Where China meets India : Burma and the new crossroads of Asia /
Thant Myint-U.
- London : Faber, c2011, 2012.
- xvii, 366 pages : maps ; 20 cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
CONTENTS: Pt. 1. The back door. Irrawaddy dreaming ; Cousins ; The Burma Road ; Lords of the sunset ; New frontiers -- pt. 2. Southwestern barbarians. The Malacca dilemma ; South of the clouds ; Gandhara ; Shangri-La ; Between China and the deep blue sea -- pt. 3. The edge of Hindustan. Looking east ; Forgotten partitions; Inner lines ; Instruments of accession.
Since ancient times, China and India have been separated not only by the towering summits of the Himalayas, but also by a vast expanse of near impenetrable jungle, hostile tribes and remote inland kingdoms, stretching a thousand miles from what is today Calcutta across central Burma to the upper reaches of the Yangsi river. But sometime in the early 21st century, this last great frontier will vanish, the forests cut down, dirt roads replaced by superhighways, insurgencies crushed, leaving China and India pressed up against each other as never before. Though virtually unreported in the West, the implications for the world are immense. A basic shift in geography - like the opening of the Suez or Panama canals - may soon create an unprecedented bridge between three billion people of South Asia and the Far East.