The "other's" neighborhood: Chinatown - PT. 1, Tiretta Bazaar

'We are a salad bowl democracy.' - Retd. Lt. Gen. Zameer Uddin Shah

The very idea of Kolkata as a ‘diaspora city’ references to the Tiretta Bazaar Chinatown. Temples, graveyards, opium dens and the living quarters of the Chinese.

One of the recent popular trends in Kolkata is heritage walks; learning your city's history from experts while taking a stroll down the memory lane. One of such walks on 3rd July 2019 lead by Dr. Tathagata Neogi introduced me to the history of Chinese-Indians.

This is a story in three parts, out of which I have till now experienced only the first one. I hope to complete this someday, if the pandemic ever gets over :(

What's PAST is PROLOGUE :

The probable first mention of Chinese community living in Kolkata was made by C. Alabaster in the Calcutta Review, 1858. Alabaster noted different groups of Chinese from shoe-makers to ship-carpenters, hogs-lard-manufacturers and major subgroups - mainly Cantonese and Hakka living in the same neighborhood of that of ‘Hindustanis’ and ‘Eurasians’. Since 19th century, Kolkata was congregation of various foreign communities like Chinese, Jews, and Parsis. There is no full-fledged history of the Chinese community settled in Kolkata and rest of India. But, according to various accounts, Atchew was the first Chinese settler in South Asia in the year of 1778.

British official documentation suggests, Atchew offered tea as a gift to the reigning British Governor General of India - Warren Hastings. In return he received a large land grant near Calcutta. (Bose B. K., 1934). Atchew then established a sugar mill factory and to serve in his factory he called many Chinese from China to settle in Kolkata and to work for him. Atchew maintained close contacts with local British officials, which seems unlikely for an ordinary entrepreneur; making Atchew some sort of mystic. This forces us to stop here for a moment to deep dive into Atchew a bit more.

ATCHEW

Paramita Ghosh (Hindustan Times) called Tong Atchew "a good mushroom growing on foreign soil", as both has the same quality "No flash, no permanent dash, but it still stands on its own even as it adds to the flavors of the mix into which it is thrown". There are some confusions regarding the actual name of the person. Yang Ah Chew, Tong Atchew, Yang Da Zhao are some of the options to choose from. There are no available picture or even likeliness of the person to be found anywhere. The one in left is simply a symbolic one. Both Chinatowns in Kolkata - first in Tiretta Bazaar (since 1800s), second in Tangra (since 1910 ) consider Atchew their ancestor. Here was someone who made ‘leaving home’ a success story, in contrast to staying put, the established wisdom for that age. Greater Kolkata has three distinct areas that keep a close relation with the Chinese migrants and Chinese Indians of the city: Tiretta Bazaar, Tangra, and Achipur. I plan to discuss about Tangra and Achipur in later parts of this series.

But for introducing Atchew one has to discuss Achipur briefly here. The first Chinese colony in India, Achipur land was given to Atchew in 1778. Atchew used the land to produce sugar, in a mill recruiting Chinese workers. Produced sugar mainly targeted trade routes between Guangzhou (then Canton) and European cities via India.

Soon after he established the sugar mill, Atchew attempted to convince the British officials that the Chinese living in Kolkata were trying to captivate and enrapture his workers. (Bose B. K., 1934). From history it is quite clear that some of the Chinese enter to Kolkata on ships that were quite persistent between Kolkata and Canton. So it is clearly pointed out that two typical settlements of the Chinese, were born, one in Kolkata and the another area (Achipur) where Atchew established his sugar mill.

From CANTON to CALCUTTA:

According to Ly, many Chinese from Fujian and Guangdong provinces were residing in Calcutta. Moreover some of them had built temples dedicated to Chinese deities. (Claudine, 1999). A more detailed description of the Chinese settlement in Calcutta comes from an 1857 account by the Englishman Chaloner Alabaster, who had been assigned the task of accompanying the anti-British Chinese official Ye Mingchen to his exile in Calcutta. Alabaster reports that there was a “colony” of about 500 Cantonese and Hakka Chinese living in Calcutta. (Chaloner, 1858, pp. 369-70 ) Engaged in shoemaking, selling opium, carpentry and other economic activities, these Chinese had built temples for Guandi and the Goddess Tianhou. (Xing, 2011) The 1901 census recorded 1,640 Chinese in Calcutta. The number of Chinese immigrants continued to grow in the first four decades of the twentieth century, especially due to civil wars and the Japanese invasion of China.

When they came from China, they were mainly farmers or ship builders. But this was a new land with new rules. Moreover they were outsiders, different. Hence, they had to adapt into being dentists, shoe-makers or chefs.

Out of many classes of Chinese settlers - the Hubeis became “teeth-setters” or dentists, the Cantonese were ‘ship-fitters’ and later carpenters by '50s. The Hakka's followed in the same route, but a bit late. They were talented shoe-smiths and leather manufacturers.

Small eating houses in Tiretta Bazaar, central Kolkata, originally meant to feed the local Chinese working men, numbering around 25,000 till the early ’60s. Before the outbreak of the Indo-China war of ’62, central Kolkata was a Cantonese stronghold. Eventually due to clashes among Cantonese and Hakka immigrant groups, The Hakkas (sizeable group) had to re-located to Tangra in search of new habitat and profession (Tannery). I will write about them later in part 3, mentioning only about Dominic Lee here. Mr. Lee, a Hakka, who owns Pou Chong, one of the most well-known brands of sauce and noodles made by the community near Tiretta Bazaar, is perceived as Mr. Lee, the sauce-maker.

The CANTONESE

Originating from the Southern Mainland China's Guangdong province (then Canton), The Cantonese or Yue people are a sub-section of Han Chinese. They speak in Cantonese, a language currently used as the official one in Hong Kong and Macau. The religions that are predominantly followed by Cantonese people include Taoism, Confucianism, ancestral worship and Mahayana Buddhism. There have been a number of influential Cantonese figures throughout history, such as Bruce Lee and Sun Yat-Sen. I would discuss about the later one here as part of my Tiretta Bazaar walk, for the former one I recommend two movies out of many - Fist of Fury (1972) and Enter the Dragon (1973).

And THUS came 'TIRETTA'

I often wondered how Tiretta Bazaar got its name. It is not a Bengali word, not even and English one. Hence, searching for its source seemed interesting. Behind such a name was a person, a certain Venetian (Venice, Italy) called Edward Tiretta.

Edward perhaps being an Anglicized version of the original Italian ‘Eduardo’. This Italian

person for some specifically unknown but overall political reasons was exiled from. He ventured to come in British India and succeeded in attaining high office (Superintendent of streets and houses in the city of palaces) under the East India Company. Unlike Atchew, there is a photographic likeness of Mr. Tiretta that is available through google search (see right in green). The earliest mentions of him can be found in the Calcutta Gazette of 1788, in which he comes across as a prosperous burgher (a rank/title of a privileged citizen in early modern Europe. Burghers formed the pool from which city officials could be drawn, and their immediate families formed the social class of the medieval bourgeoisie), with a market already named after him. This market was valued at nearly Rs 2 lakh and yielded a monthly rent of Rs. 3,600/-. The Gazette described the bazaar as occupying nine bighas and eight cottahs of land, “formed in two squares, with convenient shops, surrounded with a colonnade veranda, and the whole area of the square is divided into commodious streets with pucka stalls”.

In 1791 Tiretta went bankrupt, and his market was raffled off as a prize in a lottery. The buyer was one C Weston. But soon Tiretta branched out into other areas of business, founding, of all things, a burial ground on Park Street which came to be known as Tiretta’s Burial Ground. Tiretta continued to rise professionally, and he was first appointed mapmaker and then civil architect under the Company. The repair and maintenance of the jail was under his care. There is a document of 1794 mandating Tiretta to make temporary landmarks designating the outer limits of the city of Calcutta.

Another most interesting account of Tiretta comes from his friend Giacomo Casanova, the legendary lover. According to Casanova, Tiretta lost his mistress in a grievous illness, and was in such despair that he boarded a ship for Batavia. Casanova writes: “I heard from one of his relations that he was in Bengal in 1788, in good circumstances”.

Despite the wealth that Tiretta acquired in Calcutta, he did not live a happy life. He lost his 18-year-old wife in 1796, the orphan daughter of Count de Carrion, a French officer in the city. He buried his wife in a cemetery he founded, that existed diagonally opposite to where the South Park Street cemetery is today. Tiretta died in 1797 and had the singular honor of being buried in a cemetery named after himself.

A Specific picture : The full picture (below) whose part has been used above to depict Mr. Tiretta. This is a hand-coloured etching by James Gillray (1757-1815) and probably the only available image of Edward Tiretta. This etching was made after a sketch, possibly by James Moffat, of ‘The Bengal Levee’ at Calcutta in West Bengal, published by Gillray and H Humphrey, London, 1792. Marquess Cornwallis (1738-1803) was made Governor-General of India in 1786 and a Marquess in 1792. Cornwallis held a weekly levee at Government House and made a point of speaking to all those who attended. Here, Cornwallis is standing in the inner room on the right, his right hand on his breast and his left in the pocket of his breeches. In the photo, Edward Tiretta of the Bazaar, wearing a green coat, is greeting Father Parthanio, a Greek priest, who is wearing robes and the kamilavkas, an item of clerical headwear.

THE TEMPLES OF TIRETTA BAZAAR:

In my introduction to these article, I have mentioned that through participating in a heritage walk, I came across the information about the presence of three Chinatowns in Greater Kolkata. The walk itself was in the northern Kolkata - Tiretta Bazaar where in addition to learning about history, I got to visit Six Chinese temples. All of these six are located in the old Chinatown around Tiretta Bazar in Central Kolkata.

An informative fact to mention here is, these places of worship are referred and named to as "churches" in both the official record on the place's entrances. But these are sites of veneration that adhere to Chinese traditional religion and have nothing to do with Christianity. Hence they are neither temples not Churches. The British listed only four types of religious sites in their time in India - Temple, Mosque, Church and Synagogue. As they didn’t know what to call these veneration sites, they defaulted back to calling them Church as per their preference.

In China, ancestor worship is a part of Confucian culture. It is believed when someone passes away, he turns into a spirit, and you can seek his affection and blessings. Over the course of time, he is elevated almost to a godly figure for his (male dominated obviously) successive family. As a larger effect - many historical figures become worshipped by the whole society. In mainland China workers from one province while travelling another province for work use to form social groups called Huiguans (or, Voi-Koon in Cantonese or, Fee Kwan in Hakka). It's closest English translation is 'meeting place'. The same ritual followed when they came to Calcutta. These social clubs were centered around veneration sites with facilities like school, Mahjong (game), basic boarding facility for the newly arrived. Different communities had different Huiguans. Within a single Huiguan people had similar ancestry and skill sets to (carpenter, dentist etc.). The veneration site for a most of these Huiguans was made following their traditions. These clubs were for men’s only and women and children were not allowed (reason for this could be, initial immigrants were mostly men without family). Women and children were allowed only during festivities. These, however, is open to all.

A briefest possible De-tour (Ling Liang Church)

Before taking the group to the first Chinese traditional veneration site, our guide stated the tour introduction in front of Ling Liang Church. A kept a picture of it handy to latter google

about it, the information received is : Currently, most Chinese-Indian in Kolkata are by religion Christians. Though they still follow some old traditional Chinese festivals/customs and visit these veneration sites often. Ling Liang Church may be the first Christian church for the Chinese located at Tiretta Bazaar. Rev. Dr. T. David Lamb and his wife (missionaries) came to Calcutta to preach (1949) to Chinese. Tiretta having the most Chinese population was chosen for Ling Liang Chinese School and Church (1961). (Postal Address - Address: P-7, Hide Lane, Bowbazar, Kolkata 700012).

Now let's go one by one for each Chinese veneration sites and discuss about them -

Sea Ip

The building is located on the main road of Tiretta bazar (on the Indian Exchange Place [Extension] and at the corner of Kolkata Improvement Trust, Postal Address - 22/1A Chatawalla Gulli, Kolkata) and established in 1882 by the Chinese Shoe makers of Kolkata. This temple (for the lack of a better word) was renovated to its present form in 1905 and since people wrongly consider this year as the year of establishment. This is a veneration site for the people whose ancestry comes from the four districts of Guangdong Province. This is a two storied building and very well decorated. It is dedicated to :-

[1] Kun Yum/Kuan Yin/Kwan Yin/Quan Yin/Kuanyin/Guanyin/Guanshiyin - Goddess of Mercy, war, love and also the protector of children, Kwan Yin was a male God until the early part of the 12th Century. From then, it seems, he became she and started being modeled on the Buddhist Avalokiteshvara (a Bodhisattwa embodying the compassion of all Buddhas).

She is installed on the 1st floor and there are set of Weapons, beautifully crafted Wall hangings and roof hangings. The ornate roof was imported in its entirety from the Chinese mainland. Hanging from the roof of the shrine, is a large and exquisite wood carving which looks like a boat. This is in fact, the artist's conception of heaven and earth and is carved from one tree trunk. Another such boat may be seen hanging from the ceiling of Nam Soon Church.

[2] Next to Kwan Yin is Choi San (also known as Pi Kan or Caishen), the Chinese God of

Prosperity (see right). Some people also identify this as being an idol of the Chinese Earth God, To Tei Kung or Tudigong.

[3] To the left of the main shrine is another, smaller shrine,

dedicated to Kwan Ti - the Chinese God of War (see left), who is a deified military leader (though some scholars, identifies this as a shrine to Ba Gong).

On the ground floor, there is an assembly hall, which they use it for functions and for other purposes. Hung from the ceiling, between two columns at one end of the hall on the ground floor, is a long board with Chinese writing. This contains the history of the establishment of the Sea Ip.

Toong On

Located at 22 Black Burn Lane, Kolkata 700012, Toong On once hosted erstwhile popular 'Nanking' restaurant in its ground floor. Back in 1924, when Nanking was established, it was the first Chinese Restaurant of India. As per records, the original Toong On Church was located at 10 Black Burn Lane and just the Nanking Restaurant was located at this address. After the closure of the restaurant Toong On Church was shifted to this place to avoid it being sold off. There are heaps of garbage in disposal containers surrounding this place, though last I visited (May, 2019) the situation was improving. This is a veneration site for the people whose ancestry comes from the Koon Tong Province of erstwhile canton region.

The deity installed here (1st floor) is called Kwan Ti/Kuan Ti/Guan Yu/Kuandee - the 'God of War', with a big knife in hand.

This is the second mention of Kwan Ti (first one was in Sea Ip), so it will only be ideal if we discuss about him a bit more. Kwan Ti is an ancestral god, so it is given he was human once. He was a Han Dynasty general, who played a significant part in the civil war that ended the Han Dynasty. History of the man was slowly replaced by legend, today all over the world (China, Taiwan, Hong Kong etc.) he is worshipped as a God. He is present in Taoism and also in Chinese Buddhism as Sangharama Bodhisattva (heavenly protector). He is traditionally portrayed as someone with a beard and a red face having a weapon called 'Guandao' (heavy blade with a spike at the back and sometimes also a notch at the spike's upper base).

The ground floor also host a big idol of Buddha, which has been very recently placed just to keep the place from again falling into the wrong hands. Two gigantic Calcutta Telephones

buildings are there in the south and west of Toong On. Calcutta Telephones had originally wanted to demolish Toong On, and take over the entire plot. A court case resulted, that lasted from '80s-2012. As collateral damages the restaurant was shut down in '80s, a lot of priceless relics, furniture and fine examples of Chinese craftsmanship was sold of. Ultimately the temple trust were able to regain control of the property.

Choonghee Dong Thien Haue

Established back in 1858-59, this is located at the junction of Damzen Lane and Blackburn Lane (very hard to locate, except you are with a good guide). The postal address is - 32 Black Burn Lane, Kolkata 700012. Choonghee Dong Thien Haue is the proof of Tiretta Bazaar being the oldest Chinatown in Kolkata. As this veneration site is mainly used by the Hakka community whereas the rest of the Chinese temples in this locality are mainly used by the Cantonese people. This proves that before moving to Tangra (to be discusses in part three of this series) both Hakkas and Cantonese people used to live here.

The veneration sites are hosted in first floor (two rooms housing many Gods), with deities like [1] Kwan Kun - The God of fortune (in sea), [2] Tien Hou - Queen of Heaven, [3] Kun Se Sin - Lady in white (of Buddhism), [4] Tu Teh Chun - God and goddess of well-being and happiness and a few other of whom I couldn't find names. Rooms are decorated with weapons and roof hanging. Except deities a portion of a one room is used as a store room by some Chinese Bands (to store Dragons, Drums etc.).

Gee Hing

Try searching for Chen’s Carpentry Shop, located right above is Gee Hing. Situated currently at 13, Blackburn Lane; Gee Hing was established back in 1888 at 24, Blackburn Lane. The shift of location happened in 1920.

In the ground floor these is a club, which is currently used by local elders to play Mahjong and other activities. The deities housed on the first floor here, they are [1] Kwan Kun/Kuan Kun - God of Sea (main deity) and [2] Kuan Ti/ Guan Yu - God of War (small adjacent room, ).

Although, 'which deity is which' has different opinions and I am no expect. Another club is located on the top floor (2nd) called Woo Hip Koon, which used to have functional guest rooms for Chinese workers as a temporary accommodation. Now it’s no more functional and off limits. The specialty of this establishment is it is for all Chinese communities, unlike others which belong to specific ones. To enter any part of the premises one needs permission from the club members.

Sea Voi - Yune Leong Futh

Build for the community of people whose ancestry comes from the Se-Wui/Sea Voi Province (carpenters in erstwhile Canton Region) this establishment was opened back in 1908. The current postal address is 17 Black Burn Lane, Kolkata 700012 (opposite Sea Ip).

It is a red colored circular building with a very small door as entry in a corner. The building has no signboard with name, except 'Hupei Association' (dentists) on top. Some additional information relevant to this temple is there is always and attendant here, you need prior permission for taking photos. It is the smallest among the six. The social club associated with this has a separate door to the east of the building. Another important piece to note here, is the towering black and white portrait of the middle-aged man on the wall of club premises. He can be identified as Dr. Sun Yat-sen, I have discussed about him in brief later on in this article.

Coming to the deities, 'Futh' in China means Gautam Buddha or incarnation of him. Opinions differ about the deities present here. The most believable one is the twin idols are of Ruan Ziyu & Liang Cineng, both considered as incarnations of Buddha. Others believe they are different ancient gods. They are painted in black with glossy attires. The room also houses a set of weapons, wall & roof hanging and numerous images & statues of Chinese Gods & Goddesses like Lu Ban (Carpenter God) and Tong Atchew (newest ancestral god probably).

Nam Soon

This of oldest Chinese veneration site out of the six, established way back in 1820. Address- 13, Damzen Lane, Kolkata. The founders were supposedly migrated from the Nan-Hai, Fen-U/Phan Yu and San Tak/Shun Tak regions of China.

It has a large bell with inscriptions stating this to be the oldest one. The associated club is located in a room on the northern side of the temple.

It also had an old age home and a Chinese language school within its premises. Currently, they have a running English medium junior school there. The entry gate is small which leads to a big spacious courtyard, with a grand jackfruit tree. The members offered us some pieces from a freshly cut jackfruit.

It houses three different Gods but what are there names, I am not so sure anymore. Our guide suggested they are [1] Kwan Yin - goddess of war, mercy and love and [2], [3] her war companions (Chinese have many different gods/goddesses for war, depending on which region you belong, as they believe in ancestor worship), all painted in black. But I found some other resources claiming them to be [1] Choi Choi - God of wealth, [2] Sea Fo - goddess of sea and [3] Quan Tai/Kuan Ti - god of war. Then again they might also be [1] Kuan Ti/Guan Yu - god of War, [2] Lu Ban - carpenter god and [3] Caishen - god of Wealth. As the names mostly don't match but the area of interest does, my best guess is - because of the fact that the founders were from three different regions, each region has named their god differently (some being similar) with mostly similar attributes.

Apart form these, there is an idol of Buddha too and the temple is decorated with weapons and roof hanging.

Dr. SUN YET SEN

A intriguing towering black and white portrait of middle-aged Sun Yet-Sen can be found on the wall of Sea Voi - Yune Leong Futh. He was a Chinese revolutionary in the 1911 Xinhai Revolution, also known as the 'Father of Modern China' and the first president of the Republic of China. Sun's chief legacy is his political philosophy known as the 'Three

Principles of the People: Mínzú (independence from foreign domination, nationalism), Mínquán (rights of the people, democracy) and Mínshēng (people's livelihood, socialism/welfare). As he died battling cancer in 1925, this picture must be more than 100 years old now (confirmed by the curator too). Chinese workers at that time living in Tiretta Bazaar were funding the revolution back at home (China). Sun Yet-Sen is also important for the 'communist section' of Indian Independence movement, my guide informed me that during early 1900s through a building located at '6, Chattawala guli' (mentioned during discussion on the first veneration site) arms smuggled from China used to be distributed among Indian (mainly Kolkata) freedom fighters (of the communist mindset) to fight against British Imperialism.

The WEIRD Battle of SEXES

When for Sea Ip, I mentioned about the deity Kun Yum/Kuan Yin/Kwan Yin/Quan Yin/Kuanyin/Guanyin/Guanshiyin being male at the beginning and then gradually evoling to female, I had no idea about the full story. Hence, I had to create this separate paragraph once I had the opportunity to re-circle back. Kuan Yin originated in India as a male god named Avolokitesvara and early pictures show the god wearing a mustache. In the course of time the Chinese came to think of Kuan Yin as a goddess.

March 13th is the Mahayana Buddhist festival of Bodhisattva Tara/Kuan Yin/Kannon. On this day, her/his birth is celebrated. She/he declared women the spiritual equals of men.

Kuan Yin means one who hears the cries of the world - the living expression of loving compassion; she/he will break the cycle of rebirth, of punishment and of retribution.

As early as the 5th century (early translations of the Lotus Sutra), Kuan Yin was depicted as a man. Many of his forms were clearly male, though somewhat androgynous. It was mentioned though that he is capable of taking a female form. In Hsuan Tsang (c596-664) records, in Surangama Sutra (AD 705) he is still male. But by mid to late 9th century, she started being depicted as female. Now the question is what happened in between AD 700-900 to cause this gender transformation? The answer is the northwest frontier China, the Silk Road.

There numerous cultures met and interacted and the distinctive female forms began to fan out extensively from the northwest in the ninth to tenth centuries. A humble guess is that the warrior cults could not deal with the feminine image for any man so man took it upon themselves to change Kuan Yin from a male to female form - probably due to an early case of homophobia (warriors were afraid of holding the feminine aspects like care, compassion and mercy as equal to the masculine aspects). Kuan-yin’s lowered cheeks symbolize Buddhist generosity, neatly swept hair in combed swirls under a lotus motif headband with central jewel and tied into a tight chignon on the top of the head covering the ushnisha - the Buddhist mark of knowledge. An unadorned, fitting veil drapes over the back of the head. The head, erect and frontal, shows the calm serenity of one who, having overcome the suffering of this world, has found peace in the lotus of the good law.

Start of The EXODUS

Indo China war of 1962 was a turning point in the history of Kolkata's Chinatown. By this time the Hakka communities in Tangra were in tannery business, hence seen as pseudo-capitalist at least. But most in Tiratta's Old Chinatown (Cantonese) were workers. Hence, taboo-ed as communist of their sympathizers.

The war hit all the Chinese communities very hard, the Tiretta Bazaar's occupant even more so (China being under communist regime). Thousands from the community were rounded up and sent to detention camps in Deoli, Rajasthan nearly emptied central Kolkata on suspicion of being ‘Chinese agents’, their property confiscated and auctioned. By '70s, the situation stabilized. But only a few made it back to their homes in Kolkata or the North East, some tried going back to China and were rejected entry. Hence, settled in Singapore. Some went towards Canada, Europe or other Indian states (Mumbai, Chennai). The ones who came back - only a few got their homes back most were occupied by new Marwari communities. Hence, they too began to leave India. The Hakka's were hit by this too, but comparatively less severely, their severe misfortune was yet to come (to be discussed in part three).

MORSEL of relevant INFORMATION

• In old British days, there used to be a Chinese court in old Chinatown, allowed by British-India government. A young Chinese boy who knows Cantonese, Hindi, English ,Bengali used to be selected as a Judge. So that, he can solve all cross cultural disputed cases among Chinese workers, Marwari people, Bengali businessmen or workers and if in case there were other foreigners present (Brits or else).

• A documentary film, based on Indian Chinese at Choon Yee Thong church Kolkata – ‘From Border to Border’ is a very good source of information for this article.

• Neel Akasher Nichey (1958), a film by Mrinal Sen, portrays the life of a Chinese peddler, by tracing the friendship between Wang Lu (peddler of silk) and Basanti (political activist), set in 1930s Calcutta. Wang Lu is an apolitical person (stays away from the opium trade). But gets involved in political group when Basanti gets arrested, later goes back to China to join the resistance movement against Japanese invasion. The film was banned by the government in 1958 for two years for its political content. This film depicts pre Indo-China war Chinatown in Kolkata.

• For post-1962 period a good book is 'Palm Leaf Fan and Other Stories' by Kwai-Yun Li (2006).

References: Other than those already mentioned -

1. Google Maps, images, Wikipedia.

2. Newspaper clipings, personal experience, Guide - Tathagata Neogi.

3. Bose, B. K. (1934). A bygone Chinese colony in Bengal. Bengal Past and present,47.

4. Chaloner, A. (1858). "The Chinese Colony in Calcutta". Calcutta Review 31.62: India Book Exchange.

5. Oxfeld, E. (1993). Blood, Sweat and Mahjong: Family And Enterprise in an Overseas Chinese Community.(The Anthropology of Contemporary Issues). Ithaca: Cornell University Press.

6. Search 'The shameful story of how 3,000 Chinese-Indians were put in a detention camp is revealed in new book' in scroll.in .