Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v2.c15.s1.t2: Sino-Indian Cultural Society
Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v2.c15.s1.t2
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Sino-Indian Cultural Society
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Sino-Indian Cultural Society is an organisation for cultural exchanges jointly launched by India and China in 1930s. After Rabindranath Tagore paid a visit to China in 1924, Chinese and Indian scholars saw increasingly frequent communication, and the two countries witnessed rapid development of cultural exchanges. In 1931, Tan Yun-shan and Tagore put forward the vision of establishing the
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Chiang Kai-shek's meeting with Jawaharlal Nehru on his visit to India in 1942
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Sino-Indian Cultural Society that immediately attracted the attention of Chinese officials, cultural circles and academic community. In 1933, the preparatory meeting for the Sino-Indian Cultural Society was opened under the support of Cai Yuanpei, the then President of Academia Sinica and Dai Jitao, the then President of the Examination Yuan of the Republic of China (ROC). The meeting was initiated by 43 people, including Tan Yunshan, Zhou Gucheng, Master Tai Xu, Liang Shuming and Xu Beihong, and was sponsored by 24 others, including Yu Youren, Cai Yuanpei, Lin Sen and Dai Jitao. In June 1933, *The Sino-Indian Cultural Society: Plan, General Chapter, Origin* was published in volumes, putting forward the society’s purpose of studying Sino-Indian academics, exchanging Sino-Indian culture and integrating Sino-Indian friendship, uniting Chinese and Indian people to create human peace and promote world commonwealth and planning to establish a cultural centre in China and India, respectively and branches and communication offices in other places of both countries. In May 1934, Sino-Indian Cultural Society was founded first in Visva-Bharati University, Santiniketan, where Tagore served as the President. In May, 1935, Sino-Indian Cultural Society was founded in Nanjing and Cai Yuanpei was elected as the Council President, while Dai Jitao became the President of the Board of Supervisors.
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One of the contributions of Sino-Indian Cultural Society was that it facilitated the establishment of the Cheena Bhavan, Visva-Bharati University. In September 1934, Tan Yun-shan rolled out the plan on Sino-Indian cultural exchanges with the building of Cheena Bhavan at the core. The details of the plan include the establishment of foundation, scholarship and library in Cheena Bhavan that were highly endorsed by Tagore. Thanks to Tan Yunshan’s active contact and positive efforts, Sino-Indian Cultural Society raised substantial funds for the establishment of the Cheena Bhavan and donated more than 1,00,000 books in succession. On April 14, 1937, Cheena Bhavan was finally founded and was highly valued by leaders of Indian National Congress, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru. Besides, Sino-Indian Cultural Society also called on friends from the educational circles and the academic community to assist with the opening of lectures related to Sinology and Chinese Buddhism in Visva-Bharati University and the opening of lectures on Indian Buddhism and history of civilisation in Chinese universities and recommend more scholars and students to take up advanced studies in the other country. The Sino-Indian Cultural Society in both China and India also took part in receiving visiting scholars and social activists from the other side. On top of that, the Sino-Indian Cultural Society in China took an active part in the reception of Indian National Congress Medical Mission to China.
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A group photograph of Tan Yunshan, J. Nehru and R. Tagore
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In 1942, the Sino-Indian Cultural Society in both countries were reshuffled respectively in Chongqing and Shantiniketan, including the modification of the constitution, expanding in size and the election of new leaders. Zhu Jiahua took the post of the Council President of Sino-Indian Cultural Society in China, while Dai Jitao served as the supervisor of the society. Rathindranath Tagore, son of Tagore, Secretary-General of Visva-Bharati University served as the President of Sino-Indian Cultural Society in India. By 1943, Sino-Indian Cultural Society had seven Honorary Presidents and they were Gandhi, Chiang Kai-shek, Aurobindo Ghose, Dai Jitao, Nehru, Soong May-ling and Sarojini Naidu. Its intellectuals members were well-known people including 18 then or former university presidents. After the founding of the Republic of India, the members of Sino-Indian Cultural Society also included many officials such as the former three presidents of the Republic of India: Rajendra Prasad, Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, Zakir Husain and the first governor of the Republic of India, Chakravarti Rajagopalachari.
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After 1949, Sino-Indian Cultural Society’s activities in China came to a halt and the position of Sino-Indian Cultural Society in India was gradually replaced by Cheena Bhavan. Sino-Indian Cultural Society as the first-ever civil organisation with promoting Sino-Indian cultural exchanges as the mission was much told in the history of Sino-Indian friendship, and contributed a lot to the development of modern Sino-Indian relations.
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(*Jiang Jingkui & Jia Yan*)