Indian, Chinese scholars discuss ancient linkages

Indian and Chinese scholars today participated in a seminar in China's Fuzhou city on cultural linkages shared between the two countries since ancient times.

The Consulate General of India in Guangzhou and Fujian Museum, Fuzhou, in collaboration with Fujian Provincial People's Government Foreign Affairs Office and Department of Culture organised an international seminar titled 'India–China Cultural Linkages since Ancient Times' at Fujian Museum on May 19.

It was part of the ongoing Indian Art Exhibition "Gupta Art and Chinese Parallel 400-700 AD" in Fujian Museum, a statement from the Indian Consulate in Guangzhou said today. The seminar was addressed by eminent scholars from India and China, it said.

The Indian side was led by Karam Tej Singh Sarao, Professor at Department of Buddhist Studies, University of Delhi and Y K Sailas Thangal, Consul General of the Indian Consulate in Guangzhou.

Singh Sarao is an acclaimed scholar of Indology, Buddhism and Pali language, the statement said.

From the Chinese side, Fu Qi Sheng Director General of Fujian Provincial Bureau of Cultural Heritage, Curator of Fujian Museum Wu Zhi Yue and scholars from Fujian Academy of Social Sciences and professors and scholars (Indologists) from various parts of China presented their research papers.

The Indian Art 'Gupta Art and Chinese Parallel 400-700 AD', the exhibition was opened at the Fujian Museum on January 25, 2017.

The exhibits are some of the most important and rare artefacts of ancient Indian sculptures that travelled to China under an agreement signed between the two countries.

The sculptures being exhibited are sourced from nine Indian museums consists of both Buddhists and Hindu art of Gupta period. The exhibition attracted large number of Chinese art lovers and appreciated for the display of rare artefacts which belongs to the history of India and China dating back to 400 AD. Earlier the exhibition was held in Palace Museum in Beijing.

The presentations and subsequent discussions touched upon the close historical contacts and linkages between the people of India and China both in cultural, trade and commerce since the ancient times, the statement said.

The seminar is yet another important event being organised by the Consulate in the run up to the forthcoming BRICS Summit which is to be held in Xiamen in September this year, it said.