The Consulate General of India (CGI), Shanghai in association with Shanghai Municipal Archives (SMA) organised a ceremony to launch the bilingual book “Rabindranath Tagore in Shanghai” on April 23, 2012 at the Shanghai Municipal Archives Bund Gallery. Director General of SMA Mr Zhu Jihua, Executive Vice President of Shanghai People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (SPAFFC) Mr Wang Xiao Shu attended the book launch besides a large number of Chinese & Indian admirers of Tagore. While members of Indian community sang a song written by Tagore at the book launch, Mr Zhang Yaojun & Ms Fan Lin recited Tagore’s poems in English & Chinese respectively.

The publication, planned as a part of 150th Birth Anniversary celebrations of Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore, recounts Tagore’s itinerary in China through a collection of over 100 photos. A part of the book is also devoted to Tagore’s footprints & inspiring speeches in Shanghai and the rest of China as well as his extensive interaction with the literary & cultural community of China. From April 1924 to June 1929, Rabindranath Tagore visited China three times and had a stopover in Shanghai during each of these trips. His trips left a lasting impact on the Chinese people and Tagore remains one of the most influential foreign litterateurs in China. He was one of the earliest modern Indian thinkers who spoke about a mutually beneficially relationship between the two great civilizations of India & China.

The book is based on meticulous research by executive editor Prof Xing Jianrong, who carefully scanned journals, magazines & newspapers from the 1920s held by Shanghai Municipal Archives & Shanghai Library to put together details of Tagore’s visit to Shanghai. The project also received invaluable support from Prof Tan Chung, Emeritus Fellow of Institute of Chinese Studies, New Delhi & Academic Associate in the University of Chicago and Prof Zhao Lihong, Vice President of Shanghai Writer’s Association. The book has been jointly published by Consulate General of India, Shanghai & Shanghai Municipal Archives.

Book launch at Shanghai Municipal Archives

Book being launched by Consul General & DG SMA Zhu Jihua

Audience at the event

Indian community members singing songs composed by Tagore

Reciting of Tagore's poems