“The (Dalai Lama) visuals were part of the film. We could not have deleted it,” Tiwary said. He said that they had shown the film to different dignitaries from Singapore, Thailand and Japan but none had protested, not knowing perhaps that the Tibet is not a disputed part of any of these countries, but China’s.

Recently a number of similar Chinese delegations have come to the state to renew Indo-Chinese friendship through Buddhism and the works and travel of ancient Chinese scholar Xuan Zang (known in India as Heiun Tsang).

The Chinese government is also interested in partnering with other East Asian countries for setting up an international university at Nalanda to revive the lost glory of the ancient Nalanda University. Beijing has already donated extensively to set up a Xuan Zang Memorial Hall at Nalanda.

Ironically, the delegation members who left the show and the city today livid had also planted a peepal tree inside the ruins of Nalanda as a mark of Indo-Chinese friendship.