A Slice Of Canton

HE was the first Chinese to set foot in Calcutta in 1778. A Canton native, Yong Atchew set up Bengal's first sugar mill on a 200-acre estate in a Calcutta suburb. He also brought 110 Chinese with him. Five years later, Atchew died and his plant and machinery auctioned off in Calcutta. Today, Achipur in Budge Budge, a south Calcutta suburb, is named after him. Over the years, members of the hakka clan continued to trickle into Calcutta and settle here. There has been no official estimation of their population for over three decades. In 1961, on the eve of the Sino-Indian border conflict, there were 8,814 Chinese in the city. The 1995 community telephone director y lists nearly 300 families and businesses.

During the 1962 aggression, severe restrictions were placed on them and many were forced to leave. Many community members are still stateless citizens: those born before 1950 still have to get their documents renewed and seek police permission before they leave Calcutta. Shoe-shop owner Chung Kei Yun has been carrying a Chinese passport since 1985. She applied for an Indian passport in 1992, and is still waiting.

Commenting on the unique character of these Chinese, eminent barefoot historian P. Thankappan Nair says they are "utterly distinct from all communities in Calcutta, in speech, in language, colour, dress, character and institutions." This, he says, is "the Great Wall that separates them from the rest of Calcutta".