Qiu Yong, President of Tsinghua University,
Foreign Minister Wang Yi,
Shi Yigong, Assistant President of Tsinghua University,
I am truly delighted to be at the Tsinghua University today.
You are a world class institution. You are a symbol of success of China’s education sector.
You are the foundation for China’s economic miracle. You have produced great leaders,including President Xi.
It is not surprising that China’s economic growth and its new leadership in research, science andtechnology have taken place together.
I particularly like the old Chinese saying, If you think in terms of a year, plant a seed; if youthink 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 dhanpradhanam
The wealth that increases by giving, That wealth is knowledge and is supreme of allpossessions.
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.
I began my journey in China in Xian. In doing so, I retraced the footsteps of the Chinese monkXuanzang.
He travelled to India from Xian in the seventh century in search of knowledge and returned toXian as a friend and chronicler of India.
President Xi’s visit in India last September started from Ahmedabad. It is not far fromVadnagar, my birthplace, but important, because it hosted Xuanzang and many pilgrims fromChina.
The world’s first large scale educational exchange programme took place between India andChina during the Tang Dynasty.
Records talk of about 80 Indian monks coming to China and nearly 150 Chinese monksreturning 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 tothree brothers from my state of Gujarat who learnt the art of weaving from Chinese masters inthe 19th century.
And, in an unquestionable evidence of our ancient trade, silk in our classical Sanskritlanguage is called Cinapatta.