Foreign News
India, China Explore Joint UNESCO Recognition For Xuanzang Legacy
At a time when India-China ties remain shaped by strategic suspicion, economic competition and dependence, the two countries are exploring an unusual area of cooperation: the legacy of the 7th-century Chinese monk Xuanzang.
Officials from both sides are in preliminary discussions over a possible joint nomination to UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage list, centred on the cultural traditions, pilgrimage routes and Buddhist knowledge networks associated with Xuanzang’s historic journey between China and India.
“Xuanzang is really important to both India and China today,” said Prof. Kaveri Gill, Senior Fellow at Centre for Excellence in Himalayan Studies, Shiv Nadar University.
“He was a renowned monastic, traveller, translator, scholar, linguist and chronicler of the times. In India, his records remain one of the most definitive accounts of the 7th century, while his work helped connect these two great civilisations.”
“The amount of works from Sanskrit that he carried back and translated into Chinese created a lasting intellectual bridge between India and China,” Gill noted.
In recent years, India and China have struggled to rebuild trust after the 2020 border clashes in eastern Ladakh. While military and diplomatic talks have helped stabilise the situation, the relationship remains marked by caution.
While Xuanzang’s legacy is a good opportunity to improve relations, Prof Gill has a warning.
“Xuanzang’s legacy is as a Nalanda scholar,” Gill said. “India should be very careful because the living Nalanda tradition remains here. China is competing with India to project itself as the home of Buddhism today,” suggesting that cultural diplomacy and heritage preservation can sometimes overlap with broader strategic objectives.
The proposed nomination is expected to cover a range of traditions associated with Xuanzang’s journey, including Buddhist learning networks, pilgrimage routes, and oral histories preserved in monasteries and local communities across the region.
Officials from both countries are examining how these traditions can be presented as “living heritage” under UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage programme.
“Xuanzang’s legacy shows how open-minded and welcoming those times were,” the scholar said. “It reminds us of a world where intellectuals, adventurers and the curious could undertake extraordinary journeys in pursuit of knowledge.”
No timeline has been announced for the proposed UNESCO nomination, and any submission would require further consultations with UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage.
