New Delhi, Oct. 12 -- The long history of interaction between India and China represents a profound civilisational bond dating back nearly two millennia. In 399 CE, Chinese Buddhist monk Faxian travelled to India in search of Buddhist scriptures. In the 20th century, this relationship evolved from spiritual exchange to anti-colonial and wartime solidarity. In 1938, during the Sino-Japanese War, Chinese Communist General Zhu De sought medical assistance from Indian nationalist leaders. Organised by Subhas Chandra Bose, then President of the Indian National Congress, and supported by Jawaharlal Nehru, India sent a five-member volunteer medical team to China, along with an ambulance and medical supplies.
The Indian Medical Mission (IMM) comprised Dr Madan Mohan Lal Atal, the team leader, Dr M Cholkar, Dr Bejoy Kumar Basu, Dr Debesh Mukherjee and Dr Dwarkanath Kotnis. Arriving at the port of Hankou in Wuhan, the team subsequently travelled to Yan'an, the revolutionary base, in 1939, where it was warmly welcomed by Mao Zedong, Zhu De and other Communist Party leaders. It was the first medical team to arrive from another Asian country. While three doctors eventually returned to India, Kotnis and Basu remained in China despite the risks. In 1939, they joined the Eighth Route Army in the Jin-Cha-Ji border region near the Wutai Mountain area, providing medical services through mobile clinics. During a prolonged battle against Japanese troops in 1940, Kotnis reportedly performed operations for 72 hours without sleep, treating more than 800 wounded soldiers. He was later appointed director of the Dr Bethune International Peace Hospital, named after the renowned Canadian surgeon Norman Bethune.
During his stay in northern China, Dr Kotnis met Chinese nurse Quo Qinglan, who worked at the Bethune Hospital. They married in December 1941. However, the hardships of military life eventually took their toll on him. Epilepsy claimed his life on December 9, 1942, just three months after the birth of their son, Yinhua. Mourning his death, Mao Zedong observed: "The army has lost a helping hand, the nation has lost a friend. Let us always bear in mind his internationalist spirit." Kotnis was buried in the Heroes Courtyard in Nanquan village and remains honoured in China, with a memorial dedicated to him in Shijiazhuang, Hebei province. Meanwhile, Dr Bejoy Kumar Basu, who stayed in China for nearly five years between 1938 and 1943, developed an interest in traditional Chinese medicine, particularly acupuncture, and subsequently played a pioneering role in introducing the practice to India.
In 1958, Dr Basu returned to China for six months of further acupuncture training and travelled there again in 1973 to study newly developed acupuncture anaesthesia. He established the Dr Kotnis Memorial Committee (DKMC) and the Acupuncture Association of India to promote the ideals of the medical mission and advance acupuncture in India. He even donated his house and savings to the West Bengal government for the development of acupuncture. In 1978, Basu took four Indian students, Dr A Ganguly, Dr D Bakshi, Dr M Gantait and Dr Chandana Mitra, to Nanjing University for advanced training and research. After completing their training, Bakshi founded the Indian Research Institute for Integrated Medicine (IRIIM) in 1981, while Gantait established the B K Basu Memorial Research and Training Institute of Acupuncture in Kolkata. These became two of India's oldest and most prominent acupuncture centres, recognised by the West Bengal government. Dr Chandana Mitra also became actively involved with IRIIM.
Acupuncture is an ancient healing practice rooted in traditional Chinese medicine, involving the insertion of thin needles at specific points on the body to treat various health conditions. Practised for over two millennia, it draws upon philosophical traditions associated with Daoism, particularly the concept of maintaining harmony within the body. Its principles developed over centuries before becoming an established component of Chinese medicine.
Acupuncture has been used in clinical practice to manage symptoms such as nausea, insomnia, fatigue and anxiety. It was also incorporated into treatment programmes during the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) outbreak in 2003 and the COVID-19 pandemic in China. On March 5, 2020, the China Association of Acupuncture-Moxibustion (CAAM) issued guidance on acupuncture and moxibustion interventions for COVID-19.
The Dr D N Kotnis Health and Education Centre, another acupuncture training institute in India, signed a memorandum of cooperation with China's Guizhou University of Traditional Chinese Medicine in 2019 to strengthen cooperation in acupuncture education and research, alongside other academic and cultural exchanges.
Recently, the Chinese Consul-General has taken the initiative to strengthen these historical ties between India and China. In September, a five-member team, invited by the office of the Chinese Consul-General in Kolkata, visited major institutions, including Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing Hospital of Chinese Medicine affiliated with Nanjing University, Hebei University of Chinese Medicine, Shaanxi Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine and Xi'an TCM Hospital of Encephalopathy. Two senior members of the delegation were Dr D Bakshi and Dr Chandana Mitra, direct students of Dr Basu who had undergone training in China in 1978.
It is heartening that the office of the Chinese Consul-General in Kolkata is prepared to support exchanges, training and research opportunities for acupuncture professionals in India. There is also scope for jointly organising seminars and exhibitions to commemorate the contributions of the Indian Medical Mission in China and promote acupuncture in India. Such initiatives can help preserve the legacy of Dr Kotnis and Dr Basu while opening new avenues for cooperation. People-to-people contacts remain essential to fostering cordial relations between these two ancient civilisations.
Views expressed are personal. The writer is a professor of Business Administration
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.