In February of this year, several Chinese and Indian writers came together in New Delhi for a dialogue, the first unofficial dialogue of its kind between the two countries. The Chinese writers were Xi Chuan, Bei Dao, Ge Fei, Ouyang Jianghe, Zhai Yongming, and the critic Li Tuo. They were accompanied by their interpreter Shuang Shen. The Indian writers were Joy Goswami, Sharmistha Mohanty, Rukmini Bhaya Nair, Kunwar Narain, Vivek Narayanan, K. Satchidanandan, I. Allan Sealy, and Vinod Kumar Shukla. They were joined by Ashis Nandy. This dialogue will be continued next year in Beijing. The first one this year was only a beginning. What follows below is the editor's experience of the dialogues. Lines in italics are direct quotes from participating writers.