Visual Journeys

This section narrates the story of the community through still and moving images. It also features photo essays by photographers who have documented the community over the years

'Home' by Vidura Jang Bahadur

Vidura has been photographing the Chinese community in India for two decades and through his work engages with the fluidity of categories such as nation, identity and belonging. In this series Vidura looks at Home, a space of dwelling and making

Kite flying, Kolkata

There is a long history of Chinese presence in India, particularly in the port cities of Kolkata Mumbai and Chennai. According to anthropologist Ellen Oxfeld, the history of the Indian Chinese can be traced back to the arrival of Yang Da Zhao, a sailor in Calcutta in the 1770’s. Sources indicate that Warren Hastings, the first Governor General of India gave land to Yang to cultivate sugarcane and manufacture sugar. In the 19th century, as more Chinese arrived in search of employment they found work as “shoemakers, ship-carpenters, and hogslard manufacturers” and in the tea gardens in the District of Darjeeling and modern-day Assam

Tiretti bazaar, Kolkata

The market situated in Kolkata’s Poddar court is now a pale shadow of its former self. It is however still possible to eat siu mai, fish ball soup, steamed buns and fried dough sticks. The ethnic Chinese in the area still come out in the mornings to meet friends, sell their wares and buy vegetables and meat. It is a common sight to see people sitting reading the newspaper and sipping on milky cups of tea, eating Kamala puri (as the aaloo puri is popularly known) served from a makeshift stall beside a bust of former Indian Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi.

One of the earliest accounts of this Chinese settlement in Kolkata’s Bow Bazaar area are by an Englishman called Chaloner Alabaster dating back to 1857. In his account he noted that “living in and about Cossitollah and Durrumtollah, they [the Chinese] had built a fine temple in one of its lanes, thereby constituting themselves a community, for without a joss house there is no community in China.” He also describes is some detail the economic activities of the Chinese, and importantly, underlines the absence of women among the early settlers indicating that their presence was temporary