Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v2.c11.s2.t7.12

v2.c11.s2.t7.12

Tagore had been involved in the performance of many of his plays and had a good knowledge of performing art. Like old friends, they appreciated each other, and Tagore said, he would like to see his performance before leaving Beijing. Therefore, Mei Lanfang invited him to his performance of ‘*Goddess of the Luo River*’. On May 19, he had a special performance of *Goddess of the Luo River* at Kaiming Theatre (later named as “Minzhu Theatre”) for Tagore, who, in a deep red hat and a red robe (formal attire for Visva-Bharati University), sat upright in the middle of the box. Upon the end of the performance, he went to the backstage to express his thanks and invite Mei Lanfang to a talk in the next day. In the noon of May 20, he, together with Liang Qichao, Yao Mangfu and others, gave a farewell dinner to Tagore, who would leave for Taiyuan that night. At the dinner, Tagore praised ‘*Goddess of the Luo River*’, and suggested that rare stones and exotic plants should be used to produce a mystic rather than an ordinary setting for “Meeting on the River”, and he also mentioned the close connection between Chinese opera and arts as well as the thorough knowledge that an artist should have. Mei Lanfang accepted his advice and later asked people to redesign the setting accordingly, which is still in use now. Besides a common interest in theatre performance, they two liked painting as well and exchanged experiences in this respect. Tagore improvised a poem and wrote it down on a silk fan with a Chinese brush pen. The original was in Bengali and he self-translated it into English, and then marked his name and that of the recipient. He recited it in Bengali and then gave it to Mei Lanfang as a present. Literarily, this poem says: