Chinatown- A Part Of Multifarious India

India is home to multifarious culture. The population of the country crossed the billion mark way back in 1998 and is expected to see an exponential rise, thus making it the world's populous country by 2024.

No wonder, why India is home to 2000 ethnic groups. The only continent to surpass the ethnicity, cultural, genetic Diversity is Africa.

There are two types of Chinese settlements in India having separate origins. One settlement comes from that of immigrants, residing since 18th century and the other one is that of expatriates, who reside on a contractual basis. The travelogue of Faxian(fa-hien) mentioned the first travel from China to India during his visit to Tampralipta in 5AD, now known as tamuk.

A Chinese trader namely Tong achew landed near budge budge in the 18th century and later settled in Kolkata itself. Achew set up a sugar factory in Kolkata and made his efforts to bring in Chinese people to work in his factory. After the arrival of a number of people in India especially Kolkata, Achew unfortunately died. This place now was called by the name of Achipur. The number of people constantly grew to 20,000 people.

The advent of Sino Indian war of 1962
During the Sino Indian war of 1962, the Chinese settlers faced anti- national sentiments. After the defeat in the war, India passed the Defence of India act in December 1962 which allowed the arrest and subsequent detention and apprehension of any suspect in custody.

This allowed the arrest of any person with a Chinese surname or a Chinese spouse, etc,. Under the law, a totalof 10,000 people had been detained and some were released after four years of captivity, thus decreasing the Chinese population to half of its initial value.

There is a total of two Chinatowns in India, one in Kolkata having a population of 2000 family and the other in Mumbai having 400 families.

Many people who are a part of these chinese community now work as sauce manufacturers, beauty parlour owners, shoemakers or restaurateurs.

Tangra is a great example of Chinese settlement in India and how the people preserve their culture and heritage. It also shows the harmony and multifarious culture of dynamic India, that is a host to 2000 ethnic groups that live in harmony. From celebrating Chinese New year, boat races and endogamous marriages, what remains intact is their identities as an individual and an Indian too.

Celebrations of Chinese New year

#prominent figures from Chinatowns
1. Jwala Gutta( a prominent badminton player)
2. Meiyang Chang (singer,actor and finalist of Indian Idol)

Jwala gutta during a match