ABSTRACT
India-China border conflicts have played a major role in the history of the Cold War in Asia, threatening the stabilizing fantasy of inter-Asian solidarities tied to inter-civilizational pasts. Recently, even as border tensions linger, both countries have established closer economic and cultural ties. This chapter examines these proliferating exchanges, focusing on film co-production initiatives designed to create a regional cultural market. Taking the 2017 film Kung Fu Yoga to be emblematic of the historical contradictions of Sino-Indian encounter, I argue that the film and the discourse around it prioritize the ancient past rather than more proximate and problematic Cold War histories as part of a wider, state-led management of cultural remembrance between India and China.
