Chinese discussions about Indian culture around the May Fourth Era: Some remarks on a conceptual aporia

Introduction A decade ago, in his address at the 66th session of the Indian History Congress, Prof. Kamal Sheel averred that “the earliest Chinese discourses on India [were] based on a recognition of the latter as the land of an equally ‘civilised’ culture arising out of the varied and fruitful interaction between them in which Buddhism played a leading role. In contrast, the modern Chinese discourses emanate from the framework of nation state and are based on comparative studies of their res..