Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v2.c10.112

v2.c10.112

Mutual visits by both countries’ writers and translators have played an active role in promoting literary exchanges. After Tagore’s visit to China in 1924, Chinese writers such as Xu Dishan paid a visit to India. Some young men such as Jin Kemu, Wu Xiaoling, Shi Zhen went to India to work or study, and finally became famous experts and scholars translating and studying literary works after returning from abroad. In the 1950s, famous writers and translators such as Xie Bing Xin, Ji Xianlin, Zhou Erfu, and Yang Shuo visited India, promoted exchanges between the two countries’ literary circles, and their travel notes have improved the Chinese people’s understanding of India. Indian writers such as Mulk Raj Anand and Khwaja Ahmed Abbas also visited China in groups during the same period, and published articles or papers recording their impressions after returning to India. In the late 1970s, as the Cultural Revolution came to an end and both countries resumed the former relationship, visits by writers from both countries began to increase. In 1978, Ji Xianlin joined the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries and visited India, and published the *Impression of India* the following year after returning home, which had a significant influence on China. In 1979, Hemango Biswas, the folk musician and song writer in Bengal visited China and communicated for a long time with Wu Xiaoling, Shi Zhen, the dramatist Wu Xue, etc., to try and understand the fate and the future development of the Chinese literary circles during the Cultural Revolution. In the 1980s, Mulk Raj Anand visited China again, met the Chinese writer Xiao Qian, and called on Wang Huaiting, the Chinese translator of his works. In 1986, Wang Huaiting visited India and was warmly received by Mulk Raj Anand. In 1992, he visited China for the third time at the advanced age of 87.