Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v2.c15.s2.t15: Shanti Tseng
Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v2.c15.s2.t15
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Shanti Tseng
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Shanti Tseng (1901 - December 1, 1982), was a writer and a journalist, and a student of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. He was originally named Zeng Chuqiao, or called Wei Shi or Zeng Manni, with a style name of Da Ji or M.
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Shanti Tseng was born in Fenghuang, Raoping (present-day Chaoan County, Guangdong Province). In 1918, he began to study at Xiamen Jimei Middle School. In 1922, he went to Singapore to teach in Tao Nan School and returned to China six months later. In 1924, he began to read the works of Rabindranath Tagore under the influence of his visit to China. In 1925, he went to India and studied in Visva-Bharati University founded by Tagore. Afterwards, he became a Chinese student of Gandhi and performed clerical jobs in Sabarmati Ashram. Gandhi gave him the name Shanti, the transliteration of the Sanskrit shānti, meaning ‘peace’. He returned to China in 1926 and worked with the Southeast Asia Chinese Newspaper between 1927 and 1937. He used to be the Chief Editor of ‘Nanyang Siang Pau’ and involved in the founding of many literary publications to promote the development of Malaysian and Chinese culture. During this period, he went to India for the second time in 1932 and visited Gandhi who was on a hunger strike. In 1937 after the Anti-Japanese War broke out, he organised ‘Overseas Chinese War Correspondents Communication Group’ to return to China to report on the war. After the war, he settled down in Tianjin. In December 1979, he was invited by Gandhi Peace Foundation to go to India to conduct research on Gandhi. He planned to complete a book of about 500,000 words called *A Non-Violent War
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Shanti Tseng
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*in India* that had stories about Gandhi. He died of illness in New Delhi on December 1, 1982.
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Shanti Tseng wrote a translated Chinese introduction to Tagore’s novel *Noukadubi* to China. In March 1943, he wrote a book about his second trip to India called - *By the Side of Mr. Gandhi* that was published in Shanghai in 1948. The book gives a detailed record of the author’s experiences of following Gandhi. It also introduces Gandhi’s non-violent ideology and Indian customs and culture, and represents an important piece of work introducing Gandhi’s thoughts and culture. In 1982, the English version of the book. *By the Side of Babu* was published in India that was financed by Gandhi Peace Foundation
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(*Zhang Shujian*)