狄伯杰（B.R.Deepak），印度中印关系专家、翻译家。印度贾瓦哈拉尔?尼赫鲁大学中国与东南亚研究中心教授，主要研究方向为中印关系、中国与周边国家的关系、中国与大国关系、中国文明与历史、文学翻译。

著有《印度与中国：外交策略及反应》（2016年）、《中印关系：文明视角》（2012年）、《中印关系：未来展望》（2012年）、《中国：农业、农村与农民》（2010年）、《中国与印度1904—2004：一个世纪的和平与冲突》（2005年）、《20世纪上半叶的印中关系》（2001年）等。译有《论语注释》印地语版（2016年）、《中国诗歌：从诗经到西厢记》（2010年，狄伯杰因此书获得2011年中华图书特殊贡献奖）、《我与柯棣华》英文版（2006年）等。

Professor B. R. Deepak was trained in Chinese history and India-China relations at the Peking University and Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing, at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi and University of Edinburgh, UK. 

His publications include India and China: Foreign Policy Approches and Responses (2016); India and China 1904-2004: A Century of Peace and Conflicts (2005); India-China Relations in first half of the Twentieth Century (2001); India-China Relations: Civilisational Perspective (2012); China: Agriculture, Countryside and Peasants (2010); Conficius Sukti Sangrah (The Analects of Confucius) (2016); Cheeni Kavita: Gayarvin Shatavdi se Chuahdvin Shatavdi Tak (Chinese Poetry: 1100 BC to 1400 AD) (2011), a translation of 88 selected classical poems for which he was awarded the 2011 “Special Book Prize of China”. 

这本书回顾了印中两国之间过去与现在发生的一些事件以及我对它们的看法——那些曾与我紧密相连、未来也会与我息息相关的事件。叙述的核心是印度与中国，而不是个人，虽然其中也有我自己在印度学习汉语和从事中国研究的回忆。从我的库鲁家世直叙到当今，一条清晰的脉络说明了印中两国的交流与连接。

也许这是一本个人叙述，但我亲眼看见了这些年印度和中国的变化和发展，而且和这些发展紧密相关，可能也代表了许多其他人的感情。我希望此书能让喜马拉雅山两边的人民更好地理解彼此，并加强印中两国之间友谊的联结。

In essence the narrative is a review of past and present events in India and China, with which I had been and continue to be associated, and my take on those events. Centrality of the narrative is India and China rather than an individual, albeit there are traces of my own professional development vis-à-vis Chinese and China studies in India. There is a definite China and India connection in the narratives right from my descent from Kullu to present.

It may be a personal narrative, but since I have witnessed the changes and developments in India and China all these years and have remained connected to these developments, the narrative may represent the feelings of many others too. I hope this narrative will enable people on both sides of the Himalaya to understand each other better and strengthen bonds of friendship between India and China.

My Tryst with China:‘Our’Footprints on the Sands of Time is an outcome of my association with the China Publishing Group (CPG) since 2014. During the 2015 Communication Forum on Chinese Culture in Beijing, which was dedicated to the “Belt and Road Initiative”(BRI), I delivered a keynote speech on BRI from an Indian perspective. Soon after returning from the Forum in late October, I received an email from Mr. Liu Yongchun, Assistant Editor-in-Chief of the China Translation and Publishing House (CTPH) in Beijing, who on behalf of Mr. Zhang Gaoli, Editor-in-Chief, requested me if it was possible for me to write an ethnographic memoir about China. 

I was told that the CTPH was planning to publish a series of books on“Belt and Road”China sentiments, for they believe that many people from countries along these two economic belts have profound exchanges and sentiments with China, thus an attempt to interpret vividly and realistically the stories and emotions of these people towards China from a different angle and dimension.

In essence the narrative is a review of the past and present events in India and China, with which I　had been and continue to be associated with, and is also my opinion on those events. Centrality of the narrative is India and China rather than an individual, albeit there are traces of my own professional development vis-à-vis Chinese and China studies in India. Th ere is a definite China and India connection in the narratives right from my descent from Kullu to the present. For example, Xuanzang’s description about Kullu during his India visit in the 7th century; description of China in the Indian epics which I read aloud to my father during my middle school days; witnessing Indian linkages during my travels along Taklamakan in western China and Quanzhou in southeast China; my association with most of the Chinese scholars on India right from Ji Xianlin to Jiang Jingkui; and most of the visits at the highest level between India and China, etc. are pointer to some of the traces along the channels of communion between these two countries. Though there is a chapter on China studies in India, and one on cross-cultural currents between India and China, the two chapters may not present a holistic picture of either of the two. The narrative inevitably may have left out many important happenings not only between these two nations, but at a personal level too, may not reflect one and all perspectives, and may even be egotistical at times; I hope the readers will excuse me for my indulgence. Nonetheless, I believe the narrative will off er the reader necessary background for further enquiry of the facts. 

I have indulged in frankly discussing some of my gurus and colleagues like Ji Xianlin, Lin Chengjie, Geng Yinzeng, Tan Chung, H.P. Ray and Yap Rahman with whom I have been privileged to study and work together for many years and for whom I have the greatest regards. Much of my intellectual debt goes to these individuals who have left an indelible impression on me and have shaped my thinking in many ways, it would be difficult indeed to pay back their intellectual generosity merely by mentioning them here.

Some of the narratives may look a decade or two old and certainly are different from the social reality in India and China at present. However, there is a connecting link and it is worthwhile to know the past in order to know the present. It may be a personal narrative, but since I have witnessed the changes and developments in India and China all these years and have remained connected to these developments, the narrative may represent the feelings of many others too. I hope this narrative will enable people on both sides of the Himalaya to understand each other better and strengthen bonds of friendship between India and China.

Finally, I would like to congratulate and thank the CTPH for conceptualizing the “Belt and Road” China sentiments project. I remain indebted to their inspiration and provocation; had it not for them, I would not have thought of writing my memoirs at this stage of my career. I am equally indebted to my wife Yao Deepak, sons Hans Deepak and Jay Deepak for allowing me to work on Saturdays and at times on Sundays too. I did miss spending quality time with them during the weekend all these months; however, I am looking forward to making for up to the loss!

                                                                                     B. R. Deepak

                                                                            Jawaharlal Nehru University

                                                                                       New Delhi

                                                                                     May 16, 2016 

CONTENTS

Foreword

PREFACE

CHAPTER ONE

Descent and Childhood

CHAPTER TWO

Degree College Kullu and Jawaharlal Nehru University

CHAPTER THREE

Peking University Days

CHAPTER FOUR

Romance on the Volleyball Court

CHAPTER FIVE

The Beginning of a Marathon Affair

CHAPTER SIX

Return to Beijing: Witnessing the Rise of China

CHAPTER SEVEN

Europe, Marriage and Family

CHAPTER EIGHT

Chinese Fervour in India

CHAPTER NINE

Cross-Cultural Currents Between India and China

Select Bibliography

Postscript

Index

《中印情缘》是一本融学术写作与通俗写作于一体的回忆文集。在叙述个体生命经验中穿插着文史典籍与学术见解，将中印古往今来的文化交往、当代中印的学术互鉴娓娓道来。在这里，你还能读到一个生长于七十年代印度乡下少年诗篇里的中国、一个印度青年眼中九十年代的北京，还有一位汉学家心中东方文明的未来。