National Consciousness Versus Cosmopolitan Consciousness: Rabindranath Tagore in China

Rabindranath Tagore can be considered as a typical writer from a colonized country, and it is natural that his sense of national identity should be foregrounded, with patriotism and national resistance comprising a constant theme in his literary works and his voiced opinions. Although Tagore’s nationalism might be the part that Chinese readers could easily understand and resonate with, however, as a writer from a marginalized nation, Tagore held a rather ambivalent attitude towards the issue of East versus West and nationalism versus cosmopolitanism. To understand this ambivalence and consider its historical and cultural context is vital to the understanding of Tagore and his importance in the development of modern Chinese culture and literature.