The Araniko Project's year end-review
Happy New Year! Quick review of 2023 from The Araniko Project Team.
Dear subscribers and readers.
Greetings for 2024!
2023 will forever be remembered as a year where The Araniko Project set the benchmark in bringing Nepal- China relations’s history, culture, and society into the mainstream discourse. Topics on China in Nepal have barely moved beyond geopolitics. In that process, we missed the long-standing socio-cultural history that defined the relations between Nepal and China. Hence, the core mission of The Araniko Project is that as we talk more about China in Nepal, we should also have more conversations about Nepal in China.
Learning about history has become more important than ever in the case of Nepal, but what is even more important now is being able to document it. Among the most important work we have done this year is providing the hand-written note of Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai, who, during the heyday of the Cultural Revolution, issued an order to preserve the Miaoying temple, built by Nepali architect Araniko, by turning it into a museum and not have it destroyed. Premier Zhou’s commitment to preserving the White Stupa is testimony to the significance attached by China to preserving such monuments that define our relations.
Our documentation of the forgotten spinach diplomacy during the Lichhchavi – Yuan Dynasty and the sending of Nepali elephants to Lhasa were some popular pieces on aspects of Nepal–China relations. We have noticed our works being shared and various institutions using different approaches to discuss Nepal-China relations. We believe this has been a win for The Araniko Project and for enriching historical understanding.
Much of what we wrote was possible because of the two important trips we made to China this year. In February, we returned to Beijing, with some luck as China opened up to the outside world after years of lockdown. We spent a week trying to explore more of the lesser-known traces of Nepal in Beijing. Most of it, we have written in our article for The Kathmandu Post, “Tracing Nepal’s cultural history in Beijing.” Beijing has two famous cultural icons: the Miaoying Temple and the Yonghegong Lama Temple. Both of these landmarks are densely connected with Nepal, and we will be working in this region to help amplify Nepal’s presence to a larger population.
As much as we are excited to continue our work in the new year, there are challenges to sustain in a country where studying society and culture through the lens of history remains a highly neglected element. Hence, while we continue to work on translation projects, we prioritize The Araniko Project as a research advisory firm where we have started taking various offline projects to help support our overall initiative. Visible through our content, we visited Chengdu for the West China Trade Fair and wrote about our observation: Spilling Nepali tea in Chengdu, which was a big takeaway from our business visit to Chengdu in early July. Our article on Nepali tea in Chengdu was picked up by entrepreneurs who ventured into the tea business and sought consultations with us on promoting Nepali tea in China. In it, we argued how the Nepali packaging industry needs significant improvement to help Nepali products appeal to the Chinese market. In addition, currently, we are collecting historical archives related to Nepal-China relations such as old newspapers, pictures, etc.
Similarly, we also contributed to two significant publications of 2023: one published in India and the other published in China. The two publications provided two different paradigms on Nepal–China relations. One was about how society was functioning around the Miaoying Temple which holds the White Stupa for The World of Chinese (South Asia edition); the other was a book chapter about the evolving party-to-party diplomacy between Nepal and China for Center for Social and Economic Progress (CSEP).
In August, we also conducted the first-ever summer school in Nepal about China titled “Exploring China's societal, cultural and business dynamics: in the context of Nepal.” with 150+ participants, 3 Chinese entrepreneurs as guest speakers that spanned over two weeks. These experiences helped us realize the lack of knowledge about our northern neighbor especially in terms of trade and business and the dire necessity to invest in facilitating this understanding.
Our presence
We tell Nepal–China stories, but our work is being read by people worldwide. We have played a key role in bringing unique discourse about Nepal and China for people around the world interested in this topic or for anyone delving into China’s influence in smaller countries, taking Nepal as a case study. Our blog provides essential information for historians, policymakers, academicians, researchers, media, and entrepreneurs.
Given China’s dominant role in the global economy, politics, and society, it becomes quintessential to have institutions that bring enough expertise to contribute to the overall global China discourse. Our goal is to become such an institution centered in Kathmandu that can carry out unique, critical, and informative, but also factual, analysis on Nepal – China relations.
Work with us
2024 will become a year to look forward to as we aim to initiate projects and discussions in Nepal, China, and hopefully other parts of the world. Hence, please stay updated and consider subscribing to The Araniko Project:
We are also open to seeing any potential collaborations that we find relevant to our area of work. If you seek to work on any collaborations with us related to China affairs, whether it is on translations, research, consultation, or media articles, kindly contact us: thearanikoproject@gmail.com
Working with us also means being able to reach out to our subscribers and general readers from around the world. We look forward to productive engagements and feedback!
Thank you to all the readers, well-wishers, and viewers. We wish you a Happy New Year 2024.
Best Regards,
The Araniko Project Team