Tan Yun-Shan was a Chinese scholar and founder of Santiniketan's Cheena Bhavana, the oldest centre of Chinese studies in South Asia.
27 Facts About Tan Yun-Shan
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Tan Yun-Shan devoted his life to the cause of Sino-Indian cultural friendship.
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Tan Yun-Shan was born in Chaling County, Hunan province, China on 10 October 1898.
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Tan Yun-Shan was the youngest child of a Confucian scholar and teacher.
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Tan Yun-Shan first went to the county level school and then to the district school.
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Tan Yun-Shan studied the Confucian classics, ancient and modern Chinese philosophy and literature, the Four Dynastic Histories and select ancient and modern books of poetry and novels.
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Tan Yun-Shan graduated from Hunan Teachers College at Changsha and then went for post-graduate and advanced studies in both Chinese and western systems.
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Tan Yun-Shan participated in some of the political activities of Mao Zedong.
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China was then in deep political turmoil, and as Tan was not a politically oriented person, he decided to leave China and go to Malaya.
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Tan Yun-Shan taught in various institutions in Singapore, pioneered Chinese literature and wrote in local newspapers.
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Tan Yun-Shan arrived at Santiniketan in 1928 and joined Visva Bharati as Professor of Chinese Studies.
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Tan Yun-Shan held discussions with the intellectual fraternity at Santiniketan.
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Tan Yun-Shan decided to move around to collect money for the purpose and he took on odd jobs to support himself.
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Tan Yun-Shan accompanied the special envoy of China in his mission to Tibet.
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The envoy died on the way and so Tan Yun-Shan carried his papers and handed them over to the 13th Dalai Lama in Lhasa.
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Tan Yun-Shan was given a message for Mahatma Gandhi, which he delivered at Sabarmati Ashram, Ahmedabad.
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Tan Yun-Shan visited the Buddhist pilgrimage centres and after a short stay at Santiniketan, went to China.
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The hall was designed in collaboration with Surendranath Kar and Tan Yun-Shan supervised its construction.
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However, in view of Visva Bharati's grim financial situation Tan Yun-Shan refused to take a salary, but the Chinese government provided him an honorarium.
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Tan Yun-Shan kept on organising visits of various delegations, important personalities, scholars and students from China to visit Santiniketan, particularly Cheena Bhavana.
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In 1944, Tan Yun-Shan collected more donations to add a storey to the Cheena Bhavana.
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In 1956, Zhou Enlai, the Chinese premier, invited Tan Yun-Shan to visit China.
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Tan Yun-Shan continued his teaching and research work till he retired in 1971.
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Tan Yun-Shan started working on his new project for the establishment of the World Buddhist Academy at Bodh Gaya.
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In 1983, Tan Yun-Shan breathed his last at the age of 85.
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Tan Yun-Shan will be remembered by the world for his pioneering efforts in re-building the ancient cultural relationship between the civilisations of China and India in modem times.
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Tan Yun-Shan met Chen' Nai-Wei at Johore, where she was principal of a school and they were married in 1926.