A student from Shanghai Jinyuan Senior High School and 8-year-old Indian student Shanvitha Sai in Shanghai hold a calligraphy work of friendship between China and India.

A recital to commemorate the 160th Anniversary of Indian Nobel Prize laureate Rabindranath Tagore’s birth has been held online by the Shanghai Jinyuan Senior High School and Tagore International School in India.

Students from the Indian school showed videos about Tagore (1861-1941), the Indian poet, writer, composer, philosopher, social reformer and painter, who became the first Asian to win the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913.

They also performed Tagore’s poem “Where the Mind is Without Fear” by recitation, dance and a rap song, while their peers from Shanghai recited another poem by Tagore – “The Champa Flower.”

A poem “Did You See My Heart” created by Zhao Lihong, vice president of Shanghai Writers’ Association, in memory of Tagore was read by a student from the Shanghai school and a member from the Indian Association in Shanghai.

Eight-year-old Indian student Shanvitha Sai in Shanghai also recited two poems by Tagore.

Tagore, who had visited China three times, showed deep affections toward China in his poems and words.

“Ninety-seven years ago, when Tagore arrived in China for the first time after a one month of trip, he said ‘I’m not a guest from afar, but a brother returning after a long travel,’” said Jing Ying, vice president of Shanghai People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries. “After that, his poetry had agreat influence on generations of Chinese people.”

Zhao Lihong, vice president of Shanghai Writers’ Association, also quoted Tagore’s words in 1924, when he said “I don’t know why, but China is just like my hometown.”

Jing said Tagore was a true friend of China, while the faculty and students from Shanghai Jinyuan Senior High School and Tagore International School, which established a friendship in 2008 and have been carrying out mutual exchanges regularly both online and offline, are also friends.

Via the Internet, the Shanghai school teachers have been teaching Indian students calligraphy andtai chi, while the Indian school has been teaching Shanghai students rock painting and yoga.

“We know that India is experiencing a new round of COVID-19, teachers and students from Tagore International School have to stay at home and attend this event online,” Jing said. “Please take care of yourselves and we believe that we can overcome the challenges together.”

A recital to commemorate the 160th Anniversary of Indian Nobel Prize laureate Rabindranath Tagore’s birth has been held online by the Shanghai Jinyuan Senior High School and Tagore International School in India.