Nehru and China

TAN YUN-SHAN

As the names of Lord Buddha and the Bodhisattavas of ancient India, three names of modern India are very well-­known to the Chinese people, namely, Mahatma Gandhi, Guru­deva Tagore, and Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru.

Gandhi was the most revered, Tagore the most adored, Nehru remains the most beloved of all. The Chinese people revere the Mahatma as a saint, adore the Gurudeva as a teacher, but regard the Pandit as a friend and brother of their own. Or, to be more accurate, to the Chinese people, Tagore was like a mother, Gandhi a father, and Nehru a darling.

Indeed, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru possessed many chara­cteristics which the Chinese have had themselves, and which they cherish. We really feel that he is more lovely, more humane, more social, more friendly and more considerate than any other foreigner. And yet he is so dignified and majestic that he commands the respect and admiration of all people, especially the Chinese, besides their love and affection for him. In other words, he has gained the heart of the citizens of the world in general, and of the Chinese in particular.

When we look at him with a long Chinese gown in a photo taken together with the Chinese Generalissimo and Madame Chiang, published in his book China, Spain and the War, but for his Gandhi-cap we can hardly distinguish him from a Chainese.

Like the visit of the Poet Rabindranath Tagore to China in 1924, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru’s visit to China in 1939 has been a great event in Sino-Indian history. The warm and genuine reception that the Chinese people and their National Government accorded to him exceeded any given to foreign guests in recent times.

As Pandit Nehru has himself recorded, when he arrived in Chunking, the wartime capital of China, he was greeted by thousands of people including many political, cultural, educational, social and also military leaders. At the aerodrome, “there was a brief speech of welcome and presentation of bouquets, and then we passed along a line of girls and boys in some kind of uniform who greeted me with rhythmic waving of flags. Then to a boat to cross the river.” (China, Spain and the War, p. 44.) The whole city of Chungking was decorated with flags, flowers and festoons, and the streets lined by people when he passed by. One thing to be specially noted here is that this was the first time that the Chinese people hoisted their national flag in welcoming a foreign guest.

Although his visit to China was a very short one and was limited to two or three cities, due to the war situation of that country and urgent call from India, the impression he left with the Chinese people has been lasting. The goodwill and hospitality of the Chinese people was no doubt very splendid and touching. As Pandit Nehru himself said:

“Abundant goodwill and hospitality met me everywhere, and soon I realised that this had far more than personal significance. I was looked upon as a representative of India, of the Congress, although I had no such official status, and the people of China were anxious and eager to make friends with the Indian people and to develop contacts with them. Nothing could have pleased me better, for that also was my heart’s desire.         
“And so I came after thirteen days, reluctantly, and yet inevitably, for the call of India in these days of crisis was imperative. But that brief stay had been worth while for me certainly, and possibly for India and China.” (China, Spain and the War, PP. 24-25)

Yes, this brief stay for thirteen days of Pandit Nehru in China will always be remembered, and that Pandit Nehru, I am sure, will himself never forget it. There is even now a very sincere hope and wish of the Chinese people that there would be another chance and opportunity for them to welcome the Indian national leader once again to China, and to get him to stay there for a much longer period and to visit many more cities and places.

The world of to-day is full of snobbishness and flattery. People ingratiate themselves with the strong and the rich and look down upon the weak and the poor. They blindly or even slavishly worship force and power and foolishly or rather pitiably ignore human feeling and justice and dignity. When Mussolini and his Italy were strong, people praised and admired them. When Hitler and Germany were in power, people admired and adored them. When the Japanese mili­tarists and Japan were in a mighty position, people extolled and eulogised them. Now people have changed their attitude towards these figures and countries. Now they come to laud Soviet Russia and Comrade Stalin. But Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru did not, and does not, and will never do these. The Chinese people also did not and do not, and will never do these.

Just the opposite. When Abyssinia was trodden under the iron heel of Mussolini and the Italian Fascists, Jawaharlal lost no time to condemn the wanton actions of Mussolini and the Fascists, and expressed his sympathy with the Abyssinian people. When Czechoslovakia was invaded by Hitler and the German Nazis, he immediately did the same. When the people of the Spanish Republic were distressed during the Civil War, Jawaharlal went to their help. And when the Japanese Mili­tarists invaded China, and China was in a very difficult position, again he did the same. It is a fact that it was Jawaharlal Nehru, along with Rabindranath Tagore, who first and foremost condemned the foolish and suicidal Japanese aggression upon China, and declared his whole-hearted sympathy with the Chinese people in this country, India, where pro-Japanese feeling had been strong for some time.

So also did the Chinese people. When India was under the dominion of a foreign power, the Chinese people were always sympathetic towards the Indian brethren. They aspired for India’s freedom as for their own. They did never look down upto India because she was under the foreign yoke. They always regarded India as a religious, cultural and spiritual home, whether India was politically free or not. They did never think of India’s weakness, still never did they try to find fault with the Indian nation. They respect and admire Indian leaders simply for their personality, their character and their virtues, not for their fame or position, or influence or power. I remember, when Generalissimo and Madame Chiang met Gandhiji in the Birla Palace, Calcutta, the first words the Generalissimo said to his interpreter were: “Tell Gandhiji, I am very happy to meet him; we regard him as our own National Father, Dr. Sun Yat-Sen”. When His Excellency Dr. Tai Chi-Tao first met Gandhiji at Sevagrem, he said exactly the same.

The Generalissimo’s farewell message to India during his visit to this country in 1942, was very well known to and read by all the Indian people. My own humble article “An Appeal to Conscience” written in September 1942, which appeared as a statement in almost all the newspapers of India through the United Press, and published as a special article in the Modern Review (Calcutta) and the Blitz (Bombay) and later on included in my book, China, India and the War, edited and published by the China Press (Calcutta), was also very well received by my Indian friends. In spite of the disgust and dislike of our British friends and ally, we strongly appealed for India’s independence. We did all these for reasons of sympathy, for the sense of love, affection and justice we had for India and our Indian brethren. We never thought of any advantage or disadvantage. Now what we said and appealed have all come to be facts and we are very happy. We equally rejoiced with our Indian brethren at India’s independence and freedom. We share their joy and happiness and wish them every prosperity.

The Chinese proverb says: “A friend in need, a friend indeed”. To China Jawaharlal Nehru is really such a friend. Now, China is again passing through a dangerous crisis. People thought that China is going to be ruined and finished and with no hope of revival or regeneration. The same country which they used to extol much a few years , they look down upon and disdain now. The same man whom they used to praise as the greatest personality and statesman of the Far East some time ago, they criticise and ridicule and even scandalise now. They use all kinds of satiric and sarcastic words and irony to describe the affairs of China. They quote China for all bad examples. I am sure Pandit Nehru would never do this, and my Indian friends would not do this.

Is China really going to be ruined and finished? Will China remain under the present condition and lose her position and glory in the world for ever? I can definitely say “No”· China had survived countless crises and perils, witnessed numerous vicissitudes of countries and peoples of the world in her long recorded history of five thousand years. Whatever may be the present situation, whatever may be the political changes in the world, China will always be there, the Chinese nation and their culture and wisdom will always be there. So also will be India and the Indian nation from the historical point of view, a few years or a few decades, or even a few centuries of prosperity or poverty, of power or weakness, is nothing, especially in a history as long as China’s. Let me quote Pandit Nehru again:

“The present will pass and merge into the future, and India will remain and China will remain, and the two will work together for their own good and the good of the world”. (China, Spain and the War, p. 18).

Less than two months , when the Annual Meeting of the General Assembly of the Sino-Indian Cultural Society in India was held at Santiniketan on December 24, 1948, the Prime Minister of free India, the same Jawaharlal, again sent his sympathetic and inspiring message, which reads:

“I send my greetings to the Meeting of the General Assembly of the Sino-Indian Cultural Society. The bonds that have held China and India together in the past were far deeper and more abiding than political bonds can be. Whatever the future may bring to our respective countries, I have no doubt that these cultural bonds should and will continue. The Sino-Indian Cultural Society repre­sents these, and I wish it all success”.

O, beloved Panditji! We shall ever cherish and appreciate your noble thoughts. That is why the Chinese people specially love you, admire you, and adore you among all their friends.

On the auspicious occasion of Pandit Nehru’s 61st birthday, let the Chinese people pray together with their Indian brethren for his good health and long life. For with him is linked not only the fate of India, but also that of Asia and the peace of the world.

Long live Jawaharlal! Jai Hind!

February 16, 1949.

Art galleries and museums in
a City are like window which
look out on the broader,
richer and deeper things of life.

Speech, Madras, 27 November 1951.