Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v2.c13.s3.t2.150

v2.c13.s3.t2.150

Calcutta saw the presence of several well-known Chinese individuals in the course of the later 19ᵗʰ and early 20ᵗʰ century which was no doubt mainly due to its being the capital of the British government in India. Apart from the Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi during the Opium War, Ye Mingchen, who was taken prisoner by the British and kept in exile in Calcutta where he later died, there were others as well. Qing officials, Huang Maocai and Ma Jianzhong, visited Calcutta in 1879 and 1881 respectively in the course of their tour of many places in India. Well-known scholar and reformer Kang Youwei also came to Calcutta in 1901 after he was forced to flee China following the failure of his reform effort and recorded his impressions of India. In 1905, the officials Tang Shaoyi, Liang Shiyi and Zhang Yintang arrived in Calcutta to hold discussions with British officials. Among the most famous visitors from China to Calcutta were Generalissimo and Mme Chiang Kai-shek in 1942 during World War II. It was in Calcutta that they met Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru.