In the past, the understanding between countries was mainly restricted by geographical conditions, and exchanges and learning between civilizations of countries close to each other were relatively frequent. Today, although modern technology has led to the development of transportation technology, the fragmentation of the world has not completely changed.
Ancient China had a unique geographical location, surrounded by mountains and facing the sea on one side, and this special environment posed a great challenge to foreign exchanges. Only when the culture of a place is extremely attractive will the Chinese be willing to explore across thousands of rivers and mountains.
Ancient India is one such fascinating place that attracted ancestors to travel over the mountains.
In ancient times, we had a good impression of India. However, in modern society, India seems to have become somewhat comical. So, is the country really as we think, completely reduced to a ridiculed clown?
The glorious Indian civilization coexists with suffering, and the region is called the "South Asian subcontinent". Most of the area is located south of the Tropic of Cancer and has a warm and humid climate with lush vegetation.
Such a superior natural environment has given birth to the spark of human civilization since ancient times.
In India, more than 3,000 years ago, signs of civilizational activity were already emerging. However, these people are significantly different from the high-nosed Indians we are familiar with.
They were shorter in stature and similar in appearance to people in modern South Asia, all of whom were of tropical origin, which was a common phenomenon at the time. Amazingly, the civilization created by the primitive natives of these Indian regions mysteriously disappeared in the end, and the reason for the disappearance is still unknown.
In their place, the new masters of this hot land of South Asia were the people known as the "Aryans". Their appearance was closer to that of Europeans, in line with the image of Indians as we know them today.
This part of the population not only brought with them religion and philosophy, but even influenced the basic framework of the Indian language today.
In India, an ancient and far-reaching influence is the caste system. This system, which divided people into different classes according to their lineage, brought order and stability to India in the early days, but also hindered its further development.
Those who were considered primitive indigenous, their civilization disappeared, but the race became the lowest caste of people. Since then, India has entered a feudal society.
However, the entire South Asian region, not just India, but many other small countries. From ancient times to the present day, there have been few periods of unification in India, and most of the period has been spent in melee.
Despite the challenges of its social and natural environment, India has given birth to splendid religious, literary, and technological civilizations such as Buddhism, poetry, and mathematics, which have made outstanding contributions to global development.
In the history of India, the last powerful unified regime, the "Mughal" Empire, although it did not achieve the complete unification of the South Asian subcontinent, brought order to the Indian people to a certain extent.
India's glory did not last long, as internal governance problems, social unrest, and external challenges plunged India into chaos again in the later dynasties. However, it was the colonial powers of the West that ultimately changed the fate of India.
Driven by profits, Western powers such as Portugal, the Netherlands, France, and Britain have set their sights on India, seizing control of production sites such as spices, tea, and cotton.
They dismembered India by virtue of ** and law, and then defeated one by one, and the land of India was full of wars of different ethnic groups. In the end, Britain won and became the de facto ruler of India.
During this period, although Britain implemented a policy of racial discrimination in India, it also brought advanced institutions and science and technology to it. It is touching that under British rule, India was the most unified for thousands of years.
However, through the unremitting struggle of the Indian people and the influence of the tide of national liberation in the world, the treatment of Indians has gradually improved, and Indian society has also made progress in the process of modernization and industrialization.
Finally, in 1947, Britain relinquished de facto control of India.
Despite the cunning colonizers' attempts to leave their mark in India, they concocted the so-called "Mountbatten Plan" in an attempt to divide the Indian region into a "partition of India and Pakistan".
However, other small states in the subcontinent have gradually gained independence, leaving the region fragmented once again. India, a country that has been burdened with a heavy burden of history and reality since its birth, has been full of challenges and difficulties in its development.
However, India is not as bad as people think, and it has its own advantages. As one diplomat put it, India is a country that is "poor but not miserable, messy but not messy, dirty but not sick".
India abolished the caste system at the beginning of its own statehood and granted equal rights to its citizens, but from a social point of view, the problem of caste segregation is still serious. From an economic point of view, the land was scattered and in the hands of the old aristocracy, which could not be forcibly expropriated and hindered economic development.
From the perspective of international relations, there are territorial disputes and historical grievances with neighboring countries, which restrict India's development.
India is committed to the sustainable development of the country and has a number of policies in place to this end. Among them, the emphasis on education and internationalization is particularly prominent. Although India still faces many challenges, its higher education system has a global reputation, producing a large number of outstanding computer technology and financial talents for the world.
This is inseparable from India's aggressive internationalization strategy. As a former British colony, India has a natural advantage in learning English, which also makes Indians active and competitive on the international stage.
India has endured countless ups and downs in the long course of history, but it is still standing, and its profound cultural heritage is indispensable.
On the road to the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, we have made many achievements, but we also need to remain vigilant and not deal with this"Old neighbors"Ignorant of the dynamics, blindly ignored.
Only by truly understanding the world and facing every possible challenger seriously can we keep moving forward.