भारत और चीन का कल्चर ..

Maria Wirth, a German settled in India for the last 25 years, is one of them. Writing in Garhwal Post newspaper last Dec 21, she recalled how the Indian government in 2005 declined to sponsor the World Sanskrit Conference in Bangkok, initiated by Thailand's crown princess, herself a Sanskrit scholar.

After an expatriate Indian entrepreneur stepped in, at the last moment, an Indian minister insisted on opening the conference.

"India has the deepest philosophy still expressed in a vibrant religion, a huge body of literature, amazing art, dance, music, sculpture, architecture, delicious cuisine and yet Indians are in denial mode and wake up only when foreigners treasure India. They don't seem to know the value and, therefore, don't take pride in their tradition, unlike Westerners who take a lot of pride in theirs, even if there is little to be proud of," Maria lamented.

The English-educated Indians are ignorant, while those who know Indian culture either do not communicate in English or are not interested, she said.

The Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR), started in 1950, has 24 centres with 14 more in the pipeline, and a few chairs in foreign universities. But China, which began only in 2004, has 350 Confucius Institutes affiliated with universities and 430 "classrooms" affiliated with secondary schools in 103 countries. Over 260 more universities have sought these institutes.

Seven thousand teachers recruited annually from Chinese universities are sent abroad for two years. Around 100 million foreigners are learning Chinese, the Chinese Education Ministry estimates.

Read more: Conquering the world with soft power - Columnist - New Straits Times http://www.nst.com.my/opinion/columnist/conquering-the-world-with-soft-power-1.49135#ixzz2KwyjAiZI