Google Groups no longer supports new Usenet posts or subscriptions. Historical content remains viewable.
Dismiss
Remember Dr. Dwarkanath Shantaram Kotnis - a great humanist from India
2 views
Skip to first unread message
lo yeeOn
May 21, 2013, 7:42:53 PM5/21/13
to
Dr. Dwarkanath Kotnis:
http://www.ndtv.com/news/images/story_page/Dr_Kotnis_295X200.jpg
(courtesy of ndtv)
See also the Wikipedia article on Dwarkanath Kotnis (1910-1942):
Dwarkanath Kotnis is commemorated together with Dr. Bethune, and
Scottish missionary and athlete, Eric Liddell in the Martyrs'
Memorial Park (Lieshi Lingyuan) in Shijiazhuang, Hebei province,
China. The entire south side of the memorial is dedicated to
Dr. Kotnis, where there is a great statue in his honour. A small
museum there contains a handbook of vocabulary that Kotnis wrote on
his passage from India to China, some of the instruments that the
surgeons were forced to use in their medical fight for life, and
various photos of the doctors, some with the Communist Party of
China's most influential figures, including Mao.
. . .
Why is India's Dr Kotnis revered in China?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-22599356
Dr Kotnis is revered in China for treating wounded Chinese soldiers
http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/67708000/jpg/_67708560_67708559.jpg
Every time a Chinese leader visits India, he usually meets the family
of an Indian doctor who died while treating wounded Chinese soldiers
in the conflict with Japan in the 1940s.
Dwarkanath S Kotnis was sent to China in 1938 as part of an Indian
medical mission after China was invaded by Japan. He served on the
frontline and saved the lives of many Chinese soldiers. After four
years in China, he fell ill and died at the age of 32.
In China, Dr Kotnis fell in love and married a Chinese nurse who
worked with him. Quo Qinglan, who remained in China, died last year in
the city of Dalian. They had a son, who was studying to become a
doctor but he died when he was 24.
"The army has lost of a helping hand, the nation a friend. Let us
always bear in mind his international spirit," China's former
communist leader and revolutionary hero Mao Zedong reportedly said in
a tribute.
Following a long tradition, Premier Li Keqiang will visit the doctor's
family in Mumbai, where his 92-year-old sister will receive him. "We
are overwhelmed that even after so many years, my brother is
remembered and loved by the Chinese and that the premier is taking
pains to meet us," Manorama Kotnis, who has met three Chinese leaders,
told the Indian Express.
At home, Dr Kotnis appears to be a little-known figure these days,
although he was immortalised in a 1946 film and is still mentioned in
text books.
In China, he is revered as a hero to this day: stamps bearing his
picture have been printed and there is a memorial to him in Hebei
province. Dr Kotnis was chosen as one of the "top 10 foreigners" in a
2009 internet poll of China's foreign friends in a century. The doctor
"continues to be revered by the Chinese people," says China Daily.
What accounts for Dr Kotnis's popularity in China and why have the
country's leaders felt the need to visit his family since 1950?
China experts like Srikanth Kondapalli say a visit to the Kotnis
family by Chinese leaders is loaded with symbolism of a shared history
of anti-imperial and colonial struggles long before border disputes
led to a full-blown war in 1962 and soured ties between the two
countries.
"By visiting the family, they are harking back to the solidarity
between the two countries when both India and China were fighting
colonialism and imperialism," says Prof Kondapalli.
In 1924, India's first Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore visited
China and spoke about his admiration for "its world of beauty",
"wisdom" and "touch of the human". He spoke about the need for
"eternally revealing a joyous relationship unforeseen" between the two
countries.
In 1940 - seven years before India's independence and nine years
before the Chinese revolution - Mao wrote to the man who would become
independent India's first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, and said
that "our emancipation, the emancipation of the Indian people and the
Chinese, will be the signal of the emancipation of all down-trodden
and oppressed".
And in 1942, Mahatma Gandhi wrote to late Chinese leader Chiang
Kai-shek saying that he had "always felt drawn towards you in your
fight for freedom, and that contact and our conversation brought China
and her problems still nearer to me".
Prof Kondapalli says when Chinese leaders pay homage to Dr Kotnis they
evoke the bonhomie of the high noon of Sino-Indian relations.
The world has changed since then.
China and Japan are two of the world's three biggest economies, and
India does business with both. Japan's relations with China are
repeatedly strained over a deadlocked territorial dispute and
historical grievances. India's relations with China come under strain
over the ill-defined border they share.
Through all this the memory of Dr Kotnis endures.
Soutik Biswas Delhi correspondent
17. lordBanners 27 Minutes ago
Taking time to understand Culture has much to do with Success or lack
thereof.
Notably, the Nations wanting to dominate all others are the Newest
without any culture of their own, hence does not set any store on
Value of Culture. Both China, then India have proven they can Survive
without any external contact. It affords Confidence no amount of money
can buy.
16. hareetashwa 37 Minutes ago
These nation-states of modern world are more than just states of
today; these are countries of culture, whose people are descendants of
ancient civilization, having social value derived out of experience
and analysis. Their community life was built upon more than seeking
opportunities to survive until they faced with the Govt.s seeking
opportunity to reflect; such remembrance no surprise 2 realise
15. Lake Lili 46 Minutes ago
Dr. Kotnis is buried opposite Canadian Dr. Norman Bethune at the
Revolutionary Martyr's Cemetery in Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province,
China. In 1939, Chairman Mao Zedong also published an essay regarding
Dr. Bethune entitled "In Memory of Norman Bethune" (in Chinese: ...)
Dr. Bethune's medical contribution and altruism are still taught to
students.
14. tangri 1 Hour ago
These two great nations are very much linked by traditional values and
customs which are very similar but also under extreme stress of modern
day westernization.They would do well to understand that and co
operate with each other and become some of the most sensible powerful
countries or trading blocks in the world.I have travelled to China a
lot and have many many chinese friends.
13. DanS 1 Hour ago
wccsailor,
No, it's not the Long March. It's during the full-scale Japanese
Invasion between 1937-1945.
12. wccsailor 1 Hour ago
First heard of Dr. Kotnis when we arrived in Shijiazhuang in Hebei
Province in the 1990's to teach English. We were warmly greeted by the
Chinese because we were Canadian and very soon taken to the Martyr's
Memorial where both Dr. Kotnis and Dr. Bethune were buried. Both
doctors were, I believe, on The Long March with Mao. The military
hospital in the city is named for Dr. Bethune
11. John 2 Hours ago
This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the
house rules.
10. buzzingworld 2 Hours ago
I enjoyed reading this article and never knew anything about the good
doctor beforehand - it is wonderful that people who sacrifice
themselves one way or another in life are remembered long after their
departing, and for the right reasons. There seems to be some humanity
left on this planet and that can only be good for all of us, wherever
we live.
9. Vivek 2 Hours ago
On another note, how humble of the Chinese leadership to seek out the
family of Dr. Kotnis on each high-level visit. I cannot recall such a
gesture by the leaders of any other nation.
8. DavidinUSA 3 Hours ago
A good story. And a good antidote to the common propaganda heard in
India in favour of SC Bose's pro-Japanese, so-called "Indian National
Army", which collaborated with the Japanese in WW2 and forever stained
India.
7. quietoaktree 3 Hours ago
Another hero -- at Nanking.
" the home of John Rabe, a Nazi Party member and employee of
Siemens. In addition to sheltering people in his own compound,
Mr. Rabe led a score of other foreigners in the city to form an
international safety zone that shielded more than 200,000 Chinese from
the Japanese."
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/15/international/asia/15letter.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
6. Vivek 3 Hours ago
I recall no word of Dr. Kotnis' contribution in our history texts, not
surprising given the reluctance to cover recent history lest it hold
uncomfortable truths.
It is such individual tales of selflessness and camaraderie that one
needs. Witness Dr. Kotnis marrying a Chinese nurse, something that
would likely elicit many a frown on either side now as it probably did
then, and yet, so human!
5. Arshi 6 Hours ago
I hope Indian honcho politicos also show some respect to the Chinese
who did such work in India - A lot of Chinese scholars have invested
into studying Indian history and we need to reciprocate, although we
might not believe in what they have to say and do, coz that what make
us more humane and a better world to live in!
4. Gholamhosain Tasbihi 6 Hours ago
Just mentioning and talking about their good historical events and
behaviors show that India and China are politically matured enough to
solve their problems peacefully or, at least -for time being - put
them aside for the sake of their economic and their international
political issues.
3. Vish 6 Hours ago
An article that depicts a poignant and heroic episode in history.In a
time in which nearly every diplomatic act has commercial or political
or vested motive,it is heart warming and wonderful to witness the
gracious,grateful and humane nature of this gesture of the Chinese
political leadership.Particulalry so when this wonderful gesture has
been continued for decades,spanning generations.
2. Stephen 6 Hours ago
Corruption right across the piece and no such thing as an honest
politician? Jim doesn' get it. Check out the Transparency
International website a minute Jim and then tell us what you
think. The new democracies will not get used to corruption and nor
should they.
1. Jim 7 Hours ago
Dr Kotnis is someone to be remembered and why are political corruption
claims such a big deal? in every nation from the USA to Iran to German
and the UK we all know there is no such thing as an honest politician
and if they were capable of getting a real job or doing honest work
they wouldn't be in politics. Only new democracies are surprised by
scandal, but will get used to them.
-------
WSJ
Manorama Kotnis, a 92-year-old from Mumbai, has lost track of the
number of Chinese leaders she's met and many of their names now escape
her.
But she can remember personal meetings with three of China's most
recent rulers; Li Peng, prime minister of China until 1998, his
successor Zhu Rongji, and Hu Jintao who stepped down as president in
March.
On Tuesday she will have tea with Li Keqiang, China's new premier,
when he visits India's financial capital as part of a state visit to
India.
Chinese leaders have made a habit of meeting Ms. Kotnis and her
relatives ever since her brother, Dwarkanath Kotnis, volunteered as a
field surgeon in the Sino-Japanese war of 1938.
The Kotnis family's association with China dates back to a time when
India and China were close ideological allies before border disputes
soured relations in the late 1950s and came to all-out war in 1962.
For more on this, go to India Real Time
---------
India Real Time article:
May 21, 2013, 10:00 AM
The Family Chinese Leaders Take to Tea
http://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2013/05/21/the-mumbai-family-chinese-leaders-take-to-tea/
Manorama Kotnis, a 92-year-old from Mumbai, has lost track of the
number of Chinese leaders she's met and many of their names now escape
her.
But she can remember personal meetings with three of China's most
recent rulers; Li Peng, prime minister of China until 1998, his
successor Zhu Rongji, and Hu Jintao who stepped down as president in
March.
On Tuesday she will have tea with Li Keqiang, China's new premier,
when he visits India's financial capital as part of a state visit to
India.
Chinese leaders have made a habit of meeting Ms. Kotnis and her
relatives ever since her brother, Dwarkanath Kotnis, volunteered as a
field surgeon in the Sino-Japan war of 1938.
The Kotnis family's association with China dates back to a time when
India and China were close ideological allies before border disputes
soured relations in the late 1950s and came to all-out war in 1962.
But through the ups and downs of Sino-Indian liaisons since then,
Dr. Kotnis has remained a hero in China and the country has preserved
strong ties with his family.
Many responded to the appeal from Jawaharlal Nehru, then a leader of
the Indian National Congress, to help China in the war at the end of
the 1930s.
But only Dr. Kotnis (even his sister refers to him by his title) and
one other doctor, stayed back to help after their assignment ended,
despite the terrible circumstances and a lack of food.
"The conditions in China were so bad that Dr. Kotnis felt it wouldn't
be right to leave at that time," Ms. Kotnis said in an interview
Monday in an apartment she shares with her nephew in west Mumbai.
The Chinese credit Dr. Kotnis with saving many Chinese lives in the
war, and hold him up as an example of Sino-Indian friendship.
A statue of him stands in Shijiazhuang town in Hebei province where
Dr. Kotnis is buried.
"I am told that Chinese school textbooks still have a mention of him,"
said Ms. Kotnis, who is sprightly for her age, though her memory is
fading.
Dr. Kotnis remained in China and married his colleague Guo Qinglan, a
Chinese national. The couple lived in China and had a son whom they
named Yinhua, whichmeans "India-China" in a Chinese language,
Ms. Kotnis said.
A few months after the birth, while still living in China, Dr. Kotnis
died of a seizure in 1942 aged 32.
Over the past 40 years, Ms. Kotnis has visited China four times as a
guest of the Chinese government. Every time she meets a Chinese
leader, they thank her for Dr Kotnis' contribution in the war with
Japan and praise how easily he mixed with the Chinese people, she
says.
Their conversations are formal, conducted through translators and
don't usually last more than 20 minutes.
During her trips to China, officials in the country also arranged for
her to visit Dr. Kotnis's widow (she remarried after his death), who
lived in Dalian, a seaport in north east China, until her death last
year.
The Chinese consul-general in Mumbai visits the family every year
during Diwali, the Indian festival of lights.
When her sister Vatsala died a few years ago, Chinese officials called
on Ms. Kotnis, just as a family member would have, Ms. Kotnis says.
The people of China too, also have a great affection for the Indian
doctor, she adds.
Busloads of Chinese tourists used to call at her apartment in central
Mumbai, which was filled with Dr. Kotnis memorabilia. She is now too
old to receive his fans, she says.
Naturally, Dr. Kotnis is also somewhat of a hero in the family.
A large portrait of him rests on a stand in the living room of
Ms. Kotnis's apartment. There's also a framed photo of him dressed in
a suit in front of his former home in Solapur, a small town in
Maharashtra.
Next to it hangs a black-and-white portrait of a young Chinese woman
with pigtails wearing round rimmed spectacles: Dr Kotnis' wife, Guo
Qinglan.
In her previous meetings with the Chinese leadership, Ms. Kotnis would
ask them to take care of Guo Qinglan.
"Now, she is no more," she said. "So, on Tuesday, the only thing I
will say is `I wish India and China are friends forever'"
Follow India Real Time on Twitter @indiarealtime.
China,
Dwarkanath Kotnis,
Manorama Kotnis,
Premier Li Keqiang
------------
Dr Kotnis symbol of Indo-Chinese friendship: Premier Li Keqiang
Written by Miloni Bhatt | Updated: May 21, 2013 23:06 IST
http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/dr-kotnis-symbol-of-indo-chinese-friendship-premier-li-keqiang-369759
Mumbai: It was a meeting bereft of any agenda, political or economic,
but one steeped in symbolism - a Chinese Premier honouring the memory
of an Indian doctor who became a hero in his country.
In a small meeting room at the Taj Mahal Palace and Hotel in Mumbai,
Premier Li Keqiang spent over half an hour reminiscing about Dr
Dwarkanath Kotnis with his family. The Premier spoke about Dr Kotnis's
contribution as the latter's family over a dozen Chinese officials
listened.
In 1939, at the height of the Sino-Japan war, a young Dr Kotnis heeded
Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru's call and volunteered as a field
surgeon to help the Chinese. His assignment ended but he stayed back,
despite a terrible food shortage and amidst great hardship, to
continue to provide medical services to the Chinese.
It's a contribution that has made him a hero there. "In China, we have
a saying, 'In times of need, we come to know who our real friends
are.' It was at height of Japanese aggression that Dr Kotnis helped
the Chinese and gave his young life. Dr Kotnis was an Indian but also
Chinese. You are family members of Chinese heroic martyr," Premier Li
said.
He went on to say that Dr Kotnis is a symbol of "Indo-Chinese
friendship".
Dr Kotnis' 92-year-old, wheelchair-bound sister, Manorama, said she
was thankful for being invited to meet the Premier despite his busy
schedule. "It's been 70 years that Kotnis has passed away but we are
happy that China hasn't forgotten him. We are grateful to them and
hope they will continue the friendship," she said.
The family's younger generation was also invited by Premier Li to
visit China when he heard that they were keen to do so. He then
presented gifts to the family, telling Manorama Kotnis, "There is also
an MP3 player for you, since you love music".
Speaking to NDTV exclusively after the event, Ms Kotnis said she was
touched by the gesture. "I am deeply honoured," she said.
http://www.ndtv.com/news/images/story_page/Dr_Kotnis_295X200.jpg
(courtesy of ndtv)
See also the Wikipedia article on Dwarkanath Kotnis (1910-1942):
Dwarkanath Kotnis is commemorated together with Dr. Bethune, and
Scottish missionary and athlete, Eric Liddell in the Martyrs'
Memorial Park (Lieshi Lingyuan) in Shijiazhuang, Hebei province,
China. The entire south side of the memorial is dedicated to
Dr. Kotnis, where there is a great statue in his honour. A small
museum there contains a handbook of vocabulary that Kotnis wrote on
his passage from India to China, some of the instruments that the
surgeons were forced to use in their medical fight for life, and
various photos of the doctors, some with the Communist Party of
China's most influential figures, including Mao.
. . .
Why is India's Dr Kotnis revered in China?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-22599356
Dr Kotnis is revered in China for treating wounded Chinese soldiers
http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/67708000/jpg/_67708560_67708559.jpg
Every time a Chinese leader visits India, he usually meets the family
of an Indian doctor who died while treating wounded Chinese soldiers
in the conflict with Japan in the 1940s.
Dwarkanath S Kotnis was sent to China in 1938 as part of an Indian
medical mission after China was invaded by Japan. He served on the
frontline and saved the lives of many Chinese soldiers. After four
years in China, he fell ill and died at the age of 32.
In China, Dr Kotnis fell in love and married a Chinese nurse who
worked with him. Quo Qinglan, who remained in China, died last year in
the city of Dalian. They had a son, who was studying to become a
doctor but he died when he was 24.
"The army has lost of a helping hand, the nation a friend. Let us
always bear in mind his international spirit," China's former
communist leader and revolutionary hero Mao Zedong reportedly said in
a tribute.
Following a long tradition, Premier Li Keqiang will visit the doctor's
family in Mumbai, where his 92-year-old sister will receive him. "We
are overwhelmed that even after so many years, my brother is
remembered and loved by the Chinese and that the premier is taking
pains to meet us," Manorama Kotnis, who has met three Chinese leaders,
told the Indian Express.
At home, Dr Kotnis appears to be a little-known figure these days,
although he was immortalised in a 1946 film and is still mentioned in
text books.
In China, he is revered as a hero to this day: stamps bearing his
picture have been printed and there is a memorial to him in Hebei
province. Dr Kotnis was chosen as one of the "top 10 foreigners" in a
2009 internet poll of China's foreign friends in a century. The doctor
"continues to be revered by the Chinese people," says China Daily.
What accounts for Dr Kotnis's popularity in China and why have the
country's leaders felt the need to visit his family since 1950?
China experts like Srikanth Kondapalli say a visit to the Kotnis
family by Chinese leaders is loaded with symbolism of a shared history
of anti-imperial and colonial struggles long before border disputes
led to a full-blown war in 1962 and soured ties between the two
countries.
"By visiting the family, they are harking back to the solidarity
between the two countries when both India and China were fighting
colonialism and imperialism," says Prof Kondapalli.
In 1924, India's first Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore visited
China and spoke about his admiration for "its world of beauty",
"wisdom" and "touch of the human". He spoke about the need for
"eternally revealing a joyous relationship unforeseen" between the two
countries.
In 1940 - seven years before India's independence and nine years
before the Chinese revolution - Mao wrote to the man who would become
independent India's first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, and said
that "our emancipation, the emancipation of the Indian people and the
Chinese, will be the signal of the emancipation of all down-trodden
and oppressed".
And in 1942, Mahatma Gandhi wrote to late Chinese leader Chiang
Kai-shek saying that he had "always felt drawn towards you in your
fight for freedom, and that contact and our conversation brought China
and her problems still nearer to me".
Prof Kondapalli says when Chinese leaders pay homage to Dr Kotnis they
evoke the bonhomie of the high noon of Sino-Indian relations.
The world has changed since then.
China and Japan are two of the world's three biggest economies, and
India does business with both. Japan's relations with China are
repeatedly strained over a deadlocked territorial dispute and
historical grievances. India's relations with China come under strain
over the ill-defined border they share.
Through all this the memory of Dr Kotnis endures.
Soutik Biswas Delhi correspondent
17. lordBanners 27 Minutes ago
Taking time to understand Culture has much to do with Success or lack
thereof.
Notably, the Nations wanting to dominate all others are the Newest
without any culture of their own, hence does not set any store on
Value of Culture. Both China, then India have proven they can Survive
without any external contact. It affords Confidence no amount of money
can buy.
16. hareetashwa 37 Minutes ago
These nation-states of modern world are more than just states of
today; these are countries of culture, whose people are descendants of
ancient civilization, having social value derived out of experience
and analysis. Their community life was built upon more than seeking
opportunities to survive until they faced with the Govt.s seeking
opportunity to reflect; such remembrance no surprise 2 realise
15. Lake Lili 46 Minutes ago
Dr. Kotnis is buried opposite Canadian Dr. Norman Bethune at the
Revolutionary Martyr's Cemetery in Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province,
China. In 1939, Chairman Mao Zedong also published an essay regarding
Dr. Bethune entitled "In Memory of Norman Bethune" (in Chinese: ...)
Dr. Bethune's medical contribution and altruism are still taught to
students.
14. tangri 1 Hour ago
These two great nations are very much linked by traditional values and
customs which are very similar but also under extreme stress of modern
day westernization.They would do well to understand that and co
operate with each other and become some of the most sensible powerful
countries or trading blocks in the world.I have travelled to China a
lot and have many many chinese friends.
13. DanS 1 Hour ago
wccsailor,
No, it's not the Long March. It's during the full-scale Japanese
Invasion between 1937-1945.
12. wccsailor 1 Hour ago
First heard of Dr. Kotnis when we arrived in Shijiazhuang in Hebei
Province in the 1990's to teach English. We were warmly greeted by the
Chinese because we were Canadian and very soon taken to the Martyr's
Memorial where both Dr. Kotnis and Dr. Bethune were buried. Both
doctors were, I believe, on The Long March with Mao. The military
hospital in the city is named for Dr. Bethune
11. John 2 Hours ago
This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the
house rules.
10. buzzingworld 2 Hours ago
I enjoyed reading this article and never knew anything about the good
doctor beforehand - it is wonderful that people who sacrifice
themselves one way or another in life are remembered long after their
departing, and for the right reasons. There seems to be some humanity
left on this planet and that can only be good for all of us, wherever
we live.
9. Vivek 2 Hours ago
On another note, how humble of the Chinese leadership to seek out the
family of Dr. Kotnis on each high-level visit. I cannot recall such a
gesture by the leaders of any other nation.
8. DavidinUSA 3 Hours ago
A good story. And a good antidote to the common propaganda heard in
India in favour of SC Bose's pro-Japanese, so-called "Indian National
Army", which collaborated with the Japanese in WW2 and forever stained
India.
7. quietoaktree 3 Hours ago
Another hero -- at Nanking.
" the home of John Rabe, a Nazi Party member and employee of
Siemens. In addition to sheltering people in his own compound,
Mr. Rabe led a score of other foreigners in the city to form an
international safety zone that shielded more than 200,000 Chinese from
the Japanese."
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/15/international/asia/15letter.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
6. Vivek 3 Hours ago
I recall no word of Dr. Kotnis' contribution in our history texts, not
surprising given the reluctance to cover recent history lest it hold
uncomfortable truths.
It is such individual tales of selflessness and camaraderie that one
needs. Witness Dr. Kotnis marrying a Chinese nurse, something that
would likely elicit many a frown on either side now as it probably did
then, and yet, so human!
5. Arshi 6 Hours ago
I hope Indian honcho politicos also show some respect to the Chinese
who did such work in India - A lot of Chinese scholars have invested
into studying Indian history and we need to reciprocate, although we
might not believe in what they have to say and do, coz that what make
us more humane and a better world to live in!
4. Gholamhosain Tasbihi 6 Hours ago
Just mentioning and talking about their good historical events and
behaviors show that India and China are politically matured enough to
solve their problems peacefully or, at least -for time being - put
them aside for the sake of their economic and their international
political issues.
3. Vish 6 Hours ago
An article that depicts a poignant and heroic episode in history.In a
time in which nearly every diplomatic act has commercial or political
or vested motive,it is heart warming and wonderful to witness the
gracious,grateful and humane nature of this gesture of the Chinese
political leadership.Particulalry so when this wonderful gesture has
been continued for decades,spanning generations.
2. Stephen 6 Hours ago
Corruption right across the piece and no such thing as an honest
politician? Jim doesn' get it. Check out the Transparency
International website a minute Jim and then tell us what you
think. The new democracies will not get used to corruption and nor
should they.
1. Jim 7 Hours ago
Dr Kotnis is someone to be remembered and why are political corruption
claims such a big deal? in every nation from the USA to Iran to German
and the UK we all know there is no such thing as an honest politician
and if they were capable of getting a real job or doing honest work
they wouldn't be in politics. Only new democracies are surprised by
scandal, but will get used to them.
-------
WSJ
Manorama Kotnis, a 92-year-old from Mumbai, has lost track of the
number of Chinese leaders she's met and many of their names now escape
her.
But she can remember personal meetings with three of China's most
recent rulers; Li Peng, prime minister of China until 1998, his
successor Zhu Rongji, and Hu Jintao who stepped down as president in
March.
On Tuesday she will have tea with Li Keqiang, China's new premier,
when he visits India's financial capital as part of a state visit to
India.
Chinese leaders have made a habit of meeting Ms. Kotnis and her
relatives ever since her brother, Dwarkanath Kotnis, volunteered as a
field surgeon in the Sino-Japanese war of 1938.
The Kotnis family's association with China dates back to a time when
India and China were close ideological allies before border disputes
soured relations in the late 1950s and came to all-out war in 1962.
For more on this, go to India Real Time
---------
India Real Time article:
May 21, 2013, 10:00 AM
The Family Chinese Leaders Take to Tea
http://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2013/05/21/the-mumbai-family-chinese-leaders-take-to-tea/
Manorama Kotnis, a 92-year-old from Mumbai, has lost track of the
number of Chinese leaders she's met and many of their names now escape
her.
But she can remember personal meetings with three of China's most
recent rulers; Li Peng, prime minister of China until 1998, his
successor Zhu Rongji, and Hu Jintao who stepped down as president in
March.
On Tuesday she will have tea with Li Keqiang, China's new premier,
when he visits India's financial capital as part of a state visit to
India.
Chinese leaders have made a habit of meeting Ms. Kotnis and her
relatives ever since her brother, Dwarkanath Kotnis, volunteered as a
field surgeon in the Sino-Japan war of 1938.
The Kotnis family's association with China dates back to a time when
India and China were close ideological allies before border disputes
soured relations in the late 1950s and came to all-out war in 1962.
But through the ups and downs of Sino-Indian liaisons since then,
Dr. Kotnis has remained a hero in China and the country has preserved
strong ties with his family.
Many responded to the appeal from Jawaharlal Nehru, then a leader of
the Indian National Congress, to help China in the war at the end of
the 1930s.
But only Dr. Kotnis (even his sister refers to him by his title) and
one other doctor, stayed back to help after their assignment ended,
despite the terrible circumstances and a lack of food.
"The conditions in China were so bad that Dr. Kotnis felt it wouldn't
be right to leave at that time," Ms. Kotnis said in an interview
Monday in an apartment she shares with her nephew in west Mumbai.
The Chinese credit Dr. Kotnis with saving many Chinese lives in the
war, and hold him up as an example of Sino-Indian friendship.
A statue of him stands in Shijiazhuang town in Hebei province where
Dr. Kotnis is buried.
"I am told that Chinese school textbooks still have a mention of him,"
said Ms. Kotnis, who is sprightly for her age, though her memory is
fading.
Dr. Kotnis remained in China and married his colleague Guo Qinglan, a
Chinese national. The couple lived in China and had a son whom they
named Yinhua, whichmeans "India-China" in a Chinese language,
Ms. Kotnis said.
A few months after the birth, while still living in China, Dr. Kotnis
died of a seizure in 1942 aged 32.
Over the past 40 years, Ms. Kotnis has visited China four times as a
guest of the Chinese government. Every time she meets a Chinese
leader, they thank her for Dr Kotnis' contribution in the war with
Japan and praise how easily he mixed with the Chinese people, she
says.
Their conversations are formal, conducted through translators and
don't usually last more than 20 minutes.
During her trips to China, officials in the country also arranged for
her to visit Dr. Kotnis's widow (she remarried after his death), who
lived in Dalian, a seaport in north east China, until her death last
year.
The Chinese consul-general in Mumbai visits the family every year
during Diwali, the Indian festival of lights.
When her sister Vatsala died a few years ago, Chinese officials called
on Ms. Kotnis, just as a family member would have, Ms. Kotnis says.
The people of China too, also have a great affection for the Indian
doctor, she adds.
Busloads of Chinese tourists used to call at her apartment in central
Mumbai, which was filled with Dr. Kotnis memorabilia. She is now too
old to receive his fans, she says.
Naturally, Dr. Kotnis is also somewhat of a hero in the family.
A large portrait of him rests on a stand in the living room of
Ms. Kotnis's apartment. There's also a framed photo of him dressed in
a suit in front of his former home in Solapur, a small town in
Maharashtra.
Next to it hangs a black-and-white portrait of a young Chinese woman
with pigtails wearing round rimmed spectacles: Dr Kotnis' wife, Guo
Qinglan.
In her previous meetings with the Chinese leadership, Ms. Kotnis would
ask them to take care of Guo Qinglan.
"Now, she is no more," she said. "So, on Tuesday, the only thing I
will say is `I wish India and China are friends forever'"
Follow India Real Time on Twitter @indiarealtime.
China,
Dwarkanath Kotnis,
Manorama Kotnis,
Premier Li Keqiang
------------
Dr Kotnis symbol of Indo-Chinese friendship: Premier Li Keqiang
Written by Miloni Bhatt | Updated: May 21, 2013 23:06 IST
http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/dr-kotnis-symbol-of-indo-chinese-friendship-premier-li-keqiang-369759
Mumbai: It was a meeting bereft of any agenda, political or economic,
but one steeped in symbolism - a Chinese Premier honouring the memory
of an Indian doctor who became a hero in his country.
In a small meeting room at the Taj Mahal Palace and Hotel in Mumbai,
Premier Li Keqiang spent over half an hour reminiscing about Dr
Dwarkanath Kotnis with his family. The Premier spoke about Dr Kotnis's
contribution as the latter's family over a dozen Chinese officials
listened.
In 1939, at the height of the Sino-Japan war, a young Dr Kotnis heeded
Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru's call and volunteered as a field
surgeon to help the Chinese. His assignment ended but he stayed back,
despite a terrible food shortage and amidst great hardship, to
continue to provide medical services to the Chinese.
It's a contribution that has made him a hero there. "In China, we have
a saying, 'In times of need, we come to know who our real friends
are.' It was at height of Japanese aggression that Dr Kotnis helped
the Chinese and gave his young life. Dr Kotnis was an Indian but also
Chinese. You are family members of Chinese heroic martyr," Premier Li
said.
He went on to say that Dr Kotnis is a symbol of "Indo-Chinese
friendship".
Dr Kotnis' 92-year-old, wheelchair-bound sister, Manorama, said she
was thankful for being invited to meet the Premier despite his busy
schedule. "It's been 70 years that Kotnis has passed away but we are
happy that China hasn't forgotten him. We are grateful to them and
hope they will continue the friendship," she said.
The family's younger generation was also invited by Premier Li to
visit China when he heard that they were keen to do so. He then
presented gifts to the family, telling Manorama Kotnis, "There is also
an MP3 player for you, since you love music".
Speaking to NDTV exclusively after the event, Ms Kotnis said she was
touched by the gesture. "I am deeply honoured," she said.
0 new messages