Research and Teaching

As noted on our homepage and in the JAS article, our goal in creating this database is to recognize that an approach that takes seriously cultural, scientific, and economic life leads to different sources and different historical arguments from an approach focused on political life. Such a shift in emphasis, away from conflict and onto moments of contact, comparison, cooperation, and competition, can contribute fresh perspectives not just on the histories of China and India, but also on the histories of the Global South. With that in mind, we encourage the use of this database for both research and teaching.

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In its simplest form, the database can be viewed as a chronological listing of various events and encounters. As of now, this amounts to a little over 180 different entries. For those interested in exploring specific themes in greater detail we have also provided three additional filters, two of which are available in the drop down menus at the top of the timeline. A third filter is a listing of all individuals, which is provided through the “Individuals” tab on the menu bar.

1. Categories:
   
   1. Art and Culture
   2. Defense
   3. Diplomacy
   4. General
   5. Science, Academia, and Education
   6. Sports
   7. Trade, Industry, and Economics
   
   Each of the entries has been tagged with at least one of the following categories. By selecting one of these categories you can see all activities that relate to it over the course of the decade.


2. Tags:
   Each entry has also been tagged with a set of more detailed descriptors. Some examples are:
   Military; Soong Qingling 宋庆龄; Sovereignty; Tibet; University; Youth; Labor; Agriculture; Crafts; Dance; Madan Mohanlal Atal 爱德华; Parliament; Public health; Reception; Statistics; Theater; Academic; Ambassador; Buddhism; Ding Xilin 丁西林
   While some prominent individuals are included here, not all have their own tag. For a full listing of individuals, see the below.
3. Individuals:
   We have also provided a full listing of named individuals in the database. Since many of these occur only once, we have eschewed a filter and simply provided them as a list, which you can access here. To find the entry for any individual, we would recommend going to the timeline and simply using the find function (CTRL F).
   

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We hope these additional tools will allow for a more interesting and useful browsing experience, whether the goal is research or teaching. We envision at least a handful of ways in which such work might proceed.

1. Most directly, the timeline can be used to track China-India activities and explore their significance in a variety of fields.
2. At the same time, since the timeline often contains clues to information about each country not readily available through other sources, it can also be used to study one country through the other. For an example of how this might be profitable, check out the discussion of Sripati Chandrasekhar’s visit to China in late 1958 in the JAS article (pp. 19—24).
3. Many of the interactions listed in the database occurred as part of larger regional or global processes. For instance, some of the delegations that visited China or India did so as part of a larger tour that included stops in other countries. In other instances, the specialized nature of contact, say scientific conferences, can throw interesting light on scientific networks, both in terms of the individuals and types of knowledge involved. Such discoveries can, therefore, open up new perspectives on how we write histories of the Global South or of the incipient Cold War.

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As an example of the timeline’s ability to surprise, consider the divergent histories of Dwarkanath Kotnis (柯棣华; 1910-1942) and Madan Mohanlal Atal (爱德华; 1888-1957). Both were members of a five-man Indian Medical Mission that was sent to China in 1938. Kotnis, who ended up staying in China for nearly five years and married a Chinese woman, was the only member not to survive the mission. He has since been memorialized on both sides of the border. A 1946 Indian film celebrated his life and the Chinese Communist Party continues to honor his contribution to their struggle against the Japanese. Atal, who was actually the leader of the medical mission, has disappeared from contemporary memory. But in the 1950s, he too was honored by the Chinese, being invited to Beijing in late 1957. As it turns out, he fell ill during the trip and died in early December. Following a memorial meeting in his honor in Beijing, some of his ashes were immersed in the Yellow River. Atal’s unexplored legacy has long been overshadowed by that of Kotnis, leaving us with a possibly skewed sense of the medical mission and its immediate legacy.

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