Through the India-China Border provides original research on imperial history, post-war politics and culture by utilising rarely used archival material—British, Chinese, and Indian and sheds new light on our understandings of the 'Tibet Question' in China-India relations. In its foregrounding of espionage, intrigues, and the interplay of political machinations in the small border town of Kalimpong in the 1920s up until 1962, it challenges the way remote regions, or peripheries, are typically seen from the 'centres' of nations. The innovative use of postcolonial and transcultural theories demonstrates how this transdisciplinary framework enriches our reading and writing of history. In its interdisciplinary approach, it provides insights into the historical making of India-China relations. The book reveals the motivations of actors who are not necessarily always tied to statecraft.

This book is a model of international scholarship, instructive and a delight to read. Variously a booming border town, a strategic asset, a listening post, a ‘nest of spies', an ideological flashpoint and a cosmopolitan retreat, topsy-turvy Kalimpong amply merits the story told here. Through the India–China Border will be of absorbing interest to Himalayanists and to anyone concerned with the interplay of external expectations and internal realities within a contested border region.

John Keay - Author of Himalaya: Exploring the Roof of the World (2022)

‘A rare, original and inimitable academic performance in Sino-Indian Studies. Stylish, engaging and seminal in its historical and theoretical reach.'

Xi Lin - Professor and Dean of the Fudan Institute for Advanced Study in Social Sciences, Fudan University

‘Poddar and Zhang, in this engaging and erudite volume, bring a slice of colonial and postcolonial history to life through colourful and fascinating stories of events and characters shaping, and shaped by, the play of political and economic forces. Kalimpong emerges in this narrative as a protagonist in its own right, unique in its identity, yet emblematic of wider clashes and negotiations of empires, nations, peoples, authorities and individuals.'

Chris Sinha - Distinguished Professor, University of East Anglia

‘The newest must-read on the perennial topic of Sino-Indian geopolitics, Through the India–China Border lucidly and vividly recounts how Kalimpong, a British colonial hill station in the early twentieth century, emerged as an interface between China and India. The book illuminates how the colonial legacy cartographically sets the tone for relations between the two most populous nations on earth and their respective claims on territorial sovereignties in the Himalayas.'

Dan Smyer Yü - Kuige Professor of Ethnology, Yunnan University, Kunming