India, China exchanges are ancient: China Radio head

Pitching for deeper ties with India, Radio China International (CRI) director general Wang Gengnian on Monday said that economic and cultural exchanges between the two countries date back to ancient times.

Wang was speaking at the release of "Hello Cheen", a book in Hindi written by journalist Anil Azad Pandey, who has been associated with China Radio for seven years, and the unveiling of Hindi and Tamil versions of "Namaste China" DVD here.

The book, published by Raj Kamal Publication, and the DVD, developed by the Chinese government's culture department, was jointly unveiled by Wang and Chinese diplomat Liu Jinsong.

"This book is a sketch of my experience in China, the countries development story and also glimpses of Indo-China relations," Pandey said.

In his address, Liu said the book and the DVDs in Hindi and Tamil would help bring the two peoples closer.

"Why should communication between India and China be in English or Chinese? There should be more common languages, such as Tamil," he said.