Tagore’s ideas can guide Sino-Indian ties: China

“Tagore’s idea on China-India relationship could serve as useful guide as we work to deepen mutual trust, enhance friendship and develop bilateral exchanges and cooperation,” Zhanwu said. He said Tagore believed in Asian resurgence at a time when the West was dominant and Asians were looked down upon. “Tagore was the first Asian to be awarded the Nobel Prize in 1913. He gave us the courage that our message could also be useful and valid for the rest of the world,” the diplomat told PTI.

It was for the first time on Saturday that the Chinese consulate had celebrated Tagore’s 155th birth anniversary in a big way with a conference on the bard’s relationship with China where he had visited in 1924. According to the English calendar, Tagore was born on May 7 but Bengalis celebrate the occasion according to the Bengali calendar - 25th day of ‘Baisakh’ month which is on Sunday. The consul general said Tagore has a huge following in Asia, but nowhere is he more alive than in China, where his works have been part of middle-school curriculum for decades. 

“We will soon have more Tagore readers in China than you have in India,” he said, adding that there may already be more Yoga teachers in China than India. He cites the example of his 14-year-old daughter Yuning Ma, who started reciting Tagore poems when she was nine. “She does it in a very emotional way and in both Chinese and English,” Zhanwu said. 

On Tagore’s philosophy, he said the Nobel laureate envisioned and advocated India-China fraternal partnership and civilisational leadership, which is increasingly pertinent with the rise of both the countries as important nations in the world and when mankind needs more contribution by the two neighbours.