Will India’s Oldest Chinatown Survive?

www.ozy.com [OZY]( OZY A Modern Media Company Share This Sh*t January 26, 2023 Share This Sh*t [The drop]( WILL INDIA’S OLDEST CHINATOWN SURVIVE? This Lunar New Year, we visit the historic and endangered Tiretta Bazaar. Can a revamp revive it? Old Guard, New Look Anmol Arora in Kolkata, India [@ha_anmol]( ‘Everything Was Gone’ Smoking a beedi — a thin, cheap cigar common in the Indian subcontinent — outside his room at Choonghee Dhonc Thien Haue Church, Api Ching reminisced about his youth. The 81-year-old caretaker of the Chinese temple grew up in the neighborhood known as Tiretta Bazaar, in the eastern Indian city of Kolkata, a cosmopolitan melting pot that was once the capital of British India. Ching studied there, learned carpentry and then moved to Mumbai to work in the shipping industry. After 35 years in Mumbai, he retired and moved back to Tiretta Bazaar. “I didn't even recognize the roads,” he said of the changes that had taken place while he was away. “Everything was gone, and everyone forgot about how it used to be here.” The azaan — call for prayer — from a nearby mosque rang out loudly in the background, a reminder of how the day was moving on, just as the neighborhood had. A Busy Market Tiretta Bazaar is India’s oldest Chinatown. It emerged in the mid 19th century. Yet at first glance, it now looks very similar to any other busy market in Kolkata. It takes an effort to search for the Chinese temples and signboards amid bustling crowds, merchants and diverse businesses. Among the Chinese shrines in the neighborhood is the Nam Soon temple. Despite the crowds on the streets, very few people come to pray at the temple — suggesting that it’s mostly visitors from outside the neighborhood, rather than locals, thronging Tiretta Bazaar nowadays. Still, the shrine’s caretaker, Kam Ching, tells me that he comes daily. And old-timers like him are getting support from different corners in keeping the community alive. A New Look In 2022, the New York-based nonprofit World Monuments Fund (WMF) included Tiretta Bazaar among heritage locations and neighborhoods where it would support restoration and revival efforts. Leading WMF efforts in Kolkata is conservation architect Sohini Pyne. Already, the fund has helped support repair work on one of the neighborhood’s Chinese temples. Independently, community members have commissioned the renovation of the Sea Ip temple, another landmark in Tiretta Bazaar. The restoration project seeks to revive a frayed cultural connection between the city’s ethnic Chinese community and the rest of its population. But the WMF project isn’t focused only on physical restoration. It is also trying to revive a frayed cultural connection between the city’s ethnic Chinese community and the rest of its population through an outreach program involving students from five Kolkata schools. This program introduces students to the history of the community, its migration, cuisine, art, architecture and more, Pyne said. Students have joined walks through the neighborhood and have taken part in workshops in the run-up to the Lunar New Year celebrations that are continuing this week. Difficult History The Pioneers People from China have been traveling to India for centuries — Buddhist monk Faxian was the first to document his journey in the 5th century. Many believe that the first Chinese settler was [Tong Atchew](, who came in the late 18th century and received some land from the ruling British East India Company in what is today known as the Achipur village, about 19 miles from Kolkata. He started a sugar mill business there and hired other migrant Chinese workers. In the decades that followed, Chinese migrants formed a settlement in Kolkata’s Tiretta Bazaar. Some later moved and founded another Indian-Chinese neighborhood, known as Tangra, in the city. Chinese migration continued over the next century, increasing during the Chinese Civil War and World War II. India’s 1951 Census — the first after independence — said there were 5,710 people of Chinese ethnicity in the city at the time. But the residents say that, at its peak, the community’s Chinese population stood between 20,000 and 30,000. The population decline started in the years after independence. The nature of the neighborhood started changing in the 1950s, said 73-year-old Hoi Wah, who works as a watchman at the Sea Ip temple. The newly independent Indian government took over some land and places of residence for road planning and other infrastructure projects that displaced people, he said. War Wounds But the biggest setback to the community came with the 1962 Sino-Indian War over their border dispute. Anti-Chinese sentiment grew because of the war. Chinese businesses, residences and citizens were attacked. Around [3,000 people of Chinese origin]( were picked from across India and forcibly sent to an internment camp in the western state of Rajasthan. While most of the people sent to the camp were from the region of Siliguri (370 miles north of Kolkata) or from the neighboring state of Assam, Wah said the Chinese-origin community in Kolkata was forbidden from moving freely. “We couldn't leave Calcutta [Kolkata]. We couldn't even go across the Howrah Bridge,” said Wah, referring to an iconic bridge that connects Kolkata to the suburb of Howrah. Janice Lee, whose family runs the Pou Chong Sauces and Food Products business in Kolkata, told me that her mother’s family was also picked up from Shillong in the northeastern state of Meghalaya and sent off to Rajasthan. Their businesses — a restaurant and a beauty parlor — were forced shut. Lee’s mother was born in the prison camp. “A lot of people — after they were released from jail — could not start again,” said Lee. Many left for Canada, the United States, Taiwan and Hong Kong. But her grandparents persevered and stayed in India. Staying Back Isn’t Easy Another reason for the population decline was the lack of economic opportunities. For instance, many ethnic Chinese people were skilled shoemakers and crafted handmade leather shoes that were wildly popular in Kolkata. But with the advent of factory-made molded shoes that were much cheaper, their industry was killed, said Lee. The youth took off in search of greener pastures. Those who remained had relatively well-to-do businesses, as in the case of Lee's family. “We can just leave, but our conscience doesn't allow it because so many jobs are at stake, like our factory employees,” says Lee, who speaks Hakka, Bengali, Hindi and English. Some ethnic Chinese people also opened restaurants to cater to the popularity of Indian-Chinese food. NOW STREAMING FROM OZY STUDIO ‘The Culture Will Survive’ Shadow of the Past While there is no official current data on the community’s population, locals I spoke with said that very few ethnic Chinese or Indian-Chinese people remain in the neighborhood today. Kam Ching, the caretaker of the Nam Soom temple puts the figure at no more than 1,500 to 2,000 people, for the entire city. The caretakers are adamant that they’re not going anywhere. And there have been moments in recent years when the bitter memories of the past have been revived, amid rising India-China border tensions. Soldiers of the Asian neighbors recently [clashed along the border](, and relations haven’t been this tense since the 1960s. ‘As Long as We Are Here’ Temple caretakers like Api Ching, Hoi Wah and Kam Ching earn only up to Rs 3000 ($37) a month and often depend on money given to them by tourists or sent by their friends from other countries. Many young members of their families have moved away. Yet the caretakers are adamant that they’re not going anywhere. “As long as we are here, we are taking care of it,” Kam Ching said. Meanwhile, Lee and Pyne, the conservation architect, remain more optimistic about the future of Tiretta Bazaar. Lee said most vendors and shopkeepers in the neighborhood today are no longer of Chinese ethnicity, yet they’ve learned from the original Chinese locals and today make and hawk fare like baos, sui mai and Tibetan dumplings known as momos. That’s good news, in her view. ‘More Cultural Events’ The Indian-Chinese population in Tiretta Bazaar might be declining, but Lee sees a ray of hope. “You say that strength is in numbers, but I find that now when the population is low, people are keener to preserve it,” she said. “When there are a lot of people, you take it for granted. Now, there are more cultural events.” The community celebrates the Lunar New Year, the Dragon Boat Festival, the Chongyang Festival (also known as Elder’s Day) and other occasions, hosting people from all over the city to come and share in the festivities. Lee believes the neighborhood will also benefit from WMF support. “In terms of survival as the Indian-Chinese community, the population is less, but the culture will survive,” she said. What’s the best example of an old neighborhood’s restoration that you’ve seen? 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