligarh Muslim University

— B.B Kumar

DIALOGUE, Volume-11 No 4 1 3

talks with the ULFA in each district; discussion on the core demands of

the ULFA; release of all jailed ULFA leaders and safe passage for them

for peace talks; high-level talks between top ULFA leaders and top

government officials; putting on hold all cases against ULFA leaders

till the peace talks are over; and the formation of a committee to give

the right direction to the peace process There was unanimity over the

perception that the ULFA issue is a political one and should be solved

politically and not with military might Most of the speakers felt that

any issue, including sovereignty, can be on the agenda of peace talks,

and the government has no reason to feel squeamish about just a

discussion on sovereignty regardless of its decision not to grant

sovereignty to any State or region Several speakers also felt the ULFA

has to bury the differences within itself Given the recent developments

within the ULFA, this would indicate a desire among the participants at

the conclave to see the hard-core anti-talks faction of ULFA resolving

differences and participating in the peace process What was strange,

however, was that the leaders of the pro-talks faction of the ULFA like

Mrinal Hazarika and Jiten Dutta, who had laid down arms and even

started living in designated camps, were not invited to the convention

Two days after the deliberations of the Citizens’ Forum regarding

peace talks with the ULFA, Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi put the

ball back in the ULFA court by saying that the ULFA should first respond

to the resolutions adopted by the Citizens’ Forum (before things can

move any further) He said that it was necessary for the government to

know what the ULFA thinks about the forum and also if the outfit’s

leadership acknowledges the initiative taken by it “We are ready for

talks, but they should shun violence and send a written proposal for

peace talks first,” he added This approach of the government is marked

by a certain déjà vu This is not the first time we have heard of such a

stand Nor is it too difficult to assess what the attitude of the ULFA

hawks might be to all forums and citizens’ groups that seek to bring the

outfit to the negotiating table We saw what happened to the People’s

Consultative Group constituted earlier to bring the outfit and the

government together All such initiatives apparently endorsed by the

ULFA have been no more than the means for the outfit to buy time and

regroup whenever the going has been tough as a result of the

government’s counter-insurgency measures However, this time there is

a difference The other leaders of the ULFA except Paresh Baruah are in

jail and the ULFA C-in-C himself is out on a limb without the kind of

support base to enable him to dictate terms In fact, people within theoutfit as well as outside who think that talks should be held evenwithout the participation of Paresh Baruah have increased substantially.Both the Centre and the State government have made it clear that talkswill be held even without Paresh Baruah Not many people are happyabout the government holding talks with the ULFA without PareshBaruah or with the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB)without its leader Ranjan Daimari Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoisaid a few days ago that talks could be held with such militant outfitseven without their leaders He said talks with the ULFA could be heldwithout Paresh Baruah and with the NDFB without the presence ofRanjan Daimari He gave the precedent of the Centre holding talks withthe Naga rebels of the 1950s sometimes without their leader Phizo beingpresent But even Dr Indira Goswami said the other day that she isuncomfortable about the idea of talks with the ULFA held without PareshBaruah as a participant, considering that he has the bulk of the ULFAarms Perhaps Paresh Baruah now thinks that a touch of petulance andtantrums would pay off very well It will not But the ULFA top brasswants him mainly because it is he who controls the arsenal of the ULFA

as well as most of its prodigious funds The ULFA top brass cannotpermit the C-in-C to abscond with all this, and would like the government

to nab him like it did the other leaders

A few days ago, the Bangladesh Government also handed over toIndia Ranjan Daimari, the NDFB leader who had masterminded the serialblasts of October 30, 2008 in Guwahati, Barpeta Road, Bangaigaon andKokrajhar that took a toll of about 100 lives in all What Daimary hadstarted as the Bodo Security Force in 1986 became the dreaded NDFB

in 1994 During his interrogation, the well-educated Daimari isunderstood to have expressed his anguish over the carnage that theserial blasts had wrought and the toll of lives the bombs had taken Hesaid he had never expected the damage to be so extensive Now that he

is in police custody, will the Centre decide to have him attend theeventual talks with the NDFB? And should the government not put inthe extra effort needed to apprehend Paresh Baruah and have him sit atthe peace talks?

The real question is: how keen is the government to hold talks withthe ULFA? Regardless of the government’s official statements, it is wellknown that there is powerful vested interest that does not want thetalks to succeed or even to be held After all, more than three decades

of a total lack of industrial activity in the State has turned militancy and

DIALOGUE, Volume-11 No 4 1 5

terrorism into a major industry This is not an industry that calls for any

investment of one’s own; nor does it have any end products that have

to be marketed The money looted, extorted or siphoned out of public

finds is easy money on which there is no tax to pay This vested interest

has strong representatives from all walks of life They will not permit

the status quo to be disturbed Hence the question is not so much

whether the people of Assam or the government or the ULFA wants the

talks The crucial question is whether this vested interest that has turned

terrorism and militancy into an industry wants the talks and whether

the talks can be held in spite of their machinations The one factor on

our side is that the Assembly elections are due next year and the Chief

Minister obviously wants to demonstrate to the people of Assam how

he brought the ULFA and the NDFB to the negotiating table despite

the odds There is nothing that will get him the votes of the indigenous

people of Assam as surely as this achievement The Bangladeshi votes

are there anyway He can thus make a clean sweep of the elections

Terrorists, insurgents, freedom fighters

or what?

Patricia Mary Mukhim*

Definitions are important because they bring clarity to an issue An

insurgent is defined as a person who takes part in an armed rebellion

against the constituted authority or government, especially in the hope

of improving conditions A terrorist on the other hand is seen as an

alien force implanted in a particular country, to bleed that country The

above are definitions one was able to extract from an official of the

Home Ministry at a conference held in Shillong last year In the North

East we have one more category of armed militants who call themselves

National Workers and who demand to secede from the Indian Union

They include the NSCN (IM), NSCN (K) NNC, ULFA, NDFB, PLA, RPF,

PREPAK etc These outfits run their own governments through taxescollected from the people Even extortion falls in the category of taxesand none of the groups are apologetic about this Despite claims ofhaving signed a temporary truce with the Government of India (GoI),the groups continue to shoot, kill and extort And the GoI could notcare less! Is it because the last category are difficult to put into aframework? But that is precisely where the problem lies!

In the course of their operations all of the above groups have bledthe state by killing with impunity the security forces and non-combatants They have retarded the economies of the region and setback the clock of progress And not one of them is repentant of theircrimes It is therefore galling to the extreme that people responsible forlarge scale bloodshed are, after a time, treated like heroes In Assam thesurrendered/arrested ULFA leaders were given a hero’s welcome completewith the gamosha and garland Recently the NSCN (IM) SecretaryGeneral TH Muivah was treated like a visiting prime minister of a foreigncountry by the Centre The Manipur Government, which for historicalreasons, has jurisdiction over Somdal the birthplace of Muivah in UkhrulDistrict was told by the Union Government to gear up the securityapparatus and to ensure Muivah’s safe passage

Considering that the Naga-inhabited areas of Manipur are not underceasefire with the Government of India, intellectuals argue that Muivah

is by all definitions a renegade in any other state except Nagalandwhere the ceasefire has been operational since 1997 They remind ofthe Naga assault on Kukis and other fringe tribes in the 1990s whichresulted in hundreds of deaths, including that of innocent children.Nagas wanted to clear out Kukis from parts of Senapati district so thatthey could have a homogenous homeland Unfortunately for the Nagas,the Kukis are no walkover and put up a brave fight until things werebrought under control

The largely undefined space within which all ruthless undergroundleaders, now turned over-ground peace activists, operate is problematic.What is causing the problem is none other than the Union Home Ministrywhich behaves like a grand old patriarch imposing its views on thestates and then leaves them to pick up the bloody pieces, in this casethe dead bodies, when a fall-out such as the one at Mao Gate happens

It is amazing that the Centre should use such ad-hoc ploys for shortterm gains in the manner that a malevolent interloper would do, withoutbothering about the consequences

Let us now turn to Assam where very recently another hard core

*Ms Patricia Mary Mukhim, a well-known Columist and Social Activist, is the

Editor, Shillong Times.

DIALOGUE, Volume-11 No 4 1 7

insurgent accused of the October 30, 2008 bomb blasts, Ranjan Daimary

was also handed over by the Bangladesh authorities to their Indian

counterparts There is a plea from several quarters that Daimary should

be given the most stringent punishment for the heinous crime he is

said to have masterminded So much so, this threatens to yet again

accentuate the tribal, non-tribal divide It brings to the fore yet again

the age-old prejudices that the caste and non-caste Asomiyas have had

vis-a-vis the tribes Although this is hidden under the thin veneer of

‘Assamese’ inclusivity, the fact is that Asomiyas are intrinsically

exclusive and not accommodative of tribal aspirations or that of other

non-Asomiya communities

Look at the composition of the present civil society initiative of

Asomiya intellectuals headed by Mr Hiren Gohain to broker talks

between ULFA and the Government of India The group comprises only

one Bodo intellectual/writer and one Muslim representative There are

no representatives from amongst the Bengali speaking community which

constitutes nearly 20% of the population of Assam nor the other 20 %

which makes up the ‘tea tribes’ (I use this nomenclature for want of a

better name) What about the other tribes such as the Karbis, Dimasas,

Mishings etc Do they not have a say in the future of Assam? Just

because the ULFA comprises only the ‘Asomiyas’ (those whose mother

tongue is Assamese, besides the other exclusive traits) does this mean

that groups negotiating peace should also be largely Asomiyas?

They say history is a great teacher and those who refuse to derive

lessons from it are condemned to suffer the pitfalls The Bodos were

very much part of the Assam Movement but when the Assam Accord

was signed they were nowhere in the picture Three blue-blooded

Asomiyas penned their signatures on the Accord Was this not the

reason why in 1989 a section of Bodos launched into a full-scale rebellion

against Assamese chauvinism where nearly 600 people lost their lives?

These are the setbacks of exclusionary practices How can 10% of the

population of the state be taking upon themselves the task of speaking

for the 90% and still believe they are the ‘peoples’ voices?’

While the Asomiyas seem to have forgiven and forgotten the Dhemaji

blasts of August 2004 perpetrated by the ULFA, they also, ironically

seem to have erased from their memories the series of killings between

January and February 2007 where 87 migrant labourers were annihilated

It was a cold-blooded ethnic cleansing which many believed is meant

to create a vacuum in the labour market so that people from across the

border could fill it What is gruesome is that human lives can also be

graded in terms of their ethnicity If they are not Asomiyas they aredispensable Is that it? And, funnily, a very enlightened civil societygroup also revels in this belief?

Reports that no lawyers are ready to represent Ranjan Daimary incourt because the October 30 blast he instigated had happened nearthe Court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate where some lawyers haddied, smacks of vengeance If this is how lawyers are going to arguethen justice in this country will remain a far cry Daimary appears tohave already been condemned for his crime even while the top ULFAactivists are represented by the best criminal lawyers Again, is thisbecause Dhemaji is so far from Dispur and those children who werekilled at the time belong to a less privileged category? Hence even thediscourse on death has different layers

This double-speak on ‘terrorism’ is unwarranted Yet it also exposesthe deep divide in Assam’s multi-cultural, multi-ethnic and multi-religioussociety That terrorism should be viewed through these dividing prisms

is so wrong A terrorist is a terrorist and his case has to be measuredagainst the heinous crimes he has committed Arguments that ArabindaRajkhowa and Shasha Chaudhury are treated with kid gloves mainly tolure Paresh Barua to the talks table do not go down too well PareshBarua can be dealt with when the time comes In the intervening periodmembers of the ULFA who are in custody must be given the treatmentthey deserve

Now that Ranjan Daimary has also expressed a desire to talk peaceand tone down his demands, the Government should simultaneouslywork at a peace formula even while Daimary goes through the dueprocesses of law It would be wrong to treat Daimary differently on thebasis of the October 30 blasts and the rationale that he is not repentantabout it The Bodo Sahitya Sabha, the ABSU and other Bodo civilsociety groups have rightly aired their discontent over the manner inwhich Daimary is now being labeled (Ajmal Kasab of Assam, blood-thirsty hound etc) labels now pinned on the Bodo renegade In fact thevery idea of terming ‘some’ insurgents more brutal than others, ofundermining their commitment to their own causes, or even of gradingtheir crimes into comparatives already exposes a partisanship that isbest avoided No wonder the Bodos are even more convinced todaythat they will not get justice from Assam The recent posturings ofAsomiya civil society only reinforces their doubts and substantiatestheir claim for a separate Bodo State!

To compound the multiple complexities in the region, the Centre has

DIALOGUE, Volume-11 No 4 1 9

often arbitrarily taken matters into its hands and brushed aside the

concerns of the states and undermined their autonomy In the current

dialogue with the NSCN (IM), the constitutionally elected State

Government of Nagaland has been left out of the discourse Surely the

Government of Nagaland would have some say in the future political

arrangements of that State But to forestall any interference by the

Government of Nagaland, Mr Muivah the NSCN(IM) supremo ensured

that a political conglomerate favourable to his megalomaniac tendencies

was firmly installed in Nagaland

In this murky scenario, to talk of peace and its dividends is rather

premature It will be a long time before the million mutinies, some raging

others in ferment are resolved and one wonders if the Centre is even

serious in its intent of installing regimes of peace in the North East or if

it simply playing out its dangerously divisive games

From oligarchy to democracy; tough

transition

Patricia Mary Mukhim*

Democracy is a nice word When married to the Indian Constitution

democracy suggests a number of freedoms and rights It talks of the

right to equality, non-discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste,

sex or place of birth insofar as access to basic facilities is concerned

The Constitution speaks of equality of opportunity in matters of public

employment and in principle grants the citizens more rights than they

sometimes anticipate But talk of enjoying the numerous rights and you

hit a blank

Coming to what many term as the turbulent North East, which is

actually a contradiction in terms because this region is peopled by

some of the most genteel tribes, democracy is a difficult ideal to live by

The tribal population of this region awakened to consciousness into an

oligarchical system of governance which perhaps is an evolution of the

hunter- gatherer part of human existence The male of the species has

always been nominated to hunt for food while the female nurtures the

off-springs and keeps the home fires burning Oral history does notquite reveal why some clans are automatically elected to lead the rest

of society In Khasi society, the chieftain (Syiem) is always elected fromthe Syiem clan (jait syiem) His assistants or myntri are elected from theLyngdoh clan No other clan can claim that right This is at the level ofthe Hima or the Syiemship (chieftainship) which comprises a number ofRaij Several villages in turn make up the Raij

At the level of the village there is some amount of flexibility, in thatany male who projects himself as a leader and is seen to shoulder a fairamount of responsibility is made the Rangbah Shnong irrespective ofwhich clan he belongs to Little wonder then that even in matrilinealMeghalaya, women have no ‘political’ role in village governance Malemembers of the family are expected to carry their views to the DorbarShnong or the village council and adjudicate on their behalf The head

of the Dorbar continues to be a male and is called the ‘Rangbah Shnong’(male head of the Dorbar Shnong) The word ‘Rangbah’ which means

‘Male’ precludes women from ever becoming the head of the Dorbar.This is part of the social consciousness and is embedded in the tribalpsyche

Democracy, therefore, is understood only as a sort of implant fromthe outside But in a sense democracy allows women enough space todabble in politics and even to contest elections if they so wish Whilethe rest of the country has adopted the Panchayati Raj system ofgrassroots governance, Meghalaya, Nagaland and Mizoram wereexcluded form its purview on the plea that these states have pre-existing,vibrant village governance models in place This was Rajiv Gandhi’sunderstanding and one can safely assume that he like all other centralleaders who have little time to understand the North East, never sawthe gaping loopholes in the existing traditional institutions In the eyes

of the modern scholar traditional institutions do not have the elements

of democracy in them They blatantly exclude women from taking part

in governance As stated above they still follow the tenets of oligarchy.They comprise exclusively of tribals, which is a dichotomy since tribals

no longer live in homogenous areas Dimapur in Nagaland and Shillong

in Meghalaya have nearly 50 % of non tribal population But the tribal is excluded from any decision-making But the decisions taken bythe exclusive tribal Dorbar is binding on the non-tribal population Theseinherent contradictions make governance a very thorny issue in theNorth East

Democracy is known to flourish well only if people take an active

DIALOGUE, Volume-11 No 4 2 1

part in it But we would have seen how this system of governance

has today become a game participated only by a few while the rest

(the electors) only help these few to warm their seats for five years

It is evident that democracy plays no role in enabling rural farmers

to access their rights At the village level the traditional institution

is all powerful Even while implementing the National Rural

Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) government officials have

a difficult time because they cannot bypass the Dorbar Shnong in

Meghalaya or the Village Councils in Nagaland Whereas all

government initiated schemes today insist on the full participation

of women, in tribal areas this is problematic There is a clash between

the modules envisaged by the modern state and the anachronistic

template of tradition-based societies

Who would know better than women themselves about the kind

of livelihood that is viable in their particular area? Yet they do not

have a platform to articulate that Implementing agencies whether

they be of government or NGOs are wary of crossing swords with

the Dorbar/Village Councils These are still treated as holy cows

They must not be offended or else no agency can take up

development programmes in those villages When Village Employment

Councils are formed they have to take the Village Headman into

confidence This is alright up to a point The problem arises when

the headman demands that things be done his way and not the way

of the government or the development agency

There is in fact a constant friction between the modern and the

traditional even in day to day affairs In the city of Shillong the

Rangbah Shnong can be a government employee (even a fourth

grade worker) but he rules the roost in his jurisdiction Even an

MLA or minister residing within that jurisdiction has to obey his

diktat The joke here is that there is no commonly binding

constitution which guides the function of the Hima, the Raij or the

Village Each one is guided by its own arbitrary list of do’s and

don’ts What is good for one Hima, Raij or Village may not be good

for another With so many different codes of conduct, some

diametrically opposed to the enlightened tenets of the modern state,

clashes of interests are inevitable

For instance, there are localities where the Rangbah Shnong

decides that only Khasi construction labourers are allowed to work

The problem is that the labour charges of a Khasi are twice the

amount charged by a labourer from Assam, Bihar or even from

Bangladesh (the bulk of road labourers in the North East are in factBangladeshis) In the true characteristic of a tribal, the tribal labourerwill take a day off at the drop of a hat for a range of reasons such asattending the funeral of a clansman/woman, a relative and what haveyou In fact government employees are known to skip work to attendthe ubiquitous funeral (there is someone dying in some locality everyday, to whom one is either distantly related to by way of being fromthe same clan or by marriage; is an acquaintance) People who wantquick work done at a competitive price, find the diktat of suchRangbah Shnong outrageous But they cannot go to court for fear

of social ostracism Nor can a dictatorial type of Rangbah Shnong

be made to quit because people are so used to raving at ranting athome but dare not speak out and challenge the Rangbah Shnong at

a general meeting when he is seeking reelection

Ironically even the government is sometimes by default run like avillage council Ministers make money right, left and centre Theyacquire monstrous mansions, swanky cars, super modern gadgetsfrom their foreign jaunts within five years of being ministers Theytreat their constituents like subjects who should never ask questionsabout their unaccounted for wealth The wealth is so obviousbecause it tends to reside around the mid-riffs In contrast are thegoverned who are all skin and bones, undernourished and unable tohave a decent meal twice a day Their numbers are growing InMeghalaya they make up 49% of the population But they still havenot taken up arms I suspect the time is not far off when the gunsboom; this time for real and not just for effect

The Khasis believe in a legendary python that is cared for by thewealthy This python has to be fed with human blood twice a year.Hence it is imperative to kill human beings to feed this ravenoussnake This python only feeds on the blood of the Khasis Those

who practice this snake worship are called ‘Nongshohnoh.’ Whether the nongshohnoh is for real or a figment of Khasi imagination to

refer to exploitative elements is debatable But today more and more

people are referring to MLAs and ministers are the real nongshohnoh.

After all they too suck the blood of the poor by selling off the riceand wheat allocated for the public distribution system into the openmarket and pocket the money This too is oligarchy because therulers have to always be richer then the governed

DIALOGUE, Volume-11 No 4 2 3

A Tale of Two ADCs

Pradip Phanjoubam*

It does seem the much awaited, 20 years defunct, elections to the

Autonomous District Councils, ADCs, in the five hill districts of Manipur,

quite other than what was expected, is likely to run into rough weather

because of planned resistance by certain powerful civil society

organisations in these districts, in particular the United Naga Council,

UNC, and its undeclared political wing the People’s Democratic Alliance,

PDA The resistance also has the blessings of many more frontal

organisations in the hills, especially those of the Nagas On May 6, a

chakka bandh has been called by these organisations to protest what

they say is an imposition of the elections against the will of the hill

people, and the PDA has indicated it may extend its support to the

strike

Although it has never been adequately explained, from reports

appearing in the media it seems their main objection is that the ADCs

would be formed on the basis of the Manipur (Hill Areas) District

Council Act, 1971 They claim the ADCs under this Act was what led

the hill people to boycott ADC elections in the first place, and in its

stead demand the implementation of ADCs under the 6th Schedule of

the Indian Constitution Now after 20 years of boycott, they say the

1971 Act cannot be the basis of the revival of the ADCs

We are of the opinion that the 6th Schedule politics should not be

allowed to be entangled with the current ADC elections The two may

involve creating ADCs, but the ADCs under them are two different animals

altogether Even a cursory glance at the history of these two types of

ADCs should clarify this The ADCs under the 1971 Act, is a device that

can draw equivalence with the local self governance under the Panchayati

Raj in the plain areas, and not with the ADCs under the 6th Schedule

The 6 Schedule was originally meant as a model to resolve theNaga problem, and sought to create autonomous entities within anotherstate, in the hope that this would sublimate the issue of cessation orthe bifurcation of another state – in this case, Assam If the 6th Schedulehad worked as intended, the then Naga Hills would have been upgradedfrom a district of Assam to an Autonomous District Council – a statewithin another state We all also know AZ Phizo rejected this proposal

In this sense, the debate over the 6th Schedule model should betreated as related to the issues being dealt currently in the 13 year oldand still unresolved Naga peace talks and not with the 1971 Act of theManipur government which envisages to give a handle to the hilldistricts, the same handle that the valley districts got under the 73rd

amendment of the Constitution of India in the shape of the PanchayatiRaj, to enable grassroots local self governance

Perhaps the government should have called the ADCs under the

1971 Act as Hill Panchayats or by some such name so that they remaineddistinct and unrelated to the ADCs under the 6th Schedule The formerare a grassroots administrative mechanism while the latter are a politicalmodel for accommodating aspirations for political autonomy (orsovereignty), incidentally “within the Constitution of India” Let theformer not be sabotaged again so that Central and state developmentalfunds and opportunities that can only be channelled through suchgrassroots statutory bodies, can reach the hill districts more easily

If as the Democratic Peoples’ Alliance MLAs are saying the ADCsunder the 1971 Act are mere placebos for the 6th Schedule “state withinstate autonomy”, let them also remind themselves that the 6th Scheduleautonomy was originally meant as a placebo for AZ Phizo’s dream of a

“sovereign Nagaland”

Let the DPA and others continue to demand the 6th Schedule if theymust, but let this demand not be mixed up with the ADC electionscurrently in the process of being held The two as we have pointed outare different issues Just as the ongoing Naga peace talks will not beimpacted by creation of ADCs under the 1971 Act, the DPA’s aspirationfor more autonomy for the hill districts should not also be adverselyinfluenced by the forthcoming ADC elections

If on the other hand they still think it fit to sabotage the ADC pollsand succeed in their plan, let it not be said again that grassrootsdevelopment funds which are meant to be disbursed only throughgrassroots statutory bodies, are not reaching the hill districts on account

of chauvinistic valley politics But more important than identifying the

*Editor, Imphal Free Press, Imphal, Manipur.

DIALOGUE, Volume-11 No 4 2 5

causes of the extremely unproductive blame game in Manipur brand of

politics, what is even more important is that the adverse circumstances

of such sinister and short-sighted politics would be borne by the

common, toiling, impoverished, inarticulate masses alone

ADC Revival Controversy

While there is nothing wrong in the expression of dissent to any

proposal of the government or for that matter nongovernmental

institutions, there is something very inconsistent in the demand and

now rejection of the government proposal to hold ADC elections in the

hill districts to create local self governments in the manner and style of

the Panchayati Raj in the rest of India and applicable also to the valley

districts of Manipur Those of us old enough would remember that

these ADCs were very much in existence 20 years ago, but after the

first term, the next elections to them were disallowed by various agitating

civil society organisations saying the hill districts would rather have

the 6th Schedule which gives more autonomy At the risk of repeating

some of the points earlier made in these columns, it is pertinent to do a

brief sketch of the history of the 6th Schedule of the Indian constitution

once again This provision, even laymen with a little interest in the

Indian constitution and its making, would know was meant for the then

undivided state of Assam and in particular to accommodate the growing

undercurrent of sovereignty demands of the Nagas under AZ Phizo

This is why, we say it is akin to the negotiation for an autonomy model

under different euphemisms such as “state within state”, “shared

sovereignty” etc, in the ongoing 13 year old peace talks between the

NSCN(IM) and the Government of India

The 6th Schedule proposal was rejected by Phizo and hence its

provisions did not cover the then Naga Hills district of Assam, now

Nagaland It was however applied to the Khasi, Jantia and Garo hills,

which together were much later to form a separate Meghalaya state For

some reason these 6th Schedule ADCs in Meghalaya were not abolished

when Meghalaya attained statehood on January 21, 1972, hence they

overlap almost totally with the Meghalaya state administration often

causing frictions It was also applied to the Chakma, Lakher and Pawi

pockets in the then Lushai Hills of Assam, which again later were to

become part of the newly formed Mizoram state Arunachal Pradesh

was then North Eastern Frontier Region, NEFA, directly under Central

administration and Manipur and Tripura were separate principalities,

hence they did not come under direct coverage of the 6th Schedule It

was only later in the 1990s following various ethic assertions that the

6th Schedule were finally agreed to be applied to Tripura and also tocreate some more ADCs under the Act in Assam as well In the meantime,parallel autonomy models were also developed to accommodate theBodos in the shape of Bodoland Autonomous Council in Assam andHmar Autonomous Council in Mizoram As to how successful theseinstitutions have been is a matter of debate

When it became evident the 73rd amendment of the Indian constitution

to make provision for the Panchayati Raj local self governments, wouldnot be accepted in the hill districts of Manipur, the government decided

to introduce the Manipur (Hill Areas) District Council Act 1971 whichwas later to be amended in 2008, to extend the local self governmentsystem to the hill districts These are not “states within states” as the

6th Schedule ADCs were envisaged to be, but administrative mechanisms

to extend local self governance system and thereby to avail Centralgovernment development funds which can be disbursed through theseinstitutions only In other words, although there are areas ofconvergence, the objectives of the two are different Trying to equatethe two, as a result of which the ADCs under the 1971 Act wereabolished for the first time 20 years ago, as well as now when they aresought to be revived, hence seems more a political act of sabotage withaims that have little to do with promoting local self governance Indeed,

a cursory scan of local dailies of the last three months would revealthat the popular voices from the hill districts were of demands for theADC polls to be held at the soonest, with unmistakable accusativetones that these statutory bodies in the hills were kept suspended withthe ulterior motive of subduing the hill people Now that the governmenthas seemingly heard this voice, and has come forward to act on it, thetone has changed once again, taking a U-turn to point the accusativefinger once again for “imposing” oppressive policies in the hills, butfor precisely listening to the earlier voices It is unlikely under thecircumstance that the band is switching tunes of its own accord atsuch short notices On the other hand it is more likely they are actingunder the orchestration of a band master or masters interested more inthe politics of sabotage than promoting equitable development or publicwelfare

DIALOGUE, Volume-11 No 4 2 7

Buddhist Values and Confucian Mindset

of China (a personal narrative)

Prof Lokesh Chandra*

Chinese ideograms

Father, Prof RaghuVira studied Chinese at the School of Oriental and

African Studies London in 1928 He was impressed by the beauty and

complexity of Chinese characters He came from a background of Sanskrit

philosophy and grammar The Sanskrit grammar of Panini is very intricate

Father saw Panini in the complex visual forms of Chinese ideograms

At the same time, back home, India was seeking new dimensions to her

freedom movement in terms of what would be the nature of the

independent state China, Japan and other countries of East Asia were

independent One of the attraction points for father was to understand

as to how Chinese civilization had been able to sustain her independence

over five thousand years, as well as maintain her cultural identity He

was fond of chinoiserie and our home was overflowing with Chinese

paintings, books and other objects I started learning Chinese characters

in 1937 at the age of ten I asked my father: where are the consonants

and vowels in them? There are no letters like A, B, C, D? How do the

Chinese read? Father had a book on the Chinese script by Karlgren

titled Sounds and Symbols in Chinese published by the Oxford

University Press in 1929 It is a fascinating account of how the Chinese

characters have evolved It shows how early pictographs were

sophisticated into manifold characters: sometimes on the basis of

phonetics and sometimes by putting two characters together, e.g sunand moon for bright Chinese language is not only complex but it is amirror of their thinking processes The addition of elucidative classifiers

was great fun for me The syllable shan means mountain as well as shirt To surmount the difficulty a classifier is added: tso ‘site’ in i tso

shan ‘one site mountain’ means a mountain, while kien ‘article of dress’

in i kien shan ‘one article shirt’ means a shirt The simplicity of Chinese

grammar and the absence of an involved syntactic structure arecharacteristic Father said it was not sufficient to study only Chinesecharacters to learn the language but it was important to practice Chinesecalligraphy Chinese calligraphy fascinated me All other languages arewritten either with a pen or a pencil, but Chinese is calligraphed with abrush It has its own aesthetic value Chinese calligraphy gave me aninsight into their aesthetics When father visited China in 1955, PremierChou Enlai gave him a brush It was a gift from Chairman Mao Tsetung,with a poem of Chairman Mao sketched on it

Ours was the only Indian home lined with Chinese printed texts andrare woodprints The wood-printed books were different from Indianbooks Their binding style was pleasing, the print was clear and thepaper was light It had a feel different from the normal paper that weused The texture of the paper showed that Chinese are a differentpeople, a people who had treasured their classical identity both in thestyle of binding and in the manufacture of paper They adored theperfume of their culture Culture brings beauty to life; it is the aesthetics

of life

Sacred land and Sutras

Father asked me to read Chinese writings on India The first bookthat I read was the travel account of Fa-hsien who came to India in 400

AD Thereafter I read the other two Chinese pilgrims Hsuan-tsang andI-tsing in English and later on in Chinese It was interesting to feel thedevotion extraordinary of Chinese pilgrims to India Despite having adeveloped language and a rich culture, they sought fine arts andphilosophic thought in India They wanted a cultural enrichment oftheir hearts, minds, and aesthesis as a euphoric evolution of their mightystate China has been the only continuous ‘nation state’ in the worldfor the last five-thousand years, both conceptually and politically.Moreover, it is a rare phenomenon that the Chinese have documentedtheir history for these five thousand years in the ‘Twenty-four DynasticAnnals’ till 1911 The contrast between India as a cultural entity with

*Professor (Dr.) Lokesh Chandra, Chairman, International Academy of Indian

Culture, New Delhi, is an internationally renowned scholar He was nominated

members of the Parliament (Rajya Sabha) twice He has written extensively on

India's cultural relations with the countries of North, Central, East and

South-East Asia.

DIALOGUE, Volume-11 No 4 2 9

several kingdoms and China with more or less a single state conceptually

is important to perceive the Chinese mindset The Chinese historical

tradition has lessons for us About 3000 texts were translated from

Sanskrit into Chinese from the 2nd to the 13th century They are collected

in the Chinese Tripitaka Many of them have been lost in Sanskrit

originals and so they are unique for Indian history As a historian of

India’s culture, father was fascinated by what he found in Chinese, as

their Sanskrit originals had been lost For him Chinese was a rich source

on Indian art and thought, literature and history About 250 Indian

teachers went to China from the 2nd to the 13th century, till Islam

conquered Central Asia when Buddhist monasteries were destroyed

and the pilgrim route died down He was curious to see how Chinese

had preserved all these texts for such a long period of time India’s

archaeology would not be complete without Hsuan-tsang When

Alexander Cunningham mapped the archeological sites in India in the

19th century, his patron saint-scholar was Hsuan-tsang Likewise Aurel

Stein was also guided by Hsuan-tsang in his archeological expeditions

to Central Asia

Tagore went to China in the 1920s and was welcomed enthusiastically

Father was influenced by him and knew him personally Sporadic

correspondence was exchanged between them Poet Tagore established

the Cheena Bhavan at Shantiniketan and Chinese studies were initiated

in India for the first time Father collaborated with Poet Tagore to found

the India-China Friendship Association

Chinese poems and sketches of Ahimsa

Monk Feng Tzukai, a friend of Chairman Mao, wrote poems and

drew pictures on Ahimsa Father translated its first volume in English

Feng Tzukai was a Buddhist monk, calligrapher and artist A Chinese

scholar has done his doctorate thesis on his art some decades ago

Ahimsa was a central concept in our freedom struggle Gandhiji was

impressed by this book and that the Chinese also believe in Ahimsa

Father wanted to strengthen Sino-Indian friendship on a cultural footing

that could absorb the shocks of political misunderstandings Gaps of

communication could be tided over by such an approach and could

generate an ambience that allows us to see beyond parochial politics

Multiple identities operate in different domains of life These poems

were written in the context of Buddhism The Chinese have a Confucian

identity, enriched by a Buddhist identity Their non-violence is kindness

to animals on special days The vast Buddhist population of China is

keen for pilgrimage to the Land of Lord Buddha China always had aspecial place of respect in the minds of Mahatma Gandhi and PanditNehru as a great country, a neighbour and a cultural comrade Fatherwas a rare Indian who had studied the language and culture of China.The sinological expertise of father brought him respect at the nationallevel Mahatma Gandhi, Pt Nehru and other leaders were thrilled byfine details of India’s contacts with Chinese culture

Three Monkeys of Mahatma Gandhi

Mahatma Gandhi had Japanese monks at his Ashram at Wardha

They were reciting the Chinese text of the Lotus Sutra or

Saddharma-pundarika-sutra Gandhiji wanted to know its Sanskrit original and

English translation for which he invited father to Wardha Father gavehim both the Sanskrit original and its English translation Gandhiji washappy to know that the Chinese had translated thousands of texts, andwith devotion Gandhiji had a long conversation with father, includingthe three monkeys on his table The monkeys are sacred to Buddhism,

as a monkey had made an offering to the Buddha and as a consequence

he was reborn as the Great King Ashoka An offering mentioned in theBuddhist texts became so important in the culture of East Asia that theThree Monkeys found a place on the table of Mahatma Gandhi

Ramayana in China

Father translated a brief version of the Ramayana from Chinese into

English It had been translated into Chinese from the Sanskrit

Shat-paramita-sutra on the six perfections by monk K’ang Seng-hui of

Samarkand in 251 AD Sanskrit was a language of international commerceand intellectual expression in Central Asia with which China had activecontacts During the struggle against British imperialism, Indian scholarshipthought of the global contacts of the country and father found Chinesestudies a valuable tool to comprehend the international role of India inantiquity Samarkand was an important center for India-China exchanges.The people in Samarkand knew both Sanskrit and Chinese The Buddhistmonk-scholars of Samarkand translated several texts from Sanskrit intoChinese Central Asian monks from other kingdoms also contributed to thespread of Indic traditions to China, as they had trade relations with China.The horses of Ferghana were sent for the Chinese cavalry Buddhist monkscame on these horses Central Asian monks were expert horsemen Theyknew to train them, to treat them if injured or ill, and were experts inveterinary medicine etc They became crucial to the Chinese defense system

DIALOGUE, Volume-11 No 4 3 1

In 1983, I went to see the monastery where K’ang Seng-hui lived

and wrote The ancient monastic structure does not exist, but a new

monastery has been constructed at the site to pay homage to him and

to the long tradition of translating Buddhist Sutras

Li-yen and Kalidasa

Chinese works prove that India and China have been friendly

neighbours who have coexisted peacefully despite ups and downs of

communication A Sanskrit-Chinese Dictionary compiled by Li-yen in

782 AD gave a clue to the interpretation of a verse in Kalidasa’s

Raghuvamsha It made known that Dvipantara of Kalidasa means

Indonesia Indonesia was central to the way of the Buddha in 7h and

8th centuries and her fame traveled as far as China Tagore speaks of

Tepantar (Dvipantara) in his poems entitled The Crescent Moon as a

fairyland “where the pair of wise old birds have their nests” Indonesia

lived on in the amnesia of our legends, until the dictionary of Li-yen

made her a geographical entity in Sanskrit literature We can also

appreciate the international vision of the greatest of our classical poets

Kalidasa who exhorts the beloved of Hemangada, the King of Kalinga

to “sport with him on the shores of the sea where your drops of

perspiration will be cooled by breezes of clove flowers wafted from the

Indonesian isles” What a lovely cultural texture of Sanskrit, Chinese

and the Indonesian waters: like the Net of Indra (Indrajala) in which

many mirrors reflect each other in multiplied and re-multiplied reflections

Father was interested in cultural relations with Indonesia He had

become an intimate friend of an Indonesian student in Utrecht in 1928

He was a solitary Indian student in the Netherlands Professor Willem

Caland introduced him to an Indonesian as a compatriot Indian,

Priyohoetomo by name When Indonesia got independence,

Priyohoetomo became the Principal of the Police Training School, Jakarta

as he spoke Dutch and had a European education There were few

Europe-educated modern Indonesians, and they came to occupy

important places in governance Priyohoetomo used to teach Yoga as a

part of the training of policemen He came to see my father who was a

Member of Parliament Father related to him that the Sanskrit-Chinese

Dictionary of Li-yen gave the precise interpretation of the word

Dvipantara in Kalidasa as Indonesia Priyohoetomo was delighted to

learn that Kalidasa spoke of his country Chinese works provide

solutions to problems of interpretation

There are several other Sanskrit-Chinese dictionaries, like the

Mahavyutpatti, which gives Buddhist technical terms in Sanskrit,

Tibetan, Mongolian and Chinese These four are classical languagesand they are a must for original research in Buddhist studies The

Mahavyutpatti stands out among others as it has the largest number

of terms, many of which are not found in other Chinese dictionaries Iedited this lexicon in 1981

Chinese theatre and Kalidasa

In China very few Sanskrit texts have been discovered There arefour palm leaf folios, which narrate the life of Kalidasa Yang Yin-shendiscovered the fragments of the Shakuntala drama of Kalidasa in theKuo-ch’ing monastery on the T’ien-t’ai Mountains near Wen-chou.These fragments belong to the 8th century and are the earliest knownfragments of Kalidasa It is the place from where Chinese theatredeveloped The Chinese revered Sanskrit sutras and they translatedsome 3000 Sanskrit texts in Chinese from the second to the thirteenthcentury Indians participated in this translation over a thousand years.Chinese poets write about the scripts on palm leaves as holy: theyhave the feel of the West and West means India The sandal woodincense is the fragrance of India Frankincense and palmyra were thesmell and feel of the Dharma of the warm West The Chinese emperor ITsung, who ruled from 860 to 873, himself chanted the Sanskrit Sutrasfrom palm leaf books kept in the palace What beautiful memories ofour relations with China

Transmission of sugar technology from India to China

Three Chinese pilgrim scholars are famous for their travel across thewhole of India to study at various universities They have left valuableaccounts of the social, economic, political, and academic conditions,which have become a bedrock of Indian history Fa-hsien journeyedoverland to India in AD 400, while Hsuan-tsang left China for India in

629, and l-tsing traveled to India in 671 There were several otherswhose travel accounts have been lost For example, Chih-meng startedfrom the Chinese capital Chang-an in 404 He stayed the longest inIndia, for 43 years He mentions the names of places, kings, sects andcommunication routes They are important for the cultural, economicand political history of India Another pilgrim T’ang Wu-chieh startedfor India in 422 He mentions a number of Buddhist monasteries ofCentral Asia He is the first Chinese to mention ‘stone honey’ (or

‘granulated white sugar’ as distinct from ‘brown sugar’) It attracted

DIALOGUE, Volume-11 No 4 3 3

every Chinese visitor to India, as honey was the only sweetening agent

known to China T’ang took a ship from the estuary of Ganga to Sri

Lanka and thence to Sumatra to return to Kuang-chou in South China

It is a rich source for the history and geography of early Classical

India

In a meeting of the EPG (Eminent Persons' Group: India and China) a

Chinese scholar said that chini or sugar came to India from China I

had to correct him that according to the T’ang Annals sugar technology

was taken to China from Magadha When Hsuan-tsang went back to

China he spoke to the Emperor about the stone honey In 647 Emperor

T’ai Tsung sent a mission to Magadha to study the process of boiling

sugar and it was adopted by sugarcane growers of Yang-chou

The Hindi word chini is Sanskrit sini, which means white and sini

has become chini or white sugar as opposed to brown sugar The word

chini has no connection with China It deceptively sounds Chinese

and makes some think that sugar has its origin in China Even Pliny

refers to the sugar of India as a kind of honey obtained from canes

without the agency of bees Sugar and sugarcane were the prosperity

of the Ikshvaku dynasty of Ayodhya whose outstanding kings are the

epic heroes King Dasharatha and Lord Rama The dynastic name

Ikshvaku is from ikshu, which means sugarcane.

The flow of technology between the two countries for more than

1500 years has to be studied A lot can be found in the volumes of

Needham’s Science and Civilization in China The Chinese feel that

Indians are strong in the IT sector They have always felt that Indians

have excelled in mathematics and astronomy In the 8th century the

Imperial Board of Astronomy in China was presided over by Indians

Indians calculated the time of imperial rites on the basis of zero and

trigonometry, which were new to the Chinese and gave more precise

calculations

Maritime lanes

Chinese annals have preserved accounts of maritime lanes, e.g of

the developed shipping technology of Indonesia Some of the Chinese

pilgrims to India went by sea, took the ship from Sri Lanka, from Sri

Lanka to Indonesia and from Indonesia they sailed to China Though

indirect, it was a safe and sure route Moreover, it had regular sailings

from Indonesia to China The Sanskrit-Chinese dictionary Fan-fan-yu

is fascinating for overland routes, shipping lanes, and so on It is

valuable for its word entries from the English word man is from man i.e.

to think In Sanskrit manu and pashu are opposite terms Manu means

‘man’, or one who thinks and pashu means ‘animal’, or one who merely sees Manu becomes manushya In Latin the word human is from humus

i.e soil, man is a creature of the earth while in Sanskrit man is thethinker These words show different perceptions in expressing the samesemanteme

I am busy editing the materials of father on the creation of scientificterminology of Botany, Zoology, Nuclear Physics, Chemistry, etc inChinese They help us to understand the translation techniques Fathercollected dictionaries of important languages for his work on technicalterminology in Indian languages He had over 300 odd Chinesedictionaries on different scientific subjects as well as of the ClassicalChinese compiled from the second century to our times As Chinesewas different from other languages of the European linguistic traditionbased on Greek and Latin, it became a ray of new light in everysemanteme The basis of naming a concept was so different in variouslinguistic families that it was a fundamentally different perception ofreality

Confucian perceptions of polity

Pandit Nehru promoted China by introducing Chou Enlai to all theAsian leaders at the Bandung Conference India was one of the firstcountries to set up an embassy in Beijing The Chinese got a sizableplot for constructing their Embassy in New Delhi In the early· 1950sthe relations between the two countries were exceptionally cordial.However with the passage of time, the classical Han perceptions ofinternational relations turned this cordiality into hostility in 1962 China was an inspiration to father as well as a concern He sawChinese maps and aggressive intensions evidenced by them He wrote

a detailed letter to Pandit Nehru on these maps Pandit Nehru felt thatIndia and China are good friends, both are socialist and they wouldnever go for aggression Father held that they are first Confucianistsand then communists Pandit Nehru was quiet Now our bilateral relationsare again happily positive and we hope that they will lead to a betteracademic environment for sinological studies

We have seen China through Western interpretations Theunderstanding of China as a modem state does not take into accounttheir Confucious perceptions China is a travel accounts of Chinesepilgrim-scholars which have been lost It had been transcribed, Sanskritwords restored, and translated by father Prof RaghuVira along with his

DIALOGUE, Volume-11 No 4 3 5

Japanese disciple Dr Chikyo Yamamoto in 1938 It was lying scattered

in notes and scribbles for the last seventy years I completed it in 2008

as a mark of filial piety in true Confucian fashion The Chinese text has

also been given along with the English, so that Sinologists can make

better use of it The lexicon was compiled in 517 AD

Chinese scientific terminology and India’s linguistic development

Father was engaged in the creation of new words for Indian languages

The word Sansad for parliament is my father’s contribution He has

given 200,000 new words to Indian languages In this he was inspired

by Chinese and Japanese linguistic traditions The Chinese and Japanese

have created new expressions for modem concepts and they share these

characters The Chinese have a long tradition of linguistic creativity in

their translations of 3000 Buddhist Sutras It was difficult to express

abstract Buddhist concepts in Chinese, as it was a simple and concrete

language, yet they had to provide new terms This process of evolving

a new terminology was of interest to father I have around 500 pages of

father’s notes on Chinese terminologies of different sciences like physics,

chemistry, botany, zoology, nuclear sciences etc How the Chinese

understood modem sciences and made them a part of their own language

was inspiring He compared it to the historical processes of linguistic

creativity in Chinese The Chinese compiled a number of Sanskrit Chinese

dictionaries, which are instructive from the point of view of generative

linguistics While they are valuable for the history of India as they

transliterate the names of Indian cities and kings in Sanskrit, but which

are translated into Chinese in other works For instance, while the word

Bodhisattva was transliterated, Avalokiteshvara was translated as

Kuan-yin

The word Samvidhan for Constitution, Vidhan Sabha for a State

Legislature, and Nagarapalika for a municipality are father’s

contribution to Indian languages In his linguistic endeavour he

consulted Chinese, to see how their unique genius expressed the

technical terms of different sciences Chinese is so different from the

Indo-European languages that it gives a new insight into the formation

of words Different concepts are fundamental in the formation of words

in various languages To give an instance, the Confucian state I

regularly read the Beijing Review, which has a page on culture once in

a while Once I read that the word shi meaning ‘four’ is inauspicious,

because death is also shi People do not want figure 4 in their car

number Special computers have been installed in some cities to eliminate

number 4 from car plates Subtle cultural nuances are alive in thecontemporary life of China

Confucian classics have been introduced in schools To understandChina, Confucius is central as one who made Sino-centrism thedominant concept of the Chinese State Confucianism has notheocentrism Confucius was a social and political thinker India needs

a deep understanding of Confucian ideals as the politicalconsciousness of the contemporary Chinese state President Hu Jintaohas invited Professor Tu from Harvard to establish a special center atthe Peking University to teach Confucianism The Chinese Professorwas in India some time back and I had an opportunity to interact withhim We had an interesting dialogue about Confucianism and its role

in China’s future political and economic perceptions, including theidea of the Central Kingdom vis-a-vis the Barbarians The Chineseadage is “Sagely Within and Kingly Without” China is sagely withinbut kingly towards barbarians To understand China one has to studythe Chinese psychosphere, which is central to its polity and economy

As Confucian ideas are basic, we must teach Confucianism in ouracademic curriculum as political theory and how it affects Chinesepolity, life and academics

The Chinese are conscious of their identity, both in their domesticand foreign policies, which are culture centric The galloping speedwith which they have developed their economy while retaining theiridentity is unmatched in any part of the world Sino-centric culture isthe heart of their identity The Japanese got Buddhism from China,and brought their scriptures from China Most Japanese culturalelements go back to a Chinese origin When there was no male heir tothe throne of Japan, they did not accept the young princess as the

“would be” empress in the future as it was counter to Confuciantraditions Now they are happy to have a male heir to the throne.Chinese culture is the foundation of several countries and deserves adeep study

The rise of population in Xinjiang province and in other minoritycommunities is becoming a problem The improvement of overall healthand the growing number of older individuals will make them rethink

on this policy They need a younger population to run the country.Chinese are going to frontier provinces, and now they are moving toTibet so that the Han population can expand Space is not a problem.Han areas comprise one third, Xinjiang another one third, and Tibetanspeaking region the remaining one third

DIALOGUE, Volume-11 No 4 3 7

“You are the Hsuan-tsang of India” Premier Chou Enlai to Prof.

RaghuVira

Father was moved by the ideology of Mao Tse-tung He believed in

social justice Though never leftist, social justice was a sine qua non

for him He read Mao Tse-tung in extenso, and in1955 went to China as

a guest of Premier Chou Enlai to collect Buddhist Sutras Chou Enlai

was delighted that an Indian had come to China to collect the Sutras

To him the collection of sutras was China’s privilege in history Chou

Enlai said to him: “you are the Hsuan-tsang of India” My father came

back with ten tons of books, paintings and other artifacts Whatever

work I have done in the field of Chinese studies is due to the rich

intellectual legacy from my father

I am working on father’s travels in China, his talks with Premier Chou

Enlai, and a detailed analysis of scientific terminologies in Chinese The

documents and writings of father on our contemporary relations with

China are the non-official views of an academic and the country needs

to know them I had a Chinese student who said that we could hear to

this day the wailings of the Chinese who perished in the construction

of the Great Wall of China The nation is above an individual in Chinese

tradition The construction of the railway to Lhasa is an extension of

the Great Wall in terms of human sacrifices that it entailed

Father organized a splendid exhibition of what he had brought from

China Vice-President Radhakrishnan came to inaugurate it and suddenly

Pandit Nehru came along to see what father had done in China He was

happy to see the success of my father’s expedition He spent an hour

to see everything He brought with him the Maharana of Udaipur, the

first Maharana to come to Delhi The Maharanas had vowed that they

would come to Delhi only when they had conquered it Both the

Maharana and the Maharani were glad that their centuries old vow had

been fulfilled as India was free and they were happy to visit Delhi The

Maharana was gracious and delighted to see the exhibition along with

Pt Nehru

Peoples Culture and Palace Culture

The Chinese achieved great projects in antiquity like the Great Wall

Chinese was a Palace Culture with civil service examinations, mandarins

and an inherited nobility Buddhism introduced the soft power of culture

and the role of common folk, the poor, and the lowly Anyone could

join a monastery, study there, become a monk and follow a strict

discipline When one excelled one could jostle with the imperial

household, the nobility and the mandarins In the mandarin systemonly persons of a certain rank could sit for the civil service examinationsand occupy important positions in the state Buddhism established

“People’s Culture” parallel to the “Palace Culture” Monasteries becameimportant as centres of learning for the common man; whom theyendowed with the power of excellence The monasteries remainedpowerful till 1911 They were for the people and by the people In 1911power came to be centered around political leadership Monasterieswere no more a counterbalance, and growing inequalities in societyreflected the lack of institutional insight

The creative paradigm of shunyata, paramita and anityata

The Buddhist shunyata or Void has been creative in China It is not

an absence; it is a Creative Void Whenever a Void was felt, this lacunagave rise to creative dimensions in China There was nothing but forests

on the top of mountains and the Chinese chose to construct monasteriesthere Before communism came to power in China, every mountain peakhad a Buddhist structure, which numbered around a million Chinesewould live there, meditate, paint, read or write Habitation in desolateareas was a tradition in Chinese life, coming from the Buddhist raditionthat a monastery should be located in a secluded place Later on itacquired a political dimension When Chairman Mao came to power hestarted the construction of a Green Wall along the un-inhabited borderareas for defence purposes, in imitation of the Great Wall constructedduring the Qin dynasty in the second century BC Provision of waterwas a difficult problem Water had to be transported from far offmountains several kilometres away Ancient techniques of waterprocurement were employed The Great Wall of China has given theChinese a sense of identity as well as of immensity Magnitude is animportant element in Chinese civilization While the Ajanta caves areonly 29, Dunhuang has 496 caves while some 1500 caves have collapsedover time Chinese believe in Herculean construction projects, whichare commensurate with their perceptions of greatness Everything inChina has immense spatial and temporal aspects They have constructedthe fastest bullet train in the world A strong sense of perfection andcolossal magnitude has given to China a distinctive excellence as well

as phenomenal projects over centuries

The concept of space in Chinese town planning is reminiscent ofBuddhist ideas of space and void as they evolved during the goldenT’ang period of Chinese history Modem buildings, gardens, roads etc

DIALOGUE, Volume-11 No 4 3 9

reflect the spirit of the T’ang era In Japan T’ang aesthetic is very much

alive and Japan is a must to understand classical China The idea of

empty spaces emerges from the concept of shunyata, which is an integral

part of Buddhist philosophy Shunyata is a spatial counterpart to the

mathematical zero, so crucial to computers and all calculations

Besides this Creative Void, China has another concept from Buddhism

namely Impermanence or anityata While both are negative linguistically,

but semantically and philosophically they are super-positive

Impermanence in Chinese is that everything is passing away all the

time and it has to be recreated, and thus creativity becomes a

fundamental continuity China is creative every moment without a hiatus

This basic Buddhist idea has been ingrained in the Chinese psyche and

in their dedication to work

Another element that conditions Chinese thinking is Perfection A

Buddhist image created in any part of world is different from the one

done in China, for instance each and every pearl in the necklace of an

icon of a goddess is finished to perfection without a parallel A Chinese

image has to be perfect, a symbol of paramita Paramita is going

beyond, transcending existence spiritually, and in/workmanship it is

perfection to transcend previous standards This perfection is not a

commercial category but a visualization or sadhana It is depth of the

mind The perceptions of China in India have to take into account their

cultural aesthetics No excellence can remain in isolation Cultural

excellence has become a tool of technological development Cultural

perfection has been put to technological relevance and the Chinese

have done it perfectly Designing is an important part of life and Chinese

artists strive to so achieve that everything has an eye appeal It is

inspired by the Chinese ideograms Calligraphy is a culture of the eyes

Seeing the ideogram is important for its comprehension While in other

languages sound is crucial, in Chinese seeing a character is part of

semantics Thus the Chinese have a unique sensitivity of designing,

for example the images of Ganesha made in China have a divine smile,

so alluring and so inspiring The images have been made for the Indian

market, but their smile reminds of Maitreya This enigmatic smile can be

seen in the murals of flying goddesses in the Dunhuang caves

Modern life styles and Chinese culture

The current trend is to assimilate modern life styles and still be

Chinese They are linguistically Chinese and scientifically western They

differentiate between westernization and modernization Westernization

means adapting western lifestyles and modernization implies adoptingmodem technologies Culture and civilization have to be differentiated

In China culture is Confucian, while technological civilization isessentially modem They study in Chinese, eat Chinese food and yetcan do modem paintings In India we do not distinguish between cultureand civilization This difference has to be understood while studyingChina Chinese culture comes to them as natural to life The inauguralceremony of the Beijing Olympics began with a presentation of theclassic Chinese dance of the Thousand-armed Avalokiteshvara and withthree thousand disciples of Confucius reading the Confucian classicsfrom bamboo books that were prevalent in the period of sage Confucius Chinese self-identity is reflected in their language, which they havedeveloped for all modern sciences Though today they are studyingEnglish in a big way, the Chinese language will continue to evolvebecause it is their “Confucian ethics of work”, on which depends theireconomic miracle For example, at the time of becoming the Prime Minister

of Singapore Harold Lee changed his name to Lee Kuan-yu He spoke

of the Confucian ethics of work as a cornerstone of his policy Hesucceeded in his mission of making Singapore a model state based onConfucian values of a precise vision and sustained action If Indiawants to become a superpower she has to invoke the deeper values ofhistory and culture as an inspiration for a glorious future, in line withthe Confucian values in China We must understand how China hasmolded the past, present and future in a unitary discourse While Sino-centrism has aggressive implications, it definitely infuses a sense ofpride and excellence in the Chinese people The Chinese perception ofthe Central Kingdom versus Barbarians has been their preoccupationfor going beyond other nations Indian curricula on China focus onpolitical and economic dimensions, which are highly important, but weneed to look at their psycho-sphere that elevates them to heights.Economic and technological development is not merely workmanshipbut it also depends on the mind ground of a nation state Chinese haveintroduced the teaching of Confucian classics and T’ang poetry intheir school curricula Despite undergoing massive modernization andstudying English in a big way, their curricula induces the new generation

to feel proud to belong to a great Confucian tradition Self-confidenceand self-esteem comes from Confucius The Chinese governmentemphasizes it, and it is going to spend 20 billion dollars for establishing

200 Confucius Centers in China and around the world They want toteach Confucianism to their children and to the world Indians must

DIALOGUE, Volume-11 No 4 4 1

study as to what makes China great; what makes them excel others?

The Chinese have a strong sense of self-image in contradistinction to

the counter-image of Barbarians Do we have a counter-image of the

Chinese? They are still following the Classical path in contemporary

dealings We cannot understand China without knowing their perception

of us in their own language The study of China has to be on specific

and general levels, keeping in view as to how culture has conditioned

their political and economic life and strategic thinking

Current Indian writing on China

There will always be a vast scope in the study of Chinese sources

besides Western evaluations Chinese sources in their original

expression give a perceptive view of the cultural interflow over the

centuries The evolution of China Studies in the Indian context will

have to take into account our nationat priorities in terms of competition

and confrontation The Chinese Railways are coming to Kathmandu,

which will change the regional geopolitical scenario and may heighten

tensions The Chinese are creating their future on the Han concepts of

international relations As early as the second century BC the Chinese

emperor sent Chang Ch’ien to find out details about Central Asia He

opened the world of Central Asia to China He travelled as far as Bactria,

whence he took Indian music, which became the 28 martial tunes of

Chinese armies in the Han period We have shared so many centuries

with China in arts and culture To have friendly relations with China, we

have to be strong politically, diplomatically, economically and

intellectually The political will of China is Confucius in modem

manifestation Neo-Confucianism is conditioning contemporary

developments

Current Indian writing on China has to focus on the content of our

relationship with China in the future and how we should plan for it in

diplomacy and at the civil society level China is staking its claim on

Arunachal Pradesh and we need to elaborate the historical ties of this

Pradesh with other parts of the country to counter Chinese claims We

need more detailed research on India China relations Confucian thought

conditions the East Asian and South East Asian countries We should

have a political will and perception of the future grounded in our history

Our understanding of classical China is important from the cultural

point of ‘view because it has a large Buddhist population, and there are

many monasteries

We must establish close relations with the Chinese Buddhists They

are friendly towards India, though they don’t have a political voice Wecan invite the monks of the Shaolin Monastery to teach martial arts.The Buddhist population in China can help to maintain friendly culturalrelations Chinese Buddhists are poor; their poverty does not allowthem to visit the Buddhist sites in India Bilateral initiatives shouldpromote Buddhist pilgrimage at the governmental and civil society level

We can invite Buddhist poets, writers, monks and experts of martialarts

Chinese are turning towards Christianity, because their main attraction

is the United States They are going to the US for jobs and to them theUnited States is a vast area, which the Chinese can populate In thelong run, it may work out to be a demographic dominance of the UnitedStates When Huntington went to the University of Osaka, Japan heasked the Japanese: why don’t you use English in your country TheJapanese responded: if we start using English we will be ruling theUnited States one day The Chinese migration to the United States inlarge numbers may have a similar meaning

As far as research funding is concerned, we need more funds forChina studies because it is our most important neighbour The globaleconomic recession has slowed down US and Europe Will Chinaoutspeed the West in pure research, as distinct from applied technology?Pure research has nothing to do with economic slowdown The 19th

and early 20th centuries were devoted to pure research In the aftermath

of WW II, research has become development oriented Our studies ofChina have to analyze the factors that made the Chinese achievestupendous development in a short span of time

Our topics for research on China will be different from that of theWest It is necessary to discuss the topics of research on Chineseculture and their correlation to the present and to the future One has

to understand the Classical culture and its contemporary manifestations

in China

The Beijing Review discusses issues vital to the unique Chinese

identity in the age of modernization The Chinese were clear from thedays of Chairman Mao that they were not going to follow the Sovietmodel blindly They believed in their own model of development foragriculture, industry, infrastructure etc They adjust according to theirneeds and not as per the theoretical constructs of the West These issuesneed to be discussed with our Chinese counterparts and their responsescan enlighten us Chinese reactions will be mild, subdued, silent, andsmiling We have to read their smiles We will understand China better

DIALOGUE, Volume-11 No 4 4 3

There are no substantial academic exchanges between our two

countries today There should be a clearly defined agenda Academic

seminars are important, besides exchange of books Few Chinese books

are available in India There should be a library of Chinese books in

Delhi along with books on China from the US, Europe or Russia The

Delhi University has a good collection, but we need far more books in

the Chinese language for the humanities, sciences and technology

Strengthening the collection at the Delhi University library would be a

step towards our understanding of China in Chinese terms

The Chinese are self-centered They read foreign books rarely Their

libraries have few books in the English language They concentrate on

research in their own language that reflects a strong national identity

and encourages widespread creativity

Indian experts need to study how the Chinese achieved excellence

and global standards in a short span of time Chinese perceptions are

formed by Confucian ideas and they are predominantly Sino-centric

China’s friendship with India will depend on our military and economic

strength We have to be super-strong in every respect A Chinese

journalist once said that India is a soft country; and Hinduism is a soft

religion and they do not appreciate softness He said that the South

Chinese tie a living monkey to a stool, hammer his brain and eat it

without cooking He implied a lot in this short statement

The dew on the grass

Recently I have translated the life of Lord Buddha from the Chinese

biography entitled Shih-chia ju-lai ying-hua shih-chi It was compiled

by the Buddhist monk Pao-cheng of the Ta-pao-en monastery during

the Ming period Important episodes in the life of Lord Buddha are

cited from Chinese Sutras and they are illustrated on opposite pages in

fine line drawings The drawings are like dew sprinkled on the grass as

traces of a divine presence Father was fortunate to find a copy of the

xylograph To him it was:

The magic of a glance

that illuminates in the gold,

the cloud in your minds horizon,

making your days glisten

with glimmering moments

Alas! Father was not to see it in print It will appear half a century after

his passing away

The Role of the Silk Road on the Development of Mahayana Buddhist Arts

Dinh Hong Hai*

Introduction

Over the long span of Asian history, trade played a crucial role in thedevelopment of medieval-ancient Asian civilization At that time, tradingwas done either on road or by sea However, low maritime proficiencyprevented people from discovering cross-ocean routes during thatperiod Therefore, merchants had no choice but to use roads to conductbusiness with other civilizations The Silk Road was the path thatconnected the Eastern and Western culture areas The height ofimportance of the Silk Road was from the early to the end of the firstmillennium Many civilizations were born during that period as a result

of the process of goods transportation and cultural exchange on theSilk Road Many kingdoms and religious centres were also formed alongthat road

The name Silk Road was given to the East–West trade route byBaron Ferdinand von Richthofen, a well-known German geographer of

19th century, who had taken up residence in China According to VonRichthofen the Silk Road was a trade route that existed for the purpose

of trading in silk However, the name Silk Road was only appropriate tothe road from the second half of the first millennium C.E because silkdid not appear in Europe until the fifth century C.E In fact, silk wasonly one of countless other commodities that was traded on thislegendary route In this research, I decided to study the role of the SilkRoad in the initial movement of Buddhism from India to China which

*Dinh Hong Hai is Buddhist Scholar, Hanoi, Vietnam.

DIALOGUE, Volume-11 No 4 4 5

led to the formation of the great Buddhist Art centers and Civilizations

in Asia

Buddhism originated in the Indian sub-continent 1 in the second half

of the first millennium B.C.E, and quickly became a powerful religion in

the area Yet Buddhism was only a “local religion” which existed in the

Indian sub-continent and neighboring areas until the early first century

C.E Buddhism was first propagated in a wider area by the King Asoka

It was only when Buddhism reached the Silk Road that it flourished as

an international religion Along sea routes, Buddhism first appeared in

Sri Lanka, crossing over the Indian ocean to Southeast Asia, and grew

as Theravada Buddhism, or Southern Buddhism Along land routes;

another branch of Buddhism spread to Northern India and the Himalaya,

it became Vajrayana Buddhism, or Esoteric Buddhism Another branch,

Mahayana Buddhism grew in strength in Northwest India; via

Afganistan, Pakistan, Middle Asia and the Taklimakan desert reaching

Chinese civilization This is the largest branch of Buddhism, and it is

the one which I will examine in this study

Mahayana Buddhism and Hinayana Buddhism both originated in

Buddha but they differ in practice Hinayana Buddhism practices on

enlightening of each person, his or her self while Mahayana seeks to

enlighten all living beings Despite of having existed in the primitive

Buddhism, Mahayana Buddhism was not an independent branch Its

doctrines were improved by Nagarjuna, Asanga, and Vasubandhu

Mahayana as a result has risen in influence in large areas of China,

Northeast Asia, and Vietnam It was the aggressive development of

Mahayana Buddhism, together with the demand of international trading,

that made the Silk Road as an effective missionary tool The network of

routes linked Buddhist centers from India to Central Asia, crossed

Himalaya ranges, and Taklimakan desert to the Chinese continent There

were many Buddhist centers formed along the Silk Road such as,

Bamiyan (Afghanistan), Khotan, Kucha, Turfan, Dunhuang, Pengcheng,

Luojang, Longmen (China) etc during Buddhism’s religious development

and they mark the golden era of Mahayana Buddhist art However, at

present there are only four centers left in Bamiyan, Dunhuang, Yungang,

and Longmen left from Mahayana Buddhism’s expansion period

While Hinayana Buddhist art appeared in a fairly simple form,

Mahayana Buddhism was devised into many different branches and

small groups which has made Buddhist works various and plentiful

Particularly, after being adopted into China, Mahayana Buddhist art

and Chinese culture combined together to form a Chinese line Buddhist

philosophies integrated with the long-standing Chinese culture to create

a new way of Buddhist art in China via the Silk Road, MahayanaBuddhism not only had its strongest influence in China but it alsospread to Japan, Korea, and Vietnam, which have become MahayanaBuddhist countries since then There is further evidence that MahayanaBuddhism also influenced some European countries In the developmentprocess of Mahayana Buddhism, Mahayana Buddhist Art affectedalmost all areas touching the Silk Road

Mahayana Buddhist art developed strongly not only in Asia butalso in the West and in North America due to the growth oftransportation networks overland, by sea and in the air MahayanaBuddhism brings to the West not only profound philosophies andhumanistic values of the East but the new trends of the Eastern Artalso

The birth of the Silk Road in the cultural exchanges

During human evolution, cultural exchange has produced andmotivated civilizations These exchanges depended mainly on theexistence of roads which were key to its development The Silk Road isone of crucial roads Before the Christian era great civilizations arose

in Europe, Mesopotamia, the Near-East, China and India Despite beingrelatively highly developed, there were few exchanges among thosecivilizations In this period, maritime knowledge was so limited thatthey were not able to cross the oceans in order to trade Furthermore,roads were interupted due to extremely complex terrain and severeweather conditions

In 330 B.C.E Alexander the Great2 conquered Bactrian Kingdom settingoff the greatest expansion thus far in the world history towards the east.Following his invasion, Greek culture influenced a large area from Babylon,across Hunza valley to Karakarum, which now is in Pakistan, and toculture centers on the bank of Indus river Gods, legends, cultural symbolsand other civilizational elements belonging to ancient Greek culture had alarge influence on areas where Alexander's conquests passed through.After his death, his empire collapsed, but the culture of the ancient Greekswas merged and developed in those conquered lands One of the mostimportant products of the combination between Greek culture and localone was Greeco-Buddhist Art, which was born in Gandhara which used

to be the point which Buddhist Art was transported to China from India

In China It grew as a great Buddhist branch and became one of the threegreatest religions in the world

DIALOGUE, Volume-11 No 4 4 7

In 221 B.C.E, Qin Shi Huang unified China, establishing a huge state

The capital was in Changan (Xian now), which rapidly developed into

the center of government, trade and culture The Great Wall of China

was built to prevent the invasion of the Xiongnu (Huns) from the north

at that time When the Qin's rule collapsed, the Hans continued to

reconstruct this defensive wall and promoted their links to other tribes

and countries from the west in order to counter the Xiongnu In 140

B.C.E Han Wuti dispatched Zhang Quian to the Dayuezhi’s (or the

Yuezhi3) kingdom with a diplomatic delegation of a hundred members in

order to form an alliance against the Xiongnu Unfortunately the

delegation headed by Zhang Quian was captured by the Xiongnu and

detained for ten years After being released he continued his journey to

the Dayuezhi’s kingdom It took him twelve years to return to his capital

Changan During that journey Zhang Quian passed through eight

countries to Gandhara, but he did not achive the diplomatic goals of

the trip In return, however, Han Wuti was much interested in what they

found from western countries And over the following years, Han Wuti

sent out Zhang Quian and other deligations towards the west to obtain

strange things in these mysterious lands Since then, trade routes which

connected the East and the West were formed and as a consequence

the Silk Road was born Owing to this road, the Chinese approached

the culture of the Greeks through Greeco-Buddhist Art in Gandhara for

the first time Despite being called a road, the Silk Road was in fact

only a system of paths passing through high mountains and deserts

which started in Changan and finished in Gandhara via Bezeklik,

Bukhara, Dunhuang, Ferghana, Gaochang, Guici/Kucha, Jiaohe, Kashgar/

Kashi Khotan, Loulan, Samarkand Turfan, Urumqi, Yanguan, Yotkanm,

and Yumenguan.4

It can be said that the Silk Road is one of the greatest human creations

in the development of historical civilization Due to this, significant

cultural influences from the far away West reached the civilization center

of the Hans, The Silk Road was not only a trading route but a flow of

culture from the west to the east, from Indian culture centers to Chinese

culture centers as well, and vice versa Cultural exchange enhanced the

growth of many civilizations along the Silk Road in the early centuries

C.E The transmission of Buddhism from India to China during that

period marked the Golden Age of internationalization of Buddhism

The role of the Silk Road in dissemination of Mahayana Buddhism

As written earlier Buddhism was born in the middle of first millennium

B.C.E., and spread over Indian subcontinent after that Over thefollowing centuries, Buddhism did not expand beyond Indiansubcontinent apart from Sri Lanka, which is located close to the south Although many missionaries were sent out toward Southeast Asia bythe kings of Maurya5 dynasty, they were not able to internationalizeBuddhism It was only when international trade routes appeared thatBuddhism extended its frontier Buddhism developed historically in threeways:

Along sea-routes, Buddhism was transferred to Southeast Asia fromthe south of India and Sri Lanka, and flourished as Hinayana Thisbranch originated in Theravada, which was a primitive Buddhism inIndia Along land routes, another branch was adopted in the north ofIndia and Himalaya and grew as Vajrayana At the same time the thirdstrand was carried into China via Central Asia and Taklamakan desertalong the Silk Road6 In this study, we only focus on Mahayana because

it has a close relationship with the Silk Road

During the development of Mahayana Buddhism in Asia, itsappearance continuouly changed within local civilizations This made itdifferent from Hinayana Buddhism which maintained the samecharacteristics over the last thousands years This might be “the key”for Mahayana Buddhism to approach local civilizations along the SilkRoad which used to be self-contained During this localization process,

it was Chinese culture which aggressively affected both Buddhism andBuddhist Art Chinese culture contributed to the development ofBuddhism, and it has been not only an international religion but alsoone of the greatest religions of the world

Before being adopted into China, Buddhism consisted of manysystems of religious theories and philosophies Among those, the most

famous theories are Humanistic governance of Kungfu, Yin-yang and

Five basic elements, which were the background of Taoism However,

Taoism did not have influence on Indian culture which was the homecountry of Buddhism while Buddhism seemed to have an easier timeadvancing in China, one of the largest civilizations, and subsequentlybecame the most popular religions in this continent It is difficult toexplain why Taoism7 was not as popular as Buddhism, because in fact,cultural exchange was never a one way process This phenomenon isbeyond the scope of this study, however After developing to its heightduring Kushan dynasty, Buddhism helped stabalize the country’sspiritual life As a result, culture, particularly art, was encouraged toflourish During that period, the most advanced type was Greeco-

DIALOGUE, Volume-11 No 4 4 9

Buddhist Art Many neighboring countries envied the prosperity of

Kushan Empire As a result the development of Gandhara art became a

form that many neighbouring countries desired to imitate A series of

Buddhist centers and Buddhist countries were born during that period,

at which marked a high point of Buddhism in the first Millennium C.E

This was the period of internationalization of Buddhism China was

also impacted by this trend Due to the far distance and treacherous

terrian, however, the development of Chinese Buddhism came later than

in other areas

The Silk Road was the key motivator which helped Buddhism cross

frontiers into China Even more than silk or other products, Buddhism

was one of the most crucial elements which stimulated the development

of the Silk Road itself It was only when the Silk Road achieved its

highest points serving the role of connecting India, Mesopotamia, China

with centers in Europe and Africa ( the Silk Road reached Africa in the

second half of the first millennium C.E.), material goods exchange

officially became the main goal of the caravans on the road From the

Near-East to Asia, Europe, and Africa, Islamic merchants made the

road a conduit for spreading Islam during the latter period

In contrast to the spread of Islam in the final half of first millennium

CE, Buddhism declined along the Silk Road Many Buddhist centers

were damaged and monks were killed As Buddhism’s principle was

non-violence, it quickly lost its highest power in civilizations along the

route and a series of Buddhist centers were gradually replaced by

mosques Yet Islam only gained dominance near desert and most of the

people in China still followed Buddhism, Taoism, and other local

religions Particularly, the identical three religions' (Kungfucianism,

Taoism and Buddhism) phenomenon was one of the most significant

causes that helped Buddhism to survive extinction and flourish durably

in China The Identical three religions were thought to be one of the

specific characteristics and strength of Chinese culture By contract,

Buddhism failed in India and many Buddhist countries in Central and

Southern Asia floundered This perfect combination between Identical

three religions and other factors made no other religion in the world

able to surpass the spiritual background of Chinese culture, not even

Islam, Christianityy, and other religions which have had considerable

historical impact

The role of the Silk Road in the development of Mahayana Buddhist

Art

While a strength of Islam was in its harsh rules and the strength of

the Christian religion was in its tight organizational structure, art gaveBuddhism power So why could that be? Although Buddhist doctrinesare aggressively attractive to its followers, understanding itsphysiological and practical languages is complicated because they areabstract and beyond many people’s knowledge Therefore art andsymbols were the most effective language to spread Buddhist doctrineswidely among all social classes This explains why there was a closerelationship between Buddhism and Buddhist art Buddhism depended

on its art in order to flourish.Thus far, the Silk Road served not only

as the main conduit for propagating Buddhism but as a bridge to bringart from the west to the east, and vice versa This road was theconnection of culture between those areas during the cultural exchanges

In the beginning, this exchange took place because the Macedon emperorimposed it on his country But this process has been completelyvoluntary since then It seems that the Western (Indian) culture was sointeresting and attractive that it became influential easily and quickly

as it moved towards East In Gandhara, Buddhist Art, in particular Buddhist Art, still maintained its attraction for neighboring civilizations,and from here this art had an impact on China, which through its valueswas a great civilization For instance, Han Wuti was much interested inthe symbols that Zhang Qian brought back

As we all know, during the Early Buddhism, the image of Buddhaconsisted of only aniconic symbols such as foot print, stupa, dharmawheel, etc This period was given the name aniconic phase by scientists

It was when Greek Art arrived from the west via the Bactrian kingdom

to Indian sub-continent that there was a boom in iconic symbols inBuddhist Art Thus it was called the Iconic phase Since than, BuddhistArts opened a new stage of development with plentiful ways ofmanifestations and various symbols Still, with a system of profoundand abstract philosophy and theories, expressing artistic symbols wasnever easy to understand Nevertheless, Gandhara artists, with excellentcreativity, gave their works a sense of incarnation of gods and Buddhawho had great grandeur Particularly, each symbol matched positionsand roles of each god or Buddha, and all images above were arrangedinto a logical order

After researching many Buddhist centers, which were formed alongthe Silk Road, I realized that the common basic feature of Buddhist artwas that all symbols were “classified” This is due to the socialclassification during this period Because of his important position

DIALOGUE, Volume-11 No 4 5 1

Buddha was portrayed as a Greek Emperor with his robe and

Bodhisattava was often described as an Oriental-Asian prince Only

Maitreya was like both Buddha and Bodhisatva, so this God’s image

appeared in both as an emperor and a prince These specific features

were used to separate and identify Buddhist symbols Maitreya was

thought to be the Savior, who would be Buddha in the future The

widely held belief that Maitreya would appear in the future explains

why Maitreya’s image had been described in the icons of the colosal

Buddha8 symbols Besides Buddha and Bodhisatva icons, there were

also many senior-gods, who were indigenous gods and were adopeted

into Buddhism because Buddhism flourished along the Silk Road Traces

of these symbols were found in China, Korea, Japan, and Vietnam

Further I examine Chinese culture, the more we see that Buddhist

symbols were classified profoundly due to the impacts of Confucianism

and Taoism Factually, Confucianism didn’t mean “worship”; it consists

of a system of theories of humanistic governance, which was invented

by Kungfu Theories of Confucianism always respected the Three feudal

relationships and the Five cardinal virtues, and so on People must

respect social classification and do as their responsibilities Confucianist

ideals were based on culture of Chinese Confucianism Particularly, they

were applied as the social moral standards and also the standards of

relationship in Chinese dynasties governing relations between king and

his residents, father and sons, husband and wife, etc Because of these

standards, feudal dynasties in China kept the society unified and stable

for thousands of years This form and its ranks has affected Buddhism,

in particular the clarification of Buddhist symbols Under these

circumstances, Mahayana Buddhism inherited a convenient environment

in China to take roots and flourish into one of the great religions in the

world

Distinct from Confucianism, Taoism was one of the greatest religions

in China before the appearance of Buddhism As a result, the two

religions were in conflict Buddhism, however, obeyed the nonviolent

policy; hence, there was no occurrence of violent actions But there

were clashes to gain support of kings, or that of the whole dynasty

After many vicissitudes for centuries, eventually the Chinese did find a

solution, which was rich in humanism, to solve the conflicts between

the religions This concept became the Identical three religions This

solution, helped Chinese religions avoid conflict and made them

stronger and more durable while confronting other religions

After being merged into Chinese culture, Buddhist art was heavily

influenced by the local culture though it still maintained the background

of Indian Mahayana9 and the primitive features of Gandhara art Thislocalization was represented through Chinese feudal prototypes withpagodas, Buddhist temples, and many Taoist images of gods If wecompare symbols of Mahayana Buddhist art and those of Hinayanaand Vajrayana Buddhism, it’s easy for us to realise a clear differencebetween these three Buddhist branches These distinguishable featureshelp us in understanding why it was Mahayana, not Hinayana orVajrayana that flourished in China10

From China, one of the main centers of Buddhism, MahayanaBuddhism expanded to almost the entire Asian continent, crossingChina’s frontiers to countries such as Korea, Japan and Vietnam Allthe countries which imported Mahayana from China were MahayanaBuddhist countries hed the same Chinese cultural style11 MahayanaBuddhism in countries which had the same Chinese cultural style existedfor a long time and more and more developed whereas in SoutheastAsia in places such as Angkor (Cambodia), Borobudur (Indonesia),Dong Duong (Vietnam), and so on, all declined and disappeared aftertheir existence for hundreds of years This raised a question aboutwhether the growth of Hinayana Buddhism, Hinduism, and Islam isencroaching upon Mahayana Buddhism? This question has been a

mystery uptill now, and it is beyond the goal of this study, so we hope

that we will come back to this complicated but very interesting matter

in the future

Yet, from the point of view of Mahayana Buddhist art, we all see thatthe system of Mahayana Buddhist gods fits in the structure of culture,politics and society of these countries It is therefore, not difficult tosee how it could be accepted and merged with the local religions easily.Moreover, Mahayana Buddhist symbols merged well with those ofTaoism, which used to have the greatest influence in China beforeBuddhism arrived in this land, so there was an acculturation betweenthem The evidence of this harmony was that there have been a lot ofsculptures of the two religions being worshiped in the same pagodas orthe same Buddhist temples

The Silk Road was too harsh for human beings to thrive, but was afertile land for Mahayana Buddhism and its art to flourish As thestructure of the local cultures was well matched for Mahayana Buddhistimages, it was welcomed as a perfect social prototype In return,Mahayana Buddhist art propagated a new form of Buddhist civilization,which at its height was an improvement to all civilizations In addition,

DIALOGUE, Volume-11 No 4 5 3

Mahayana Buddhism and its art gave local cultures along the road a

fresh outlook about the arts For example, a blend of the highly academic

standards of Greek, Indian and Bactrian cultures formed an artistic

environment which was appreciated in value This blend had a large

effect on a chain of civilizations lasting from the east to the west along

the Silk Road Bamiyan, Dunhuang, Yungang, Longmen, and so on,

known as cultural heritages of the world, illustrate Buddhist art-works

that were created on this road Those cultural heritages not only contain

particularly artistic values but are a symbol of a high development of

Asian civilization during a crucial historical period The Buddhist Art

encouraged cultural exchanges and contributed to the flourishing of

Asian society which was based on wisdom and compassion of

Buddhism

The Silk Road in modern time

For many centuries of its existence and development, the Silk Road

promoted the exchange of trade and culture until the fifteenth century

when the Ming dynasty closed the route to avoid invasion of the

Uighurs12 Through cultural transmission occurred from the east to the

west and vice versa, this route played an extremely crucial part during

the ancient and medieval time, particularly during the period of

flourishing of Mahayana Buddhism and Mahayana Buddhist Art

Although many Buddhist art centers were being destroyed by Islamic

soldiers, the remaining Buddhist sitescenters such as at Dunhuang,

Longmen, Yungang survived illustrating the durability of Mahayana

Buddhism and Mahayana Buddhist Art Buddhism itself and its art

were able to recover and have been growing uptil now

After being closed, it seemed that the Silk Road would have been

fallen into obscurity However, the great values of artistic works along

the route contributed to its revival in the twentieth century According

to historical and geological documents, there were many adventurers

who reached this mysterious land to discover history, and they deserve

recognition for their efforts In 1895, following the writings of Baron

Ferdinand von Richthofen, a Swiss adventurer Sven Hedin carried out

surveys of the Taklimakan desert He discovered many ancient

architectural styles, and excavated a lot of archeological sites and other

meaningful objects After Sven Hedin, Marc Aurel Stein, a Hungarian

young explorer, sponsored by the English Authority in colonial India

started his study He excavated abundant relics of Sui dynasty and

Tang dynasty scattered from Xinjiang to Gandhara Thousands of

high-value antiques and more than 6,500 ancient manuscripts were carriedback to England These objects are being kept in museums in Englandand the rest of Europe During the final one hundred years of the Qingdynasty, European explorers discovered and took away a large quantity

of antiquities of the Silk Road This was a considerable material loss tothe Chinese Nevertheless, owing to their discoveries, people all overthe world are aware of these masterpieces and cultural relics ExploringBuddhist relics, especially the 429 caves and thousands of Buddhistsymbols in Mogao (Dunhuang, Gansu province of China) wasappreciated as one of the greatest discoveries of the world archeology

in the 20th century This has cultivated new interest in the past and theSilk Road has seen a period of revitalization The road has becomebustling again There has been not only tourists and archeologists butplenty of loyal Buddhist pilgrims as well They try to reach the land toexpress respect for their religion

To meet the demand for transportation on the Silk Road during thenew era, many highways were built to link Buddhist artistic centers,religious relics and modern cities together A cross Euro-Asia railwayhas been constructed so that transportation along the road has becomemuch easier and convenient Caravans with horses and camels are nowimages of the past Camels now are used only by local people andtourists Despite the advances in aviation and shipping, land-routesare still the main means of traveling Thus, the Silk Road still keeps itsimportance as a key channel of the world transport system The Chinesegovernment and Southeast Asian countries reached an agreement on aEuro-Asia highway linking the Southeast Asia, China, Central Asia,Russia, and Europe together The new Silk Road, after being finished,will open a new channel for commercial and cultural exchanges betweenEurope and Asia, or between the West and the East

The road was known as an achievement of transportation, and a way

to transmit cultural values, in particular Mahayana Buddhist art, givingmajor attraction to what has been called “the dead land” Tourismservices with hundreds of travel agencies and thousands of packagetours on the Silk Road have drawn more and more tourists from all overthe world during the past few years The road doesn’t play the role ofpropagating religions any longer but now functions as an importantchannel of culture from the West to the East via tourism Because ofthis, people from many religions, nations, and areas around the worldhave been able to appreciate Buddhism, Buddhist art, and the Silk Road

Mahayana Buddhist art was profoundly influenced by western culture

DIALOGUE, Volume-11 No 4 5 5

during the last two thousand years It already has impacted the culture

of the West in return via Buddhist symbols, which are rich in philosophy

and art of Orient With globalization, those effects are making the West

change their mind about the East Many people from the West have left

wealthy lives, as they are lacking mental peace and coming to Asia for

meditation and have become monks Therefore symbols of Buddhism,

have been internationalized through religious propagation13 and become

popular all over the world

Conclusion

1 To summarize, the Silk Route was one of the most crucial routes for

conducting trade and exchanging culture

2 Mahayana Buddhism flourished in Central Asia, China, Korea, Japan,

and Vietnam via the Silk Road

3 The Silk Road was the gate exporting Buddhism into Chinese culture

and helping it expand over Northeast Asian countries and Vietnam

Buddhism was one of the most essential reasons which contributed to

the development of the Silk Road Still silk and other trading products

were transported to Europe and the road helped Islam's spread over

Central Asia

4 Mahayana Buddhism imported into China not only helped Buddhism

to flourish but also produced a special cultural event which hadn’t

been seen in the world religious history before This was the

phenomenon of Identical three religions in China and Vietnam Because

of this event, there was no war between the largest religions similar to

those taking place in Europe or in Middle East Morover, it helped

Buddhism gain a solid position in Chinese culture and gaining standing

as the greatest religion in the most populous country of the world

5 Mahayana Buddhist art played foremost role in the propagation of

this religion The symbols of Mahayana Buddhism carried Buddhist

doctrines to people of all social classes easily than other Buddhist

scripts It was also a deep reason leading to the birth and development

of Jingtu zong.14

6 Like a river, the Silk Road carried cultural symbols from the west to

the east during the ancient and medieval time So far, it has been in the

period of renaissance The eastern cultural values have been influenced

to re-interact with that of the west More and more Buddhist followers

are coming from the west They have crossed long-distances to journey

to Asia Many giant Buddhist centers have been built in developed

countries in Europe and North America The Silk Road not only

established civilizations in the past but is making major contributions

to the economy and culture of Asia at the present time This trend islikely to continue into the future

4 See more detailed on Appendices.

5 This is a famous dynasty in Indian history for unifying the Indian kingdom and arranging Buddhism as a national religions.

6 At the beginning it included both Mahayana and other branches; but they gradually disappeared and only Mahayana flourished and had a large influence on vast areas over China continent, North Korea, Japan, and Vietnam.

7 Theories of yin-yang and the five elements existed in Chinese culture for along time, but Laozi was recognized to be the founder of Taoism.

8 More detail on “Maitreya Images in Aisan Buddhist Fine arts'' on my reports of the annual meeting in Bangkok, Thailand in July, 2006 at the website: www.asian- scholarship.org.

9 The basic of Mahayana Buddhist doctrines were born in India about the second century CE by Nagarjuna and then were developed by Asanga and Vasubandhu These theories were recorded in Sanskrit, so was called Mahayana Sutras.

10 A specific characteristic of Mahayana was influenced by Greek culture while Hynayana was much impacted by Hindu and Varjayana depended on other exotic religions in India and Hymalaya.

11 Countries which had the same Chinese cultural style, including Korea, Japan, and Vietnam All of those were profoundly affected by Confucianism first and then by Buddhism.

12 Because of this closure, China lost the role of a great political center of the ancient and medieval world, and could not able to keep up cultural exchange with the West Cultural exchanges had been very aggressive in previous dynasties This was also the reason why China lagged behind western countries during the pre-modern time and yielded to eight country coalition in the later Qing dynasty Still, there was another reason, which almost nobody aware of, was the excellent achievements in the world maritime standards Particularly, Columbus and Vasco

da Gama discoveries of over-ocean routes Therefore, the Silk road stopped being the primary choice for trade and cultural exchange.

13 Reference to statements in the Conference of traditional culture 2005, organized

in Hanoi, about the topic: The socialize phenomenon of the Maitreya image in Asian Buddhist art via images of Cloth Bag monk.

14 According to Jingtu zong doctrines, the Buddhists only need to practice meditation and thinking about Pure Land and calling the name of Amita Buddha

DIALOGUE, Volume-11 No 4 5 7

to be in the Pure Land after dead By an easy way to practices like that, the

number of Buddhists developing speedly So far, Jingtu zong is the largest branch

of Mahayana Buddhism.

Bibliography

1 Aurel Stein, Laurence Binyon, The thousand Buddhas – Ancient

Buddhist painting from the caves temples of Tunhuang on the Western

frontier of China, The Rinsen books Co Ltd, Kyoto, 1978

2 Chikyo Yamamoto, Introduction to Buddhist Art, Intl Academy of

Indian culture and Aditya Prakashan, New Delhi, 1990

3 Covell, Dr Jon Carter and Alan Covell Korean Impact on Japanese

Culture Korea: Hollym International Corp., 1984

4 Clunas, Craig Art in China Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997

5 Emmerick, Ronald “Buddhism in Central Asia,” in Encyclopedia of

Religion (ed Mirceau Eliade), vol 2: 400-404 New York: Macmillan, 1987

6 Farrer-Halls, Gill Buddhist Wisdom Illinois: Godsfield Press, 2000

7 Faure, Bernard Buddhism New York: Konecky & Konecky, 1998

8 Gosta Liebert, Iconographic Dictionary of the Indian Religions:

Hinduism Buddhism Jainism Reprint Satguru, Delhi, 1986

9 Hopkirk, Peter Foreign Devils on the Silk Road Amherst: The

University of Massachusetts Press, 1984

10 Härtel, Herbert and Yaldiz, Marianne Along the Ancient Silk Routes:

Central Asian Art from the West Berlin State Museums New York:

Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1982

11 Hsien Tsang, Si Yu Ki – Buddhist Records of the Western World,

Translated by Samuel Beal, Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers Pvt Ltd.,

Delhi, 2004

12 Hsia Nai, Ku Yenwen, lanhsin Wen, Hsiang Po, Lu Wenko, Channg

Lichuan, Lin Yuching, New Archaeological finds in China- Discoveries

during the Cultural Revolution, Freign language Press, Peiking, 1972

13 Inchang Kim, The Future Buddha Maitreya : An Iconological Study.

Foreword by Lokesh Chandra, D.K Print world Ltd, Delhi, 1997

14 James O Caswell, Written and unwritten Buddhist caves at Yungang,

University of British Columbia Press, Vancouver, 1988

15 Jessica Rawson, Ancient China Art and Archaeology, Harper and

Row Publisher, New York, 1980

16 John Marshall The Buddhist Art of Gandhara : The Story of the

Early School: Its Birth, Growth and Decline, Reprint, Munshiram

Manoharlal, New Delhi, 2000

17 Kumar Dabral, Buddhist Art in India and Sri Lanka (3rd Century BC

to 6th Century AD): A Critical Study,D.K Printworld, Delhi, 2000

18 Lokesh Chandra, Dictionary of Buddhist Iconography, 14Vol.

(Amoghavikramin-Bzod.par.smra.ba.can), Aditya, New Delhi, from 1999-2005

19 Liu, Xinru Ancient India and Ancient China: Trade and Religious

Exchanges AD 1-600 Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1988 (reprint, 1997).

20 Liu, Xinru The Silk Road: Overland Trade and Cultural Interactions

in Eurasia Washington D.C.: American Historical Association, 1998.

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Publication, Singapore, 1995

22 McRae, John and Nattier, Jan, eds Collection of Essays 1993: Buddhism

Across Boundaries - Chinese Buddhism and the Western Regions.

Sanchung, Taipei: Fo Guang Shan Foundation, 1999

23 Michael Sullivan, The Arts of China (revised edition), University of

California Press, Berkeley 94720, 1977

24 Moes, Robert Auspicious Spirits Washington, D.C.: the International

Exhibition Foundation, 1983

25 Nattier, Jan “Church Language and Vernacular Language in Central

Asian Buddhism.” Numen 37 (1990):195-219

26 Noma Seiroku, The arts of Japan-late medieval to modern (vol 2),

to Shan in Central Asia Leiden: Brill, 1999

29 Tregear, Mary Chinese Art, New York: Thames and Hudson, Inc., 1985

30 Tregear, T.R., A geography of China, Aldine Publishing company,

Chicago, 1965

31 Whitfield, Susan Life along the Silk Road University of California

Press, 1999

32 Woodward F.L., Pictures of Buddhist Ceylon and Other Papers Reprint.

First published by Theosophical Publishing House, Madras in 1914 1999

33 Yu, Hong-June Smiles of the Baby Buddha Changbi Publishers, Inc.,

1999

34 Zhang Yiping, Story of the Silk Road, China Continental Press, 2005

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Adaptation of Buddhism in Early Medieval China, 2 vols Leiden: E.J.

Brill, 1959

DIALOGUE, Volume-11 No 4 5 9

Looking at India-China Relations in a

Wider Perspective

Bhaskar Roy*

For too long, Indians have viewed India-China relations/animosity or

even acrimony through a very narrow prism i.e the unresolved border

issue, and the Sino-Pak co-operation to counter India This is not to

say, these two issues have gone away They remain as important as

they were earlier But the ambit of the India-China interface has greatly

increased impinging upon a much larger international canvas

It must be noted that both China and India have evolved and

developed over the years, though in terms of pace China is ahead of

India for several reasons China is ruled by a single political party, a

command system, which can completely ignore one area and deploy

this entire resources to another area The Chinese leaders decided from

the early 1980s, and very wisely, that mutual dependence and

correlations between economic development and military power was a

must Great power or super power status does not fall from heaven

Democracy or, at times, irresponsible democracy has hobbled India all

along There is sometimes opposition for the sake of opposition At other

times, there is a holier than thou attitude among politicians, journalists and

civil society activists During the Kargil war launched by Pakistan in 1999,

India had the excellent Bofors gun But because of the kickback allegations

on the acquisition of these guns, not only was the original Bofors company

blacklisted, the blacklist was extended even after the company was taken

over by the Swedish government This resulted in the shortfall of

ammunition in the middle of the conflict failures like this continue

Nevertheless, India has picked up pace, and consensus policies arefar more sustainable than command policies which have a huge chunk

of the population of a country disgruntled – the making of a futurevolcano

Notwithstanding the foregoing, the bare fact is that China is on apower surge on economic and military muscle that the world isbeginning to take note of

China is becoming “arrogant”, as Prime Minister Manmohan Singhsaid last year during his visit to Washington Coming from a mild personlike Dr Singh, who has never been seen so angry (according to NobelLaureate Amartya Sen), this one word weighs ten times more heavilythan it normally would

In spite of the border dispute or the unresolved border demarcationquestion, India and China are not at war During Prime MinisterNarsimha Rao’s visit to China in 1993, the two sides signed the “Peaceand Tranquillity” treaty on the border, that helped disengage Chineseand Indian soldiers from an eyeball-to-eyeball position at some pointsalong the disputed border in the eastern sector

When Chinese President Jiang Zemin came to India in 1996 theConfidence Building Measures (CBM) Treaty was signed, laying theground rules for exercise of each army in the proximity of the borders,military air flights in the vicinity of the borders, informing each otherabout planned exercises, among other confidence building steps Indiaalso quietly gave proof of Chinese supply of nuclear weaponstechnology and hardware to Pakistan which was helping Pakistan tomanufacture nuclear weapons Jiang did not protest, and the Indiangovernment did not disclose

Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee signed on the lines acceptable

to China on Tibet, foregoing any Tibet card if India had one, on theassurance that China would similarly accept Sikkim as a sovereign state

of India China is yet to clearly accept that Sikkim is an integral part ofIndia, and officially cleared Chinese reports continue to allege that Indiaannexed Sikkim as a part of India’s expansionist and hegemonisticpolicies

China has also retracted from going forward on the modalities forsettlement of the border issue agreement (2005), objecting as an afterthought that settled population will not be dislocated This reflects China’sclaims on Tawang where the entire Indian population is settled

The Chinese side has been less than honest in respecting all theunderstandings and agreements, and has been pushing the lines of control

*The writer is a New Delhi based strategic analyst He can be reached at WWW/

GROUCHOHART @YAHOO.COM)

DIALOGUE, Volume-11 No 4 6 1

(LOCs) both in the eastern and western sectors The Indian response

overall has been to hide the Chinese intransigence from the public

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s pique was provoked when the

Chinese government took a strident position on his visit to Arunachal

Pradesh last October A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman declared

“We demand that the Indian side pay attention to the serious concerns

of the Chinese side and not provoke incidents in the disputed region,

in order to facilitate the healthy development of India China relations”

This was a very serious statement, arrogant and insulting, of the

Indian Prime Minister openly For once, the Indian government took the

stand that Arunachal Pradesh was an “integral part of India” This one

statement persuaded Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao to seek a meeting

with Prime Minister Singh at the upcoming ASEAN meet in Han Hin,

Thailand

But since then, India has gone on the back-foot On his return from

a China trip in April this year (2010), Foreign Minister S.M Krishna

said that close interactions increase trust, and the Chinese had apprised

him that they were building four hydro-electric projects on the river

Yarlong (Brahmaputra) which will not impede the water flow What the

Chinese told Krishna was nothing new, and they added rather

sarcastically that they need not have informed India but were doing so

in the interest of friendship There still appears to be influential foreign

policy makers in India who think that it is better to concede to a rising

global power like China than to confront it!

This is a position of defeat, hoping for Chinese indulgence and

openly accepting China’s supremacy An abject surrender which China

will use to the utmost There is a Chinese saying “respect the strong,

blackmail the weak” Has India decided to be the “weak” even before it

is tested? Because, in various Chinese internal assessments India is no

longer a push over

It appears Indian policy makers may be mistakenly accepting as

friendship China’s latest signals since November 2009, as a turn over of

Chinese heat There is nothing more deceptive than that China is married

to its centuries old strategy of “denial and deception”

Since 2004, Chinese strategists have been arguing that Deng Xiaoping’s

strategy of “hiding one’s strength, and biding one time” has outlived

its utility Deng enunciated this strategy in 1991 when China was isolated

after the June 1984 suppression of pro-democracy student activists

Today, that situation does not exist China is a power to reckon with,

and all powerful countries including the US are keen to do business

with China and accord China a high pedestal at the global table The Chinese are not wrong in their assessment But over enthusiasmhas caused problems with the US and the European Union (EU), and tosome extent with Japan and Australia Russia is cognizant of the factthat China is trying to oust them from their global position because ofeconomic power China is also not sure how far they can push Russiaout, given the fact that the cold war syndrome is history, and Moscow

is carrying its own strategic relationship with the US

A strange arrogance appears to have engulfed the Chinese polity,where the military seems to be on the ascendancy in strategic foreignpolicy area At a recent US-China conclave in Beijing in mid-April (2010

– People’s Daily) Vice Admiral (Retd.) Yang Yi, who is a policy promoter,

said China’s main adversary was the US Russia was not interested,Japan was weak, and India was worried about China He added that theonly nuclear war, if fought, will be between China and the US on theTaiwan issue This is in stark contrast to the earlier Chinese strategicposition that the possibility of a nuclear war was receding

China’s “no first use” of nuclear weapons doctrine has also beenbeckoning towards ambiguity

Statements from Chinese military strategists of the possibility ofacquiring military bases in the Indian Ocean region surrounding India

to ensure the free passage of their energy shipments is significant.Military bases have a very potent meaning The Chinese naval exercise(March-April, 2010) extending beyond its coast, challenging Japan andflying its sovereignty flag in the South China Sea gives new meaning

to China’s hegemonic ambitions Its military base concept in the IndianOcean rim countries and a seeming permanent deployment of its navy

in the Indian Ocean going across India to the Gulf of Aden on piracy operations is certainly not pacific

Diplomatically, China has challenged the US, in EU (France andGermany), Japan and Australia in the last one month The results weremixed, and China is tabulating that

Armed with this ascendancy, China is just opening a new strategy

to squeeze India in South Asia and the SAARC The Americans, in theirusual self-centred and non-perspective policies have agreed to inviteChina in the South Asian scenario involving Afghanistan, Pakistan,India and Sri Lanka The Americans are known to dump their foes andfriends alike They are desperate to get out of Afghanistan, keep Pakistan

as an ally and invite China to join in

The Chinese, however, are historically shrewd and do not trust the

DIALOGUE, Volume-11 No 4 6 3

Americans They understand they have a strategic competition with

the US in Pakistan and Afghanistan They are yet to bite the American

bait

Therefore, India’s strategic position with China has travelled a full

circle When China confronts India, it will be working on a huge

advantage How does India respond?

Very briefly, India must stand on its own feet firmly and understand

that the India of today is not the India of 1962 The Chinese propaganda

wants India to believe that it remains far inferior to Beijing They continue

to play on India’s vacillations and indecisions, and they have their

supporters in India who adulate China as the saviour against imperialism

While China has dazzled the world with its power, India still remains

unsure of its own strength There is a world which wants India to

demonstrate the power which it actually, has to extricate them from the

Chinese shadow This exists in South East Asia and the Central Asia

To say the least it is up to Indian policy makers if they want India to be

a respectable power, or a country with potential yet subservient and

to the five CARS’ on 27 December 1991, thus providing a window ofopportunity for Beijing to rekindle old ties with the region that hadbeen abruptly ruptured as a consequence of the Sino-Soviet schism Stakes in the region have soared with the opening up of avenues forthe exploitation of oil and gas These developments have shaped thecontours of engagement for some of the major world capitals2 jockeyingfor influence in the hydrocarbon rich region China’s fortunes in theregion have witnessed a meteoric rise over the last two decades and ithas forged extremely close ties with the CAR’s by weeding out politicalirritants in their relationships through: a settlement of long runningborder disputes, ensuing de-militarization of its borders, forgingsubstantial economic links and developing meaningful regionalcooperation through forums like the Shanghai Cooperation Organization(SCO)3 China’s geographical contiguity, ethnic linkages and growingeconomic linkages to Central Asia bring into play a host of otherdynamics that underpin its deepening engagement with the CAR’s.This article attempts to identify the key interests that mould Beijing’spolicies towards the CAR’s and the steps its taking to realize those

*Raghav Sharma is Project Officer, Social Development and Capacity Building CWS Pakistan/Afghanistan House No 61, Abu Hanifa Street, Besides Sharawali Blocks, Kolola Pushta Kabul, Afghanistan, Email: raghav@cwspa.org.pk Ph: 00- 93-789394380

DIALOGUE, Volume-11 No 4 6 5

interests, the potential challenges for realization of those interests and

the implications of China’s rise to pre-eminence in the region for other

players such as the US, Russia and India

China’s Interests in Central Asia

With a gradual opening up of the CAR’s, a détente on China’s borders

and the resultant deepening engagement on all key fronts have resulted

in a phenomenal growth of China’s profile and accompanying interests

in Central Asia Beijing’s seminal interests in the region can be classified

under the following three broad categories: security, energy and

commercial interests

Security Interests

Security and stability on the periphery through securing friendly

and stable regimes is seen as being vital for ensuring growth and

stability at home in the Chinese strategic calculus4 In light of the Central

Asia’s geographical contiguity, ethnic and religious ties to China’s

volatile Xinjiang province coupled with the creation of five new and

unstable republics on its borders Beijing nurtured serious anxieties

with regard to the implications of these developments for its security

Thus, Beijing particularly keen to limit possibilities for any serious trouble

brewing in Xinjiang and finding itself internationally isolated following

its brutal suppression of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, moved

swiftly to cultivate ties with the new Central Asian regimes Beijing

settled border disputes by inking border demarcation treaties with

Kazakhstan in 1994 (with some areas being demarcated in 1999),

Kyrgyzstan in 1996, and Tajikistan in 2002.5 The resolution of its long

running border disputes with the CAR’s helped ease China’s security

concerns, helped bridge the trust deficit and propelled its relationship

with the CAR’s to a higher plane, thus paving the way for deeper

engagement Beijing has also prevailed upon the CAR’s to deny Uighurs

any political or cultural space demonstrated for instance in the forced

closure of associations for Uighur diaspora in Kyrgyzstan and

Kazakhstan, particularly so in the case of the closure of the Institute of

Uighur studies located in Kazakh capital of Almaty.6 This has been

made possible by two factors: first refusal by CAR’s to fall in line

would impose economic costs whose burden would be almost

unbearable and second the despotic Central Asian regimes themselves

feel increasingly threatened by radical politico-religious forces To this

end Beijing has also sought to cleverly harness the post 9/11 discourse

on terrorism in its favour by latching its fight against the Uighurseparatists in Xinjiang onto the bandwagon of Islamic terrorism Yet another emerging non-traditional security challenge for China isposed by the steady increase in the inflow of Afghan opiates, whichhave risen by 25% and find their way into China through the Tajikistan-Xinjiang border7 While 47 metric tons of precursor chemicals whichare used for production of morphine and heroin were seized fromUzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan in 2008,8 what is likely to be aparticular cause of concern for Beijing would be that inflow of drugtrafficking apart from undermining its already strained human securitynet in the region could also emerge as a lucrative source of funding forUighur separatists

Beijing has sought to use the SCO forum to address challenges ofterrorism9 and drug trafficking by setting up a Regional Anti-TerrorismStructure in 2002 at Bishkek While the 2006 summit of the SCO issignificant for it resulted in the signing of the Shanghai Convention onfighting terrorism, separatism and religious extremism.10

Energy Interests

With China and CAR’s successfully weeding out some of the majorirritants in their relationship early by the mid 1990’s, stage had been setfor substantive and meaningful economic engagement which has been

a powerful driver of China’s Central Asia policy Central Asia’s oilreserves are pegged at 2.7% (13-15 billion barrels)11 and oil reservesestimated to be 4% (270-360 Trillion cubic feet)12 of the world’s total.Thus Central Asia offers China an opportunity to diversify its sources

of oil and gas from its overt reliance on supplies from the volatileMiddle East Given China’s heavy dependence on energy imports tokeep its economic engine in motion, the rich hydrocarbon resources inCentral Asia have been the primary movers behind China’s deepeningeconomic engagement with the region

China has been rapidly acquiring stakes in the region’s oil and gasfields and it controls 24 per cent of Kazakhstan’s oil production13 andChina National Petroleum has invested approximately US $10 billion inKazakhstan alone since 199714 Beijing is working towards realization

of its ambitious aim of connecting its oil and gas acquisitions to a vastnetwork of pipelines being laid by it to quench its growing thirst forenergy The 2,238 km Sino-Kazakh pipeline which will connect the energyfields of the Caspian to the Dostyk-Alashankou border post and thenfeed into China’s domestic pipeline network is estimated to supply 20

DIALOGUE, Volume-11 No 4 6 7

billion tons of oil, about 5% of China’s crude oil imports However,

even more ambitious has been the Sino-Turkmen gas pipeline

constructed at a cost of US $7 billion; it will supply 30 billion cubic

meters (bcm) of gas to China What is remarkable is Beijing’s success

in drawing together Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan into a

common pipeline network with the latter two supplying about a third of

the gas requirements to China.16 Although Beijing was a late entrant in

the Central Asian energy market not only has it successfully broken

the monopoly of state owned Russian giant Gazprom but it also

commands a distinctive edge vis-a-vis other potential competitors such

as India17 The commissioning of these pipelines is also symbolic of

China’s immense political will to secure its energy needs as also the

power shift underway in Central Asia, away from traditional hegemon

Russia towards China The pipelines are envisaged by Beijing as

reducing its overt dependence on shipment of oil by tankers through

the Malaca Straits, which are under the control of the United States

Apart from pipelines Beijing is also using its financial muscle to

smoothen out potential competition to its energy ambitions in Central

Asia At the 2009 Yekaterinberg summit of the SCO, Beijing offered a

loan of US $10 billion to the CAR’s on the pretext of helping the CAR’s

reeling under the impact of a global economic recession, but in effect

the loans are seen as a tool being used by Beijing to edge its way into

the regions energy resource base and ease out competition.18 Russia

will be the immediate and most severe casualty of the Chinese offensive

in the energy sector in Central Asia

In addition to hydrocarbons Beijing has also demonstrated interest

in harnessing the hitherto untapped hydroelectric potential of Tajikistan

by financing construction of hydroelectric projects in the country This

apart from being a cheap source of electricity to feed China’s growing

energy needs could also potentially allow China to act as a transit

country for energy to markets in India

Commercial Interests

In addition to hydrocarbons Central Asia also offers the Chinese

industry a vast array of mineral resources ranging from copper, iron,

tungsten, gold, zinc to uranium to tap into China has invested in an

array of projects for extraction of industrial metals such as aluminum to

precious metals like gold However of particular significance is the

strategic value attached by Beijing to the securing and diversifying its

supply base of Uranium – vital to fuel its expansion of the nuclear

energy sector This is borne out by the agreement reached betweenKazatomprom and Guangdong Nuclear Power Corporation (ChinaGuangdong Nuclear Power Holding, CGNPC) in 2007 Under thisagreement the two sides will forge “strategic cooperation in the field ofnuclear fuel production…and Kazatoprom shall become the main supplier

of Guangdong cooperation…means 50 per cent of the reactors to bebuilt in China.”19

Second, the CAR’s offer a huge market for China’s burgeoning, exportoriented economic growth and also hold out the potential for serving

as its economic gateway into Russian and subsequently the Europeanmarkets.20 China’s trade with Central Asia has grown in leaps andbounds, with the very first year following the collapse of the SovietUnion witnessing an astounding 130 per cent jump in trade21 Today,China with a trade turnover of US $17 billion compared to Russia’s US

$21 billion has emerged as the Central Asia's second largest tradingpartner and is fast bridging the gap with Russia which has alreadyfallen behind China in Kazakhstan- which dominates China’s traderelations with Central Asia.22 While Central Asia offers a lucrative landroute for transit of oil and gas as well as for conducting trade withEurasia to China, the latter offers to the landlocked CAR’s outlet to thesea China has sought to effectively capitalize on this as early as 1995

by opening up its land ports for transit of trade goods to CAR’s.23

Trade between China and Central Asia is set to expand manifold withthe operationalization of pipeline projects as well as with China’smassive investments in the offing to strengthen and expand the region’sroad and rail network with which it hopes to penetrate both marketsand sources of raw materials in the region Proposed railroad projectsworth over US $2 billion will link China to European markets via theCAR’s of Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, bypassing Russia’s trans-Siberianrail network.24

Unlike the West, China has a distinctive edge in securing its interestsdue to its leadership’s appetite to take risks in a region whose politicalenvironment is not regarded as being conducive to large scale economicinvestments’ Second, China is perhaps the only country to have paidattention to the neglected banking sector in the region and has opened

up branches of its banks in Central Asia and facilitated opening up ofKazakh banks in China25 Beijing’s attention to banking has played amajor role in facilitating trade and investment in the region and allowed

it to undertake execution of massive infrastructure development projects.Finally, Beijing has provided the Central Asian markets with cheap

DIALOGUE, Volume-11 No 4 6 9

consumer goods that have successfully competed with and undercut

Turkish, Iranian, Russian and expensive Western products

Potential Challenges

Although, China’s rise to pre-eminence in the region is undisputable

however there persist certain fundamental challenges which if not tended

to could potentially sully China’s presently cozy relationship with the

CAR’s First, inspite of having cultivated good ties with all Central

Asian capitals Beijing’s problems in Xinjiang are far from over The

religious revival that followed the Soviet demise, coupled with a

reestablishment of ethnic and cultural linkages between Central Asia

-which is home to an estimated 300,000 Uighurs (primarily concentrated

in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan)26-with Xinjiang have all

contributed to re-kindling ethno-nationalist aspirations of independence

from Beijing Furthermore, the radicalization ushered in by the Afghan

jihad, the rise of movements such as Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan

(IMU), Hizb-ut-Tahrir (HT) in the Ferghana valley and the Islamic Party

of East Turkestan having trans-national linkages and aims coupled with

widespread corruption and the repressive political and socio-economic

policies followed by the elites of the CAR’s have all combined to make

a lethal combination for fuelling unrest.27 Any instability emanating in

the CAR’s will impinge upon security and stability of China, especially

in the restive Xinjiang province

Second, as part of its commercial transactions China’s sale of arms

to the dictatorial regimes that dot the regions political landscape is

likely to have serious repercussions in the long run The arming of

Central Asian regimes by Beijing, apart from upsetting Moscow and the

US, will further contribute to domestic repression28, which in turn is

seen as an important ingredient in fuelling violence in the region that

often manifests itself in radical religious terms

Third, the sheer pace and scale of China’s energy acquisitions in the

region is likely to not only bring it in fiercer competition with Russia

which has traditionally regarded the region as its sphere of influence

but newer players such as India but it has sparked off fears of a

reduction of the CAR’s energy independence at the cost of the Chinese

Fourth, trade relations between China and CAR’s are massively unequal

in character, with 85% of China’s exports to the region comprising of

finished products while over 85% of Central Asian exports to China

comprise of raw materials, oil and gas and metals.29 Beijing has also

extended lines of credit to the CAR’s to buy Chinese products, thus

seemingly reducing CAR’s to a state of economic dependency

Fifth, China’s plans to build and finance China-Central Asia railroadnetwork connecting it to the Eurasian market are seen as directlyundermining the Russian trans-Siberian network and are likely to createfriction in its relations with Moscow

Finally, the prolific rise of Beijing’s fortunes in Central Asia, the sheerscale of its economy, the nature of its economic relations with theCAR’s and it’s disproportionately large size have all contributed to analmost simultaneous increase in suspicions regarding its true intentions.China is accused of sponsoring an “unofficial policy of migration of itscitizens to Central Asia as well as resource rich but sparsely populatedRussian Siberia.”31The words of former Kazakh Ambassador to ChinaMurat Auezov who opines “19th century China, 20th century China and

21st century China are three different China’s But what unites them is adesire to expand their territories” 32 underscores the prevailing sentiment

of a perceived fear regarding China’s expansionist tendencies

Implications of China’s Rise

China’s expanding engagement with the CAR’s on all major frontswill undoubtedly engineer a major geo-political and geo-economic re-alignment in the region’s landscape For the foreseeable near futurethere will continue to be a broad congruity of interests between theZhongnanhai and the Kremlin, given their opposition to US militarypresence in the region as well as the threat of ideological contagionposed by the color revolutions However, with China poised to eclipseRussia economically and with its emergence as a powerful alternativemarket for the Central Asia’s hydrocarbon resources, Moscow fearsbeing reduced to the position of a junior partner in a region ittraditionally regards as its ‘extended neighborhood.’ Furthermore China’srise has rekindled old fears in some quarters in Russia of nefariousChinese designs of encouraging migration of Chinese citizens not just

to Central Asia but also to the resource rich and sparsely populatedRussian Far East.33 The slow but steady rise of Chinese soft power inthe region seen for instance in the proliferation of Chinese languageand culture in the region will undermine Russia’s exclusive culturaldominance over the region Sustaining the current comaraderie in Sino-Russo relations in Central Asia will prove to be an increasingly arduoustask Thus, finding common ground upon which to base their relationswould be vital to sustaining their relationship and this would entaillooking beyond an alliance to counter the US in the region

DIALOGUE, Volume-11 No 4 7 1

The rise of China not only provides the CAR’s the possibility of

freeing them from Russian tutelage but also provides them with a viable

alternative to the US China’s geographical proximity to the CAR’s,

economic, security and political interests imply that China’s involvement

with the region will sustain over a long period of time unlike the US

whose interest in the region has waxed and waned over time Moreover

unlike the US, with whom dealings are conditional on issues of

democracy and human rights, the Beijing regime has no qualms in doing

business with their Central Asian counterparts The eviction of the US

from its base at Kashi-Khanbard, Uzbekistan in 2005 following the

Anndijon uprising underscored the fragile nature of the alliance between

the US and the CAR’s The mounting influence of China in the region is

likely to make it all the harder for the US to push its agenda of democracy

and human rights while simultaneously aspiring for acquiring a more

strategic foothold in the region

India like China has had civilizational linkages with Central Asia and

it has sought to forge cooperation with the CAR’s in a vast array of

sectors ranging from trade, science, information technology and

agriculture to name a few However, with Beijing effectively casting its

net far and wide into the region, a shrinking of Moscow’s stature in the

region and with reduced leverages that Washington wields over the

region, New Delhi will have to show some serious policy innovation

with regard to Central Asia if it is to play the unfolding game of Chinese

checkers in Central Asia on its own terms

Conclusion

The die has been cast for an exponential growth and proliferation of

China’s stature in the Central Asian Region, a development that will

have profound implications for determining the future contours of the

regions’ geo-political landscape and the engagement of outside players

with it Securing its periphery primarily through spurring economic

growth and securing friendly regimes in the neighbourhood coupled

with a desire to expand its sway over the region’s vast hydrocarbon

reserves have been the primary driving forces behind Beijing’s Central

Asia policy Thus far Beijing has scripted its rise in the region with

great degree of strategic planning and finesse, and its results are all too

visible Infact the rise of Chinese influence in Central Asia far from

being a bland zero sum game also provides the CAR’s an opportunity

to play off influence of Moscow, Washington and Beijing against each

other, thus strengthening their bargaining position

However there exist several potential pitfalls, which if not addressed,could scuttle the pace of Beijing mounting influence in Central Asia.Beijing’s tendency to treat the Uighur problem primarily as one of lawand order which it seeks to address primarily through economicmeasures and seeking alignment with Central Asian regimes but without

an accompanying internal political dialogue; its close identification withand support to unstable Central Asian regimes seen as a root cause forrise of religious radicalism; the nature of its economic engagement withthe CAR’s, potential friction with Moscow – all of which if not dealtwith a great deal of dexterity could potentially undermine China’s almostphoenix like rise in a region with which it has enjoyed historical linkages.Thus, how Beijing chooses to navigate the new Silk Road it is forgingwith the CAR’s will be instrumental in determining the harnessing ofpotential opportunities as well as response to challenges that emergealong the way

Footnotes

1 Following the disintegration of the Soviet Union in December 1991, the region

of Central Asia saw the emergence of five independent Republics of: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

2 Apart from Moscow and Beijing today Washington, Brussels, New Delhi, Ankara, Tehran and Tokyo are all trying to deepen their foothold in the region.

3 The organization was founded in 1996 as the Shanghai five and rechristened as the SCO in 2001 following the accession of Uzbekistan China is the principal architect of the SCO, which has today emerged as one of the largest and most successful regional groupings by way of having made considerable progress in terms of economic engagement and political cooperation Further details can be accessed at http://www.sectsco.org/EN

4 Michael Schiffer- The Impact of China’s Economic and Security Interests in Continental Asia and on the United States, Testimony before the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission, 20 May 2009, pp 2, http:// www.uscc.gov/hearings/2009hearings/written_testimonies/09_05_20_wrts/09_05_2

5 Sebastein Peyrouse- Central Asia’s Growing Partnership with China, EU-Central Asia Monitoring, Working paper no 4, October 2009, p 5

6 Sebastein Peyrouse- Economic Aspects of the Chinese-Central Asia Rapprochement, pp 12

7 Jacob Townsend- China and Afghan Opiates: Assessing the Risk”, Central Caucasus Institute, Silk Road Papers, June 2005, pp 42

Asia-8 World Drug Report 2009, United Nations Office on Drug and Crime, 24 June

2009, pp.37 and 41, drug-report-2009-released.html

http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/frontpage/2009/June/world-9 Beijing’s definition of what constitutes terrorism remains widely debated, it classifies any form of political dissent in Xinjiang and Tibet (including activities

DIALOGUE, Volume-11 No 4 7 3

of the Dalai Lama) as terrorism.

10 The full text of the convention can be accessed at http://

english.scosummit2006.org/en_bjzl/2006-04/20/content_87.htm

11 Ingolf Keisow and Nikolas Norling- The Rise of India: Problems and

Opportunities, Silk Road Papers, January 2007, p.86

12 Central Asia’s Energy Risks, Asia Report, No.133, 24 May 2007, International

Crisis Group, Bishkek, p 12

13 Sebastein Peyrouse- Central Asia’s Growing Partnership with China, pp.7

14 Igor Torbakov- The West, Russia and China in Central Asia: What Kind of

Game is being played in the region?, pp 35

15 Alexander Jackson- China and Central Asia, Caucasian Review of International

Affairs, Caucasus Update No.33, May 19,2009

16 Sebastein Peyrouse- Central Asia’s Growing Partnership with China,

EU-Central Asia Monitoring, Working paper no 4, October 2009, p 8

17 This point was most lucidly underscored in the bitter rivalry that accompanied

the fierce bidding for the acquisition of petro Kazakh China clinched the deal

hands down with US $4.18 billion takeover of the petroleum companys.

18 Isabel Gorst and Jamil Anderlini- Beijing offers 10 billion in crisis loans to

Central Asian Countries, Financial Times, 17 June 2009.

19 Information about 10-years activities of Kazatomprom, http://

w w w k a z a t o m p r o m k z / e n / n e w s / 2 / I n f o r m a t i o n _ a b o u t _ 1 0

-years_Activities_of_Kazatomprom

20 Sebastein Peyrouse- Central Asia’s Growing Partnership with China,

EU-Central Asia Monitoring, Working paper no 4, October 2009, pp 5,

www.eucentralasia.eu/fileadmin/user_upload/PDF/Working_Papers/WP4-EN.pdf

21 James P Dorian, Brett H Wigdortz and Dru C Glandey- China and Central

Asia’s Volatile Mix: Energy, Trade and Ethnic Relations, East West Center, The

Asia-Pacific Issues No 31, 1997, pp.4, http://www.eastwestcenter.org/fileadmin/

stored/pdfs/api.031.pdf

22 Sebastein Peyrouse- Central Asia’s Growing Partnership with China, pp 7

23 Sun Zhuangzhi- The Relations between China and Central Asia, pp.50,

src-h.slav.hokudai.ac.jp/coe21/publish/no16_1_ses/03_zhuangzhi.pdf

24 Erica Marat- China Seeks to Link Central Asia by Railroad, Eurasia Daily

Monitor, Volume 7, Issue 30, 14 February 2010

25 Sebastein Peyrouse- Economic Aspects of the Chinese-Central Asia

Rapprochement, Silk Road Paper, Central-Asia Caucasus Institute, September

2007, p 9-10

26 Niklas Swanstorm- China and Central Asia: a new Great Game or traditional

vassal relations?, Journal of Contemporary China, 2005, pp 575

27 Ramakant Diwedi- China’s Central Asia Policy in Recent Times, China and

Central Asia Forum Quarterly, Volume 4, No 4, 2006, p 142

28 Anotonia Blua- Central Asia: Militarization Could Come at a cost of regional

stability, Eurasia Insight, 10 April 2010, http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/

32 Jeremy Bransten- Central Asia: China’s Mounting Influence, Eurasia Insight,

11 March 2004, http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/insight/articles/ pp112304_pr.shtml

33 Igor Torabakov- The West, Russia and China in Central Asia: What Kind of Game is being played in the region? Pp.35

DIALOGUE, Volume-11 No 4 7 5

Vietnam-China Relations (From Early to

First Millennium AD)

Bachchan Kumar*

Vietnam is located on the eastern rim of the Indochinese peninsula Its

northernmost point is the village of Lung Cu (23o 22’ N Lat), its southern

most point is Cape Ca Mau (8o 30’ N Lat), while its eastern most part is

Cape Hon Gai (109o 29’ E Long) and its western geographical formation

is Mount Na San (102o 10 E Long) From north to south, Vietnam is

extended to 1,750 km., its widest and narrowest area are 600 kms and 50

kms respectively The area of the country including that of the islands

is about 331,690 sq Kms

During ancient period, Vietnam and China shared a long history of

relations of military conflict on Red River Delta Due to unavailable

written records, the facts of long relations between Vietnam and China

is shrouded in the mist Generally scholars believe that Vietnam has no

early history as it was part of China In fact, it is quiet untrue Being

known for bravery, Vietnamese people always maintained their cultural

identity even during course of the Chinese domination This paper

discusses political and cultural relations of Vietnam and China during

first millennium A.D

Archaeological excavations along the Red River between Phu Tho

province and suburbs of Hanoi unearthed a series of prehistoric sites

The area, now known as Vietnam, has been inhabited since Palaeolithic

times, with some archaeological sites in Thanh Hoa province reportedly

Map showing South China and Vietnam

Vietnamese civilization to the late Neolithic and early Bronze Age, nguyen culture was centered in Vinh Phu Province of contemporary Vietnamfrom about 2000 to 1400 B.C By about 1200 B.C., the development of wet-rice cultivation and bronze casting in the Ma River and Red River plainsled to the development of the Dong Son culture, notable for its elaboratebronze drums The bronze weapons, tools, and drums of Dongsonian sitesshow a Southeast Asian influence that indicates an indigenous origin forthe bronze-casting technology Many small, ancient copper mine sites havebeen found in northern Vietnam Some of the similarities between theDongsonian sites and other Southeast Asian sites include the presence ofboat-shaped coffins and burial jars, stilt dwellings, and evidence of thecustoms of betel-nut-chewing and teeth-blackening

Phung-*Dr Bachchan Kumar, in-charge, South East Asian Studies, Indira Gandhi National

Centre for the Arts, New Delhi.

DIALOGUE, Volume-11 No 4 7 7

Formation of Vietnamese Kingdom

According to a popular legend, the formation of Vietnam as a nation

took place at a very early period around 2000 B.C The legend mentions

that the Vietnamese are descended from dragons and fairies The dragon

lord named Lac and fairy, princess of mountain, named Au Co gave

birth to a hundred children The dragon lord later returned to the sea

with half of their offsprings while rest settled in the midlands of the

Red river delta One of these children became the first king of Hung

dynasty of Vietnam Eighteen Hung kings of this dynasty have ruled

the Red river delta Each of the ruler ruled for 150 years The last Hung

king is said to have committed suicide in 257 BC after being defeated

by a neighbouring chieftain of the north This led to the creation of the

new kingdom of Au Lac With the aid of a Golded Turtle spirit, the new

king, An Duong, built a magnificent citadel at Co Loa, near Hanoi

However, this story has no historical base

Viet people had their own kingdom in South China where they were

under the pressure of Chinese During 7th century BC, the process of

migration of the Viets to Red River Delta began In 4th century BC, a

mass migration took place because of the attack of Chinese invaders

The migrant Viets finally settled in the Red River Delta and called their

new home Nam (south) Viet (Hauptly, 1985, 4)

In 3rd century B.C., Zhao Tuo, a Chinese general who was controlling

the Kwantung and Kwangso Provinces, attacked the Red River delta

and brought it under their control and founded wholly new kingdom

Nam Viet The first effort of assimilation of Vietnamese to the Chinese

was made by General Zhao Tuo who encouraged the local tradition and

customs of Vietnamese and promoted intermarriage between Chinese

and Vietnamese people This area was largely populated by Austronesian

stock (Jamieson, 1993, 6) Vietnamese are of mixed racial descent They

spoke both monotonic language like the Malayo-Indonesian and

variotonic one like that of Mongolian group influenced by Mon-Khmer

grammar and large number of words of Thai language (SarDesai, 1992,

3) The racial admixture took place through marriage after they moved

into the Tongkin Delta This new kingdom retained its independence

for about one century

Vietnam – China Relations During Early Periods

Vietnam always has had to contend with the “tyranny of its geography.”

China is physically large, economically and militarily powerful and having

an enduring aspect of geopolitical reality Historically Sino-Vietnamese

relations were usually managed through the tributory system Whileacknowledging Chinese pre-eminence, Vietnam sought to maintain itsindependence of action (Thayer 1994, 513)

Two essential elements that contributed to the moulding of the earlyVietnamese social organization have been the struggle against natureand struggle against a mighty neighbour to the north Since very earlytimes, China always hangs over the Vietnamese like a dark anddangerous cloud In 111 BC, Han Emperor Wu Ti (140-87 B.C.) sent hisforces against it Chinese troops invaded Nam ViÇt and established

new territories, dividing Vietnam into Giao ChÉ (Chinese: pinyin: Jiaozhi,

now the Red river delta); Cíu Chân (from modern-day Thanh Hoá to HàT)nh); and Jenan (or Nh-t Nam; from modern-day Qu£ng Bình to Hu¿.)While the Chinese were governors and top officials, the originalVietnamese nobles (L¡c H§u, L¡c TýÛng) still managed some highlands.For over a century China ruled oppressively over Vietnamese Ascompared to Vietnam, China was a gigantic country like an elephant.Vietnamese followed the principle of wait and watch and maintainedtheir identity

Whenever Vietnamese found suitable time, they revolted against theChinese authority to achieve their independence and identity Theirfirst uprisings took place in AD 39 when the central Chinese governmentwas weak It was led by the noble woman Trýng Tr¯c and her sister

Trýng NhË against the harsh rule of Han Governor Tô ÐËnh (pinyin:

Sû Dìng) The Vietnamese revolt captured 65 states (include modernGuangxi) They made Trýng Tr¯c the Queen (Trýng Nï Výõng) of theindependent country In 42 AD, Emperor Guangwu of Han sent hisfamous general Mã ViÇn (Chinese: Ma Yuan) to quell the revolt After atorturous campaign, Ma Yuan defeated the Trýng Queen, who committedsuicide Even now on particular days the Trýng sisters are revered bythe Vietnamese as the heroine of Vietnam

Learning a lesson from the Trýng revolt, the Han and other Chinesedynasties took necessary measures It was realized that to expand theirdominion over Vietnam they need to have control on every aspect ofVietnamese culture A vigorous campaign was started to further assimilatethe Vietnamese into the Chinese culture through more intensive adoption

of Chinese script and educational system, subordination of Vietnameselaws to Chinese jurisprudence and above all, enforcement of Confuciusethics of submission of subjects to emperor, son to father and wife tohusband They made change in the government form The Vietnameseelites and nobles were eliminated from power; they executed hundreds

DIALOGUE, Volume-11 No 4 7 9

of members of the nobility who were even remotely linked with the

revolt Others were humiliated and exiled to South China Further, Chinese

garrisons were set up at numerous strategic points to eschew the

possibility of future revolts For administrative control, three prefectures

were divided into fifty-six districts which were controlled by Chinese

mandarins (SarDesai, 1992, 13)

Vietnamese proved themselves diligent They quickly came up to the

standard of Chinese system and claimed the posts of civil services But

Chinese never treated them on equal footing They rejected their claim

on the ground that they still retain their old customs and traditions and

were not following Chinese system Moreover Vietnamese retained their

old customs and were proud for it The well known Vietnamese classical

distinct traditions were their tattooing, coating the teeth with black

lacquer, chewing betel nut, and women were given liberty and high

pride in their society Moreover, the Chinese branded their customs

barbarous

Vietnamese revolted against the Chinese domination quite often Some

of the important uprisings were in A.D 160 led by Chu Dat, in 178 by

Luong Long and in 187 AD by Si Nhiep During Han rule, Si Nhiep was

governor of Giao Chi who was successful in maintaining peace in the

area After the overthrow of the Chinese, Si Nhiep virtually made Nam

Viet an independent state from A.D 187 to A.D 226 (SarDesai, 1992,

15)

Another uprising was instrumented from Than Hoa in A.D 248 It

was led by a woman, TriÇu ThË Trinh, popularly known as Lady TriÇu

(Bà TriÇu) She helped her brother to raise an army and train them in

guerrilla war The guerrillas killed the Chinese governor of Chiao Chih

Later the sophisticated Chinese army succeeded in crushing the

uprising Lady Trieu preferred to commit suicide rather than to surrender

herself to the Chinese army

This next period of Chinese domination lasted until A.D 539, when a

Vietnamese scholar, Ly Bon again drove out the Chinese rulers The

Chinese at that time named the Vietnamese nation An Nam This

independence lasted for a little longer time until A.D 548 when Chinese

emperor Liang ruthlessly crushed the Vietnamese rebels Moreover, the

Vietnamese continued to resist the Chinese rule

Taking advantage of internal disturbances in China, Trieu Quang

Phuc took back a sizable part of the nation’s territory However, the

Vietnamese feudalists did not get on together and the last decades of

the 6th century were marked by their rivalry which enabled the Suei

dynasty to reconquer the country in 603 A.D (Vien, 2007, 40) After abrief period of rule by Suei (AD 581 to AD 618), the famous Tangdynasty came into power in China

Vietnam – China Relatipons under Tang Rule

Under Tang rule, China grew at a very faster pace It was a greatperiod of Chinese history A huge territory of China must have requiredenough security As a result some of the annexed territories of Chinamust have enjoyed great freedom The Tang gave its Vietnamese domainsound and effective administration but continued to strengthen thepolicy of assimilation In A.D 622, the province so far called Giao Chiwas converted into a protectorate as Annam However, Vietnamesedisliked the term Annam for their country The Tang court created aseparate administrative system for the Vietnamese mountainous areassince these places were inhabited by many wild tribes The rest of the

Viet land was divided into four Chou (prefectures) of which Giao-chau

with its capital at Tong-binh was most important In the Chou region,there were a number of assimilated Vietnamese in the Chineseadministration

In spite of the firmness of the Tang administration and manyassimilation measures, the Vietnamese continued to be resistive Again

a great uprising took place in A.D 722 under the leadership of MaiThuc Loan who was able to seize the capital city of Tong-binh He wasthen proclaimed emperor by the Vietnamese noblemen He became known

as the “Black Emperor.” This uprising was successfully crushed by thepowerful Tang

In A.D 791, the Annamese staged another patriotic uprising underthe leadership of Phung Hung, a chief of Son-Tay The Chineseprotector, Cheng Chou quelled this uprising A trouble, however, came

to Annam from another sources The kingdom of Nanchao which coveredmuch of the present Yunnan had become a powerful unit in the earlyninth century They started raiding the neighboring areas In A.D 862,Nanchao attacked Vietnamese and captured their capital Tong-binh.The Tang took it very seriously and sent the Chinese General Kao Pien

to deal with the troublesome kingdom After a hard fight, Kao Piendefeated the raiders and finally ejected them from Annam To this act ofChinese protection, Vietnamese became grateful to Chinese culture but,any way, they were not totally assimilated Soon they managed to extractthe best which was in Chinese culture but they maintained their ownpersonality Besides, they secretly continued their ceaseless struggleagainst the Chinese