Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v2.c15.s2.t18: Chen Hongjin
Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v2.c15.s2.t18
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Chen Hongjin
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Chen Hongjin (June 23, 1906 - January 27, 2001) was a Chinese historian of Indian studies, economist, researcher of the Institute of World History, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. He was born in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province.
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In 1930s, Chen Hongjin engaged himself in Chinese rural economic studies and then in South Asia studies. In 1945, he went to India for a visit, studying communications under the organisation of Sino-Indian Cultural Society. In 1956, he acted as the head of the South Asian study group of the Institute of International Relations (today's China Institute of International Studies), Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He led his group members to collect abundant books and reference materials about South Asian countries and made in-depth studies and analysis of these countries' political and economic situation, especially issues about Indian political parties, classes and land. In 1963, he began to work with the Institute of World History, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. In 1978, Chen Hongjin, together with Ji Xianlin, Chen Hansheng, Lin Huaxuan and Huang Xinchuan et al., took charge of the preparations for establishing the Institute of South Asia Studies, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and Peking University, and jointly initiated and convened the symposium on South Asia studies in Beijing. He was once the Associate Editor of the Asian History Branch of *Encyclopedia of China·Foreign History* and was involved in writing the items related to Indian history.
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He wrote many academic papers that have indepth discussions of Indian historical, economic and social problems and introduction to the studies of Indian and Western scholars in above-mentioned areas, mainly including *Kashmir Problems and the People's Anti-Imperialist Struggles*, *Typical Analysis of South Indian Rural Society—Thanjavur*, *Contributions of Daniel Thorner to Indian Studies*, *Historical Thought of Romila Thapar*, *On Kusum Nair's In Defence of the Irrational Peasant-Indian Agriculture after the Green Revolution* and *Steven G. Darian: The Ganges in Myth and History*. He also translated *The Economic History of India under Early British Rule* (1965) by Indian economic historian Romesh Chunder Dutt.
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(*Wang Lingnan*)