LIFE

At a dangerous juncture

Life, Chris Baker, Published on 12/03/2012

» For all but the most recent bit of human history, India and China have been the two great civilisations of the world. Although they look adjacent on a map, in reality they are separated by a corridor of highly inhospitable territory _ great deserts, huge mountains, fierce rivers. The southern part of this barrier is formed by a knot of hills and great rivers on the upper border of Southeast Asia. Armies struggled across this barrier in the Second World War, but the routes promptly disappeared like tracks in the sand.