Ninety years ago, Rabindranath Tagore, the great Indian poet loved by the Chinese, visited China and was warmly welcomed by the Chinese people. As soon as he set foot on Chinese soil, Tagore said, "I don't know why, coming to China is like returning home." As he left China, he said sadly, "My heart is here." ”

-- "Pursuing the Dream of National Rejuvenation: Speech at the Indian Council on World Affairs" (September 18, 2014)

I have had a keen interest in Indian civilization since I was a child. I am deeply attracted by the ups and downs of India's history, and I have dabbled in history books about the Ganges civilization, the Vedic culture, the Mauryan Dynasty, the Kushan Dynasty, the Gupta Dynasty, the Mughal Empire, etc., and I am particularly concerned about the history of the Indian colonies and the history of the Indian people's tenacious struggle for national independence, and I am also very concerned about the thoughts and life of Mahatma Gandhi, hoping to understand the development process and spiritual world of a great nation. I have read Tagore's poems such as Gitanjali, The Birds, The Gardener, and the Crescent, and many of them are still fresh in my memory. He wrote, "If you weep because you have lost the sun, then you have also lost the stars", "When we are very humble, we are closest to greatness", "Mistakes cannot withstand failure, but truth is not afraid of failure", "We see the world wrong, but say that it deceives us", "Life is like the splendor of summer flowers, death is like the quiet beauty of autumn leaves", and so on.

-- "Pursuing the Dream of National Rejuvenation: Speech at the Indian Council on World Affairs" (September 18, 2014)

Further reading:

Rabindranath Tagore was Asia's first Nobel laureate in literature and was regarded as the "spokesman" of Indian civilization internationally. In his literary career spanning more than 60 years, he has written more than 50 poetry collections, 12 novels, nearly 100 short stories, and more than 20 plays, including Gitanjali, Crescent, The Gardener, and Birds. In India, Tagore had a great influence, and was known as the two great sages in the field of Indian literature and politics along with the Indian great man of the same period, and the title of "Mahatma" was given by Gandhi, and Tagore was called "the great wise man" by Gandhi.

Tagore's friendship with China has a long history. During the Chinese New Culture Movement, many of Tagore's writings were introduced to China and continue to influence generations of Chinese readers. In March 1924, at the invitation of Liang Qichao and Cai Yuanpei, Tagore and his entourage formed a six-member delegation to visit China and came to China. During his visit to Hangzhou, Tagore delivered a speech at the Zhejiang Education Department entitled "Finding the Road of Light from Friendship", which was attended by more than 3,000 people. Tagore was impressed by the beauty of Hangzhou and composed a poem on the spot: "The mountain stood there, high into the clouds, and the water was at his feet, rippling with the wind, as if asking for him, but he was proud and did not move." ”

During Tagore's visit to China, which coincided with his 64th birthday, Liang Qichao congratulated him on his birthday, combining China's ancient name for India - Tianzhu and India's ancient name for China - Aurora, and presented Tagore with a Chinese name "Zhu Aurora", which Tagore gladly accepted. The name also expresses the expectation of Chinese friends that Tagore will play a huge role in cultural exchanges between China and India.

After that, Tagore responded to this beautiful name with his tireless efforts. In 1937, he established the China Institute at the International University of India, which was the first of its kind in the study of China in India. Chinese writer Xu Dishan, painter Xu Beihong, and educator Tao Xingzhi have all lectured at the academy. The portrait of Tagore that we commonly see now was made by Xu Beihong when he was lecturing in India. In 1941, on his last birthday, Tagore dictated the poem "I Ever Stepped on the Land of China", fondly recalling the good times he spent in China.

Literary classics are not only the cultural treasures of a nation, but also an effective carrier for foreign exchanges. Classic passages and philosophical language can often arouse emotional resonance among people from different cultural backgrounds. On September 18, 2014, in a speech at the Indian Council of World Affairs, Xi Jinping told the story of reading Tagore's works and quoted Tagore's famous sentences, narrowing the distance between his hearts. From telling the world that people have had a "strong interest in Indian civilization since childhood", to telling the history of India like a treasure, to reciting Tagore's famous sentences, Xi Jinping's narration is like a dialogue between old friends, with deep and meaningful feelings.

In 1990, when Xi Jinping was transferred to the post of party secretary of Fuzhou, he quoted a story from Tagore's return from a visit to China as a parting message to local leading cadres as he was about to leave Ningde, where he had worked for nearly two years. A friend asked Tagore, what did you lose in China? He replied: I didn't lose anything, I just left a heart. Xi Jinping used this as a metaphor and said: "Although people are about to leave Mindong, I have left a sincere heart that loves Mindong." "People are all the same, they will cherish each other because they know each other, and they will warm their hearts because they know each other. Warm people with affection, move people with sincerity, and the water temperature of feelings will slowly rise.