I found an interesting article on Indian influence on china, I thought I could share over here. China has a huge influence on India, as we have a large Indochinese population,which has sort of let to an amalgamation of cultures.

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Indian Influences in China
1. Buddhism

Buddhism first came to China from India via Central Asia in the 1st century A.D. As interest in Buddhism grew, there was a great demand for Buddhist texts to be translated from Indian languages into Chinese. This led to the arrival of translators from Central Asia and India. 1

A few hundred Indian teachers went to China from the first to the twelfth century. They have bequeathed a legacy of about 3,000 works translated from Sanskrit into Chinese. Some well-known ones include Gunavarman, a prince of Kashmir who reached Nanjing in AD 431; Buddhabhadra, born at Nagarahara, who claimed direct descent from Amrtodana, the uncle of Lord Buddha. Nagarahara is modern Jalalabad. He died in China in AD 429. Bodhiruci was from south India. A Chinese envoy came to the Chalukya court in AD 692 to invite Bodhiruci. He reached China in AD 693 by sea and translated Sanskrit works. One of the last outstanding Indian teachers in China was Dharmadeva of Nalanda. He was received by the Chinese Emperor in AD 973.2

1.1. The Scriptures

According to historical records, from the end of Han Dynasty till the end of Song Dynasty, i.e. in the space of 1,000 years from the 2nd to the 12th century A.D, there had been more than 150 scholars who were frontline participants in the gigantic undertaking of translating the Tripitakas into Chinese. History books detail the contributions of 70 monk-scholars from India.3

1.2. Chinese Chan Buddhism and Da Mo (Bodhidharma)

Bodhidharma (Damo to the Chinese; Daruma to the Japanese), the 28th patriarch of Indian Buddhism, is also the first patriarch of the Chinese Chan Buddhist lineage.4 He was a son of the king of Kanchi in southern India.5 After his father’s death, Bodhidharma went to Prajnatara, the 27th Indian patriarch in succession from Buddha, and asked to be ordained as a monk.6

Following Prajnatara's suggestion, Bodhidharma went to China and eventually arrived at the Shaolin monastery in about 526.7 His first Chinese disciple Huike became the second patriarch of the Chinese Chan Buddhist lineage. . Bodhidharma was said to have sat meditating facing a cave wall near the temple for nine years, ignoring the many monks who came to seek his teaching. According to legend, Bodhidharma finally took his first disciple when Huike cut off his own arm, showing Bodhidharma he understood the impermanence of the material world. Since then, the monks of Shaolin have always saluted the Buddha with only one arm.

1.3. The Martial Arts of Shaolin

After Bodhidharma (Da Mo) came to the Shaolin monastery at the foot of the Songshan Mountains in north-central China, he taught the monks special breathing techniques and exercises to develop both their inner strength and their ability to defend themselves in the remote and often dangerous mountainous area in which they lived. The exercises were supposed to help the monks withstand the long periods of meditation he introduced from his Chan (Zen) school of Buddhism. Based on these exercises introduced by Bodhidharma, the Shaolin monks gradually developed a sophisticated fighting system known as Shaolin Martial Arts.8 One of the Shaolin sword forms is Shaolin Damo Jian (Shaolin Bodhidharma Sword), attributed to Damo Zushi (the patriarch Bodhidarma)9.

The exercises Bodhidharma taught the Chinese monks are believed to be the exercises of Kalari Payattu, a temple art of South India. The stages in Kalari Payattu are maithari (body), kolthari (sticks), angathari (metal weapons), verumkai (empty hand), chiktsavidhikal (treatment), manthrathantra (rememberance of God), and marmagnanam (knowledge of Marmas or pressure points).10 Today, Kalari Payattu is still taught as a martial art in South India.
2. Chinese Mythical Figures of Indian Origin

Two of the most beloved personalities of Chinese mythology were derived from Indian mythical figures.

2.1. Sun Wukong

The character of Sun Wukong, the Monkey King made famous in the Chinese classic Journey to the West, is believed by scholars to be derived from Hanuman, the Monkey God of the Hindu epic Ramayana.11

The 2 characters share many traits such as the skill of becoming gigantic or very tiny, the ability to assume any form, and a magical staff that the monkey can shrink to the size of a toothpick and hide in his ear.

2.2 Guanyin (Avalokiteshvara)

Avalokiteshvara, the Bodhisattva of Compassion, is known as Guanyin Pusa to the Chinese, Kannon Bosatsu to the Japanese, and Chenrezig to the Tibetans. In India, Japan and Tibet, he is a male figure, but the Chinese reinvented the deity as a female icon.12
3. Flow of Material Culture and Ideas

3.1. Cotton Cultivation

Early Chinese records mention that cotton had been brought in from India. Various dates have been given for the beginning of cotton cultivation in China, but it is generally agreed that the cultivation of cotton was introduced from India.13

3.2. Chinese Words of Indian Origin

Muoli – jasmine, from the Tamil term Malli

Chan - meditation, from the Sanskrit term dhyana



Notes:
1 http://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/.../east-asia.htm
2 http://ignca.nic.in/ks_41023.htm
3 Huang Xinchuan,” A Cultural Envoy between China and India ”, IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF XUANZANG: TAN YUN-SHAN AND INDIA, ed. Tan Chung (http://www.ignca.nic.in/ks_40012.htm )
4 http://sped2work.tripod.com/bdharma.html
5 http://ignca.nic.in/ks_41023.htm
6 http://www.selfdiscoveryportal.com/cmBodhidharma.htm
7 http://www.selfdiscoveryportal.com/cmBodhidharma.htm
8 http://www.centralshaolin.com/cshaol.../history2.html
9 http://www.allmasters.com/vc00shaodmaj.html
10 http://www.mkgkalari.nrksite.com/steps.html
11 http://www.fjqz.gov.cn/elightcity/yindujiao2.htm
12 http://www.scils.rutgers.edu/~cwachan/Guanyin.html
13 Sidney Shapiro, Jews in Old China, 81, http://ignca.nic.in/ks_41023.htm

That was a very interesting read. I didn't know a lot of these things, however, I knew that Buddhism came from India. I learned that when I started living and learning Buddhism.

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India shares a large border with china, and the north eastern provinces has seven sister states where the majority of the population comes from the great wave of migration from China. They mainly came from Sinlung and Chhinlungsan located on the banks of the Yalung River in China.It is one of the most beautiful parts made up largely of tropical rainforest's which receive the highest rainfall in the world.The are have a large indian influence but still are very much chinese, in many aspects.

Sounds nice. If you ever go back would love to see some pics.

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Once someone told me in a chat at another site, that the Kim clan of Korea were originally Chinese/Indian people who immigrated north east.