If you were planning on�climbing Mt Everest this summer, make alternative plans. In a bid to allow the Olympic torch to�safely scale the summit of the world’s highest peak,�both approach routes, to the Mt Everest peak�- from the Nepal side and the Tibetian side will be off limits.

Nepal�s tourism minister, Prithvi Subba Gurung, told the New York Times in a telephone interview on Thursday that the Chinese government had appealed to his administration to help prevent disruptions to the Olympic torch ceremony. �Expedition teams will not be allowed to ascend Mount Everest from the base camp� on the Nepal side, he said.

Nepal�s decision underscores its vulnerability to pressure from its large and powerful neighbor to the north, even if it involves forsaking lucrative earnings from expedition permits. The tourism industry is among Nepal�s most important revenue streams, and the tourism ministry says permits to scale Everest put $4 million into government coffers last year, a significant amount for one of Asia�s poorest countries.

(more…)

�HAPPY NEW YEAR !!!

People gather to watch a lion dance performance during Chinese new year in Kolkata’s Chinatown. Kolkata in east India boasts the country’s largest Chinese population. Indians and Chinese together brought in the year of the Earth rat.

The year of the golden Pig which finished yesterday was truely a golden period for China’s superpowered growth. In 2007, the economy grew by 11.3%, the fastest rate in 13 years, stock prices on the main Shanghai bourses hit a record high of 6,000 having risen six fold in two years, foreign exchange reserves surged over $1.4 trillion thanks to booming exports and PetroChina became the planets most valuable company�- one of five Chinese firms in the world top 10.

In contrast, the year of the Earth rat starts with more expectations as the west looks to China to anchor it against recession. Inflation is at a 10 year high, share prices have fallen 25% from their peak last year, export growth is under pressure from a rising currency and the coldest winter for half a century has paralysed large parts of Central and Southern China. ~ lets just hope the worst is already behind us and the Olympics later this year bring China and all our readers a lot of warmth, wealth and happiness.

Of late racism seems to be dominating a lot of space on Indian Tv channels and in newspapers. While Shilpa Shetty, a Bollywood actress was ridiculed out of the Big Brother show early last year, famed Indian cricketer Harbhajan was recently accused to calling Austrailian cricketer Andrew Symonds a monkey on the field. Racism it seems is built into the Indian way of speaking.

Though, not isolated to India only, China too faces its fair share of racism, with the population often being termed ‘Chinki’. Within China too several of my friends from Xinjiang who live in Shanghai feel like they are looked at differently. Even I, as an Indian teacher in Shanghai have faced racism when I was asked to feign British nationality in order not to perturb parents of students who only wanted their little emperors to learn English from a UK or US citizen.

So when is racism ok? when Indian’s call eachother names, or when friends say chinki in jest its ok, but used in a broader perspective, in a globalised world, in malice its definately not. Where do we draw the line? and how do we make sure we don’t hurt national, regional, caste, class or gender sentiments especially at a time when the world is shrinking?

This year on India’s Republic Day, the countrys highest civilian award The Padma Bhushan crossed the Himalaya’s and was conferred upon Indologist Ji Xianlin. This is the first time the award given for exemplary work, by the President of India has been awarded to a Chinese.

Xianlin has translated the Indian epic the Ramayana from Sanskrit, to chinese poetry, in addition to writing short books on India’s history. Many say he is responsible for shaping a lot of what ordinary Chinese know about India. Many believe he is also Premiere Wen’s mentor.

Premiere Wen and Ji Xianlin�

“This is a big initiative on the part of Prime Minister Singh to develop the friendship between the two nations. It will make a lot of difference in the way a lot of Chinese view India,” Jiang Kui, vice director for Indian studies at Beijing University, is quoted as saying in chaste Hindi.

Recognition of 97 year old Ji Xianlin’s efforts to bridge the gap in sino - India relations adds to the work of politicians and diplomats in recent years, it also contributes to work by Huang Tsang, the sixth century traveller-scholar and Dwarkanath Kotnis who served the poor in China in the 40’s.

If you scoffed at the last time someone told you not to cut your nails at night or to beware of bad luck because a black cat had crossed your path�or to hang three green chillies, a lemon and a small peice of coal on a string for good luck because you thought you were ‘modern’, and didn’t believe in superstitions, think again.�

If you thought the global recession or US sub prime rates led to the bloodbath on the�Asian bourses�on Monday and Tuesday, think again. ��

The Bombay Stock Exchange’s big bad black bull.

While rational behaviour is generally not expected from the stock market, 300 stock brokers on Tuesday protested outside the Bombay Stock Exchange against the newly installed ‘panvati’ (disaster) bull.� At five feet high, eight feet long and weighing over a tonne, since it was installed at the begining of this year, �the black bull was blamed for causing turbulance and leading to the ultimate crash of the BSE, on Tuesday.

Superstitions still run rife in modern day India and China. While some radio, print and Tv journalists blame the black colour of the bull, others blame the day it was launched as numerically inauspicious.

Recruiting the right talent is every becoming every HR manager’s nightmare. AS Asia faces a talent crunch in the face of growing competition, we find India might just emerge ahead of China.

A recent report by Mc Kinsey says that - India is not only producing more young professionals, it is producing better qualified ones, too. According to a survey of local recruiters, only 10 percent of China engineers have the skills necessary to work in a multinational corporation, compared to 25 percent of engineers in India. By 2008, India’s total pool of qualified graduates will be more than twice as large as China. If Indian universities continue to churn out top-notch talent, its younger, cheaper, and larger professional workforce could help India edge out its neighbor to the east.

�

Source: Mckinsey Global Institute

�� ��� ������

With Christmas round the corner, chocolates seem to be on everyone�s mind. Co-incidentally, India and China are the markets chocolatiers are gunning for in order to expand their markets. Chocolate is becoming the season�s case study in globalisation. A recent New York Times report says �Swiss chocolatiers, having long ago conquered markets in Europe and North America, are now aiming at the vast expanses of Russia, India and China. While India�s chocolate market is estimated at $300 million, China�s chocolate market is estimated at $410 million (the second biggest in the region), a fraction of the global sales of $57 billion.
Both traditionally local sweets, non-chocolate consuming nations are now proving to have a sweeter tooth for chocolate. While the average annual chocolate consumption in China is 100-150gms, in India its 165 gms per person, contrast this with Europe where the average annual per capita chocolate consumption is frequently cited as being around 8 kilograms!

2point6billion.com, in conjunction with the Indian Embassy and the Capital Club in Beijing organized last night an evening of Indian culture �with a twist� to a crowd of 150 guests including the Ambassadors of India, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Afghanistan, in addition to the Chinese Ambassador to India and many Indian and Chinese clients of Dezan Shira & Associates and other guests.�

�

Ishira, who is originally from Yunnan Province in South-West China, has studied�classical Indian dance moves

Displays were given by the Yogi Yoga Centre in Beijing, a Chinese owned yoga centre, with some amazing contortions carried out by the Indian Yoga masters, by the dancer Ishira, who is originally from Yunnan by has studied Indian classical dance in India for many years, to the crack Indian fusion jazz-rock group Indian Ocean, who flew into Beijing specifically for the event following their successful sell out tour of Japan.

(more…)

Taxi drivers they say are a good baraometer of the pulse of a city. Having just arrived in Beijing, I struck up conversation with my taxi driver to see what he knew of India. Almost immediately his face lit up & he said ‘Li zhi’!!, looking at my confused face he started singing the song Awaara hoon mein…., a 1951 super hit hindi song starring the former super star Raj kapoor - but in Chinese!! Recognising the tune so familiar to my ears i figured that Li Zhi was Raj Kapoor’s chinese name and almost immediately, all comminication hurdles fell apart. Bollywood was our great unifier! Being one of the first foreign films that the chinese were exposed to, Awaara and Bollywood is still big in China with conterfeit Hindi DVD’s available on every street corner, and colourful song and dance sequences and drama still captivating chinese audiences. Besides, films of yore being popular amongst the chinese, more recently Aamir Khan’s Lagaan, a film based on cricket, a sport completely ailen to the Chinese, was subtitled, dubbed and released in theatres across china. Serials such as Karishma Kapoor’s debut serial - ‘Karishma Miracles of Destiny’ are also attracting chinese eyeballs on primetime local Tv channels.�

Kajrare- A very famous Indian (Hindi) song having the best stars in it� -Amitabh, his son Abhishek with wife (recently married) and favorite lady of the World Ashwariya Rai (Chinese men adore here) all dancing together in this video but hold on, not on Karjrare. Some dude has changed the song with a Chinese one and have had his version put on YouTube!

Here�s the video. Enjoy for its pretty funny. I don�t quite understand the lyrics but Chinese colleagues said the singer is talking about what strengths men should carry. Wished he had put a better match in his creativity to make some Chinese dance too.