China Town

A visit to Chinatown is always visually exciting and interesting. But to connect yourself to the spirit of Chinatown and its historical memories, you need to know its history and embrace its shared memories. That's what makes the experience unique.

Squeezed into a tiny area of Tangra in north-west Kolkata, Chinatown has remained an immigrant enclave and retained its unique cultural personality. Here you can rediscover the charms of the Chinese society along with Buddhist temples to a traditional Chinese pastry shop. A visit to Chinatown is certainly a wonderful experience in itself. The Chinatown here has still been the favored destination point for Chinese immigrants till today.

Apart from serving as a residential area for some ethnic Chinese groups, it is also the cultural centre for most Chinese here. Chinatown has undergone many changes throughout its long history but no matter how it has changed, it continues to symbolize a space where it began and where everything comes together; history, culture, local tradition and modern lifestyles.

This mini China town is reputed to serve authentic Chinese food painstakingly preserved by the 200 odd Chinese families living in the locality for past few generations. China town is a place for gastronomical delight. While the Hakka Chinese settled in Calcutta and spread out over the country hundreds of years ago, the cuisine they popularized via the first Chinese restaurants here was a bland one influenced by Cantonese cuisine that made liberal use of corn flour. 

The Chinese cuisine that evolved here today is a distinct cuisine on its own, in which traditional Chinese food has been blended with Indian ingredients and adapted to the Bengali palate.

Their history of their migration is also quite interesting. As China disintegrated in the twilight years of the Ching (Qing) Dynasty and during ensuing civil wars, thousands of Chinese migrated to India, most settling in Calcutta. The communist victory in China in 1949 spurred the largest influx of Chinese, as landowners, merchants and intellectuals fled the revolution.

This place was home to a large tanning industry and as a result became Calcutta's Chinatown because the Chinese in Calcutta specialized in leather initially. Many of the signs are still there in Chinese and behind the high-walled factories, the Chinese owners and their families live comfortably. Kolkata once had a thriving community in its Chinatown, engaged in different trades, like medicine shops, food and shoemaking.

Though a small number of Chinese still live there, many of them left India in the aftermath of the 1962 India-China war. The Chinese's social and political status declined and the population of Chinese here decreased correspondingly.

Chinese immigrants here now can speak the local language almost fluently along with their mother tongue. The Chinese excel economically. They enjoy high standard of living and hire locals to staff its factories and shops as their business flourishes.

With time the second and third generation Chinese has moved steadily abroad over the past 20 years seeking a better life and future. They emigrate to America, Europe, Taiwan or elsewhere. Only the elderly are left in the Chinatown now. There are approximately 10,000 Chinese here now, the smallest group in Asian countries.

Chinatown is still evolving and changing and continues to incorporate a rich mixture of cultures, people, and activities, while maintaining a strong sense of identity. Chinatown bustles with vitality and activity and it’s this spirit that lives on.

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