Indian association takes hot, top place in China (8)
I believe the answer is:
shanghai
'in china' is the definition.
('Shanghai' is part of 'china')
'indian association takes hot top' is the wordplay.
'indian association takes' becomes 'shang' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'hot' becomes 'h' (abbreviation eg on taps).
'top' becomes 'ai' (I've seen this in other clues).
'shang'+'h'+'ai'='SHANGHAI'
'place' is the link.
This may not be right. It may belong to another bit of the clue.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for shanghai that I've seen before include "Exhibit haircut on sailor's head in" , "part of China?" , "China's largest city" , "Abduct to serve as a sailor" , "somewhere in China" .)