Prof Patrick Mendis, former Rajawali senior fellow of Harvard Kennedy School and currently a research associate at the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies at Harvard University who is on a four-nation lecture tour spoke on “the past and future of Sino-Sri Lankan relationship” at the Yenching Academy of Peking University, recently.
“The ancient history of China and Sri Lankan Buddhist relations is now manifested in the Colombo Lotus Tower, a hallmark of President Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI),” he said.
After his series of university lectures in Jakarta on “Sino-American relations in the South China Sea and Indonesia,” Prof Mendis also gave a public lecture on “China’s BRI and Sri Lanka” at the Beijing Foreign Studies University, which has a collaborative program with the University of Kelaniya.
During his stopover in Sri Lanka, Prof Mendis also delivered the UNESCO lecture at the Polonnaruwa Museum that was organized by Prof Gamini Adikari of the University of Kelaniya and the Central Cultural Fund of Sri Lanka. Born in Polonnaruwa, Prof Mendis is currently serving as an American commissioner to the US National Commission for UNESCO at the State Department in Washington, D.C., where he lives.
At the Peking University lecture, Prof Mendis explained to Yenching scholars that the meaning of the Chinese-built Colombo Lotus Tower was inspired by the Lotus Sutra in Buddhism.
He then said, “Buddhist diplomacy between the two countries could be traced back to the Han Dynasty.” The Harvard-trained scholar described, “the famous Chinese scholar-monk Faxian (Fa-Hsien) called Sri Lanka as the Buddhist ‘Kingdom of the Lion’ while the venerable Chinese monk Xuanzang in the Tang Dynasty defined it the ‘Sorrowless Kingdom.’”
“The Emperor Kublai Khan of the Yuan Dynasty sent Marco Polo to Sri Lanka, followed by the Ming admiral Zheng He, who visited the island several times during his seven voyages”, he said.
During his historic visit to Sri Lanka in 2014, President Xi characterized the Buddhist nation as a “splendid pearl” as part of the rejuvenation of religious and cultural heritage for “a global community of shared destiny,” Prof Mendis explained.
The award-winning American diplomat has authored more than 100 books, journal articles, and newspaper columns. A fellow of the World Academy of Art and Science, he is listed in Who’s Who in America as well as Who’s Who in the World.