'Xi's gift to Modi at Chennai summit embodies personal bond and Sino-India friendship'

Heading to India on Friday for his 2nd informal summit with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chinese President Xi Jinping plans to present gifts to him that symbolises their friendship as well as friendly ties between the two countries.

Modi and Xi, who met numerous times in the last several years, built up a personal rapport culminating in their first informal summit at the Chinese city of Wuhan last year which helped to normalise the bilateral ties.

Xi plans to present Modi gifts that symbolises friendship between them and the two countries, the Chinese foreign ministry said in response to media queries. Besides India, Xi would also travel to Nepal.

"The gifts embody the friendship between President Xi and the leaders of India and Nepal and the friendly relations between China and the two countries," the ministry said, without revealing the details.

At Wuhan summit, Modi gifted the paintings of the famous Chinese artist Xu Beihong who taught at the Viswa-Bharati University to President Xi.

Xu was known for his Chinese ink paintings of horses and birds and was one of the first Chinese artists to articulate the need for artistic expressions that reflected a modern China at the beginning of the 20th century.

The paintings depicted a horse and sparrows on grass. Xu made those paintings during his stay in Viswa-Bharati university. Xu also met Rabindranath Tagore and Mahatma Gandhi during his stay in India.