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Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v2.c14.s3: C. Organisations, Institutions, Delegations

Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v2.c14.s3

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English

Contents

C. Organisations, Institutions, Delegations

China-India Friendship Association

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China-India Friendship Association (CIFA) is a nationwide people's organisation engaging in civil diplomacy work in People's Republic of China with India, and is a unit of the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (CPAFFC).

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The Association was established on May 16, 1952. The then Deputy Minister of Culture of People's Republic of China, Ding Xilin was its first president.

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*Picture of Ding Xiling*

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The Association is committed to promote longterm people exchanges between the two nations, combined with the actual situation of diplomacy between the two governments, intending to help and promote governmental diplomacy through civil diplomacy. Over the years, the body has been involved in the organisation of major events, contacts and meeting which include the following three categories:

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First, organise exchange visits by delegations. Since December 1953, when Ding Xilin led a delegation to participate in the first national conference of China-India Friendship Association in India, exchange visits of delegations have been organised many times which have covered all levels of society, promoted understanding between the people from different industries and fields of the two countries. The delegations participating in the exchanges included the cultural delegation led by government officials and celebrities, and national and local friendly organisations from the two countries.

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Second, organise activities of commemoration. Before major holidays and anniversaries, cultural exchange activities which helped to enhance mutual trust and understanding were held. The receptions celebrating the 50th, 55th and 60th anniversary of India-China diplomatic relations were held separately in 2000, 2005 and 2010. In November 2007, the restructuring as well as the 55th anniversary of the establishment of China-India Friendship Association was organised. In addition, the Indian medical team played a special role during the Anti-Japanese War among Chinese army and people, which was an important historical event in the history of modern India-China relations. Since its establishment, the association has received medical families to visit China, and the commemoration meeting for Doctor Kotnis was held many times. In 2008, 2010 and 2012, India-China joint medical teams were organised to hold free clinic and to conduct exchange activities in two countries respectively, reviewing and inheriting the history of friendship between the two nations.

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*Vice President of the Chinese Buddhist Association Zhao Puchu meets Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, November 1956*

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Third, host conferences and forums. Relevant special meetings, forums and seminars were hosted combined with the development of India-China relations, especially kinds of important themes of cultural exchanges. Among them, the "China-South Asia International Cultural Forum" was held successively in 2008, 2009, 2011 and 2012 separately in Beijing, New Delhi, Chengdu, Shenzhen. "China-India Forum" was held in 2009, 2010 and 2012, "China-India College Student Forum" was held in 2009 and 2013, helped set up an important platform for India-China cultural exchange.

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(*Zhang Minyu*)

India-China Goodwill Mission

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There were series of goodwill missions between India and China such as one led by venerable Tai Xu in January-February 1940 and another led by Dai Jitao, president of the examination Yuan

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*Picture of Tai Chi-tao*

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of the Nationalist government in March-April, 1943 to India. There were also private and semi-official missions to India in 1940s and 1950s. One such mission had been led by Ding Xiling and Xie Bingxin, two well-known writers of modern China. Professor Tan Yunshan, founder-Principal of Cheena Bhavan, Visva-Bharati in Santiniketan, played a significant role in some of these missions. For instance, he accompanied Dai Jitao to visit the Buddhist sacred places and acted as a personal guide. There were also several Indian goodwill missions to China led by Pt Jawaharlal Nehru, Dr S Radhakrishnan and Pit Sundarlal Bahuguna during different periods of time.

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(*Arttatrana Nayak*)

Indian Residents Association, Tianjin

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Tianjin was one of the treaty port cities in northern China that had a small community of Indian residents in the late 19ᵗʰ and early 20ᵗʰ centuries. At the beginning of the 20ᵗʰ century, they were numbered about 70 altogether. About one half of these were merchants, mostly from Sindh province (now in Pakistan). Some of them had strong business links with Japan as well. The rest of the Indian residents were mainly policemen and watchmen.

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One of these merchants was a Bengali Muslim named Abdul Bari who had been settled in China for a long time and had a Chinese wife. He had acquired

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*A historical building of Tianjin, originally known as the Taylor Hotel built in 1929 by an Indian British subject Talati and a British Laidlow*

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considerable wealth and was a prominent member of the community. After the Japanese occupation of north China during World War II, Abdul Bari had formed the Indian Residents’ Association in Tianjin. He became a controversial figure in the Indian community after the War as it was alleged that he had gone out of his way to build connections with the Japanese occupation authorities to further his own business interests, using funds belonging to the Association. This was denied by him. After the formation of the China Territorial Committee of the Indian Independence League (IIL) in 1942, Bari was persuaded by its General Secretary, Om Prakash Seth, to open the Tianjin chapter of the League. He did set up the branch of the IIL in Tianjin, but apparently did not dissolve the Indian Residents Association, which continued to exist until the end of the War in 1945.

The Ghadar Party

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One of the most active Indian political organisations in Republican China was the Ghadar Party, also known as the Hindustani Ghadar Party. The Ghadar Party was founded by Indian workers and intellectuals in North America in 1913 with the aim of overthrowing British colonial rule in India through force of arms. The Ghadar Party recruited Indians to go back to India to take part in the struggle, publicised the cause of Indian freedom through their publications and mobilisation activities, and also organised financial support and supply of arms and ammunition to send back to India. They successfully utilised the revolutionary conditions prevailing in China and the anti-imperialist sentiment they found there to establish a base for their activities in China, from the time of the first World War through the 1930s. They found particularly strong support among hundreds of Indian soldiers and policemen stationed in Hong Kong and China’s treaty ports, who formed a large proportion of the Indian community in China in this period.

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In the first phase of their activities in China around the time of World War I, the Ghadar Party focussed on their aim of organising an armed uprising in India. They actively mobilised among the large number of Indian soldiers and policemen who formed a part of the British armed forces in Hong Kong and China, urging them to go back to India and fight. Since it was not easy to approach the soldiers’ barracks, they regularly used to contact them in the gurudwaras or places of worship of the Sikhs in China. They also used to bring out a publication known as ‘*Ghadar*’ (revolt), which circulated widely among these Indians.

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The other aim of the Ghadar Party in China was to urge unity among Indians and Chinese against their common imperialist oppressors. An early poem in their publication ‘*Ghadar ki Gunj*’ translates as follows: “Oh Brother, do not fight in a war against the Chinese. Beware of the enemy. He should not deceptively instigate you to fight your Chinese brothers. The enemy splits brothers and makes them kill each other. The people of Hind, China and Turkey are real brothers.” This makes them one of the earliest Indian political organisations to openly denounce the British practice of using Indians in their wars against the Chinese people. Records show that they received definite support from various sympathetic Chinese, including some leading Chinese political figures of the time.

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After the suppression of their first attempt to launch an armed uprising in India, the Ghadar Party reorganised itself. A new phase of their activities was launched in China. In 1925, a group of Ghadar activists accompanied the exiled Indian revolutionary Raja Mahendra Pratap to China from North America. This group managed to set up active bases in Shanghai, Beijing, Hankou and other places. As the British authorities sought to harass and persecute them, they repeatedly had to shift their headquarters. In Shanghai, they set up their headquarters in the office of the General Labour Union in Zhabei, while in Beijing they set up a Ghadar Ashram. They also began publication of a fortnightly journal, ‘*Ghadar Dhandora*’, in the Gurmukhi script to reach out to the large number of Punjabis in China. The revolutionary upsurge in China in the 1925-27 period was very favourable for their activities. The Ghadar Party again strongly condemned the British attempts to use Indian forces to shoot down Chinese protesters. One of the articles in ‘*Ghadar Dhandora*’, entitled - The Duties of the Indian Army in China, explained to the Indian soldiers that - “The dutiful sons of China are fighting for the freedom of their country. The freedom of India and the freedom of China have a close connection with each other. With the freedom of China, the day of the freedom of India will draw near. It is the duty of Indians to help the Nationalist Party of China so that they may have the pleasure of seeing India free.” The propaganda of the Ghadar Party played a key role in the refusal of some detachments of Indian soldiers and policemen to fire on Chinese in this period.

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From the 1930s, the Ghadar Party in China faced difficulties with relentless British persecution and the deportation of some of its leaders, along with dwindling patronage from Chinese political forces. Nevertheless, they continued to remain active at some level in China until World War II.

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(*Madhavi Thampi*)

Indian National Association of China

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The Indian National Association of China was founded by Anand Mohan Sahay, an Indian political activist with close links to the Indian National Congress, who was based in Japan from the 1920s through the 1940s. While based in Japan, Sahay had carried on political activities for the cause of Indian freedom from the British rule and was associated with other Indian nationalists in East Asia eg Rash Behari Bose and Raja Mahendra Pratap. He sought and received some kind of approval from the Congress leadership in India to be considered as the representative of the Congress in Japan. However, the Japanese occupation of Manchuria and then China made this difficult. Sahay appears to have written to Gandhi opposing the Congress’ unqualified support for the Chinese resistance and its denunciation of Japanese aggression. He also toured Manchuria and Shanghai in 1939, and spoke to many Chinese. While professing himself to be in sympathy with the Chinese, he nevertheless urged them not to fight with Western support against the Japanese, and preached unity between the Asian nations, India, China and Japan, against British imperialism. This position was not uncommon among Indian political activists in Asia at the time.

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In 1938, the All India Congress Committee ended the practice of having affiliated branches of the Indian National Congress overseas. Sahay accordingly dissolved his Congress Committee, and instead formed an Indian National Association with its headquarters in Kobe which however claimed to adhere to Congress ideals and objectives. He then formed an Indian National Association of China in Shanghai. The president of the organisation was J. Rahman, a Pathan from the North West Frontier Province of India (present-day Pakistan). Its Secretary was Ahmed Bawa, a Bombay businessman residing in Shanghai. Other important members included M M Kohli, a Punjabi from Lahore, and Bool Chand, a Sindhi businessman in Tianjin. All had close personal or business links with Japan. In 1941, when an earlier organisation, known as the Indian Independence League was revived with Japanese patronage under Rash Behari Bose, Sahay himself dissolved the Indian National Association of China and called on its members to join the League. From 1943, the leadership of the Indian Independence League was taken over by exiled Congress leader Subhas Chandra Bose, and it became the political wing of the Indian National Army. Sahay was closely associated with Subhas Chandra Bose. At the end of the war, he was captured by Chinese forces in Hanoi and handed over to the British who imprisoned him. After India’s independence, Sahay served in various diplomatic capacities abroad.

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(*Madhavi Thampi*)

Indian Youth League

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Indian Youth League was one of the associations of Indians resident in China in the 1920s and 1930s. It had a strong anti-imperialist bent and was associated in some ways with the Eastern Oppressed People’s Association. It was based in Shanghai, which at that time had the highest concentration of Indians besides Hong Kong. Its office was in the Zhabei district. In the late 1920s and early 1930s, they faced fierce persecution from the British authorities in Shanghai. Several of their leaders and activists such as Zapuran Singh, Chanan Singh, Kartar Singh and Surjan Singh were arrested and deported to India. However, the Indian Youth League seems to have survived with some support from Chinese political leaders. According to a United States OSS report of that time, the League ‘had some kind of agreement with the Kuomintang and the Bureau of Public Safety, which enabled it to hold meetings and carry on political activity’. The same report further described the leadership of the organisation as ‘young working men who were literate and intelligent’.

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With the Japanese occupation of Manchuria and other parts of China in the 1930s, the Indian Youth League openly denounced Japanese aggression as well as Japanese Pan-Asianism. A resolution passed in one of the meetings held by the League in this period reads, “We Indians living on Chinese soil have full sympathy with the Chinese toiling masses and fully support their heroic resistance to the Japanese imperialist exploitation and aggression in China. We are confident that the brave efforts of the Chinese masses to liberate their country from the yoke of all foreign exploiters who have reduced China to the state of a semi-colonial country would ere long be crowned with success.” There is not much known about the activities of the League after this point. However, it is unlikely that they would have been able to continue with their public activity after the Japanese occupation of Shanghai and after the establishment of the Indian Independence League, which collaborated with the Japanese, in Shanghai and other Chinese cities.

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(*Madhavi Thampi*)

Indian Independence League

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Indian Independence League (IIL) was a prominent Indian political organisation that was active in various parts of East and Southeast Asia in the later years of World War II. Its primary objective was the freedom of India from British colonial rule. It had several branches in China and enrolled a significant number of Indians in China as its members. It claimed to follow the ideals and objectives of the Indian National Congress in India, but differed sharply from the Congress on the issue of using military force to achieve the overthrow of British rule in India and on the strategy of allying with an expansionist Japan.

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IIL was initially founded in the 1920s, but it was revived in 1942 under the leadership of the wellknown exiled Indian nationalist in Japan, Rash Behari Bose. With Japanese power in Asia reaching its height at that time, Bose sought Japanese help to further the objective of winning freedom for India. In 1942, two conferences were held in Tokyo and Bangkok to try and bring together different anticolonial Indian organisations in Southeast and East Asia on one platform. This led to the consolidation of the structure of the IIL, with a Council for Action and a committee of representatives, below which were territorial committees and local branches. By that time, the process of forming an Indian National Army (INA) out of Indian prisoners of war in Malaya had also been started under Japanese sponsorship. It was decided that INA would be the military wing of IIL and function under its leadership.

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The main branch of the IIL in China was established in Shanghai. It had its headquarters at 157 Peking Road, as well as a military camp and an Azad Hind Club. The headquarters was later shifted to a *gurudwara* (Sikh house of worship) at 330 E Baoxing Road. The IIL Shanghai brought out two journals – *On to Delhi* in English, and *Chalo Delhi* in romanised Urdu. Initially, the President of the Shanghai IIL was B Bobby, a businessman with close links with Japan. Later Subhash Chandra Bose, who took over as the overall leader of the IIL and the INA in 1943, reorganised the Shanghai branch, with Chet Singh as the Chairman and J Rahman as the General Secretary. It was placed under a China Territorial Committee, which established and supervised

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Indian Independence League China membership card

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branches in the then so-called Manchukuo, Nanjing, Tianjin and Hankow as well.

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Apart from Shanghai, the biggest branch of the IIL in China was in Hong Kong. The headquarters of the Hong Kong branch was at 9 Dina House on what is at present Queens Road, Central, a building that had been taken over from the wealthy Ruttonjee business family by the Japanese. Dost Mohammed Khan was the first President of the Hong Kong branch, and he was later replaced by Dr P D R Naidu with P A Krishna as its Secretary.

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During the War and occupation, the IIL in China had significant support among Indians in China, although it is not clear how much of this was entirely voluntary. Besides mobilising recruits for the INA and financial support for the struggle, IIL in China also looked after the welfare of Indians in China who found themselves in difficult circumstances owing to the War. However, with the defeat of Japan and the death of Subhash Chandra Bose, IIL and INA virtually disintegrated. In China, IIL activists were rounded up by the authorities and treated harshly in prison. A number of them were sent back to India under escort, where they were again jailed by the British and had to face trial. Despite its dismal end, probably no other Indian political organisation in China had achieved the kind of mass base that the Indian Independence League had in its short history.

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(*Madhavi Thampi*)

India-China Friendship Society

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The India-China Friendship Society was founded in the year 1956 by Pandit Sundarlal. He was the Vice President of the United Provinces Congress (1931-36) and also served as the President of the All India Peace Council (1959-63). The then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru personally congratulated him on the establishment of the Society. The main mission of the Society was to promote cultural, economic and historical ties between the two countries. The Society held its first National Congress (全国代表大会) in 1956 and here Sundarlal was elected as its first President.

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In the 30 years, when B. B. Mondal of the West Bengal Cooperation Department served as the President of the India-China Friendship Society, many delegations from the Society paid friendly visits to China on the invitation of the Chinese government and the Chinese People’s Association of Friendship with Foreign Countries (CPAFFC). The Indian side also invited several Chinese delegations to visit India. On October, 2012, a six member delegation of ICFA headed by Dr G H Fernandes, President of the Maharashtra branch of ICFA, visited China. The visit was aimed to further strengthen friendly cooperative ties between India and China. Later the same year the Vice President of CPAFFC, Feng Zuoku, visited the Maharashtra branch of the ICFA.

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Mao Zedong meets Vijaylaxmi Pandit, the head of a cultural delegation from India, and the Indian Ambassador to China

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India China Friendship Society also published a book entitled ‘The Origins of India-China Friendship’ (印中友好起源) in order to enable more Indian people to understand China better. The Society has branches all over the country; the Maharashtra branch of the Society has over 10,000 members and the Karnataka branch of the Society has over 5,000 members. The Society holds various activities to commemorate major landmarks of India-China historical and cultural ties. On July 31, 2004, the Karnataka branch of the India China Friendship Society held a Commemoration Meeting in Bangalore to mark the 50th Anniversary of the Proclamation of the Five Principles of Peaceful Co-existence (Panchsheel). It was attended by more than 200 dignitaries including the Consul General of China in Mumbai Yuan Nansheng, local senior government officials, the Indian Union Minister of State for Planning M V Rajasekharan and the Director of UNESCO, New Delhi.

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The Karnataka branch of the Society also held a celebration to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the establishment of the People’s Republic of China. The event was attended by the Chinese Consul-General Wang Donghua and other dignitaries. In order to observe the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, the West Bengal branch of the India China Friendship Society held a meeting on October 9, 2009 at the University of Calcutta.

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(*Sabaree Mitra*)

Indian Women’s Society for India-China Friendship

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Indian Women’s Society for India-China Friendship (印中友好妇女协会) was established in 1977 to advocate friendship between the women of India and China. The purpose of establishing the association was to strengthen overall cooperation between the women of India and China based on the principle of mutual benefit and equality. The organisation has its headquarters in New Delhi, and has branches in Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. The main task of this organisation is to promote mutual understanding and friendship between the people, especially the women, of the two countries.

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(*Sabaree Mitra*)

Indian Medical Mission

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On September 1, 1938, the Indian National Congress sent a Medical Mission to China, which was composed of five well trained Indian doctors. Dr Madan Mohanlal Atal was the head of the mission, and Dr M Ramchandra Cholkar was the deputy head. The other three doctors were Dr Dwarkanath Shantaram Kotnis, Dr Bejoy Kumar Basu and Dr Deben Mukherjee. They saved the lives of many Chinese soldiers, helped train the Chinese medical staff and thereby made outstanding contribution in helping China to gain victory against the Japanese invaders. This was a milestone in the history of India-China relations.

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In 1937, Japan invaded China. Under the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the Chinese people gave a call to resist the Japanese imperialists. During this time, the awareness of the Japanese invasion also spread in India. India, then under the British rule, was also facing oppression and exploitation under the British imperialist rulers. Therefore, India empathised with the Chinese people

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*Ye Jianying, the Eighth Route Army and all members of the Indian medical aid to China at Wuhan; September 30, 1938*

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and throughout India, an aid-China movement developed. There were student speeches and demonstrations, there were performances organised by art and literary groups and even the urban people raised donations to aid China. On November 27, 1937, at the suggestion of Agnes Smedley, Zhu De, who was then serving as the Commander-in-Chief of the Eighth Route Army, a people’s army led by the CCP during the anti-Japanese war, wrote a letter to the Indian national leader Pt Jawaharlal Nehru requesting him to send medical supplies and doctors to help the Chinese in this hour of distress.

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In response to this request by the Chinese, at its 52ⁿᵈ Session, the Indian National Congress adopted a resolution to send a medical team to China immediately to help the Chinese people in need. The medical mission was sponsored by Pt Jawaharlal Nehru himself. A special committee was set up to collect funds for the mission and select personnel for the mission. The president of the Indian National Congress, Subhas Chandra Bose himself initiated the fund collection drive to prepare for the expenses of the Indian Medical Mission to China.

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Finally, the Congress decided upon the members of the medical mission to be sent to China. Subhas Chandra Bose presided over a mass send-off rally in Calcutta. He himself went to the Howrah station to see the doctors off to Bombay from where they were to start for China. After fulfilling all the essential requirements and formalities, at the end of August, 1938, the members of the medical mission gathered in Bombay. The mission comprised of five members, namely, Dr Madan Mohanlal Atal from Allahabad, Dr M. Ramchandra Cholkar from Nagpur, Dr Deben Mukherji and Dr Bejoy Kumar Basu from Calcutta and Dr Dwarkanath Shantaram Kotnis from Sholapur. Dr M Atal was the leader of the mission and Dr M Cholkar, the deputy leader of the mission. Both of them were veterans in medical profession. The remaining three doctors were young men, all below the age of 30. On the afternoon of August 31, 1938, the Chinese residents in Bombay held a farewell banquet in their honour at the Taj Mahal Hotel. In the evening the same day, the Bombay Provincial Congress Committee and the local labour organisation held a mass rally in Jennah Hall to send them off. The chairman of the rally referred to the doctors as the unofficial ambassadors and as the ambassadors of the Indian people to China. On September 1, 1938, the mission having S S Rajputana left Bombay for China boarding the P&O Liner. Madam Sarojini Naidu, one of the most popular leaders of the Indian National Congress, came to see the medical mission off to the ship at Pallard Pier, Bombay. The mission had carried along with it 54 boxes of medicine and one bulletproof ambulance to China. On September 17, the mission reached the Chinese territory at the Guandong Province (Canton).

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The doctors stayed in Guangzhou for six days and then they travelled towards the north, first to Changsha by a convoy of ambulance. They reached Changsha on September 25. Here, they were incorporated into the No. 15 Curative Unit of the China Red Cross. After spending four days in Changsha, on September 29, the medical team reached Wuhan which was then the seat of the Guomindang government. The doctors started to work in the 64 Rear Hospital in Wuhan. But soon they started for Yan’an in the north, which was the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army. In order to express their love and friendship for the Chinese people, each doctor put ‘Hua’, which means China in the Chinese language, after their names. Dr Atal’s name became Ai Dehua, Dr Cholkar was Chuo Kehua, Dr Mukherji became Mu Kehua, Dr Basu was Ba Suhua and Dr Kotnis was Ke Dihua. This gesture was suggested by Professor Tan Yunshan of Cheena Bhavana, Visva-Bharati University in Santiniketan. The five doctors worked laboriously under extremely poor living and working conditions.

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Later owing to illness, poor health conditions and various other reasons, Dr Cholkar, Dr Mukherji and Dr Atal were compelled to return to India in less than two years. After that Dr Kotnis and Dr Basu continued to work with the Eighth Route Army. They moved to the southeastern part of Shanxi and then to the southern part of Hebei province. From mid-August 1940, the two doctors settled down and started working in the Shanxi-Chahaer-Hebei Base Area, Bethune Medical School and affiliated hospitals. This place was very close to the battle front and the living and working conditions were very poor. In due course, Dr Basu was sent back to Yan’an and Dr Kotnis continued to work there.

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Dr Kotnis worked very hard and for long hours, some times for 20 hours a day. Due to over-exhaustion his health deteriorated rapidly and he passed away on December 9, 1942 in China. He was 32 years then. After the death of Dr Kotnis, the responsibility of the mission fell entirely on the shoulders of Dr Basu who continued treating the Chinese patients at Yan’an. In June 1943, after working in China for five years, he left Yan’an and proceeded towards India to participate in the Indian National Movement.

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The Indian Medical Mission had fulfilled its mission in China through the selfless service of the five doctors. It became a major milestone in the history of India-China relations.

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(*Sabaree Mitra*)

All India Dr Kotnis Memorial Committee

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All India Dr Kotnis Memorial Committee was established by Dr Bejoy Kumar Basu in 1943 in Bombay, after he returned to India from the medical mission to China. One of the primary objectives of the Committee was to foster India-China relations. Medical service has been the mainstay of this Committee, and it has been serving poor and needy patients through its medical centres. Along with that it also has a cultural troupe which propagates the teachings of Dr Kotnis through drama, music, one-act plays etc. However, the Committee had not been very active. In a meeting of like-minded people on April 22, 1973, at the Calcutta Students Hall, it was decided to revive the Dr Kotnis Memorial Committee. A state unit of the Committee was also formed in Calcutta. Dr Deben Mukherjee, a member of the Indian Medical Mission, was made the Chairman of the unit and he held the position till 1981.

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(*Sabaree Mitra*)