Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v1.c2.1

v1.c2.1

In the last few decades there has been a significant momentum in India-China relations with both sides attaching increasing importance to the potential for cooperation in the area of Culture. On one hand, Culture has the ability to go beyond the restraining framework of state-state relations by focusing on more broad-based people-to-people relations, and on the other, it can also help to establish and develop a dialogue irrespective of and parallel to the political relationship. In recent years, both India and China have decided to take advantage of the strategic importance of Culture by designing new mechanisms of cooperation and integrating them into the policy framework of bilateral relations. Therefore, the idea of compiling an Encyclopedia of India-China Cultural Contacts was mooted in the Joint Communiqué of the Republic of India and the People’s Republic of China issued on December 16, 2010, during the Chinese Premier H. E. Mr. Wen Jiabao’s visit to India. This was a major and significant step forward. It was felt that compilation of the Encyclopedia would be a giant effort towards “revitalising cultural ties” by revisiting, reliving and reemphasizing our shared cultural experience. It is expected to not only make the history of many centuries of India-China cultural contacts easily accessible to people of both the countries, but it is also expected to build popular consciousness about our common cultural heritage.