Culture

Ni Hao, China: Modi visit to remap India-China ties

- by Manish Chand

Ni Hao, China. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s maiden visit to China promises to be a captivating show, high on optics as well as substance, and is expected to coalesce diplomacy, culture, business, geopolitics and outreach to the Indian diaspora. When PM Modi touches down on the Chinese soil May 14, the Chinese people can hope to see and hear an Indian leader who has a flair for using innovative methods to connect and forge a new narrative of win-win opportunities between the two Asian giants.
Ahead of his trip, PM Modi has struck all the right notes that should endear him to the Chinese leadership and ordinary Chinese people. He has become the first Indian leader and only the second world leader to sign on to Sina Weibo – the Chinese version of microblogging platform twitter. “Hello China! Looking forward to interacting with Chinese friends through Weibo,” said the prime minister in his first post on Sina Weibo.
A journey of a thousand miles, as a Chinese proverb says, begins with a small step. The two Asian giants have gone beyond inches and are now making rapid strides to clock MILES, what Prime Minister Modi has famously called the Millennium of Exceptional Synergy as they walk hand-in-hand in the unfolding journey of an Asian century. This is, after all, the journey of two and a half billion people and their soaring dreams.

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Quake ravages Nepal’s iconic monuments, tourism economy crumbles

- by India Writes Network

The April 25 earthquake and 50 aftershocks have not only devastated Nepal, but has also crumbled its cultural heritage, dealing a blow to the country’s tourism-centric economy.

Centuries-old structures lie in ruins, with many of them severely damaged. Social, religious and urban focal points of Kathmandu, the three Durbar Squares of Kathmandu, Bhaktapur and Patan, that housed several ancient temples, palaces and structures of historical note, were described as “almost fully destroyed”.

The iconic Dharahara tower, that stood tall for nearly two centuries, was reduced to a stump.

The extent and degree of loss was acknowledged by Irina Bokova, the director general of the UNESCO, when she said, “I am deeply aggrieved by the magnitude of human loss caused by the earthquake in Nepal.”, “I am also shocked by its devastating impact on the unique cultural heritage in the country, in particular extensive and irreversible damage at the World Heritage site of Kathmandu Valley.” The UNESCO has promptly sent a team to Nepal to assess the damage.

The loss of centuries-old temples, palaces and monuments is more than a symbolic loss of a slice of living history for Nepal and the world. The tourism industry is the worse for it; the disaster’s ripple effects on tourism, a pillar of the city’s (and nation’s) economy, will hit the local communities, who relied on tourism in these areas, the hardest.

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