The book under review is the result of an endeavour by the journal Think India Quarterly committee. The committee came out with a special issue to mark the sixtieth anniversary of diplomatic ties between India and China. This volume is the product of this special issue; albeit a few more chapters were included later. It includes eighteen papers where scholars from both sides of the border have contributed. The year 2012 marks the fiftieth year of the 1962 war between India and China. Thus the book is an effort to understand the major irritants in bilateral relationship and thereby explore common grounds of cooperation for the vision of Asia.
In the introductory chapter Mani Shankar Aiyar discusses the bottomline of the bilateral relationship. He highlights the role played by the political leaders and institutions especially Jawaharlal Nehru and Shantiniketan and weaves a case for constructive engagement with China. Subsequently, Ambassador Zhang Yan looks into the India China relations optimistically. Bringing the historical fact to the attention of the readers B.R Deepak expounds the contribution of Ji Xianlin (Chinese Indo-logist), the ambassador of India-China friendship and cultural exchanges between China and India. Highlighting the fact that in world history, India and China are the only countries having close proximity and similar experiences, Wang Bangwei has explored complementarities between the two nations.