Tiriti Bazaar, also known as Chinatown, & also spelled as Tiretta Bazaar is a neighborhood near Lalbazar in Central

Kolkata Kolkata, also known as Calcutta ( its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary ...

. It is usually called Old China Market. The locality was once home to 20,000 ethnic Chinese Indian nationals, but now the population has dropped to approximately 2,000. Most of the Hakka Chinese people in the area moved closer to Tangra. The traditional occupation of the Chinese Indian community in Kolkata had been working in the nearby tanning industry as well as in Chinese restaurants. The area is still noted for the Chinese restaurants where many people flock to taste traditional Chinese and Indian Chinese cuisine.

History

The

bazaar A bazaar or souk is a marketplace consisting of multiple small Market stall, stalls or shops, especially in the Middle East, the Balkans, Central Asia, North Africa and South Asia. They are traditionally located in vaulted or covered streets th ...

is named after Edoardo Tiretta, an Italian immigrant from

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

, who was a land surveyor and owner in the area during late 18th-century. During the time of

Warren Hastings Warren Hastings (6 December 1732 – 22 August 1818) was a British colonial administrator, who served as the first governor of the Presidency of Fort William (Bengal), the head of the Supreme Council of Bengal, and so the first governor-gener ...

, the first governor-general of

Bengal Bengal ( ) is a Historical geography, historical geographical, ethnolinguistic and cultural term referring to a region in the Eastern South Asia, eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. The region of Benga ...

, a businessman by the name of Tong Achew established a sugar mill, along with a sugar plantation at Achipur, from Calcutta, on the bank of the

Hooghly River The Hooghly River (, also spelled ''Hoogli'' or ''Hugli'') is the westernmost distributary of the Ganges, situated in West Bengal, India. It is known in its upper reaches as the Bhagirathi. The Bhagirathi splits off from the main branch of the G ...

near the town of Budge Budge. A temple and the grave of Tong Achew still remain and are visited by many Chinese Indians, who arrive from the city to celebrate

Chinese New Year Chinese New Year, or the Spring Festival (see also #Names, § Names), is a festival that celebrates the beginning of a New Year, new year on the traditional lunisolar calendar, lunisolar Chinese calendar. It is one of the most important holi ...

. One of the earliest records of immigration to India from China can be found in a short treatise from 1820. This records hints that the first wave of immigration was of Hakkas but does not elaborate on the professions of these immigrants. According to a later police census, there were 362 Chinese in Calcutta in 1837. A common meeting place was the Temple of Lord Guan, the Martial God of Loyalty & Righteousness, located in the Chinese quarter near Dharmatolla. A certain C. Alabaster mentions in 1849 that Cantonese carpenters congregated in the Bow Bazar Street area. As late as 2006, Bow Bazar is still noted for carpentry, but few of the workers or owners are now Indians of Chinese origin. According to Alabaster, there were lard manufacturers and shoemakers in addition to carpenters. Running tanneries and working with leather were traditionally not considered "respectable" professions among upper-caste

Hindus Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...

, and work was relegated to the so-called "lower caste" ''muchis'' and ''

chamar Chamar (or Jatav) is a community classified as a Scheduled Caste under modern India's Reservation in India, system of affirmative action that originated from the group of trade persons who were involved in leather tanning and shoemaking. They a ...

s''. Nevertheless, there was a significant demand for high quality leather goods in

colonial India Colonial India was the part of the Indian subcontinent that was occupied by European colonial powers during and after the Age of Discovery. European power was exerted both by conquest and trade, especially in spice trade, spices. The search for ...

, which Chinese Indians were able to fulfill. Alabaster also mentions "licensed"

opium Opium (also known as poppy tears, or Lachryma papaveris) is the dried latex obtained from the seed Capsule (fruit), capsules of the opium poppy ''Papaver somniferum''. Approximately 12 percent of opium is made up of the analgesic alkaloid mor ...

dens, run by "native Chinese" and a "''Cheena Bazaar''", where "

contraband Contraband (from Medieval French ''contrebande'' "smuggling") is any item that, relating to its nature, is illegal to be possessed or sold. It comprises goods that by their nature are considered too dangerous or offensive in the eyes of the leg ...

" was readily available. Opium, however, was not illegal until after

India's Independence The Indian independence movement was a series of historic events in South Asia with the ultimate aim of ending British colonial rule. It lasted until 1947, when the Indian Independence Act 1947 was passed. The first nationalistic movement t ...

from Great Britain in 1947. Immigration continued freely through the turn of the century and during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

partly due to political upheavals in China, including the First and

Second Opium War The Second Opium War (), also known as the Second Anglo-Chinese War or ''Arrow'' War, was fought between the United Kingdom, France, Russia, and the United States against the Qing dynasty of China between 1856 and 1860. It was the second major ...

s, the

First Sino-Japanese War The First Sino-Japanese War (25 July 189417 April 1895), or the First China–Japan War, was a conflict between the Qing dynasty of China and the Empire of Japan primarily over influence in Joseon, Korea. In Chinese it is commonly known as th ...

and the Yihetuan Movement. Around the time of the First World War, the first Chinese-owned tanneries sprang up.

Transport

Road

Chittaranjan Avenue (C.R. Avenue) and Rabindra Sarani pass through the area from north to south.

Bepin Behari Ganguly Street Bepin Behari Ganguly Street, or B.B. Ganguly Street, formerly known as Bow Bazar Street or Bowbazar Street, is an east-west road in Central Kolkata, capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. It passes through Bowbazar area and connects Baith ...

(B.B. Ganguly Street) and Kshirode Vidyavinode Avenue (New CIT Road) pass through the area from east to west. Many bus routes follow these roads.Google maps

Train

Sealdah Station and B.B.D Bag railway station are the nearest railway stations of Tiretta Bazaar.

Gallery

File:Chinese New Year in Chinatown, Tangra, Kolkata, India.png, The Chinese New Year celebrated in Chinatown File:KolkataChinaTownOld.jpg, An opium den in the Chinatown, Kolkata, 1945 File:Chinese New Year Kolkata.jpg, Chinese New Year Celebration,

File:Morning Chinese Breakfast at Old Chinatown ~ Tiretta Bazar, Calcutta 02.JPG, Morning Chinese Breakfast at Tiriti Bazaar File:Achipur.jpg, Chinese New Year Celebration, Achipur, near

File:CNY3.jpg, The Chinese New Year celebrated in

Notes

External links

Kolkata ChinaTown

Photos of Chinese New Year, Calcutta

Photos of Chinese Temple, Tiretta Bazar, Calcutta

Trade changes Indo-Chinese relations - BBC.co.uk

Kolkata's Vanishing Chinatown
{{Kolkata topics Chinese-Indian culture Ethnic enclaves in India Neighbourhoods in Kolkata

Restaurant districts and streets in India India–Italy relations