Important Visit

THEIR Majesties King Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev and Queen Komal Rajya Laxmi Devi Shah are leaving today on a State Visit to the People's Republic of China at the invitation of President Jiang Zemin. This will be Their Majesties' first state visit to China after ascending the throne last year. The Royal Visit to our northern neighbour is looked upon with keen interest in Nepal. There are many aspects of Nepal-China relations that are encouraging. The amicable and friendly relations was in place even before formal diplomatic ties were established. The early visits by Chinese travellers to Nepal are recorded and offer evidence that the interaction between the people of Nepal and China has been there since many centuries. The exchange of visits at the highest level has been instrumental in consolidating the ties to newer heights over the years.

China has taken remarkable strides in economic prosperity; thanks to the visionary ideas and their implementation by their leaders. Today China is emerging as one of the economic powerhouses not only in Asia but in the world as well. The swift economic miracle achieved by China must serve as a role model for Nepal which has to gear itself for all round prosperity.

Their Majesties visit to China is important in the sense that it will be an opportunity for the leadership there to be acquainted with the aspirations of Nepal in its quest for prosperity. That the visit will be a milestone in the existing ties between the two countries can be realised by the importance that China attaches to this particular visit. China, as a true friend and despite its preoccupation with its own development endeavours, has never hesitated in offering its hands in Nepal's development efforts. At the present time when China has given Nepal the status of a major tourist destination for Chinese tourists, Nepal stands to gain much. The convertibility of Yuan has made travel to Nepal by Chinese visitors easier. With China's vast experience, Nepal hopes to attract investment from there besides inviting joint ventures. There is every possibility for increasing Nepalese exports for which the state visit of Their Majesties will provide the needed impetus. An important facet of our relations is that there are no outstanding issues between the two countries. This itself speaks for the highest level at which the friendly ties subsist. China was one of the first countries to support Nepal in its bid to crack down on the Maoist terrorists. This is where genuine friends can be recognised. An important state visit that it is, it is being watched with great optimism with expectation of greater economic cooperation between the two countries in the days ahead.

Ramapithecus' Tooth

TWENTY-ONE years after the discovery of a tooth of the prehistoric Ramapithecus in the cliff on the banks of the Tinau River of the Dhoban VDC of Palpa district, the district authorities are coming up with plans to publicise the archaeological importance of the above mentioned village. The one centimetre wide by one centimetre long tooth, though broken in three places, holds great archaeological importance in that the Ramapithecus is considered by archaeologists throughout the world to be the earliest ancestor of the present human race. Discovered by a joint excavation team made up of archaeologists from the Tribhuvan University, the National Geographic Society and the L.S.B Leaky Foundation, the tooth, as per experts' datings, is supposed to be about 11 million years old. The discovery of the Ramapithecus' tooth, undoubtedly, has vaulted the sleepy village of Dhoban and its surrounding areas into the archaeological world's limelight. For, ever since archaeology was recognised as a distinct discipline by world renowned educational institutions, archaeologists-or better since, their co-practitioners, the palaeontologists-worth their spades, brushes and buckets have been fanning out across the Earth to dig out evidences of the first human race and its species. And, with each new discovery, the frontiers of knowledge about our first human ancestors have verily expanded.
Amongst such experts of the first human race and its species to walk on Earth, the name of late Richard Leaky stands out head and shoulders above the rest. He, along with his wife-who, thankfully, is still very much engaged in carrying out her late husband's legacy and works-discovered the fossils of the oldest human species to have roamed in Africa while excavating in the Olduvial Plains of Kenya. His discovery, interesting enough, gave the much-needed fillip to the Kenyan tourism authorities to develop the same place as a tourist destination. The fact that the tooth of the Ramapithecus was discovered in Palpa district of Nepal by a joint team comprised of archaologists from the LSB Leaky Foundation does lend credence to its authenticity. And, through it, to Palpa district's Dhoban village as a site worth developing as a tourist-cum-archaeological destination for all those interested in knowing more about our earliest ancestors. For, surely there are more evidences of our earliest ancestors buried deep within Dhoban village's confines!