Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v2.c13.s3.t1: China
Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v2.c13.s3.t1
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China
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"Cina" is one of the Indian names for China. The Chinese name for China, "Zhongguo" appeared as early as the 11^th century BCE, in inscriptions of the Western Zhou's bronze vessels of He Zun. "Zhongguo" initially referred to the central part of China centered on Luoyang. With the progressive expansion of Chinese civilisation into new territories, the region around the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River also came to be known as "Zhongguo". In the Spring and Autumn Period and Warring States periods, each state called its capital as "Zhongguo" and "guo" meant the fiefdom of a feudal lord. From the Han dynasty onward, the word "Zhongguo" developed as the sign of the legitimate dynasty. In 1689, when the Qing government signed the Treaty of Nerchinsk with Russia, "Zhongguo" was formally used as the name of China for the first time. In 1912, when the Republic of China was founded, and also after the People's Republic of China was founded in 1949, the country's name was called "Zhongguo" for short.
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In ancient times, Indians called China as "Zhina". The word was seen as early as in the Indian epic *Mahabharata* (5^th century BCE) and in the '*Laws of Manu*' (2^nd century BCE). Even now, China is also called Cina in many languages, including Hindi and
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Chinese-Western Zhou Dynasty Bronze Wares with Hezun inscriptions (11^th century BCE)
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Bengali. In Chinese translations of Indian Buddhist scriptures before the 10^th century, China was also called Cina, Zhina, Zina, Cinisthana and so on.
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In ancient Greece and Rome, China was called Seres or Serica, ie, the country of silk. The ancient Farsi "China" came from Cina and it then passed on to Western Europe. After the Khitan founded the Liao dynasty in northern China, western countries began to call China after the Khitan. For example, China is called "Kitai" in Russian. The Western term "Cathay" also derives from Khitan. In 1516, the word "China" appeared in the diary of the Portuguese traveller Duarte Barbosa.
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*(Han Zhigeng)*
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Chang'an
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Chang'an was the ancient capital of several Chinese dynasties. These included the Western Han, New Mang, Former Zhao, Former Qin, Later Qin, Western Wei, Northern Zhou and the Sui and Tang dynasties. The sites that are still in existence include the Western Han Chang’an and Sui-Tang Chang’an.
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In the seventh year of the Western Han’s first emperor (200 BC), the Weiyang Palace was built and the capital was moved from Liyang to Chang’an. Emperor Wu further expanded the city. The character “长” was changed into “常” in the New Mang Period. In the Eastern Han, the capital was shifted to Luoyang but Chang’an remained the secondary western capital. Emperor Xian once again moved the capital to Chang’an. Under later dynasties, Chang’an’s old city was re-established as the capital. The Sui dynasty built a new city, Daxing, and the old Han Chang’an was abandoned. The new capital was about 3,000 metre northwest of today’s Xi’an City in Shaanxi Province.
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In the second year of the Kaihuang period of the Sui dynasty (582), the new capital Daxing was built southeast of Han Chang’an. Under the Tang dynasty, Chang’an remained the capital. It was rebuilt and partially expanded. In the golden age of the Tang dynasty, Chang’an was the largest and most prosperous metropolis in the world. In 904, Zhu Wen coerced Emperor Zhaozong to move to Luoyang. The palaces and houses of Chang’an were destroyed and Chang’an was ruined and abandoned. The ruins of the city are to be found in today’s Xi’an and its suburbs.
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Tang Chang’an consisted of an outer city, an imperial city and a palace complex. Chang’an was the most perfect form of a capital city under ancient China’s “li” and “fang” (living area and commercial area) system. It had an axial symmetrical layout, strict specifications and orderly neighbourhoods. It had a royal city as the administrative headquarters and closed “li” and “fang” areas for the administration of the common people. The layout of Chang’an had a significant impact on the capitals of some countries in East Asia.
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The Chang’an of the Tang dynasty was the starting point of the Silk Road as well as a major centre of cultural exchange between India and China, especially of Buddhist culture. The eight Chinese Buddhist sects originated in Chang’an. Chang’an retained many of the founding temples of those sects including the Sanlun sect’s Caotang Temple, Dharmalaksana’s Da Ci’en Temple and Xingjiao Temple, the Vinaya sect’s Jingye Temple and Fengde Temple, the Jodo sect’s Xiangji Temple, the Huayan sect’s Huayan Temple and Zhixiang Temple and the Tantra sect’s Great Xingshan Temple and Qinglong Temple. The four famous sites for the translation of Buddhist scriptures such as the Caotang Temple, the Great Xingshan Temple, the Da Ci’en Temple and the Jianfu Temple were all located in Chang’an.
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City wall of Xian, Shaanxi during Ming Dynasty
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Great translators such as Kumarajiva, Xuanzang, Yijing and Bukong once presided over the translation of scriptures in Chang’an. Monks from the western region such as Dharmaraksa and Kumarajiva and three famous masters in the Kaiyuan Period (the Indian monks Shan Wuwei, Bukong and Vajrabodhi) propagated Buddhism in Chang’an and translated Buddhist scriptures. Japanese and Korean monks such as Konghai, Yuanxing, Yuanren and Bukesiyi also studied the Buddhist scriptures and Chinese culture in Chang’an.
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A large number of Buddhist heritage sites are to be found in Chang’an. Da Ci’en Temple’s Dayan Pagoda was built in 652 in the Tang period. It is a landmark of the ancient city of Chang’an. In addition, Famen Temple, Xiaoyan Pagoda, Fawang Pagoda, Xuanzang Relics Pagoda, and the Kumarajiva Babao Yushi Pagoda that stored the Buddha Sakyamuni’s relics are all important historical monuments which have been carefully preserved.
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(*Han Zhigeng*)
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Luoyang
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Luoyang was the capital of the Sui and Tang dynasties in China and was one of the main centres of Buddhist interaction between the Indians and Chinese. In the first year of the reign of Emperor Yang in the Sui dynasty (605 CE), the emperor ordered a new capital to be built 18 miles to the west of Luoyang city of the Han and Wei dynasties. In the lunar January of the following year, the new city was completed. The city is south of Yique, north of Mangshan Hill, east of the Chanhe River and west of the Jianshui River and the Luoshui River flowed through it. Emperor Yang of the Sui dynasty, the Empress Wu Zetian of the Tang dynasty and the later Tang dynasty rulers all had the city as their capital. Under the Tang dynasty, it was the secondary capital known as the Eastern Capital.
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The palace complex and the imperial city were located north of the Luoshui River in the city. The palace was north of the imperial city. The imperial city was to the east, south and west of the palace city. Besides palace complex and the imperial city *Longmen Grottoes of Luoyang, Henan*
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mentioned above, there were wards north and the south of the Luoshui River which were called lifang. There were 120 wards in the Sui Period and 102 wards in the Tang Period. Sui and Tang Luoyang was the starting point of the Grand Canal. Many merchants gathered there and it was the most prosperous commercial capital of that time.
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Sui and Tang Luoyang was also one of the sites of Buddhist interaction between India and China. The earliest Buddhist temple, the Baima (White Horse) Temple was built in the east of Luoyang. Today, it is an important historical monument under special preservation. In 2008, some parts of this temple were renovated with the cooperation of India as a symbol of India-China friendship.
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After the An Lushan Rebellion in the Tang period, Luoyang suffered serious damage. In the Song and Jin dynasties, it was restored but it did not attain the original greatness which it had enjoyed under the Sui and Tang dynasties.
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(*Han Zhigeng*)
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Kashgar
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Kashgar is an oasis town in the southern part of Xinjiang province in China. Standing at the junction of the routes along the southern and northern rims of the Taklamakan Desert, it has always been an important point on the Silk Route and was a major destination for pilgrims, missionaries, goods and merchants passing between India, Central Asia and China.
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There are several references to Kashgar in Chinese literature dating back to the former Han period (206 BCE – 9 CE). It was then known in Chinese records as Shule (疏勒). From 2^nd – 10^th century CE, Kashgar emerged as a prominent Buddhist centre. Due to this, it developed links with other major Buddhist centres in the northwestern regions of the Indian subcontinent. It has been noted by scholars that there must have existed a channel of transmission of stupa architecture models from Gandhara, Swat and Kashmir to the regions of eastern Central Asia and such transmission confirms links between Kashgar and northwestern Indian subcontinent.
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In 644 CE, the famous Chinese pilgrim Xuan Zang passed through Kashgar on his way back to China from India. He reported that the country had a moderate climate, a developed culture and textile manufacturing. He also mentioned that there were more than 10,000 Buddhist monks in near several hundred monasteries adhering to the Sarvastivada school. From 10^th century onwards, Kashgar came under the dominant influence of Islam.
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By the time of the Qing empire’s conquest of Kashgar in 1759, there already existed a flourishing trade between Kashgar and Kashmir, Ladakh and Punjab in northern India. There were several routes used by the traders including one through Afghanistan (Badakshan), another through Srinagar and Gilgit over the Mintaka Pass, and one through Leh in Ladakh via the Karakoram Pass. The Leh-Karakoram Pass route was the preferred one most of the time. The main goods traded were, from the Indian side, cotton piece-goods, indigo, spices, tea, coral and opium, and from the Chinese side, wool, felt, carpets, silk, silver ingots (*yambo*) and *charas*, a drug made from a plant called hemp. There were several Indian merchants and businessmen from Kashmir, Punjab and Sindh who resided in Kashgar although not as many as in Yarkand. There was even a Hindi *serai* (resthouse) there.
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The age-old relationship between India and Kashgar and other towns of southern Xinjiang became complicated in the 19th century due to the rivalry between the expanding British and Russian empires commonly known as ‘The Great Game’. Both powers established consulates in Kashgar and sought to manipulate the terms of trade in their favour by putting pressure on the Chinese authorities there. In the 20th century, political turbulence, particularly in the 1930s and 1940s, had an adverse effect on the trade between India and Xinjiang and many Indian traders were compelled to leave. In late 1940s, this trade dwindled almost to nothing and stopped altogether.
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Old City, Kashgar, Xinjiang, China
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(*Madhavi Thampi*)
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Yarkand
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Yarkand, an oasis town in Xinjiang province of China, is situated on the southern edge of the Taklamakan desert and north of the Kunlun range of mountains. Its importance in India-China relations lies in the fact that historically it was a major site of trade between northern India and the Xinjiang region. As the major commercial centre of southern Xinjiang, it was an important stop on the network of trade routes known as the Silk Road.
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The route from Leh (Ladakh) in India to Yarkand via the Karakoram Pass was the preferred route of trade for merchants from Punjab and Kashmir. The journey from Leh to Yarkand took nearly a month. The bazaars of Yarkand were filled with cotton piece-goods, indigo, spices, tea, coral and other items from India. From Yarkand, silver ingots (known as *yambo*), wool, felt, carpets, silk and many other goods would be exported to India. Of all the towns of southern Xinjiang in the early modern period, the largest contingent of traders from India was to be found in Yarkand. The Indians in Yarkand were
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Yarkand County Fair
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mainly Kashmiri merchants although there were also a number of businessmen and moneylenders from Shikarpur in Sindh (in present-day Pakistan). Most of the traders from India came for the trading season and returned to India before the mountain passes closed in winter. Many of them stayed in lodging places exclusively meant for them known as *serais*. However, some of them were permanent settlers who established themselves for several generations in Xinjiang. Indian merchants and Indian goods were a familiar sight for many centuries in the bazaars of Yarkand and to this day there are places there with names such as ‘Gurdial serai’ and ‘Kashmir kucha (lane)’ which capture the once close connection between Yarkand and India.
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(*Madhavi Thampi*)
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Turfan
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Turfan (Tu-bo) was the state established by Tibetans in the 7^th–9^th century CE in the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. Bo was the name by which ancient Tibetans called themselves. In the 6^th century, a coalition of tribes led by an agricultural tribe Yarlung in Shannan Prefecture established their own state, and
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Jokhang Buddha Temple, Lhasa, Tibet
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expanded steadily to the Lhasa River. In the period of Tu-bo, Buddhism was introduced into Tibet and Tibetan Buddhism reached the height of its power and splendour.
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In 629 CE, Srongtsen Gampo was crowned as Tsenpo (King) and founded a capital in Luoxie (present-day Lhasa, Tibet). He began to communicate with the Tang empire, India and Nepal and brought about much cultural progress. Buddhism was brought to Tu-bo at this time. Princess Bhrikuti from Nepal and Princess Wencheng from the Tang, who married Srongtsen Gampo, brought Buddhist canon, statues, talismans and monks to Tibet and built the Jokhang Temple and Ramoche Temple in Lhasa. In the middle of the 8^th century, Trisong Detsen exterminated the ministers who opposed Buddhism. He sent people to Chang’an to study the Buddhist scriptures, and invited the famous Buddhist monks Padmasambhava and Shantarakshita to Tibet to develop and expand Buddhism. They carried out the initiation of monks, formed monastic orders and built the Samye Temple. Buddhism thus began to flourish. Trisong Detsen (?~816/817) formulated a system whereby seven families provided one monk and asked a monk Banshi Diqinbu to take charge of military and political powers. He also presided over the translation of 700 works of Buddhist scriptures. During his reign, Tibetan Buddhism reached its peak.
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In the time of Emperor Gao and Empress Wuzetian of the Tang dynasty, Tu-bo annihilated the Tuyuhun, threatened Longshi and Hexi of the Tang empire and formed an alliance with the Western Turks to fight the Tang for control of Anxi. There were battles as well as negotiations between the two sides. In 709, the Tang married a princess from the imperial family to Tsenpo Kride Zukzain. But there were still conflicts between the two governments. After the An Lushan Rebellion, the Tang recalled some of its armies from the frontiers so Tu-bo occupied Longyou and Guanxi when Tang military power was weak at these places. In 763, Tu-bo attacked Chang’an. Hexi, Anxi and Beiting were completely cut off from the Tang central power and fell into enemy hands. Nanzhao located to the southwest of the Tang also submitted to Tu-bo.
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In the 790s, the Tu-bo was extremely powerful, and the territory under their control extended west to Congling, north to the Tianshan and east to the western part of the present-day Sichuan and Longshan Gansu. They prevented incursions by the Arabs to the east and on the north they formed alliances with Karluk and Qırğız to fight against the Uighur. In 821-22 CE, the Tang made an alliance with Tu-bo to commemorate which a Tang-Tuobo stele was built. In 846 CE (or 842 CE), after Tsenpo Dharma died, Tu-bo collapsed. In 848 CE, a Shazhou Chinese named Zhang Yichao rebelled against Tu-bo, expelled the Tu-bo governors and established the Guiyi military regime. Hexi was brought back within the Tang jurisdiction. Overall, from the time of Srongtsen Gampo, there had been nine Tsenpoes in Tibet in a period of 218 years.
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Many steles, wooden books, documents, scriptures, etc, from the period of Tu-bo remain in good condition today and form important materials for studying Tu-bo’s society and history. Even after Tu-bo collapsed, historical works of the Song, Yuan and Ming periods continued to call the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau and its people as Tu-bo or Xibo.
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(*Han Zhigeng*)
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Shanghai
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The connection of India and Indians with Shanghai goes back to the immediate aftermath of the First Opium War in 1842 when Shanghai was one of the four ports opened up for maritime trade along with the already open port of Canton (Guangzhou). Among the many foreign commercial firms that shifted their businesses northwards to Shanghai from the Guangzhou-Macau-Hong Kong area were several Indian firms and merchants. David Sassoon, the Baghdadi Jewish merchant based in Bombay (Mumbai), was one of the most prominent merchants from India to shift his main operations in China to Shanghai. The firm set up by his son, ED Sassoon & Co also concentrated on the trade between Bombay and Shanghai. It set up its headquarters at 5 Renji Road in Shanghai. While the Sassoons dominated the opium trade between India and China from the 1870s, they also imported cotton textiles and Indian cotton yarn with the latter business overtaking their opium sales in the early 20^th century. They also took advantage of the expanding commercial life of Shanghai to diversify into other areas, such as insurance, manufacture, hospitality, construction and public utilities, employing several hundred Chinese. They also owned several prominent real estate firms such as the Hua Mao Real Estate Co, Shanghai Real Estate Co., Far East Real Estate Co, and so on. Some of the most prominent buildings in Shanghai, including on its famous Bund, were built and owned by the Sassoons. These included the famous Cathay Hotel (later the Peace Hotel and now the Fairmont Peace Hotel) on the Bund, Cathay Mansions (Grosvenor House), the Embankment Building and Cathay Cinema. Another prominent Indian business house that established its presence in Shanghai early on was the Tatas. The patriarch of the Tata family, JN Tata, himself spent two years in China as a young man and set up a branch of his father’s firm in Shanghai. The Tatas later owned several cotton mills in Shanghai.
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*Tang-Tubo alliance monument*
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Early 20ᵗʰ century Shanghai Police, among them the second and third from the right are Sikhs
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A prominent and visible part of the Indian connection with Shanghai in the century from the 1840s to the 1940s was the presence of Indian policemen there. From the 1880s, Indians (mostly Sikhs from Punjab) were recruited by the Shanghai Municipal Council to police the area of the International Settlement. With their red turbans and distinctive appearance, they were commonly referred to as *hongtou asan* by local people. There were also a large number of Indians hired as private watchmen by hotels, shops, factories and other establishments. Initially, the Indian population in Shanghai consisted mostly of males but slowly the number of Indian families and mixed Indian-Chinese families increased in the early 20th century. There were Sikh gurdwaras and a Parsi fire temple (*agiary*) in the International Settlement area. By 1945, the number of Indians in Shanghai numbered between 2,000 and 2,500. At the end of World War II, in conditions of mass dislocation and destitution caused by war and occupation, the then British government of India decided to repatriate all Indians except for a very small number who refused to go in the ships sent from India for this purpose.
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Today, Shanghai has again become the main centre of Indians in China apart from Hong Kong, with an ever-expanding number of business firms setting up their offices here. These include IT companies like Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Infosys, Wipro and NIIT as well as manufacturing concerns such as Larsen & Toubro, Reliance, Raymonds, Sundaram Fasteners and Dr Reddy’s Laboratories. Now, a growing number of Indian tourists also make their way to Shanghai.
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(*Madhavi Thampi*)
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Hong Kong
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There has been a significant connection between Hong Kong and India since the development of the former as a major port city under British control from the middle of the 19ᵗʰ century. This was due to the fact that hundreds of Indians had already been coming by sea to trade on the China coast from the later 18ᵗʰ century and used to visit Canton (Guangzhou) and Macau regularly. When Hong Kong was formally established as a British colony after the First Opium
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19ᵗʰ century Hong Kong
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War (1839-1842), about 2,700 Indian soldiers were present there. In addition, there were many Indians who bought land holdings in the port city in the very first land auction conducted by British authorities in June 1841. Near 346 Indian merchants set up their businesses in Hong Kong over the next few years. The first of these firms was Cowasjee Pallanjee & Co. Other firms were FM Talati & Co, Abdoolally Ebrahim & Co and the firm of Albert Sassoon. Abdoolally Ebrahim & Co is, in fact, the oldest trading house in Hong Kong today operating under its original name.
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A number of Indian businessmen in Hong Kong contributed significantly to the growth and development of the city. HN Mody played a pioneering role in the setting up of the University of Hong Kong. Abdoolally Ebrahim & Co is recorded as having set up the first cross-harbour ferry service in Hong Kong, while another Indian, Dorabji Naorojee is credited with the founding of a similar service that was the forerunner of Hong Kong’s famous ‘Star Ferry’. Paul Chater, a businessman of Armenian origin from Kolkata, was associated with many landmark projects and companies in Hong Kong. These included the Hong Kong and Kowloon Wharf and Godown company, the Praya Reclamation Scheme which developed the waterfront area on Hong Kong island’s northern shore, Hong Kong Land, and the Hong Kong Electric Company. ER Belilios and Elly Kadoorie were responsible for setting up many schools and educational institutions. Belilios helped to establish the first government school for Chinese girls while Kadoorie established a school for Chinese boys in 1901. The Ruttonjee family established the TB sanatorium which is named after them. The Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation also had many Indians in its early years on its board of directors.
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A panoramic view of the Bund
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The first Sikh Gurdwara in Hong Kong
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While Indians from the Parsi, Jewish and Ismaili communities were prominent in the 19th century, in the 20th century, many Sindhis and Marwaris also migrated to Hong Kong and established flourishing businesses. The Harilela family business is one of the most prominent ones among them today. While many of the early merchant companies were involved with the import-export business as Hong Kong expanded and developed, the business activities of Indians diversified into many spheres. One area in which Indians achieved prominence was the tailoring industry, especially in the 1950s. Many are in the food and hospitality business and in shipping and transport too. In recent decades, a large number of Indian professionals have made Hong Kong their base and they are well represented particularly in the financial, IT and telecommunication sectors.
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In Hong Kong, from the 1860s till the 1940s, there was a large number of Indians in the Hong Kong Police Force. For a number of decades, there was a rough parity in the number of Indians and Chinese in the Force. Apart from the Indians in the police force, a familiar sight in Hong Kong used to be Indian watchmen in hotels, restaurants, godowns and factories. Altogether, the number of Indians in Hong Kong in the 1940s stood a little over 7,000. At present, the number of Indian citizens in Hong Kong is a little over 22,000 but the number of persons of Indian and South Asian origin there is much larger. There are about 1,500 registered Indian companies in Hong Kong with more than 24 registered regional, religious and professional Indian associations in Hong Kong.
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(*Madhavi Thampi*)
Linked texts (2)
- Mānava Dharmaśāstra — Manu & Bhṛgu, Sanskrit
- Mahābhārata — Vyāsa, Sanskrit