After getting off the cruise, Tagore expressed his remarks to the person who welcomed him: "Friends, I don't know why, when I arrive in China, I feel like I'm back to my hometown. I always feel that India is an extremely close relative of China, and China and India are extremely old and very dear brothers. n∈n∈,."

Then, accompanied by Xu Zhimo, he took a bus to the Cangzhou villa on Jing'an Temple Road to rest.

The Cangzhou Villa is considered a high-end residential apartment in the Shanghai Concession. This is the arrangement of the Commercial Press. Tagore and his group live in Room No. 24.

Lin Zixuan did not follow, but left with the reporter from Time magazine.

The Western reporter got the news materials he wanted and was about to leave Shanghai and go to Peking to visit Wu Peifu.

This is the main task of his trip to China.

In the eyes of Westerners in this era, Wu Peifu, who defeated Zhang Zuolin, was the most likely strong figure to unify China and the strongest person in this ancient country.

Lin Zixuan just smiled and did not express his opinion on this statement.

How could you Westerners know that China's political situation is unpredictable and turbulent?

He took the reporter on the train and then returned home.

His reception task was basically completed. At most, he would listen to Tagore's speech tomorrow, communicate symbolically, and then send Tagore to Peking. It was that simple.

In the villa in Cangzhou, Tagore and his group of six settled down.

This time he visited China, leading international university professors, Sanskrit scholar Shen Mohan, dean of the School of Art of International University, and a great modern Bengali painter Nanda Lapos, and others.

He not only wanted to have cultural exchanges with Chinese scholars, but also proposed the concept of "Asian" culture.

That is, Asian culture, in this era, Asia was called "Asia" or "Far East".

Tagore believed that Western civilization was on the verge of bankruptcy, and only Eastern culture could save human civilization. Therefore, the three Asian countries of India, China and Japan should unite to resist the invasion of Western culture.

He realized the destruction of Western culture on Eastern culture.

Young people advocate Western culture and abandon their own traditions. In the long run, the country will be assimilated by the West and will have no culture of its own.

He held a speech on "What is Art?" during his visit to the United States in 1918.

He declared: "The greatness and magnificence of Eastern art. Especially in Japan and China, it is in the fact that the artists there saw the soul of things and believed in it."

Tagore wanted to communicate with top scholars in the Chinese cultural and ideological circles and promote his concept of "Asian culture".

Perhaps because of information blockage, he did not know much about the true realization of the Chinese cultural community, and did not know that China is currently in a craze to promote the replication and imitation of Western political systems and scientific culture.

Many people believe that as long as you learn everything from the West, China will become stronger.

After resting for a while, Tagore remembered Lin Zixuan who shook hands with him on the cruise ship.

He often visited and taught in Europe and the United States, and learned how Westerners view Asians. So he was very curious about Lin Zixuan being interviewed by American reporters, so he asked Xu Zhimo for inquiries.

As a poet, Xu Zhimo was always very excited when he saw Tagore, just like a little fan of later generations who met the emperor superstar.

He naturally knew everything about Tagore's inquiry.

He also recited several of Lin Zixuan's poems in English. It has to be said that the English version of poetry lacks the charm of the oriental language and does not sound very good.

What Tagore cares about is that Lin Zixuan wrote a best-selling novel in the United States.

It’s a pity that they are all written with stories set in the United States, not traditional Chinese literature, but this also shows Lin Zixuan’s understanding of Western society.

Moreover, Lin Zixuan has a great status in the Chinese cultural circle, and he may understand his proposition.

He felt he could have a good talk with the young man.

At five o'clock in the afternoon, Tagore, accompanied by Xu Zhimo and others, came to Longhua, southwest of Shanghai to enjoy the flowers.

There are famous places such as Longhua Temple and Longhua Pagoda. There are many nearby farmhouses to plant peach blossoms, and the scenery is excellent.

The next afternoon, Tagore first went to a temple in Zhabei to attend a welcome party held by the Indians for him.

Subsequently, four groups including Shanghai Autonomous College, Lecture Society, Chinese Public Schools, and Literary Research Association were initiated by four groups, including Shanghai Autonomous College, Lecture Society, and Literary Research Association, and held a tea party to welcome Tagore at Zhang Junjie's residence at No. 37 Murming Road in the public concession.

The event is scheduled to be held outdoors.

On the lawn of Zhang's house, a red velvet sofa was placed in the center. This was Tagore's location. Other guests sat on the stools in the front row because there were many students coming, so there was not enough seats. They had to sit on the grass.

Tagore gave his first speech after coming to Shanghai.

In the evening, Xu Zhimo took Lin Zixuan to the villa in Cangzhou and had a conversation with Tagore for half an hour.

During the conversation, Tagore promoted his own ideas and talked about his views on Eastern culture, believing that only by reviving Eastern culture can ancient countries like India and China have a way out. Blindly imitating Western society will not succeed.

Lin Zixuan welcomes Tagore's arrival.

But he really wanted to tell this Indian poet that this proposition is destined to be coldly treated in the current environment of China.

Even Liang Qichao and Xu Zhimo were just using Tagore to build momentum for themselves, rather than really believing in his opinion.

The conversation between the two did not go very smoothly.

Lin Zixuan attaches importance to traditional Eastern culture, but is unwilling to shout for Tagore's proposal.

In this era, a more distorted view is that promoting traditional culture is to reverse history and will be criticized.

If Lin Zixuan spared no effort to promote Tagore's revival of Eastern culture, it would definitely attract the firepower of critics. Tagore could return to India and he would still stay in China to continue his life.

"Another young man who believes in Western thought." After Lin Zixuan left, Tagore said disappointedly.

Next, Xu Zhimo took Tagore to Hangzhou to explore the beautiful scenery of West Lake.

After returning to Shanghai from Hangzhou, on the afternoon of April 18, more than 1,200 people from India and Westerners took advantage of the library conference room of the Baoshan Road Commercial Press to hold a grand welcome meeting for Tagore.

Tagore walked out to give a speech in a black robe and a red hat.

The content of his speech was not poetry, but "The Crisis of Eastern Civilization".

He was worried about Shanghai's industrial civilization and urbanization. He believed that in Shanghai, due to the introduction of Western material civilization, there was no trace of Chinese cultural spirit.

After the speech, everyone held a banquet at the Gongdelin Sugar Restaurant on Beijing Road to entertain Tagore.

Gongdelin Vegetarian Restaurant is the largest vegetarian restaurant in Shanghai. Many celebrities will choose Gongdelin when they come and go.

After the banquet, a representative sang Peking Opera for Tagore and played the guqin.

After a busy day, at twelve o'clock in the evening, Tagore ended his first trip to Shanghai, headed to Shanghai China Merchants Wharf, and embarked on the road north. (To be continued.)
Chapter completed!