Tan Chung

Tan Chung (born April 18, 1929, in Matubahar, Johor^[1]) is an authority on Chinese history, Sino-Indian relations and cultural exchange. Tan Chung has been a doyen of Chinese cultural studies in India for nearly half a century.^[2]

In 2010, he was awarded the Padma Bhushan, the third highest civilian honour by the Govt. of India ^[3] and the China-India Friendship Award by the Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao in the same year.^[4]

Career

Tan Chung taught at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) and the University of Delhi for many years. His father, Tan Yunshan (1898-1983), was the Founding Director of the Department of Chinese Language and Culture "Cheena-Bhavana" at Visva-Bharati University, Santiniketan and a key figure driving Nationalist China's interactions with the Indian freedom movement during the 1930s and 1940s.^[5] After Tan Chung's retirement from JNU in 1994, he 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.^[6]

In June 2013, Yunnan Academy of Social Science conferred upon him the honorary Fellowship of the Academy.^[7]

In December 2013, Visva-Bharati University conferred Deshikhottama (D. Litt and the highest honor of the University) upon Professor Tan Chung.

References