Beijing: A symbolic attempt to recreate Recreating Rabindranath Tagore's first visit to China in 1924 was made by his great grand nephew as he met the grandson of the legendary Chinese poet Lu Xun who hosted the Nobel laureate over 90 years ago in China's Shaoxing city.
Prakash Gupta, Indian Consul General in Shanghai, who was present during the event, said, "It was also a unique occasion today, as ever since the meeting of Tagore and Lu in the 1920s, it was for the first time that after over 90 years, their direct relatives met.”
Tagore enjoys a huge fan following in the country as several devoted their lives to learn Bengali and English so that they could translate his works.
Considering his iconic status among generations of Chinese people, China last month released the first collective works of Tagore in their language, marking a rare honour for the Indian poet.
In all, 33 volumes containing 16 million words covering his poetry, essay, novel and drama sections were released coinciding with Tagore's 155th birth anniversary.
His great grand nephew Prof Tagore was on a visit to China on the invitation of the Lu Xun Cultural Foundation with the support Indian Consulate in Shanghai.
Other delegation members included, Dr Indra Nath Choudhuri, eminent Tagore Scholar and author of book on Tagore's vision of contemporary world, Dr Sanghamitra Basu of Indira Gandhi National Centre and Dr Avijit Banerjee of Cheena Bhavan.
A series of events celebrating the friendship between Chinese poet Lu and Tagore are being held in the city.
