Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v1.c7.s9.t4.5

v1.c7.s9.t4.5

Kang Youwei many times expressed his admiration for India’s ancient civilisation, which he considered as “the ancestor of the European and American civilisations”. However he bemoaned the decline of this civilisation to the point where “a British trading company worth just 1,20,000 *taels* ruined India.” “India,” he wrote, “that spans several thousand kilometres, has been caged by the British like a bird.” Much of Kang’s writing on India was devoted to trying to understand how India had come to this pass. Initially he analysed that it was due to conservatism and a reluctance to change. This view was perhaps influenced by his own views on the pressing need for change and reform in China. In 1898, even before coming to India, he had written: “A boundless nation like India perished due to its reluctance to introduce political reform.” He further expanded his analysis of the causes of India’s subjugation to include the disunity among its constituent parts. He wrote: “I lived in India for a long time, glanced over its modern history, and tried to get to the reason for its enslavement; I found out that it was the independence of various states.” He saw that the British were able to utilise the differences among the princely states to extend their own domination.