The Rise of the Writers of the Republic of China

In the next few days, Zhou Hexuan stayed in Calcutta and discussed literature and national liberation issues with these progressive Indian writers all day long. The reason why he didn't leave was not because he wanted to communicate with his Indian colleagues, but because he stayed here to wait for Chang Kaishen and Soong Meiling.

After inspecting the Khyber Pass Fortress, Chang Kaishen returned to New Delhi with his entourage, where he met with Congress Party leader Jawaharlal Nehru, Chairman of the Indian Green Union Jinnah (the founding father of Pakistan), and leaders of Indian women's circles Mrs. Naidoo and so on.

The next step was to meet Mahatma Gandhi.

In order to show respect, Chang Kaishen wanted to go to Bombay in person to visit him according to Chinese etiquette. Gandhi wanted to follow Indian etiquette and go to New Delhi to meet with Chang Kaishen in person.

The British Governor-General in India learned of this situation and immediately wrote to Soong Meiling, saying that if Chiang Kai-shek and his wife went to Bombay, the Governor-General would be in a very embarrassing situation. Later, Churchill sent a telegram to Chiang Kai-shek, asking him not to go against the wishes of the Governor-General, otherwise the situation of the Sino-British alliance uniting all India to participate in the war against Japan would be damaged.

In desperation, the three parties compromised - Chiang Kai-shek chose to meet Gandhi in Calcutta.

Gandhi traveled with great fanfare. Thousands of Indians bid farewell to him in Mumbai, hundreds of low-caste and untouchable supporters accompanied him, and he was escorted by hundreds of thousands of people along the way. He came in a third-class train, and tens of thousands of Calcutta citizens organized a spontaneous reception to welcome him, which directly paralyzed the railway station.

Chang Kaishen was completely shocked by the crazy scene, and said to Song Meiling and Zhou Hexuan next to him: "He is indeed a saint, and he has won the hearts of the people!"

Hundreds of lower caste and untouchable followers spontaneously opened the way for Gandhi. They were like the fanatics who protected the Pope, humble, humble and unyielding until death. If anyone wanted to harm Gandhi, they could only step on the corpses of these people.

"Mahatma! Mahatma! Mahatma!"

There were shouts and shouts inside and outside the station. The upper castes stood and waited, the lower castes knelt down and worshiped, and the untouchables lay on the ground from a distance to perform Hajj.

The British and Indian military police seemed to be facing a powerful enemy, but they did not even dare to raise their guns. In fact, even if there is an accident, you don't dare to shoot, otherwise it will definitely cause greater trouble.

Seeing this scene, Zhou Hexuan felt complicated and didn't know how to evaluate it at all. He used to look down on Gandhi and felt that this man was too cowardly, but now he did not dare to underestimate him - when non-violent non-cooperation is played to this extent, it is sometimes more terrifying than violent resistance. Its organizational power and Its influence has exceeded that of most violent revolutions in the world.

Let's put it this way, if the British dare to raise the price and tax of a certain kind of fabric without authorization, then Gandhi will stand up and call for all the people to spin cloth and refuse to buy and use British cloth. Tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, millions, or even tens of millions of people responded. They demonstrated, went on strike, and persisted to the end despite the British suppression. The kind of economic losses and social chaos were simply unbearable for the British. right.

You kill yours, I do mine, I stick my neck out for you to kill, but I just won’t cooperate with you.

Let's change the metaphor. It's like a robber occupying a farmer's house and asking the farmer to plant vegetables, cultivate the land, and boil water for cooking. Normally, farmers would be patient. If the oppression was too much, they would do nothing, lie on the ground and let the bandits beat and kill them. Unless the robber wants to completely destroy the family, he will inevitably choose to compromise. This is really a weird way of resistance.

"Mr. Gandhi!"

"Mr. Jiang!"

The two shook hands warmly outside the station, both very touched by each other's actions. Chiang Kai-shek and his wife went to the station to greet him in person, while Gandhi traveled all the way in a third-class carriage. At least they showed great respect.

"This must be the Nobel laureate Mr. Zhou, right?" Gandhi smiled.

Zhou Hexuan greeted: "Hello, Mr. Gandhi."

After everyone exchanged greetings, they took the car to the best hotel in the city. Gandhi's followers also went there, but did not stay in the hotel. Instead, they sat or lay outside the hotel door. Asceticism is a form of practice for them and a stance to express determination.

The exchange process was actually very boring. Each expressed respect and support for the other nation and expressed their desire to unite to deal with imperialism.

What Zhou Hexuan was most interested in was Gandhi's views on the caste system. He couldn't help but ask: "Mr. Gandhi, what do you think of the caste system?"

"Ahem!" Chang Kaishen coughed. He felt that this question was too sensitive.

Gandhi smiled and replied: "The caste system has a certain rationality. It is not the caste system that restricts India's development, but untouchability. I think untouchability should be abolished. Once the untouchable class is eliminated, the caste system can be purified."

This answer surprised Zhou Hexuan, because in his impression, Gandhi respected the untouchables openly, but secretly looked down on them.

"Do you think the untouchability system can be abolished?" Zhou Hexuan asked again.

Gandhi smiled and said: "I am an untouchable and I still get respect."

Of course Gandhi cannot be an untouchable. Many times he is considered to be a Kshatriya of the second caste, but judging from his surname, he should be more like a Vaishya of the third caste. The original meaning of "Gandhi" is "food merchant", the Vaisyas are the class engaged in commerce and trade, and the Kshatriya class are mostly princes, nobles, warriors and officers.

Of course, it is also possible that Gandhi's family has been upgraded a long time ago. After all, his father served as the prime minister of a certain Indian state - a position that is more consistent with the Kshatriya caste.

The reason why Gandhi said he was an untouchable was because when he went to London to study, the locals threatened to expel him from his caste and did so. This gave rise to differences. The Gandhi family still regarded Gandhi as a Kshatriya, while his fellow villagers believed that Gandhi had become a pariah.

Gandhi continued: "The non-violent non-resistance movement is external, and the abolition of untouchability is internal. Persistence in resistance externally and self-improvement internally are the only way for the Indian nation to become stronger. We cannot drive away the British colonists. Although we are oppressing our own people, we are still oppressing our own people. This is wrong and extremely foolish.”

"Indeed." Zhou Hexuan agreed.

After being in India for so many days, Gandhi was the most sensible Indian that Zhou Hexuan had ever come into contact with. At least his idea involves the fundamentals of Indian society, which is to abolish untouchability!

In fact, Gandhi had not thought about abolishing untouchability before 1932, and had a conflict with the future "Father of the Indian Constitution" who was an untouchable. Gandhi not only compromised, but was persuaded by the other party, and publicly asked the British colonial government to grant local suffrage rights to untouchables. From a conspiracy theory perspective, Gandhi's move may not be for the benefit of untouchables, but to divert the colonial government's influence by liberating untouchables. attention of the nonviolent movement, and to some extent it succeeded.

In any case, Gandhi did this. He also called the untouchables "sons of God" and characterized their occupation of cleaning toilets as a sacred ritual. After Gandhi's death, cleaning toilets was still "sacred" because it was endowed with sacred attributes by Gandhi, but the untouchables who cleaned toilets were still discriminated against.

Gandhi also persuaded temples across the country to open to untouchables. The temples agreed, but untouchables were still unable to enter. Just like Gandhi gave untouchables the right to be civil servants, but untouchables are still unable to be civil servants. The powerful caste system has gradually become an unspoken rule - only the best among a few untouchables can come forward.

Just at the end of last year, Gandhi issued the "Agenda for the Construction of India," in which he called on Greens and Hindus to unite and cooperate, abolish untouchability, improve the status of women, and gradually solve rural and educational issues.

It can be said that these assumptions of Gandhi involve all the fundamental issues of Indian society. If it can be solved, then India will inevitably develop into a superpower.

Nehru, the leader of the Congress Party, inherited Gandhi's ideas and put Gandhi's "Construction Program" into practice bit by bit. This process was bound to encounter great resistance, so Nehru chose to expand externally and rely on military strength to enhance his prestige.

These include invading the territory of New China and being hung up and beaten by the founding fathers. Nehru's prestige was greatly lost as a result, and domestic forces in India took the opportunity to counterattack. As a result, India's rural reforms came to an end, and other reform achievements were also reversed. His successors were even less capable.

Therefore, the various problems in Indian society were what they were when the country was founded, and they will still be the same decades later.

After two hours of in-depth communication, Zhou Hexuan's impression of Gandhi changed greatly. This man is indeed a wise man and a warrior. Nehru, the leader of the Congress Party, is more like a fan of Gandhi. Both of them have a deep understanding of Indian society. However, reality forced Nehru to adopt the wrong method - he actually wanted to Consolidate rule by bullying New China.