Thesis Brief

Working Title

CONSERVATION OF THE DIASPORIC CHINESE

NEIGHBOURHOOD OF KOLKATA - THE CASE OF
TIRETTA

MACO 0403 THESIS LITERATURE REVIEW 18.01.2022

GUIDE – Dr. Vishakha Kawathekar

Debashrita Kundu I 2020MCO011 I Department of

Conservation I SPA Bhopal

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 1. UNDERSTANDING DIASPORA AND ITS CONNECTION TO THE SOCIETY AND SPACE

Review of –

1. Migrant, Multicultural and Diasporic Heritage - Beyond and Between Borders by Alexandra
Dellios and Eureka Henrich

2. Diasporic Spaces: A Comparative Study of Selected Diasporic Fiction by Sameer Ahmad

Shah

3. Diaspora and Diaspora and Transnationalism by Rainer Bauback and Thomas Faist

4. Indian Diaspora: Ethnicity and Diasporic Identity by Dr. M. K. Gautam

5. Diasporas Reimagined Spaces, Practices and Belonging by Nando Sigona, Alan Gamlen,
Giulia Liberatore and Hélène Neveu Kringelbach

6. Unsettling the National: Heritage and Diaspora - Heritage, Memory & Identity

Since the dawn of the human civilization, human race has been on constant movement from one
place to other in search of food, shelter, and other necessities of life. In ancient times people used to
move from place to place, and for not being settled at one particular place, were called wanderers or
food gatherers. As time passed, standard of life improved, social set up came into existence and
gradually came the notion of states/borders, and people were confined to one particular place and
became the citizens of that particular land. Crossing the borders of one’s homeland and settling in
other's land sometimes resulted in creation of distinct migrations known as diasporas. The word
‘diaspora’ is derived from the Greek root, ‘dia’ and ‘speirein,’ ‘dia’ means through and ‘speirein’ means
to scatter. Diaspora is generally the movement or migration of people from one place to another or
from one country to the other. Migration can be national as well as transnational. The term diaspora
has changed its meaning from time to time; sometimes it is related to Jewish migration, sometimes
with slavery and sometimes with the migration of entrepreneurs and other young professionals. There
are migrations from every country and from every state for one reason or the other. Some developed
countries like United States, United Kingdom, Canada and Australia are the ones who receive
migrants in large numbers than any other country in the world. Some developing countries like India,
Pakistan, China and other Asian countries are the leading ones from where the migrations take place
in large numbers. The term diaspora is very much used in present day discourse although the theme
of migration has been portrayed in ancient and medieval literature also.

There are many causes for migration like political, economic, social, religious etc. There can be
political causes like if someone is sent for exile to other country, economic causes like lack of
opportunities in homeland and hope and availability of opportunities in host land. Diaspora can be
both a deliberate as well as a forced act. After 20th century, mostly migrations took place for economic
causes as compared to that of migrations due to political unrest during 20th century. Due to the
technological developments, like internet, mobile phone and air transport diasporic people get a sigh
of relief as they can travel to their homeland easily and in less time, and they can talk on phone, chat
on social networks and even can-do video chat with the relatives in homeland/source country which
lessens the pain of diaspora. The pain and agony of diaspora has become very less and has not
remained same as it used to be a decade ago or so. The term diaspora has changed its notion from
time to time; it has not remained confined to one particular meaning for a long time.

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 Robin Cohen in his Global Diasporas: An Introduction, classifies Diaspora as: Victim
Diasporas, Labor Diasporas, Imperial Diasporas, Trade Diasporas, Homeland Diasporas, and
Cultural Diasporas.

1) Victim diasporas are those people who are banished from their place of origin and sent to
another land. It is usually a result of traumatic event like conquest, persecution, enslavement,
genocide or exile.

2) Labor diaspora is that diaspora when people are made bonded labourers and taken to other
country, e.g., indentured Indians during colonial period who were made to work in coal mines
and rubber plantation.

3) Imperial diaspora is that when migrants go to another land that has been conquered by their
own nation and enjoy higher status on account of their ethnic ties to the ruling power. Imperial
diasporas do not adapt to the customs of the host country but in return the locals are much
influenced and adapt to their customs, e.g. the English people in India during their rule. In
simple terms in Imperial diaspora the Colonizers are the Imperial diasporas, and colonized
adapt their culture and customs which mostly involves language. This is what Bhabha calls
mimicry.

4) Trading diaspora is a community who go abroad to conduct trade. They receive permission
from the government of that country, learn local language and customs only in order to
promote their business but do not assimilate with the culture of the host country.

New migrations create new displacements and hence new diasporas. Border crossing
is an important idea related with diaspora. In the context of a proliferation of new border
crossings the language of ‘borders’ and of ‘diaspora’ acquires a new currency. The concept of
border has changed in last few decades; it has become more of a psychological and abstract
phenomenon than of a physical thing, borders are created in the minds of people. These
border crossings are territorial, political, economic, cultural and psychological.

CHINESE OVERSEAS IN POST-LIBERALIZED KOLKATA: PROMOTING TRADITIONAL

CULTURE, ECONOMY AND ‘DIASPORA’ CHINESE IDENTITY

The major reason behind the out emigration of the Chinese from Kolkata is due to limited
economic opportunities. Majority of them are immigrating to Australia, Japan, UK, USA and to Far
East. However, they carry the emotional bonding with the city and its Chinatowns. There are a host
of virtual groups that operate as transnational ‘netnographic’ (Internet ethnography) connections for
the Indian Chinese Diaspora. Virtual ‘Diaspora’ groups of the Indian born Chinese who reside in
Kolkata or anywhere in India or settled abroad carry the emotional bonding with the city and its
Chinatowns. There are a host of virtual groups that operate as transnational ‘connections for the
Indian Chinese Diaspora culture. Recent trend of migration out of Kolkata by the newer generation
during the post-liberalization era is from the families of original overseas resident Chinese from
Kolkata. This is due to rise in middle-class Chinese families with higher aspirations having educated
their children in English medium schools and given better education in Calcutta. Referred to as
‘Calcutta Chinese’ these immigrants in Toronto or London still maintain links (attachments) with their
relatives and friends in Calcutta as mentioned by Oxfeld (1993) and Bonnerjee (2010) for these two
cities. These migrants as a part of the larger ‘Calcutta Chinese diaspora’ demonstrate their cultural
affinity. by celebrating during weddings, New Year celebrations, Elders’ Day observations at the native

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associations in Kolkata in addition to sending remittances to the family and relatives here; thus,
establishing a direct link between the concepts of social capital with the network theory of international
migration. Migrant networks are thus sets of interpersonal ties that connect migrants in origin and
destination areas through ties of kinship, friendship and shared community origin. On a broader
connotation, the global Hakka diaspora family dynamics and newly adopted socio-political contexts
became merged on transformation of scaling of ethnic co operations from local to transnational.

2. ORIGIN, SPREAD AND EXPANSION OF CALCUTTA

Review of –

1. The Good Old Days of Honorable John Company by W. H. Carey

2. Calcutta –Old and New by H.E.A Cotton
3. Political History of Ancient India by Hem Chandra Raychaudhuri
4. Calcutta, from fort to city: A study of a colonial settlement, 1690-1750 by Thomas Mansfield

Despite the vast amount of interest in the history of Calcutta as both a colonial metropolis and as
the birthplace of the British Empire in India, very little work has looked at the origins of the colony.
Previous work has focused upon the incidents of the 1750s without analyzing the foundation and
development of Calcutta which was integral to the power and success of the East India Company
servants living and trading in Bengal. The history of the Company in India has been hitherto shaped
by analysis of political and commercial events. However, the meticulously recorded diaries and
consultation books of the Company allows us to look at the colony in a new way. The many thousands
of pages of official material and private papers detail the formative sixty years of the colony before
the events of the 1750s. This can be analyzed by asking different questions about the causes for
British actions in India and the growth of British colonial spaces. This analysis has yielded new
understanding of how the British understood and controlled the urban colonial environment and
population of Calcutta. In particular, the control of the space, behavior and infrastructure of the colony
developed due to a mixture of local contexts and European influences. The supremacy of English
was established after the battle of Plassey English established their supremacy in Bengal, Bihar, and
Orissa. The physical spatial structure of the town began developing - Urbanization process was on
the move In 1792 the town was divided into two divisions according to the European and native
inhabited area The European areas around the great tank and along bow bazaar street developed
multidimensional whereas the native towns developed at a slower pace The developments outside
the old conventional town also began. The population increased and Calcutta became a cosmopolitan
town. The number of religious institutional, residential buildings increased which had colonial edifices
from 1793-1856; the period witnessed the growth of Calcutta as an administrative centre. Maratha
ditch no longer remained the limits sprawling town. During these three periods lot of political decision
were made by the various British rulers. There was lots of development in suburban areas like
Tollygunge. Nawab Puttee. Kidder pore Various committees were formed for the improvement of the
town mainly the European areas around the tank The land use became complex and townscape
which developed during this period 1793-1856 has a lot of similarity with London After 1856 the period
witnessed the ascendency of Queen Victoria to British Throne The period saw two world wars and
independence of India. Calcutta was one of the focal points of Independence movement. It was also
the centre for renaissance in India However Calcutta suffered a lot by the shifting of the capital to
Delhi though it remained as a centre for commerce and industry.

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 3. ETHNIC SETTLEMENTS IN CALCUTTA – HISTORY OF IMMIGRANTS

Review of –

1. Home, city and diaspora: Anglo–Indian and Chinese attachments to Calcutta by Alison Blunt
and Jayani Bonnerjee
2. Selection from Calcutta Gazettes Vol.11 by Seton Karr
3. A short History of Calcutta by Uisith R. Ray

Emphasis has been made specifically on Kolkata Chinese community as it is an immigrant enclave
community which is intrinsically linked with the larger society. They fight for survival in the various
challenging situations had led them to segregate from the common social mosaic. They build their
own socioeconomic environment which displays a complicated issue of hybrid identity among the
Chinese in Kolkata. It is purposive to bring forward an overall idea about the cultural roots of the
Chinese Indian community by examining their history of origin and current events so that they are
brought to light among the mainstream society. The Chinese in Kolkata offering an indispensable part
of the city’s cultural mosaic and without this story of Chinese community in Kolkata some of the spice
would be taken out of the experience of living here. This diverse society in Kolkata has given birth to
different subgroups of Chinese like Hakkas, Cantonese, Hubinese, Shandongs etc. They engaged as
shoe sellers, dentists, and some of them have restaurants since 19th century. Man pulled rickshaws,
unique in India and a part of Kolkatas life, were brought to the city by the Chinese. (Thankappan,
1984). Moreover, the Chinese –Indian food that was invented by the Chinese immigrants and their
descendants that everyone in the city seems to savor still now were the most gratifying pleasure the
Kolkatans have ever had.

The literary sources of Alabaster (1858), Grant (1862), Oxfeld (1993) and Liang (2007) mentions the
Chinese runaway sailors and labourers, working around Calcutta port as fetters, carpenters and
establishing their ‘coolie’ enclave belonging mainly to the Cantonese community. Even now relics of
Chinese enterprises are traced in some selected spaces of Kidderpore, Ekbalpur and Metiabruz,
Garden Reach and Behala near the port. Near the naval shipbuilding areas of Garden Reach and
Kidderpore dock we searched the available cartographical records of the city. We found in the Atlas
of the city prepared by National Atlas and Thematic Mapping Organization (NATMO) in 2010, a now
lost Chinese enclave, popularly known as ‘Chinapara’ (‘para’ is a local Bengali word meaning
neighbourhood). We traced it (now ‘Chinapara Basti’/slum) in between the Garden Reach Road and
Khansama Para Lane beside the Imambara Mausoleum in ward number 135 under the Kolkata
Municipal Corporation (KMC). The most agreed upon view on the earliest immigration from China to
Calcutta however, dates back to 1778 with a native Chinese sailor cum trader Yang Dazhao arriving
in Calcutta from Canton (Zhang and Sen 2013). Oxfeld (1993) mentioned that Tong Achi/Atchew
arrived at Calcutta for establishing a sugar manufacturing unit and was granted land near Budge
Budge port 33 km away from Calcutta by the then Governor General Warren Hastings. The place has
earned the name of Achipur after him. This marks the beginning of Chinese economic
entrepreneurship in the city of Calcutta. Atchew faced hurdles in functioning of this enterprise as bulk
of his recruited Chinese workers was lured to work at the Calcutta port. This indicates the growing
demand for Chinese labour in the dock area towards the end of the eighteenth century. The
Cantonese community was followed by the Hakkas in their entry to the city. Oxfeld (1993) by citing
Cohen (1968) pointed towards the out migration of the Hakka community from the northern parts of

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China towards the southern coastal areas; later through the said ports they further extended their
streams. She marked the notion of ‘guest people’ on the Hakkas. The initial drive of fortune seeking
in distant soils was economic; however, with changing socio-political circumstances and continuous
turmoil bulk increase in emigration from China, especially from the coastal provinces like Guangdong,
Guanxi and Fujian, Hunan, Hubei provinces took place. According to Pauer et al. (2010) the
proportion of the Chinese Overseas communities approximately of the total in Calcutta are as follows:
the Hakkas constituted 45%, Cantonese 40%, Hupeh/ Hubeinese 10% and Shanghaians about 5%.

INITIATIVES TAKEN FROM PRC, CONSULATE KOLKATA TO STRENGTHEN CHINESE

OVERSEAS TIE

China’s overseas policy has two dimensions—a foreign and domestic dimension. The foreign
dimension involves the ethnic Chinese abroad and the countries in which they reside (Zerba 2008).
Similar to the KMT (Kuomintang/Nationalist), the communist government established the Overseas
Chinese Affairs Commission (OCAC) to manage both the foreign and domestic aspect of overseas
Chinese work. The OCAC coordinated with other governmental agencies to handle overseas Chinese
affairs to protect the interests of the Chinese abroad. Consequently, the PRC Consulate to Kolkata is
active in promoting the Chinese overseas culture and heritage and preservation of tradition for the
last few years. The Consulate invites members of local Chinese Associations of ICA (Indian Chinese
Association) and/or CIA (Chinese Indian Association), local representatives to join such events.
These recent initiatives have been highly successful and popular from all perspectives. Involving all
stake holders, the aim is to construct a key link to promote ‘China’ in this part of India (i.e., Kolkata)
as a part of PRC’s ‘soft diplomacy’ in the Jinping era.

4. PRIVATE MARKETS AND CULTURAL PROFILE OF CALCUTTA

Review of –

1. Bazaars in changing urban space of early colonial Kolkata by Srimoyee Basu

2. The CHA Project by CHA Initiative and CHC
3. The Municipal markets of Calcutta by Mondira Sinha Ray
4. A History of Calcutta Street - The growth and development of old Calcutta by Nair P.
Thankappan

‘BOUNDED SOLIDARITY’ AND HARNESSING ‘SOCIAL CAPITAL’ AMONG CHINESE

OVERSEAS IN CALCUTTA

The global Chinese overseas associations promote ethnic solidarity, kinship ties and the
sentiment of ‘Greater China’ over the foreign soils. Tilly (2007) argued that international
migrants help each other through bounded solidarity due to a series of expectations from the
members of their group. The social networks of migration from transnational communities are
based on trust networks. Formation of native associations is an important facet of community
bounded solidarity and feeling of ethnic attachment among the Chinese overseas

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 communities. These guilds or regional native associations provided the passage for cultural
centres away from home for sojourning Chinese migrants. It also provided necessary services
of compatriot cemeteries. Shrines, temples were made sacred by ashes carried from the
hometown temples thus serving the spiritual needs in distant venues (Kuhn 2006, 2008). They
also uncovered the late-imperial Chinese to practices that became hallmarks of emigrants
living outside China. Zhang and Sen (2013) portrayed the role of Chinese natives run temples,
schools and cemeteries which facilitate community gatherings and thus shared cultural space
encouraging bounded solidarity, preserving the cultural identity and sense of ‘Chineseness’
among the communities living in Calcutta/Kolkata. The location of these native associations is
mostly around the old Chinatown or ‘Cheenapara’ circling which the Chinese households and
commercial enterprises were established. Apart from the native associations, the economic
and business associations such as ‘Huan Bao Tannery Council’, ‘Chinese Tannery Owner’s
Association’ etc. provides the support mechanism for more co-ethnic entrepreneurship
quotient solidarity.

5. THE HISTORIC URBAN LANDSCAPE APPROACH TO URBAN MANAGEMENT: A

SYSTEMATIC REVIEW

The HUL recommendation is developing gradually over time. The application process is still in its
early stages. A great deal of effort has been devoted to the development of the conceptual framework
related to this new approach; most probably because it calls for the integration of different disciplines
and considerations that were previously addressed separately. It can be concluded that while the
value-based approach is central in HUL conceptualization, its operationalization continues to
constitute a challenge, because most discussions about values remain generic and are not fully
contextualized in relation to local heritage discourses and the dynamics of heritage governance. In
the paradox between universality and locality, we should consider the massive differences in
regulatory and legal systems as well as among institutional bodies in charge of heritage in different
states. This results in different levels of adaptation and implementation of the HUL. The regulatory,
community engagement, and planning tools could have a significant impact on national application of
HUL recommendations. A number of case studies have been developed in Global South cities, in
contexts where public participation and engagement inherent to the HUL are challenging existing
policy and regulatory frameworks. Still, as the HUL is driven by UNESCO, it is sometimes considered
as imposed by international bodies and disregarding the specificities of the local context.

6. INTEGRATING HERITAGE AND SUSTAINABLE URBAN DEVELOPMENT BY ENGAGING

DIVERSE COMMUNITIES FOR HERITAGE MANAGEMENT

As migration continues to expand internationally, modern studies of cultural heritage must

increasingly include analysis of migrant experiences and identities. Keeping in mind the fact
that the ‘right to a sense of belonging’ for all citizens is a crucial component in sustainable
urban development, we explore the challenges migrants face to maintain their unique identities
while also integrating with conventional representations of national and community narratives.
It is important to include migration as a critical component of heritage understanding, and how
museums as institutions open to the public play a pivotal role in interpreting the intersect of

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 migration and heritage. It is important to propose heritage locations as HULs to improve
representations of migrant identities.

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