India and China have a historical link as much as 2,000 Years old. India was the major business partner with China on the great Silk Route. Indians have been travelling to China in olden time as a spice traders. Buddhism which started from India travelled to China along with Indian monks and related literature written in Sanskrit about 1900 year back. During this era Hinduism was also followed in some part of China by fraction of the Population. China who does not believe in religions and cast but are full of world’s renown Buddhist temples and Pagodas.
Indian Population in China
China has a huge population of 1,450 Millions but Indian population in China is hardly 45,000 , out of which 30,000 are students studying in Chinese university mostly medical. There are aprox 100 Sikhs family in Shanghai . 8,000 Punjabi are living in China and rest are of Sindhi and other community. Many Indians left China after 1962 Indo-China war. Most of the Indians who stayed behind do trading business in Household items, Plastic and Electronics goods. Some Indian run Indian restaurant in China. There are more than 100 Indian restaurants in China. Overall Indians have no dominancy in any type of business in China as such.
Sikhs in China
As per past history, there were always very few Indians who lived in China. During World War-2 Indian serving to British empire travelled as soldiers to Hongkong & mainland China . Most of the Soldiers were Sikhs . During British occupation Sikh soldiers were given the duty to keep the law and order in Shanghai city and also duty of Traffic Police constables. Tall Sikhs with red turbans were a big scare to Chinese who were short in height. They were called as ‘Hongton A San’ ( Red you see !! ).
Indian stores in Shanghai
After world war was over and British left Shanghai and went back to England, few Indian soldiers mostly Sikh and traders stayed back. Sikhs then did jobs as security guard to Hotels , Banks and warehouse and were respected in the community in this role. Few Indian got married to local Chinese girl and stayed back in main land China. And they are operating Indian stores in China selling Indian product.
Famous Hindu Temple in China
Chinese culture does not believe in Religion and cast and is an atheist country. There was one Gurdwara in Shanghai during British time which was converted to health centre later on by local authority after 1962 Indo-China war . There is only one known real Hindu temples in China which is called ‘Kaiyuan Mahabira temple in Quarzhou . One can see Indian God pictures engraved in the stone wall and columns of the temple . Other than that China is full of Buddhist Temples. Currently there is one privately managed gurudwara in a house in Shanghai city.
Is China richer than India ?
China is a vast country three time bigger than India with same amount of GDP and population. Being a communist country most of the welfare of Chinese are managed by Govt including housing , health care and education. Against the old myth that China is a poor country like India the reality is totally different, China is far better developed and richer than India. China manufactures and supply A to Z items required for any house hold and export them to rest of the world at very cheap price.
Infrastructure in China
China have a distinction of having world longest Bridge over the sea ( 54 Km – China to Hongkong ) , 300 bullet trains which can run up to 350Km/hour , world widest 50 lane highway ( China – Hongkong Expressway ) , biggest Airport in east Asia ( Beijing Airport ) , World’s 2nd tallest Skyscraper ( Shanghai Tower ) , second largest economy after USA and many more achievement.
Women’s domination
I got an opportunity to visit China few years back as a tourist and travelled to 4 major cities. I find the infra structure, housing , roads and other facilities in the Cities of China is as good as any city in the Europe and USA. India is no match to China as Chinese are more disciplined and follow the set rules ( sorry to say that ) . Police is very much strict. Women have equal rights in the society. The way the business are managed in China it appears that the Chinese women dominate the society. All the shops and other outlets are managed by the women, men only do the supply and chain management driving up and down.
Chinese inspired by the West
Chinese boys and girls do the best possible fashion to look smart and they die for any American or European luxury brands. Most of the Chinese do not speak English . It is difficult to communicate in English in Chinese market. The Chinese who are linked to Tourism, hotel industry and guides speak a bit of good English . To a foreigner they use calculator to tell the price of the item in their shops, can’t spell the price to the customer in English !!! Every Chinese man who have to deal with any outsider has a British nick name eg Mike , Tom , John , and similarly women also carry British nick name . Chinese lady tour guide who travelled with us have a British nick name as ‘Lilley’.
My experience in China
As Chinese are of white complexion, they called the brown skin Indian man as ‘Hu Rein’ ( ie black ) . Chinese don’t like the Indians much but they like Bollywood Movies. Some of the Bollywood stars are very popular in China . Chinese men do not keep moustache, I am with moustache was identifiable by them easily as a tourist and was avoided by them because of me speaking in English , which they do not understand at all. There is not pure vegetarianism as such in China, all items cooked and sold in China do have non-veg material. There is no guarantee that Indian restaurants serving Vegetarian food is really a Veg item. Visiting the Tiananmen square, Great wall of China , Forbidden City , Travelling on a Bullet train and skyline in Shanghai on Hangpu river is very much memorable to me.
