Behind the wall

The Himalayas never refused the Chinese or the Indian traveller from tramping across its sacred snows, nor did the South China seas and its sister concerns, the Indian Ocean and the Arabian sea, ever deter the determined sailor. Fa Hien and Huan Tsang were made of sterner stuff, as was the famous 13th century admiral Zhang He — history books are still contemplating the claim that he may have traversed the globe before Magellan, but they accept that after many conquests he died in Calicut in India — and certainly, they’ve put the contemporary Lonely Planet backpacker to shame. The elders brought silk to India, among other things, and took back, the Buddhist word. Via Kashgar, (it’s on the same longitude as New Delhi) Urumqi, Turfan and Tibet, onomatopoeic place-names that still occupy a special place in the Indian subconscious.

So what was special then about External Affairs minister Jaswant Singh taking the first direct flight from New Delhi to Beijing last week? Nothing really, except for the fact that the China Eastern flight to and from the capitals of Asia’s largest nuclear weapon powers is almost one for the imagination. For a start, the daredevilry is being practiced after a good 50 years of independence or liberation. Believe it or not, in the past, only Ethiopian Air had taken the trouble to stop over in Delhi en route to Beijing once a week, and if you didn’t have any strings to pull in Addis Ababa, you had perforce to be consigned to the overnight caprice of either Thailand or Singapore.

Meanwhile, Air India seems to have completely capitulated to the command of China Eastern. There was no interest shown at all in the gold rush that the Chinese airline is likely to bring as it picks up NRI traffic also from the US west coast. The Air India is supposed to have turned up its nose on both code and seat sharing arrangements that constitute the bread, butter and jam of any airline in action.

Haode: human rights are well under control

Friendship. Cooperation. World Peace. The more things change in China, it’s jarring how some of the jaded jargon remains absolutely the same. Still, give the Chinese the credit to come to terms with grave cognitive dissonance with a matter-of-fact ‘‘haode.’’ It’s okay, it’s under control. Official after official in Beijing, explaining China’s relations with the US, admitted that the benefit of an $80 billion trade partnership could not simply be shrugged off, even if Washington continued to make noises about Taiwan, Tibet and human rights violations stemming from Beijing’s ‘‘strike hard’’ policy.

As for India and China’s dismal $3.6 billion trade record, Li Shuzeng of the foreign affairs committee of the National People’s Congress put it succinctly. ‘‘One way of improving relations,’’ she said, ‘‘is to understand each other’s market conditions.’’ Visiting Indians seemed stunned into silence, especially those from the ideological Left, even as they mentally examined her comments for deviation from principles once laid in stone.

Sometimes, India does drive a hard bargain

Speaking of emotional distress, especially about problems left over from history, the Chinese were said to be quite upset when the Tian An Men events happened in 1989, and in response ‘‘friendly’’ India ordered the families of officers and staff to pack up and return home. It was an act Beijing did not forgive or forget for a long, long time.

The political class in India, meanwhile, never one to be left behind, seems almost wilfully determined to hang to to its favourite whipping toy, the now-pointless trauma of 1962. Forty years on, though, it seems as if there may be a real chance for peace. As China’s sprint to economic superstar status begins to wheeze and falter and the Americans display their determination to play ball with New Delhi, External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh’s determination to sort out the disputed Line of Actual Control with China could just make the miracle happen. Let’s do it, he told his counterpart Tang Jiaxuan in a letter in April 2000.

One month later, President KR Narayanan arrived in town and persuaded Jiang Zemin that the dispute couldn’t be left for yet another generation to handle. Still, Singh could learn a thing or two from the best bargainers in the world — naturally, Indians — who often turn up in Beijing’s Silk Alley, the mother of all Janpath streets, on a Saturday afternoon and proceed to beat the Chinese at their own game. For it is when these bargainers dare to walk away, just like in that Kenny Rogers song, that you can smell that the deed is done.

To top it all... Beijing duck

Ask a Beijinger to name his favourite food, and inevitably, it turns out to be ‘‘Beijing duck.’’ Haode. So you land up in the Hepingmen Roast Duck restaurant (the George Bushes and the Edward Heaths and the Rajiv Gandhis have all been there) and allow yourself to be handed over to a two-hour long ceremony of duck organs and duck skin, with duck soup thrown in for good measure to wash the clucking down.

So here’s a sample of what a good meal should be: Starters consist of ‘‘Five cold dish for everybody’’ followed by the ‘‘Steaming Hot’’ series. There’s stewed four duck delicacies in a pot, fried duck liver and butter with rolls, simmered three savouries with wine, quick-fried duck hearts, fried duck meat, web, bamboo shoots and vegetable with abalone, simmered glossy ganoderma with heart of greens, Quanjude roast duck and, lastly, duck bone soup.

For those who don’t, there’s greens and more greens, hot toffee apple, millet gruel and fruits. Last heard, vegetarianism had gone out of fashion in China.

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