XIAN (Shaanxi) : Prime Minister Narendra Modi was greeted by the troop of traditional dancing dragon as he arrived here for a summit meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping. As a return gesture Mr Xi invited the Indian PM for his maiden prime ministerial visit to China with latter had called the Chinese president in his home state Gujarat in September last year.
Mr Modi walked on the Red Carpet rolled out for him at Xian airport with a pair of dancing dragon crawling to his feet. The Prime Minister was pleasantly surprised to see the large hoardings put up to welcome him with Hindi slogans written on them.
Hindi-Chini maitri behati nadi ki atoot dhara (Indo-China relation: like flowing river) board announced, while another hindi slogan greeted him by saying, Hindi-Chini dosti, sadiyon purani (Indo-China friendship is age old).
The Silk Road city was fully decked up to receive the Indian Prime Minister, with its people curiously greeting the long cavalcade that headed for an hour long drive to Shangri-La Hotel. During his day long stay in Xian, Mr Modi will hold summit meeting with the Chinese President, who, setting aside protocols, for the first time has fixed a date with the visiting head of government, outside the capital city of Beijing.
Xian apart from being the hometown of Xi’s father, is famous for its Wild Goose Pagoda. Mr Xi took his guest to the spiritual structure build to highlight famous Chinese Buddhist monk Xuan Zang’s journey to India in 645 AD through the ancient Silk Road and return home after a 17-year-long sojourn with precious Buddhist scriptures. Xian, which is symbolically important as it is associated with Xuan Zang (Hieun Tsang), the Buddhist monk and traveler who had visited India some 2,000 years ago.
The famous traveler had left an important record of interaction between China and India in the early Tang dynasty. The ancient city one of the four great ancient capitals of China is also the starting point of the ancient Silk Road, and therefore central to Chinese President Xi Jinpingâ’s Silk Road revival projects, which aim to integrate the economies of Eurasia.
Seventh-century Chinese monk stayed in India for 16 years to seek Buddhist scriptures. After coming back to to China, he stayed in Xiâan, to translate and spread Buddhist thoughts to Chinese people. According to historical records, Hiuen Tsang, started his travels at the age of 28 in 629 AD and recorded his travels in Gujarat, where he describes towns and cities like Bharuch, Malwa, Idar and Valabhi. (AGENCIES)
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