Beijing: India will set up a centre for traditional medicine here for the first time to reclaim its centuries-old legacy of Ayurveda and Yoga which became part of Chinese milieu along with Buddhism over 1500 years ago.
Plans are afoot to set up a centre of AYUSH, (Ayurveda, Yoga, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy) at Indian embassy, Indian ambassador to China Ashok K Kantha said here today while inaugurating a four-day Yoga workshop being conducted along with China’s successful Yoga college ‘Yogi Yoga’.
Indian embassy also has a cultural centre where Indian classical music and dances are taught. Run by Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, AYUSH Centre is expected to bring the Indian touch of “pure yoga” which is growing rapidly in China as physical exercise without regulated standards.
AYUSH will nominate qualified specialists from India who in turn will work with established Chinese institutions to promote Indian medicine and Yoga, Kantha said. The four-day Yoga festival also include a Workshop on Stress Management, Obesity, Back pain and Neck pain and Diabetes besides session on general yoga training and meditation.
The workshop started today at the Chaoyang Park, Beijing’s largest Park.
The workshop came alive with hymns of Surya Namaskar as Chinese students of Yogi Yoga demonstrated intricate Yoga postures. Set up by an Indian Yoga teacher Mohan Singh Bhandari and his Chinese journalist wife Yin Yan, Yogi Yoga so far has trained about 10,000 Yoga teachers all over China.
It is being organised as part of the year long ‘Glimpses of India Festival’ currently being organised all over China to showcase a wide range of events including Indian performing art, visual and photographic exhibitions, Indian modern art, food and film festivals.
A similar workshop was organised earlier in Shanghai. Early this month, India held its biggest Yoga Summit at Dali in China in which over 5000 people participated.
According to the recently released Encyclopedia of Cultural Contacts between two Asian giants tracing back to centuries, ancient India not only gifted Buddhism to China but also its precious Ayurvedic medicines which became part of the Chinese milieu.
“Buddhism reached China in the 2nd century CE via Silk Route. Soon there was a regular flow of Buddhist monks between India and China”, the two volume document jointly developed by scholars of India and China said.
“Chinese monks visited India for pilgrimage and also to collect canonical works. Buddhism thrived in China during the Tang Dynasty and the number of Buddhist monasteries and temples increased Rapidly,” it said.
The Chinese techniques of acupuncture and pulse examination gained ground in India around the same time it did in the Chinese landscape. (PTI)