Future of India China Relations (Part 2)

In this article, I will be talking about history of Sino-Indo relation. India & China both have amazing history. Both have been one of the greatest civilizations in ancient world. If you talk about history & ignore India China, then that history is incomplete.

Ashok the great had around 1/3 of the world population & more than 30% of economy. And Qing dynasty had also 1/3^rd of world economy. And India – China had been the larget economy for most of humankind history until Wester Europe took over them around 200 years ago. Even today every 3^rd person of earth is either Chinese or Indian (despite the China’s One Chile policy which has been abandoned now & partition of historical region of “India”). The amazing fact is that India didn’t face any threat from China till 1990s. All invaders who came to plunder India came through either Khyber Pass or via Sea. How can two neighboring such colossal civilization remain in mutual isolation? The answer is simple – The natural barrier of Great Himalayas. It was impossible and still very difficult to fight an all-out war in Himalayas. Also India never had a direct boundary with China till 1950s. Tibetans & Central Asian (East Turkmenistan, which is Under China now) were Indian neighbors. These states have been independent sometimes and they have been under nominal Chinese occupation some times.  Traditional Chinese Civilizations were mainly based in East china, which is very far from India.   

But yes, there was trade relations between India & China via the Silk Route or the sea route. Even China has been mentioned in Mahabharata with the name of Qin state. Buddhism played an important part in knowledge interaction between China & India. Buddhism still have millions of followers in China and the religion had its roots in India. India was the center of knowledge in ancient time. Along with Korean, Japanese & other South East Asian students, Chinese students used to come to study in Nalanda University.  And there had been many famous Chinese travelers who visited India during different era like Fa-Hien, Hiuen-Tsang, Xuanzang etc. They had written about Indian state at that time. Even Cholas of South India had contacts with East China through Cholas East Asian Empire. East Asia was greatly influenced by Chinese & Indian civilization as it was the meeting point of ideas & trade from these two great countries. So historically Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, and (variably) peninsular Malaysia were called Indo-China.

So, we can safely say that there were no big rivalries between India & China during ancient time. There was a flourishing trade (to an extent but not very large) between both the countries. Both countries used to respect each other and co-existed mutually. The beauty of India & China is that these are only two continuing civilizations in the world.