Learning from others.

摘要

"Is there anyone, in the five parts of India, who does not admire China?" asked Yi Jing in the 7th century, on returning to China after being in India for 10 years. Yi Jing spent his years studying, among other subjects, ayurveda (the science of longevity) at the famous Indian university in Nalanda (an institution of higher learning that is being re-established right now as an international university, on the initiative of a number of Asian countries, including India, China, Japan, Singapore, among others). Yi Jing's cheerful assessment might have been overly optimistic about Indian open-mindedness, but comparison of China with India was not only a common pastime then, it gets a lot of attention today. And rightly so.