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The age-old cultural contacts of India and China are presented along
Tagore and China I may tell you now that when my people heard I had received an invitation from China, there was great rejoicing and excitement amongst them ... they felt that this was a great opportunity for us to reopen the ancient channel of spiritual communication once again ... they thought it absolutely easy for me to let you, through the length and breadth of China, know how we in India have a love for you, and how we long to be the recipients of your love." This is what Tagore said in his profound "leave taking" speech in Shanghai on May 22, 1924. In fact, his China visit was truly a wide-ranging Sino-Indian "civilisational dialogue" and a very important landmark in the annals of Sino-Indian cultural and spiritual connections. Judging from the perspective of the history of Sino-Indian relations, Tagore’s visit became "the curtain raiser for a new epoch". He vigorously believed that the people of China and India "have had several thousand years of cultural intercourse", and felt that it was "the duty of our generation to carry this relationship forward". Therefore, in his admiration of, and love for China and its rich civilisation, he passionately advocated the study of Chinese language and culture,and set "an example by establishing the Cheena-Bhavana in Visva-Bharati".
Erudite, lively, wide-ranging, this assemblage brings together a mosaic of forward-looking ideas as well as perspectives on China’s past "civilisational sagacity" and its intellectual circles’ sensitivity against "Western cultural poison", and offers precise and informative, if not critical, knowledge of Tagore’s cosmology of ideas. In addition, it takes cognisance of the diverse audiences to which Tagore appeals and the different approaches that his work has attracted in recent decades. The editors provide introductory essays which eminently discuss Tagore’s role in "highlighting the historical contributions of Chinese and Indian civilisations", and in persuading the two nations, India and China, to "revitalise that noble cause". The 21 chapters that follow aim not so much at making Tagore’s immensity of literary production more accessible (inevitably, as in any collection of this kind, much is left out) as at providing contexts that will enhance the understanding of Tagore’s mission to see China and India come together "for no political or commercial purpose, but for disinterested love". Thus, in the opening chapter, "Tagore and China", Nobel laureate Amartya Sen pays close attention to the timing of Tagore’s visit to China. Sen’s thoughts about "the controversy" that Tagore’s visit generated (because of the fact that the intellectual atmosphere in China was at that time rapidly changing with "political engagement that focused on radical causes geared to the present, rather than to the past") and about his (Tagore’s) politics and its various aspects, and "admiration of and closeness to China" are both worth attention and stimulating. Pugnacious and scholarly, the chapter "Historical Significance of Tagore’s 1924 China Visit" maintains that though his visit created approbation and disapprobation in the "thinking society and cultural circles of China", it had made indelible impact on the modern Chinese thinkers and helped in providing them "the modern enlightenment for thinking and resolving many an important issue". Indeed, Wei liming in this essay is lucid and thorough. With emphasis on the age-old cultural contacts of India and China, subsequent chapters address important thematic topics: Tagore’s attraction to China, geo-civilisational paradigm, Sino-Indian fraternity, Indian renaissance and understanding of Tagore, China and Asia. Together they provide a comprehensive picture of Tagore’s passion for the restoration of "the millennial Sino-Indian friendship" and how they connect up to show that Tagore was not only "an idealist" but also paid serious attention to "the realisation of his ideals". Three final chapters consider Tagore’s contemporary relevance, his cosmopolitanism, his interest in classical Chinese poetry and other artistic inspirations: music, dance and drama. The discussion here is quite encouraging. However, a couple of essays like Mohit Ray’s that discusses Tagore’s principle of universality and his objection to nationalism, and Rajasri Basu’s "Civil Society: Civility and Tagore" that emphasises the politics of civil society and Tagore’s perception of the same, are, indeed, sophomoric, demonstrating their fiercely subjective dealings with his cosmic ideas. An extremely rich book,
Tagore and China would seem to be an essential reading for all who are
interested in the history of Sino-Indian cultural concord or in the
secular ideas of Tagore in regard to a deeper understanding of Indian
and Chinese civilisations, and the educated public in general.
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Tagore
and China, originated in an international conference on Tagore in August
2010 at Peking University, and which is an extraordinary, perhaps unique
collection (perceptive and scholarly) that provides penetrating original
insights into Tagore’s significant contributions towards "social
obligations" that include, in the broadest sense of the term,
philosophy, culture, modernism, nationalism, literature, religion,
politics, friendship, and "everything else within its fold",
revolves, however, mainly around this boundless enthusiasm for the
Sino-Indian relations.