The simmering Doklam dispute between India and China doesn’t seem to have dented the popularity of Indian culture in China. If anything, the Chinese have been welcoming to Indian culture and the Indian nationals working across the border.
From organising cultural events to celebrating religious festivals, the Chinese have accepted and imbibed many traditionally Indian practices.
There’s an ‘India Day’
Numerous schools in China have introduced ‘India Day’ in their calendars to educate the youth about different cultures and increase cultural sensitivity.
Bharatanatyam is also growing in popularity in China. The popular classical dance is being performed by street performers and professional artists around China.
The Chinese media has also made an effort to learn Indian languages such as Tamil to cater to the increasing diversity in their country.
In the tweet below you can see a Chinese anchor describing the growth of lotus flowers in Tamil.
The Chinese have also taken a liking to Bollywood. Hindi movies such as Dangal made a hefty profit in the Chinese market, and Salman Khan-starrer Sultan is going to release in China at the end of this month.
Irrfan Khan’s Hindi Medium came close to a collection of Rs 200 crore. A major proportion of the profits for the film were from China, where the film seems to have struck a special cord with the audience.
One of China’s biggest movies of the year was Dying to Survive, which revolved around a Chinese protagonist who smuggled cheap Indian medicines to cure his illness.
Yoga is another Indian cultural practice that has become incredibly popular in China. The Chinese have used clips of Chinese people practising yoga to promote tourism in the province of Fujian.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)