The only reason Pallavi Aiyar came to Beijing was to be near the man she loved. But her contact with China became so extensive that six years on it has resulted in the engaging Smoke and Mirrors: An Experience of China.
The book is a personal account of how a perplexed young Indian woman completely ignorant of China gradually began to understand and appreciate a country and a culture that, despite ancient links across a common border, are dissimilar to her own.
As the years passed, her Putonghua improved and she travelled across the country from Beijing to Tibet to Zhejiang - and her perceptions of China became complex. She realised the portmanteau word Chindia used by some political analysts was deceptive: there was no simple fit between the extraordinary contemporary realities of the two giant neighbours. In some crucial ways the two were opposites.
After the recent launch of her book in India, Aiyar, who has degrees in philosophy, history and media sociology from New Delhi, Oxford and the London School of Economics (LSE), recalled with amusement her response during a discussion with friends years ago about which was the most alien culture in the world.
'I said China, since I saw it as drab, too homogenous, impenetrable, very authoritarian and the last place I wanted to go to,' she said.
But not long afterwards she met and fell in love with a Spaniard, Julio Arias, who was specialising in China at the LSE.