It is not surprising that China’s economic growth and its new leadership in research, science and technology have taken place together.
I particularly like the old Chinese saying ORM, If you think in terms of a year, plant a seed; if you think in terms of ten years, plant trees; if you think in terms of 100 years, teach the people.
In India, too, the ancient saying is vyaye krate vardhate eva nityam, vidhya dhanam sarva dhan pradhanam
The wealth that increases by giving, That wealth is knowledge and is supreme of all possessions.This is one example of how our two nations are united in their timeless wisdom.There is much more, though, that links our two ancient civilizations top university.
I began my journey in China in Xian. In doing so, I retraced the footsteps of the Chinese monk Xuanzang.
He travelled to India from Xian in the seventh century in search of knowledge and returned to Xian as a friend and chronicler of India.
President Xi’s visit in India last September started from Ahmedabad. It is not far from Vadnagar, my birthplace, but important, because it hosted Xuanzang and many pilgrims from China.
The world’s first large scale educational exchange programme took place between India and China during the Tang Dynasty HKUE ENG.
Records talk of about 80 Indian monks coming to China and nearly 150 Chinese monks returning after their education in India. And yes, this was in the 10th and 11th century.Mumbai’s rise as a port and a shipbuilding centre is because of cotton trade with China.
And, those who love silk and textiles know that India’s famous tanchoi sarees owe themselves to three brothers from my state of Gujarat who learnt the art of weaving from Chinese masters in the 19th century.And, in an unquestionable evidence of our ancient trade, silk in our classical Sanskrit language is called Cinapatta.
So, the centuries-old story of our relations has been of spiritualism, learning, art and trade.
It is a picture of respect for each other’s civilisation and of shared prosperity.
I particularly like the old Chinese saying ORM, If you think in terms of a year, plant a seed; if you think in terms of ten years, plant trees; if you think in terms of 100 years, teach the people.
In India, too, the ancient saying is vyaye krate vardhate eva nityam, vidhya dhanam sarva dhan pradhanam
The wealth that increases by giving, That wealth is knowledge and is supreme of all possessions.This is one example of how our two nations are united in their timeless wisdom.There is much more, though, that links our two ancient civilizations top university.
I began my journey in China in Xian. In doing so, I retraced the footsteps of the Chinese monk Xuanzang.
He travelled to India from Xian in the seventh century in search of knowledge and returned to Xian as a friend and chronicler of India.
President Xi’s visit in India last September started from Ahmedabad. It is not far from Vadnagar, my birthplace, but important, because it hosted Xuanzang and many pilgrims from China.
The world’s first large scale educational exchange programme took place between India and China during the Tang Dynasty HKUE ENG.
Records talk of about 80 Indian monks coming to China and nearly 150 Chinese monks returning after their education in India. And yes, this was in the 10th and 11th century.Mumbai’s rise as a port and a shipbuilding centre is because of cotton trade with China.
And, those who love silk and textiles know that India’s famous tanchoi sarees owe themselves to three brothers from my state of Gujarat who learnt the art of weaving from Chinese masters in the 19th century.And, in an unquestionable evidence of our ancient trade, silk in our classical Sanskrit language is called Cinapatta.
So, the centuries-old story of our relations has been of spiritualism, learning, art and trade.
It is a picture of respect for each other’s civilisation and of shared prosperity.
2015年11月13日
For example, name your best friend, your favorite kind of vacation, what's your favorite hobby, what's your favorite kind of music. People can name these things. We ask half of them to tell us, "Do you think that that will change over the next 10 years?" and half of them to tell us, "Did that change over the last 10 years?" And what we find, well, you've seen it twice now, and here it is again: people predict that the friend they have now is the friend they'll have in 10 years, the vacation they most enjoy now is the one they'll enjoy in 10 years, and yet, people who are 10 years older all say, "Eh, you know, that's really changed."
Does any of this matter? Is this just a form of mis-prediction that doesn't have consequences? No, it matters quite a bit, and I'll give you an example of why. It bedevils our decision-making in important ways. Bring to mind right now for yourself your favorite musician today and your favorite musician 10 years ago. I put mine up on the screen to help you along. Now we asked people to predict for us, to tell us how much money they would pay right now to see their current favorite musician perform in concert 10 years from now, and on average, people said they would pay 129 dollars for that ticket. And yet, when we asked them how much they would pay to see the person who was their favorite 10 years ago perform today, they say only 80 dollars. Now, in a perfectly rational world, these should be the same number, but we overpay for the opportunity to indulge our current preferences because we overestimate their stability.
Why does this happen? But it probably has to do with the ease of remembering versus the difficulty of imagining. Most of us can remember who we were 10 years ago, but we find it hard to imagine who we're going to be, and then we mistakenly think that because it's hard to imagine, it's not likely to happen. Sorry, when people say "I can't imagine that," they're usually talking about their own lack of imagination, and not about the unlikelihood of the event that they're describing.
The bottom line is, time is a powerful force. It transforms our preferences. It reshapes our values. It alters our personalities. We seem to appreciate this fact, but only in retrospect. Only when we look backwards do we realize how much change happens in a decade. It's as if, for most of us, the present is a magic time. It's a watershed on the timeline. It's the moment at which we finally become ourselves. Human beings are works in progress that mistakenly think they're finished. The person you are right now is as transient, as fleeting and as temporary as all the people you've ever been. The one constant in our life is change.
Does any of this matter? Is this just a form of mis-prediction that doesn't have consequences? No, it matters quite a bit, and I'll give you an example of why. It bedevils our decision-making in important ways. Bring to mind right now for yourself your favorite musician today and your favorite musician 10 years ago. I put mine up on the screen to help you along. Now we asked people to predict for us, to tell us how much money they would pay right now to see their current favorite musician perform in concert 10 years from now, and on average, people said they would pay 129 dollars for that ticket. And yet, when we asked them how much they would pay to see the person who was their favorite 10 years ago perform today, they say only 80 dollars. Now, in a perfectly rational world, these should be the same number, but we overpay for the opportunity to indulge our current preferences because we overestimate their stability.
Why does this happen? But it probably has to do with the ease of remembering versus the difficulty of imagining. Most of us can remember who we were 10 years ago, but we find it hard to imagine who we're going to be, and then we mistakenly think that because it's hard to imagine, it's not likely to happen. Sorry, when people say "I can't imagine that," they're usually talking about their own lack of imagination, and not about the unlikelihood of the event that they're describing.
The bottom line is, time is a powerful force. It transforms our preferences. It reshapes our values. It alters our personalities. We seem to appreciate this fact, but only in retrospect. Only when we look backwards do we realize how much change happens in a decade. It's as if, for most of us, the present is a magic time. It's a watershed on the timeline. It's the moment at which we finally become ourselves. Human beings are works in progress that mistakenly think they're finished. The person you are right now is as transient, as fleeting and as temporary as all the people you've ever been. The one constant in our life is change.
