This gesture represented an early ripple before a wave of modernity was allowed to sweep through his secretive mountain kingdom, a world all of its own between China and the northeastern tip of India.

BBC: Bhutan, the kingdom of the clouds

China has been stockpiling a mountain of cotton, presumably to insulate its textile makers from shocks.

ECONOMIST: Cotton exports

The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States recently approved the sale of Complete Genomics, based in Mountain View, California to China-based BGI (formerly known as the Beijing Genomics Institute).

FORBES: Move up http://i.forbesimg.com t Move down

Nor has anyone yet broached the question of who might pay for upgrading the North's track to take the mountain of exports that the South hopes to send via North Korea, China and the trans-Siberian railway on to Europe.

ECONOMIST: Waiting for Korea��s peace train

In a recent conference for its 500 top global executives held in Beijing China, Mr. Mahindra extolled the virtues of sitting on the top of a mountain and asking questions as wiseman once did vs simply acting busy during the daily grind.

FORBES: Are You Part Of The 'Ask' Movement?