IN THE SEVENTH century a Chinese monk named Xuanzang undertook a journey to the west. His destination was India, which China then held in high regard as the birthplace of Buddhism. When Xuanzang returned home after 16 years, it was with dozens of scriptures whose translation would profoundly influence the religion’s development in China. But he came back with other useful knowledge too, including about Indian politics, economics and geography. This he set down in his “Records of the Western
IN THE SEVENTH century a Chinese monk named Xuanzang undertook a journey to the west. His destination was India, which China then held in high regard as the birthplace of Buddhism. When Xuanzang returned home after 16 years, it was with dozens of scriptures whose translation would profoundly influence the religion’s development in China. But he came back with other useful knowledge too, including about Indian politics, economics and geography. This he set down in his “Records of the Western Regions”. The Buddhist monk was, perhaps inadvertently, also an early scholar of India.
Much has changed in the 14 centuries since then, not least China’s view of its neighbour, which these days is rather less rosy. Another big difference is in how China builds up expertise about the outside world. Until 2022 research about a country or region was spread across disciplines—a scholar might study India in the department of history before taking a doctorate in political science. That year China’s education ministry accorded “first-level” status to area studies, allowing universities to create interdisciplinary departments and award degrees focused on particular bits of the world. The restructuring reflected China’s need to better understand the world it seeks to influence.
India has long been an important place for China to study. It is a neighbour, a potential rival and the only other member of the billion-plus club. It is also a fellow member of many international forums including the BRICS, whose summit Narendra Modi will host in Delhi on September 12th and 13th. Xi Jinping is expected to attend, on his first trip to India since 2019. As India’s economy, global heft and bilateral relations with China have grown, so have the ranks of researchers dedicated to studying it.
For all that, the quality of much of this research is poor. Rising interest “has also exposed clear shortcomings”, note Lin Minwang of Fudan University in Shanghai and Mao Keji, a doctoral candidate at Tsinghua University in Beijing, in a survey of the field published last year. “Many of the viewpoints lack sufficient depth, historical perspective and the necessary intellectual grounding,” they write. Indian analysts who look at China have reached much the same conclusion. Raj Verma, a political scientist who spent 11 years in China and has published papers exploring Chinese scholars’ attitudes towards India, says that while older researchers are “sensible and moderate”, younger ones can be “aggressive and hubristic”. Even as China produces more research about India, it seems to understand it less. Why?
Many Chinese scholars point to a lack of access. India has always been cagey about granting visas to researchers and journalists of any nationality. But ever since a lethal high-altitude clash between the two countries’ troops in Ladakh in 2020, Chinese researchers have been barred from India. A thaw in relations in recent months has seen the issuance of tourist visas resume, and there is talk that the pair might even allow back each other’s journalists. Perhaps scholars will follow.
Opening up the borders may help. But it will not change the historical attitudes Chinese scholars come loaded with. Since at least the late Qing era, more than a century ago, China’s elites have looked down on India for allowing itself to be colonised for so long. China’s revolutionary leaders were unimpressed by India’s non-violent freedom struggle. India’s precocious democracy, too, is seen as a weakness that holds it back. Upon that foundation of condescension, younger researchers now encounter a country much poorer and less militarily capable, but which likes to talk a big game. No wonder they are dismissive of India’s ambitions.
A lack of introspection also plays a part. Indian analysts publish extensively on their country’s policy missteps towards China. Writing in his newsletter earlier this year Ananth Krishnan of the Hindu, a newspaper, noted the lack of similar self-reflection in Chinese analysis of India: “A conversation can’t go very far if the basic premise is that every problem in the relationship is because of the other side’s insecurities, which is what I increasingly hear and read in Beijing.”
India is, admittedly, a baffling place. Not even those who have lived in it their entire lives can claim to understand it. Yet a good way to approach it is with humility. Xuanzang walked thousands of miles to partake in its treasures. Foreign researchers can start the journey simply by opening their minds.
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