India-China Relations: A Subaltern Perspective

In the recent times, a new line of research has emerged in the field of India-China relations. Works by Tansen Sen, Prasenjit Duara and others have focused on studying India-China relations at subnational levels and these works have generally focused on India-China social interactions. Tansen Sen’s seminal book, India, China, and the World: A Connected History, tells us that India and China’s histories were not disparate and there were more engagements between the two than what has generally been known. These and other similar works showcase that there is more than one way to understand their history. More important, they break the narrative that India and China’s interactions were rare before their respective anti-colonial victories or that they were limited to political domains marked by Chiang Kai-shek’s visit to India or Jawaharlal Nehru’s visit to China, or limited to special events like the Indian medical mission to China led by Dr. Kotnis.