Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v1.c7.s9.t7.6

v1.c7.s9.t7.6

As President of the Beijing Lecture Association (Jiangxueshe 讲学社), Liang formally invited Tagore to China to deliver a series of lectures. As his host, Liang accompanied Tagore during much of his visit. His speech welcoming Tagore provides one of the most eloquent statements by a Chinese intellectual in modern times of the spiritual and cultural debt that China owed to its 'nearest and dearest brother' India. Liang said: "Across our south-western boundary, there was a great and cultured country, India. Both in character and geography, India and China are like twin brothers. Before most of the civilised races became active, we two brothers had already begun to study the great problems that concern the whole of mankind. We had already accomplished much in the interests of humanity. India was ahead of us and we, little brother, followed behind. But nature had not been kind. She had placed between us a vast area of unfeeling desert and two great ranges of cruel snowy peaks, which separated us for thousands of years. It was not until 2,000