‘Festival of India’ in China

As 2014 has been declared as the "Year of Friendship and Exchange for India and China", this will help the two countries to boost cooperation in art, cultural exchanges, youth communication and education, and cement the bond further, said an official.

"This is the India-China friendship year, and it will be culture ministry's first official event in China. So we are excited about the two-month long festival covering eight cities that give a glimpse of Indian culture to the Chinese people," said V Srinivas, joint secretary in the culture ministry.

"So far four Chinese cities have got a go ahead from Chinese ministry to take the festival there, and the list includes names of Shanghai, Beijing, and Hong Kong," he said.

Srinivas also mentioned that amongst the proposed cities is Lhasa, the capital of Tibet.

"We have finalised only four cities and proposal for four other cities is still pending," he said.

This initiative is one of the cultural festivals the ministry is organising this year under an umbrella title "Festival of India" in which they will be covering a few South Asian countries in March, South Africa in April, and South Korea and Japan in October.

Srinivas is directly in touch with the Indian ambassador to China who has made valuable inputs that will make this cultural fiesta a success. "They have told us no rigid classical formula will work, people there want something fast and peppy like a Bollywood troupe," he said.

"They are also keen on having a literature festival and folk dance performance. There are many options we have as we are in the process of finalising," he said.