1. At the invitation of the Lu Xun Cultural Foundation and with the support of CGI Shanghai a 5 member delegation led by Prof. S.N. Tagore (member of Tagore’ family, great grand nephew of Gurudev) visited Shaoxing ( home town of famous Chinese poet Lu Xun ) earlier today. Other delegation members included: Dr. Indra Nath Choudhuri, eminent Tagore Scholar, & author of book on Tagore's vision of contemporary world (iii) Dr. Sanghamitra Basu, Indira Gandhi National Centre; & (iv) Dr. Avijit Banerjee, Cheena Bhavan.

2. Consul General led the Indian delegation to Shaoxing and called on Tan Zhigui, Chairman of the Standing Committee of the Shaoxing Municipal People’s Government. It may be noted that from the Chinese side, the grandson of the legendary Chinese poet Lu Xun, Mr. Zhou Ling Fei (also Secretary General of Lu Xun Cultural Foundation) was present during the meeting to welcome the Indian delegation.

3. A series of events celebrating the friendship between Chinese Poet Lu Xun and Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore have been planned in Shaoxing today and tomorrow. These included a panel discussion at the Shaoxing University titled “A dialogue beyond Time and Space” which was held in the afternoon today. Another key event planned for tomorrow includes a lecture on Tagore and readings of his works at the Zhejiang YueXiu University of Foreign Languages, followed by a dialogue between literary masters of Shaoxing city with the visiting delegation.

4. Shaoxing city leadership also evinced strong interest in hosting a bust of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore at a prominent location in Shaoxing city. It was also proposed to organize an India Culture Week towards the end of the year in Shaoxing, which would feature inter-alia an Indian Film Festival, an Exhibition of Indian Paintings and Indian Food Festival. Local city leadership intends to launch the India Culture Week with the inauguration of the installation of the bust of Gurudev Tagore in Shaoxing city.

5. Since Shaoxing is also the home town of Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai, during the proposed India Culture Week, two dialogue forums (i) focusing on the friendship between Tagore and Lu Xun and (ii) on the exchanges between Premier Zhou Enlai and Pandit Nehru ji has also been proposed to be organized. Given the long history of association between Lu Xun and Tagore, Shaoxing leadership also proposed setting up of sister-city relations with Kolkata.

6. It was also a unique occasion today, as ever since the meeting of Tagore and Lu Xun in the 1920s, it was for the first time that after nearly 90 years, their direct relatives i.e. Lu Xun’s grandson (i.e. Mr. Zhou Ling Fei, Secretary General of Lu Xun Cultural Foundation) and Gurudev’s grand nephew (i.e. Prof. S.N. Tagore) came together and met each other for the first time in Shaoxing today.

7. It may be noted that in the Eastern China Region, Shaoxing (located in Zhejiang province) is host to one of the largest concentration of Indian community with nearly 2000 Indian textile traders, based out of Shaoxing. President of Shaoxing Indian Business Association (SIBA) also participated at the meeting and thanked the city leadership for providing such a welcoming environment to the Indian resident community.
Shanghai, 14 June 2016