Speech on the Opening Ceremony of the Exhibition
                                                          “The life and work of Lu Xun” 
                                                                          New Delhi, India

                                   By Huang Qiaosheng, deputy director of Beijing Lu Xun Museum

                                                                                                                            Nov. 15, 2012

Mr. Charge d’affairs Deng,
Ms. Director Alka Acharya,
Distinguished guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen:

        Today, The life and work of Lu Xun, an exhibition presented to Indian public by Beijing Lu Xun Museum opens here at India International Center, in conjunction with an international conference "Lu Xun and his Legacy: China’s ongoing quest for cultural modernity into 21st century" and Lu Xun Culture Week. On behalf of Beijing Lu Xun Museum, I would like to express warm welcome to all present and hearty thanks to all Indian organizations and friends who help make this event come into reality.
        Born in a semi-colonial and semi-feudal China, Lu Xun possessed the invaluable quality of unyielding integrity, free from all sycophancy or obsequiousness. He actively joined in China’s efforts to shaking off the feudal autocratic regime and imperialist oppression and seeking political, social and cultural transformation, and bravely cried out against all odds in the hope of awakening Chinese nation from its lethargy and self-deception. Lu Xun was not only a great man of letters but also a great thinker, leaving a very rich legacy to post generations. Inheriting traditional Chinese culture and absorbing quintessence of other cultures, Lu Xun made great contribution in developing a new, vital literature which can ensure the cultural salvation and regeneration of the nation. As one of the founders of modern Chinese culture, Lu Xun has been exerting great influence on modern and contemporary China.
       China and India both claim civilizations with the characteristics of broadness and deepness. The cultural exchange between two nations was fruitful at certain periods in the history. In the sixth century, an Indian Buddhist monk Bodhidharma visited China and established the Zen branch of Buddhism. In Tang Dynasty, a Chinese monk made a pilgrimage to India and back in China with a lot of Buddhist sutras on which he spent much energy and time to translate and these translated scriptures played an important role in Chinese Buddhist history. In similar, Lu Xun translated many foreign works and has been hailed as "Xuan Zang of modern China". Nearly half of Lu Xun's works was translations. He expounded a well-known doctrine of “Grab-ism” (Nalai-zhuyi), arguing that China needs urgently to take on things that are culturally beneficial from foreign countries, while rejecting the dross of pop and material culture. In the mean time, Lu Xun stressed that modern Chinese culture should preserve what is good and still of use in traditional Chinese culture, not to destroy it. As he said, “Chinese intellectuals should be aware of the historical trend and world situation, fight against the imbalance of cultural development in order to keep the genuine spirit of their nation, and ensure it appropriately practiced. Only with inheriting ancient culture to create new one according to the needs of current time, shall we not lag behind and inwardly not lose our original cultural veins.”
        Xuan Zang went “west” to search the Buddhist sutra but he stayed in the southern neighboring country, India, while Lu Xun, intending to study western knowledge, stayed in China’s Eastern neighboring country Japan for a long time. These two examples of “seeking far and wide but getting at close hand” tells us that we can learn something useful from any country, no matter it is to east or west, in Asia or Europe. The cultural development is dependent on interchange and exchange, on competition and blend. It is a great pity that the cultural exchange between China and India has been diminishing in modern time. In his youth, Lu Xun was eager to get cultural information about India but in vain. He once regretted that nations in the world don’t understand one another. Against this situation, Lu Xun championed translation and literary communication very much. He said, “Human kind had better to care of each other and try to end the estrangement, the best way of reaching this state is the literary exchange. Unfortunately there are few people ever to tread on this path.”
        Lu Xun had never been in India and read not very much about the country, esp. about its modern progress. He got some incorrect impression and misunderstanding about India due to the lack of practical contacts. However, during his later years, Lu Xun realized that this southern neighboring country has potentiality to have the renaissance of its civilization. He saw this in the examples of two great figures of India, regarding Rabindranath Tagore’s work as the voice of Indian people, and Mahatma Gandhi a praiseworthy man with his deeds matching well his words. He believed that once Indian people are enlightened and their capabilities brought into full play, the nation shall surely thrive, just like China.
        Today, China and India, the two biggest neighbors in Asia, are on their way of questing for modernity. The forerunners of Sino-Indian cultural exchange, Bodhiharma, Xuan Zang, Tagore and Lu Xun, and so on, will still take on their value in a currently globalizing world. We must spend much more time and efforts in cultural communication to strengthen the mutual understanding.
        Lu Xun opens a window for the foreigners to look in at the social and cultural ups and downs of modern China. I hope this exhibition and international conference can help Indian people know more about China and encourage more Indian scholars and students to study China and seek better ways of mutual understanding between the two ancient and ever new civilizations.
        Thanks again for the great help and hospitality from Jawaharlal Nehru University, the Institute of Chinese Studies of India and all friends present.