Rewriting the Rules of Engagement
If you shed tears when you miss the sun, you also miss the stars.” This famous line by Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore reminds us of the need to stay sober and focus on the positives as tensions rise between India and China.
Tagore first visited China in 1924 at the invitation of renowned Chinese intellectuals Liang Qichao and Cai Yuanpei. He charmed his Chinese friends and audiences as he travelled and lectured from Shanghai all the way to Beijing. He developed close ties with Chinese scholars such as the poet Xu Zhimo and painter Xu Beihong. Tagore met Chinese scholar Tan Yun-Shan in Malaya in 1927 and invited him to Santiniketan in West Bengal to teach. He helped Tan establish Cheen Bhavan (the China Institute) at Visva-Bharati University in 1937. The Tagore-Tan
