Nehru Togore in Chinese list of most influential foreigners

Nehru, Tagore in Chinese list of 'most influential foreigners'

Beijing: Jawaharlal Nehru and Rabindranath Tagore have figured in a list of 60 "most influential foreigners" who have played a profound role in shaping the way over 1.2 billion people of modern China think and live.

"Whether intentionally or accidentally, directly or indirectly, positively or negatively, they have become important pieces of the China puzzle – helping shape and globalise the nation," the state-run 'Global Times', a sister publication of the ruling Communist Party's 'Peoples Daily', said while releasing its list.

The inclusion of Nehru in the list is being seen as significant as some Chinese experts accuse him of triggering the 1962 war. Nehru is listed 19th in the list.

The first Indian Prime Minister and China's then foreign minister Zhou Enlai were the architects of the famous 'Hindi-Chini bhai-bhai' slogan of the 1950s. However, Sino-Indian relations soon witnessed a downturn in 1962 when the two Asian giants clashed in a brief but bloody war.

Tagore is listed 11th and is the only poet figuring in the list. Tagore, whose works have been widely translated in Chinese, has been chosen among the foreign literary figures.

Interestingly, among the 60 people in the list, there is only one woman, Margaret Thatcher, the 'Iron Lady' of Great Britain.