Goodwill ambassador with panache
When he first arrived in Shanghai in 1999, Bivash Mukherjee never imagined the city would become his home for the next 20 years.
The Indian-born journalist initially arrived here to assist the launch of Shanghai Daily, the first English-language daily in the city. In ensuing years, he became a bridge between Chinese and Indian cultures.
The Mumbai native came with international experience under his belt, after working in newsrooms in Moscow and Bangkok. He said he had read a lot about China before coming to the country.
“When I received the invitation from Shanghai Daily, I decided to come and have a look myself,” he said. “I figured I would work here maybe for a year or two, and once the paper was firmly launched, I would leave. At least that was the plan.”
In his first months in the city, he took long nighttime walks through the city, discovering its soul and creating an emotional bond with Shanghai. At the same time, he formed deep relationships with Chinese colleagues at the newspaper.
“People (expats) who worked with me back then have gone,” he said. “But I just stayed… for the nice colleagues here. My father used to tell me that I should be in a place where I am wanted. I also managed to travel a lot in China.”
Mukherjee’s long tenure in the city has given him a front row seat on recent history. He witnessed the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games and the Shanghai 2010 World Expo. He was also in the city during the SARS outbreak and worked on news coverage of the Sichuan earthquake.
He married an Indian woman, who joined him in Shanghai. Their two children were born in the city. He named his daughter Chinmoyee — “Chin” for China and “moyee” a word for affection and love.
“When she was delivered in the Shanghai No. 1 Maternity and Infant Hospital in 2002, half of the Shanghai Daily office was there,” said Mukherjee. “They came to help me communicate with doctors and to support and congratulate me. That’s the kind of warmth that tied me to the city.”
Switching to sports
As night desk editor, Mukherjee started out working on city and business news before switching to sports around the time of the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games.
“Sports is exciting in this sports-mad country,” he said. “I used to follow only football, cricket and tennis. But the variety of disciplines in China, like badminton and table tennis, also fascinated me.”
Work on a daily newspaper kept him up-to-date with a changing China and Shanghai.
“China is constantly trying to change, build and create,” he said. “Once this country decides to do something, there is no stopping it. It has a young and informative generation. With the Belt and Road policy, we see China building more connections with the rest of the world. Development is always a positive story.”
Mukherjee’s inquisitive nature led him to look for connections between the traditions and culture of China and India, the world’s two most populous nations. He was keen to foster a closer understanding between his birthplace and his adopted home, and in the process, he evolved into an unofficial goodwill ambassador.
One of his most significant contributions to that process was a self-made documentary entitled “Gurudev — A Journey to the East.” The film, which traced Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore’s visits to China in the 1920s, is now a regular feature at Sino-Indian conferences in both countries.
The film started with a small discovery during a stroll through the back alleys of Shanghai.
“I walked into a neighborhood near Yan’an Road and found a plaque with Tagore’s name on it,” said Mukherjee. “It was the only name in English and I was curious. I took a Chinese colleague back to the spot the next day to find out about the board. It turned out the great poet used to live there.”
Research ensued.
“I looked for books and materials from the library and archive offices, and sought information from experts and Chinese poets like Zhao Lihong,” he said. “I also went back to India to dig out as much as I could.”
Mukherjee then wrote an article for Shanghai Daily about his discovery.
“But the article could be no longer than 2,000 words, and I had so much more to tell,” he said. “That was when I decided to pour all the information I had uncovered into a documentary.”
The film caught the attention of the Indian Consulate in Shanghai,