To the point

For the game, Nepalese students in Beijing assume the various roles encountered by Arniko on his journey from Nepal to China. These roles include: Arniko himself; the king of the Malla Dynasty; Nepalese citizens; Phags-pa, the first "Guru for the Emperor" in the history of the Yuan Dynasty; and Kublai Khan, the founder of the Yuan Dynasty.

"I love the heart-warming joy of people from different countries coming together, something you can't experience any other way," Gao says. "I would jump at the chance to promote cultural exchange between China and Nepal in some other way.

"We wanted the public to be able to appreciate how deep the friendship between China and Nepal is, and to do so in an interesting way."

Liang Yuxuan, 21, a college student from Hong Kong, visits the temple and enjoys the game a lot. She says: "When I talk to Nepalese, it's like a cultural exchange through time and space. It's very touching."

Strolling along Beijing's fabled hutong and its streets, a sense of history and culture seeps from between every brick, she says.