Rabindranath in China - Hangkow -1924

Hangkow

The city's name literally means "The Mouth of the Han", referring to its location on the north bank of the confluence of the Han and Yangtze Rivers. The name appears in a Tang Dynasty poem by Liu Changqing. Other historical names for the city include Xiakou.
On 25th May, Rabindranath with his party reached Hangkow and boarded in a five star Hotel Wagon lits, constructed in European style. The people there also look like European.  
Stephen Hey described ; " Hangkow was situated on the bank of Yangsi river and was know as  the 'Chicago of China'. This was also the site of revolution against Manchu dynasty in 1911. There lived  7 lacs of people in Hangkow, Hanyang, and Wuchang and these three cities  became the  ultra modern city now a days. Moreover, the revival of Budhism under the leadership of T 'ai Hsu was started from this place. In 1922, a Budhist College was established in Wuchang and the head office of the Young Men's Budhist Association  was established in Hangkow. Stephen Hey wrote, " With strong organisations of both leftists and Budhists on the scene, the stage in Hangkow-Wuchangwas set for a final clash between Tagore and his fiercest antagonists in China.The intellectuals of Budhists arranged a lecture in the open space of the Supporting Virtue Middle School of Hangkow. There were mostly the students and youths amongst the audience of where Rabindranath explained the two reasons of his coming to China.  Firstly, to be acquainted  with the Chinese youths, and , secondly, to acquire knowledge of ancient Chinese civilization which was well connected with Indian culture. Uniting these two        
   items, he invited the youth listeners to make a balance between the modern scientific discoveries and the spiritual attainment of ancient Eastern Civilization. 

He said , " On your shoulders, my beloved young people, lies this responsibility . Like the dawning of the rising sun, you young people are full of promise. You have a great responsibility, and you should advance with determination. Do not let our Eastern civilisation imitate whatever is done in Western civilisation.I hope very much that more Chinese students  will come to India to study the principles of Chinese and Indian culture, for these two cultures are intimately related . Young people, I urge you to exert yourselves."