Indians hope to learn from China's economic boom

When I visited the main bazaar near the New Delhi Railway Station, many of the storekeepers greeted me with a cheery ni hao ("hello" in Chinese) and invited me to peruse their goods.

The greeting left me feeling honored that the Indians knew something about my home country, even though they were undoubtedly looking to make a sale.

Some of them even managed to go further by putting bulletin boards in front of their doors, that bore hand-written Chinese characters that read: "We have accessories made from xiao ye zi tan (red sandalwood, which is highly valued by Chinese collectors). Come and have a look, and you will find that the owner is meng meng da (an online phrase used to denote 'lovely and cute')".