Hu Shih and ‘The Indianisation of China’

Hu Shih was one of the most significant philosophers and intellectuals of China during the early twentieth century. As a professor of philosophy at Peking University, as a leader of the ‘bai-hua’ movement, and as an ideologue behind the famous May Fourth Movement of 1919, he was among the first contributors for radical ideological change and modernity in China. His article on the ‘Indianization of China’ presented a scathing criticism of Indian influence on China that inhibited the blooming of ‘indigenous modernity’, progressivism and dynamism there. Hu’s views supported contemporary ‘modernist’ Chinese intellectuals’ labelling of India under the British as a ‘ruined’ civilisation, ‘failed’ state or incapable role model for the agenda of modernity. Yet, he did not overlook affinities, mutual respect and admiration for those in India searching for ‘indigenous roots’ to modernity. His famous observation that ‘India conquered and dominated China culturally for 20 centuries without ever having to send a single soldier across her border’ is one of the most quoted sentences in any study of Sino-Indian encounters and connections. This article highlights multiple shades of Hu Shih’s interpretation of India.