ABSTRACT
China and India are both ancient civilizations, with histories stretching over five thousand years. Their mutual relations are accordingly ancient. That China and India have had long-term intellectual and cultural ties is not well known to economists because this relationship falls into the domain of religious scholars. The strong ties date back to the first century AD when Buddhism spread from India to China. The history of Buddhism has chronicled detailed accounts of religious and cultural bonds between the two neighbors. The Han dynasty emperor Mingdi invited two Indian monks, Dharmaraksa and Kasypa Matanga, during the first century AD. This was the beginning of a large exchange of scholars and monks between the two countries.
