Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v2.c10.s2.t34: Krishan Chander
Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v2.c10.s2.t34
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Krishan Chander
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Krishan Chander (November 23, 1914 - March 8, 1977) Chander was an Urdu writer and the former General Secretary of the Indian Progressive Writers’ Association.
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Born in Wazirabad, Gujranwala (present day Punjab in Pakistan), he lived in Poonch, Kashmir with his father when he was a teenager. He went to the Forman Christian College of Punjab University to study medical science in 1929 and became interested in English literature. He obtained his Master’s degree in English language and literature in 1935, and obtained his Bachelor’s degree in Law in Lahore College of Law in 1937. During this period, he was hired as the editor-in-chief of ‘*The Northern Review*’ and ‘*The Modern Girl*’, a monthly in English. From 1939 to 1943, he was appointed as a Director of All India Radio and later a Producer Director in Shalimar Film Company. He joined the Indian Progressive Writers’ Association in the early 1940s, was elected as a Director of Indian Peace Council after the division of India in 1947, and appointed as the General Secretary of the Indian Progressive Writers’ Association in 1953. He once visited China as a member of a delegation in the 1950s and contributed to the exchange of Chinese and Indian literary circles.
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K. A. Abbas and the poster of his movie, Dharti Ke Lal (Children of the Earth)
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Chander, who is honoured as ‘the king of short stories in India’, had created 48 long and medium
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'One Girl and One Thousand Pursuers', front cover of the Chinese edition
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stories, and 32 short stories collections during his lifetime. He also wrote some children's literature works and scripts for films and operas. Although his early-stage works were full of idealism and romanticism, he changed his style of writing to realism since 1944 with works reflecting the social state of the domestic India, paying attention to the real life of the low and mid-level citizens and revealing the evils of Indian society.
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Since the 1950s, a number of works written by Krishan Chander were translated and published in China, including *‘One Girl and One Thousand Pursuers’* (1981), *‘A Confession of A Donkey’* (1982), *‘Failure’* (1986) and *‘Money Mirror’* (1984). Some sections in *‘Urdu Literary History’* (1993) compiled by Shan Yun and *‘The Oriental Literary History’* (1995) compiled by Ji Xianlin gave some comments on Chander’s works.
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(Li Baolong)