Rabindranath in China - Peking (contd-14)

Stephen Hey cited the publication of the news of Rabindranath Tagore's visit to West Hill;
" On the advice of his physician, Dr. Rabindranath Tsgore has cancelled all his public and private engagements and after his last lecture at the Chen Kuang Theatre this morning, he left for the Western Hills. Because of his physical and mental fatigue. Dr. Tagore will remain in the hills until next sunday when he will return to Peking and leave the next morning."
A letter written by Kshitimohan to Rathindranath on 13th May reveals the actual state of things;
" ...We have come in and around the Chinese youths who are madly addicted  to the strength of mechanical  advantage.They want to get everything by machine and they also worship machinary equipments.They don't have higher thinking other than political circle....Gurudev has come to Western Hills after delivering 2/3 lectures - about 20 miles away from here in a peaceful place.He will comeback here again on 18th. he will then go to Shanghai via Hunkow throgh Yung Tse Kiang on 20th. He will meet with General Wu-Pei-Fu on the way....Mr. Elmhirst had a plan to go to Russia by train from Japan. Some authority of Russia have to fetch Rabindranath. Gurudev asking him to prepare everything for his visit. He expessed his willingness to go to Russianext year.
Rabindranath went to Russia in 1930.    
 

Rabindranath Tagore in China - Peking (contd-13)

The main intention of the leaflets circulated for publicity was meant  for the hosts who invited Rabindranath to China. On the next day, there was no lecture to be delivered. Rabindranath asked his  Chinese associates to call on some of the opposition youths to discuss the main issues of his mission in China.Though they agreed but lastly Hsu Tse wrote him;
" Unfortunately I find it difficult to get enough atheist friends for this coming meeting. Some are away while others do not fully understand English ....I do not deem it right that this rare pleasure you have promised me should be exclusively enjoyed by one or two persons.
It was decided that Rabindranath would deliver lecture from Monday to Thursday [12-15 May], in every morning.. But after this incident, he declared that he was cancelling all lectures on and from tuesday.Even on Monday he would deliver lecture one hour before the scheduled time.
Having got the news to the young students of Peking, about two thousands young students came to the Theatre Hall.     Hsu Tse-Monin his inauguration speech calmly said high of Rabindranath Tagore. Dr. Hu tse requested the audience to show proper respect to our Guest lecturer. The lecture delivered by Rabindranath was published in Viswabharati Quarterly [ oct 1925] titled Judgement.
He started the lecture in an ironically way;
" The young generation of men in the East are everywhere attracted by what they imagine is modern. And they have convinced themselves that Western life is modern. They are seeking from its manners and mentality the magic formula of how to grow modern. They believe that what is called modern represents the principle of indefinite growth and freedom. - it is youth,  it is life."
"Are we sure that the same thing has not happened to the West, and that the atmosphere of turmoil which we find there is not due to the conflict between, their present history, which is no longer modern, and the messenger of the future, which was come with its sovereign claims ?" He further said , " All that is deeply human  is never old. It has the perpetual freshnes of imperishable life.
Rabindranath went to a hill side in the West Hill to take rest.  

Rabindranath Tagore in China - Peking (contd-12)

The leaflets distributed among the audience was written in Chinese. Rabindranath asked one of his Chinese friend about the subject of the leaflets. But he felt uneasiness. Rabindranath came to know the subject matter of the leaflets with the help of some of his Japanese friends. This was known in Bengali by Sisir Kumar Das and Taan Oen;
1. We have got many things from ancient Chinese Civilisation, but now we need no more of it. This civilisation made kings greatest by exploiting the masses. It made  the females submissive to males, it offered all powers to the males, it flattered the aristocrats feudals. and Rabindranth wanted to us to go back that civilisation. So this was the cause of our protest.
2. The farmers of our society are unable to feed their own family, our industry is nothing but a cottage industry, our conveyance i.e., boat is unable to move more than a few miles in a day, our language, its alphabets, are still ancient, our roads, our toilets, our  Kitchens are simly a laughing skalk in the world. But Rabindranath is saying ill of our modern civilisation. So we are bound to protest against this.
3. We had seen the dangerous scenario of ancient civilisation of China what Rabindranath termed as intimate  civilisation  - unnecessary war, robbery, rape, hypocrisy, fraud, greed, shameless prostitution, blood sucking by greedy rich man, cutting of flesh from own body to feed parents, rejoicing of drinking liquor in the scull of a dead man, to add beauty to female by deforming her legs. Rabindranath asked us to turn to those days.
4. The cause of distress of China is the indifference of the citizens of the state.For this reason the military ruler and foreign power could play ducks and drakeswith us. But Rabindranath said that we were too much  distracted for those reasons which meant there was no need for Nationalism, no need for government, only we need self realisation
5. We had our own ism, our own theories and theories of Confucius. Now several theories have come, such as, "Harmniyas virtue Society", " Spiritual Cultural Association " and theories of Christianity. Rabindranatnh was saying about supreme power - salvation of own soul. We protest against this lazy theories. We oppose those who invited Rabindranath Tagore.
In the book of Stephen hey, the last portion of the para was illustrated vividly;
" Therefore we protest, in the name of all  the oppressed peoples, in the name of all the persecuted classes, against Mr. Tagore, who works to enslave them still more by preaching to them patience and apathy . Wre also protest against the semi-official literati who have invited Mr. Tagore to come to hyponotize and drug out Chinese youth in this way, these literati who use his talent to instill in Young China their conservative reactionary tendencies."                 

Rabindranath Tagore in China - Peking (contd-11)

Kalidas Nag informed, " A few Budhist came to Rabindranath in the afternoon. They promised to cooperate with  any India student coming over here - this group of people is contemplative and simple - there is a difference between them and the modern group - they are ready to fight for truth, peace and friendship."

Stephen Hey wrote, " The first lecture of Rabindranath was aggressive in nature. It is obvious that the opposition group of Rabindranath had a meeting on that day  in the evening to finalise  their programme and on the next day before the meeting started, they began to distribute leaflets among the audience criticizing the statement delivered by Rabindranath."
Liang Ch’i-Ch’ao
(Born Feb. 23, 1873, in the district of Hsinhui, Kwangtung Province; died Jan. 19, 1929, in Peking. Chinese political figure, writer, philosopher, and historian.

Liang Ch’i-ch’ao was one of the leaders of the reform movement in China in the late 19th century. After the defeat of the reformers in 1898, he went to Japan, where he and K’ang Yu-wei established the constitutional-monarchical Alliance for the Defense of the Emperor. He opposed the revolutionary-democratic movement led by Sun Yat-sen, and after the Hsinhai Revolution (1911-13), he joined the government of the reactionary Yuan Shih-k’ai. However, in 1915-16 he actively opposed Yuan Shihk’ai’s plan to restore the monarchy)  
Liang Chi Chao  requested Hsu Tse to preside over the meeting. Hsu rebuked the students for disrespecting the guest. Rabindranath also was ready with proper reply. He said he had converted the two essays into one, "the rule of the giant" and "the Giant Killer" .The amended essay titled " The rule of the Giant" was printed in Viswabharati Quarterly. "The gist of the opinion of Rabindranath" , Stephen Hey said, " is Giant's rule which is nothing but the rule of modern civilisation controlled by the inconsistent development of mechanical strength." The Giant Killer of the Industrial Revolution and the unguarded expansion of the cloven-footed commerce is mainly responsible for this. He also took the modern democracy to task because a few  persons, being powerful for their riches, for their own vested interest  utilises human beings in disguise. He also said accusing those Cinese who called him reactionary and orthodox, "There are those in the east who have slavishly come to believe that superstitions which are modern denote progress." He also added refuting charges against him, " Those who know me that I have ever fought against obedience to the unmeaning , to traditions that are dead....I preach the freedom of man from the sevitude of the fetish of hugeness, the non-human. I refuse to be styled an enemy of enlightment because I donot stand on the side of the giant who swallows life, but on the side of Jack, the human, who defies the big, the gross, and wins victory at the end.".            

Rabindranath Tagore in China - Peking (contd-10)

At the end of his 64th birth day celebration , the "Chitra" drama in English version was staged. The young non-professional artists of the Chrescent moon Society took part in the roles. They had their dialogue in pure English pronunciation. Nanda lal Basu helped them in dressing and painting. He wrote I make the Chinese in Bengalee dress. I have to face some difficulty for their tiny eyes.Lastly they looked like Manipuri.. They acted well.Chitra played by Miss Miss Phillis W,Y. lin, in the role of Arjun Chang Hsin-hai, as Kamdev madan -bHsu Tse-Mon , Hritudevata Basanta - Lin Chang-min, Villagers- Miss Monica Y. Wang, Mrs c. Yang, Chiang Fang Cheng, Ting sih-lin.

Before the drama was staged Rabindrabath in reply to the welcome address paid thanks for his new nomenclature.
on and from the next day , 9th May, the series of lectures organized by the Peking Lecture Association on whose invitation Rabindranath had come to China would begine.
Rabindranath delivered his first lecture out of six to be delivered in the biggest and modern Community hall namely Chen Kwang Theatre Hall at 11 AM on 9th May, 1924.
Far Eastern Times wrote about this lecture,
" The pit of the Cheng Kwang  Theatre and a couple of score of seats in the gallery were filled with the audience that attendedthe first of Rabindranath Tagore's public lectures yesterday morning. It was a pity hat the gathering was not much larger, for the utterance was a  remarkably fine one., delivered with a rhetorical perfection that enhanced its acceptability, and made arresting by its quiet and indirect but eviscerating criticism of the accepted standards. "
 The lecture was published in Talks in China., titled ",To the public at the Theatre in Peking."  

Rabindranath Tagore in China-Peking -(contd-9)

On 8th May (25th Baisakh), the associates observed the  birth day of Rabindranath. Nandalal Basu gifted a self drawn picture to Rabindranath, Kalidas Nag read a self written poetry " Kabi Prasasti" and Kshitimohan Sen read a self written Sanskrit Sloka. In the evening the 64th birth day of Rabindranath was celebrated in the auditorium of the newly established Peking Normal University at the initiative of Chris cent Moon Society   in the presence of four hundred specially invited guests. about 80 intellectuals of Europe and America under the leadership of Su Shimo established the society.Dr. Hu Shi presided over the ceremony. Liang Chi Chau presented a pair of Sil and a valuable piece of stone engraved three Chinese letters " Chu Chen Taan". The word 'chu' is an ancient Chinese word used as a title of Rabindranath, The word Taan means Sun and Chen means Indra or the three words represent a Chinese word which meant Rabindra. Another meaning of this word is " the morning of clouded sky of India".Lastly Kshitimohan Sen read self written two slokas, Kalidas Nag read a poem  Balaka, "Puratan Batsarer jirna klanta Ratri" and Nandalal Basu presented a self drawn picture to Rabindranath." The chinese devotees presented him 15/16 grade I pictures, a thousan -petal cup and other materials.

Rabindranath came with Dhoti and Panjabi, the Bengali. Dress.

Rabindranath Tagore in China- Peking (contd-8)

Rabindranath delivered a lecture in Theatre hall on 4th May,1924 and on 6th May , morning, he met Dr. Hu Shi in a breakfast party.

Hu Shi - Father of the Chinese Renaissance

Hu Shi (17 December 1891 — 24 February 1962), born Hu Hung-hsing, was a Chinese philosopher and essayist. His courtesy name was Shih-chih. Hu is widely recognized today as a key contributor to Chinese liberalism and language reform in his advocacy for the use of vernacular Chinese. He was also an influential Redology scholar. Hu was born in Anhui to Hu Chuan and Feng Shundi. His ancestors were from Jixi, Anhui. In January 1904, his family established an arranged marriage for Hu with Chiang Tung-hsiu, an illiterate girl with bound feet who was one year older than he was. The marriage took place in December 1917. Hu received his fundamental education in Jixi and Shanghai. Hu became a "national scholar" through funds appropriated from the Boxer Rebellion Indemnity Scholarship Program. On 16 August 1910, he was sent to study agriculture at Cornell University in the United States. In 1912 he changed his major to philosophy and literature. After receiving his undergraduate degree, he went to Columbia University to study philosophy. At Columbia he was greatly influenced by his professor, John Dewey, and Hu became Dewey's translator and a lifelong advocate of pragmatic evolutionary change, helping Dewey in his 1919-1921 lectures series in China. He returned to lecture in Peking University. During his tenure there, he received support from Chen Duxiu, editor of the influential journal New Youth, quickly gaining much attention and influence. Hu soon became one of the leading and influential intellectuals during the May Fourth Movement and later the New Culture Movement. He quit New Youth in the 1920s and published several political newspapers and journals with his friends. His most important contribution was the promotion of vernacular Chinese in literature to replace Classical Chinese, which ideally made it easier for the ordinary person to read. The significance of this for Chinese culture was great—as John Fairbank put it, "the tyranny of the classics had been broken".

 In the noon the teacher of English Language of Yen Ching Women's College invited Rabindranath in a lunch After the lunch Dr. Bau introduced Rabindranath before the students of the women's college. The reply of Rabindranath Tagore was printed in Talks in China as a 9th lecture, titled "To the English Teachers' Association , Peking." .