BEIJING - As Sino-Indian relations become increasingly important to both sides, the media's role as a bridge linking the two peoples is becoming more significant.

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Ananth Krishnan, a 26-year-old Indian who is now working in Beijing as a reporter, said his view of China changed greatly after his arrival in the country.

"I don't want to sound stupid, but the fact is before I went to China, the country was like a blank in my mind."

Krishnan, who studied history for five years in the United States, came to work in China in 2009.

Although India is geographically close to China, to most of his compatriots, it is a mysterious and faraway land, said Krishnan.

Although he had a good knowledge of Chinese history thanks to his studies, Krishnan said: "China sounded too far away from me".

This view changed the moment he landed in China.

"Everywhere was new and interesting to me", he said, having "never thought" it would be like that.

The young reporter has already traveled to many parts of China and is keen to introduce them to his Indian friends when they visit the country.

Krishnan is far from the only Indian whose experiences in China have given him a deep insight into the nation.

Working in Beijing for nearly two years, Biju Menon was able to see the country's rapid progress.

Now he is back in India, working as a senior associate editor at Outlook Business, a fortnightly business magazine.

"My experience of living in Beijing helped me better understand my neighbor, an opportunity that rarely arises otherwise for most Indians, or even for that matter Chinese," he said.

"How many people visit India, or go to China from here? How many stay for long enough to get a glimpse into Chinese or Indian society? And, more important, how many make that effort to bridge the divide?

"Being there, I was able to understand the Chinese way of life, in however limited a fashion. But, ultimately, people across any border are the same," he said.

They have the same virtues and vices. They have the same hopes as well as desires. Everyone wants to love, be loved, take care of their loved ones, own a house, be happy, be at peace," added Menon.

Observing and analyzing the changes taking place, reporters are helping themselves and others better understand China.

As the first Chinese-speaking Indian journalist in Beijing, Delhi-born Pallavi Aiyar spent six years living in a hutong in the heart of Beijing and reported from across China for The Hindu and Indian Express.

Aiyar said that having been born in India, receiving her higher education in London and working in Beijing means that her "global soul" has provided her with a special lens through which to observe China's development.

She won the Vodafone-Crossword Popular Book Award for 2008 for Smoke and Mirrors: An Experience of China.

In the book, she raised a bold question: If you were born today, would you rather be Indian or Chinese?

"Beijing and I, we grew up together. When I first moved here seven years ago, the city had only just won the bid to host the Olympic Games in 2008."

"I found myself in an old-new city. A city with ancient, seeing eyes but with a youthful soul; a city imbued with energy and beginnings. Aged streets were spitting up new buildings at a vertiginous pace as Beijing went shopping for new clothes to dress up in for the Olympics."

A lack of understanding is not just present among Indians.

Despite reading Journey to the West, enjoying Indian food and watching Bollywood movies such as Three Idiots, most Chinese people still do not know their neighbors well.

"Our Chinese people still know too little about our great neighbor India," said He Liliang, wife of Huang Hua, China's foreign minister from 1976 to 1982.