Within mainland China today the ratio of Westerners to Chinese is probably no greater than it was in Marco Polo’s time seven hundred years ago. Sino-foreign contact is so minimal that it almost meets the old Taoist stay-at-home ideal, “to live hearing the dogs bark in the next village but never go there.” Peking and Washington indeed monitor each other’s barking, but they meet
The commemorative stamps issued by India Post over the years have revealed the cosmopolitan nature of Bengaluru. Possibly the earliest commemorative stamp to be released is that of St Martha’s hospital, on December 30, 1986. This one rupee stamp shows a view of the original building of the hospital.