Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v2.c15.s2.t5.7

v2.c15.s2.t5.7

While in the United States of America, Tao Xingzhi paid several visits to his mentor Dewey in early December of 1937. He requested him to contact and persuade some of the world’s leading figures, such as Romain Rolland, Albert Einstein and Bertrand Russell, to co-sign a declaration to denounce Japan, and call people across the world to boycott Japanese goods and impose an embargo upon Japan and to stop all cooperation with the nation so as to provide an utmost support to China. On December 6, he drafted and sent a telegraph and a declaration to Wardha in Central Province of India (roughly equivalent to present Madhya Pradesh), requesting Gandhi to give a reply within five days. Anxious though, Tao Xingzhi knew that this request was a bit too far. Gandhi was busy and unsettled, and this telegraph might not have been timely delivered. Naturally, Gandhi gave his passionate support to Chinese, and wired back his consent on December 22. But, the declaration, titled ‘Our Attitude toward Japan’s Invasion of China’ was published on December 13, just signed by Dewey, Rolland, Einstein and Russell. The day before, the Japanese army seized Nanjing and started a massacre. The meaning of this declaration is self-evident.