Tan Chung (born 1929) is an authority on Chinese history, Sino-Indian relations and cultural exchange. Chung has been a doyen of Chinese cultural studies in India for nearly half a century.[1]
In 2010, he was awarded the Padma Bhushan, the third highest civilian honour by the Govt. of India [2] and the China-India Friendship Award by the Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao in the same year.[3]
Chung taught at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) and the University of Delhi for many years. His father, Tan Yunshan was the Founding Director of the Department of Chinese Language and Culture "Cheena-Bhavana" at Visva-Bharati University, Santiniketan. After his retirement from JNU in 1994, Chung worked as a Research Professor at Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, New Delhi and currently lives in Chicago, USA. He has been Honorary Director of the ICS/Institute of Chinese Studies, New Delhi.
A conference in his honor, at the occasion of his 80th birthday, was held in New Delhi in December 2008.[4]
A representative sampling of Prof. Tan's essays, (unpublished) talks, and links to his books may be found at and through his personal profile at the svAbhinava website.[5] China and the brave new world, triton and dragon
Recently, Prof. Tan Chung also edited a booked entitled "Tagore and China" which was published by Sage Publications. [6]. 2011 marks the 150th birth anniversary of noble Laureate Rabindranath Tagore and this book is a timely work to understand Gurudeva Tagore's love, passion and support for Chinese culture and civilization.[7]