Prestigious Chinese scholar Ji Xianlin was recently awarded the Padma Bhushan, a civilian decoration conferred by the president of India, making him the first Chinese to receive the honor.

Ji was honored for his tremendous achievements in bringing Indian traditions to China through the translation of Ramayana, a classical Hindu epic in Sanskrit, into Chinese, in addition to essays on the history and culture of India.

The award came just 10 days after Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's official visit to China, and is widely seen as a sign of deepening friendship, presenting favorable prospects for bilateral relations.

In fact, the move to honor Ji was initiated in December 2006, after an unexpected visit by Ms. Nirupama Rao, Indian Ambassador to China. The 97-year-old Ji, lying on his sickbed, told Rao that he remained steadfast in his belief about a strong India-China partnership.

Born to a rural family in 1911 in east China's Shandong Province, Ji was admitted to Tsinghua University to study Western literature in 1930, where he had an access to Sanskrit and Sutra at the College of Occidental Culture. In 1935, he was sent to Germany as an exchange student to study ancient languages and returned after obtaining a Ph.D. degree. He was the founder of Eastern Languages Department at Peking University and acted as dean of the department to boost Eastern studies in China. In 1978, he was promoted to the post of vice president of Peking University. During his tenure, the professor was acknowledged for making significant contributions to research on ancient Indian languages, early Buddhist languages and Sanskrit literature, and crowned as the guru of all Indologists in China.

As a master linguist, Ji also translated Buddhist sutras, and works in Sanskrit and Tokharoi into Chinese and English over the years. He has received honorary degrees from universities worldwide, but remains modest and diligent.