The
quaint little red and white building on Blackburn Lane, in Calcutta’s (Kolkata)
Tiretta Bazar (now also known as Poddar Court) area, housing the Toong On
Church, a Chinese temple to the warrior God Kwan-Ti, was also once home to
Nanking, Calcutta’s first Chinese Restaurant. The building has survived against
all odds and is today part of the restoration efforts spearheaded by The Cha Project, which seeks to revive Tiretta Bazar, Calcutta’s first Chinatown.
BRIEF
HISTORY OF THE CHINESE IN INDIA
The
Chinese have been visiting India since the time of Fa Hien and Hiuen Tsang, but
the earliest Chinese in modern Calcutta were probably deserters from ships
which had docked here to trade. The first official settler was a man named Yang
Daijang from Guandong (Canton) who the British called Tong Achew (or Atchew). While
the date of his landing is not known, it was during Warren Hastings’s tenure as
Governor General (1774-1785) that Achew was granted 650 bighas of land in Budge
Budge to set up a sugar mill against an annual rent of 45 Rupees. The area is
still known as Achipur and is the centre of an annual pilgrimage of the Chinese
of Calcutta. The sugar mill is long gone, but a temple and a cemetery remain,
with the chief grave being that of Tong Achew who the Chinese regard as a sort
of Godfather.
The
first Chinese settlement in Calcutta started around Kasaitola, near Dharmatala
and extended further North, into the area that was then called Tiretta Bazar.
Tiretta Bazar, also known as Teritty Bazar, gets its name from the Italian civil architect and town planner Eduardo Tiretta, who founded the market.
Immigrants from different parts of China went into different trades in Calcutta.
Those from Shanghai went into the laundry business, the Hakka went into
carpentry and leather, the Hupeh or Hupak went into dentistry while the
Cantonese ran the restaurants. Each immigrant community started its own social
club, which controlled a temple or “Church” and a burial ground. The Sino-Indian
war of 1962, caused many Indian Chinese to leave India. The few who remain are
settled around two areas; Tiretta Bazar and a second, newer Chinatown in
Tangra, in Eastern Calcutta, which was started primarily by the Hakka who built
tanneries there.
KWAN TI
– THE MAN WHO BECAME A GOD
Cantonese
migrants from Koon Tong purchased the plot on Blackburn Lane in 1917 and the
Toong On Church or Chinese Temple was completed in 1924. The shrine is
dedicated to Kwan Ti, who is the Chinese God of War. But Kwan Ti was human
once. A human who became a God?! Quite common in China actually! Kwan Ti, who
is also called Kuan Ti or Guan Yu was in fact a Han Dynasty general, who played
a significant part in the civil war that ended the Han Dynasty. As stories of
Kwan Ti spread far and wide, history was slowly replaced by legend and today,
temples to him may be found in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and any other place
with a large Chinese community. Kwan Ti is worshipped in Taoism as well as
Chinese Buddhism where he is seen as Sangharama Bodhisattva, a heavenly
protector of the Buddhist religion. No physical description of Kwan Ti is
available, although one text notes that he had a beard. He is traditionally
portrayed with a red face. Kwan Ti’s weapon of choice is a “Guandao”, which is a
heavy blade with a spike at the back and sometimes also a notch at the spike's
upper base, mounted on a 5 to 6 foot long wooden or metal pole with a pointed
metal counter weight used to balance the heavy blade. Of the two figures that
stand behind Kwan Ti in Toong On Church, one may be seen holding a Guandao.
THE RISE
AND FALL OF NANKING RESTAURANT
In 1925,
The Au family of Calcutta started the Nanking Restaurant which was Calcutta’s,
and probably India’s, first Chinese eatery on the ground floor of the Toong On
Church building. It was a very posh affair, with violinists at the gate playing
for customers as they came in, expensive furniture, and authentic Chinese food,
not the generic gravy noodles and chilli chicken that one finds everywhere
today. Such was the fame of Nanking that it hosted film stars like Raj Kapoor and
Dilip Kumar, who would go up to the veranda on the 1st floor to wave
to the crowds that gathered on the streets to get a glimpse of them. On that
first floor was the temple, which the Au family kept a secret, never permitting
anyone from outside the community to enter. But just like somewhere in the
world, when a butterfly flaps its wings, it starts a hurricane in some other
corner of the world, Nanking’s downfall was influenced by something quite
distant.
The
Anglo-Burmese war of 1824-1826 and the Sikh conquest of Ladakh in 1834 had
given India a common border with Tibet. However, repeated attempts to get all
the three parties involved, India, Tibet and China, to agree to a border had
been an impossible task. Frustrated with China turning down every offer, the
British signed an agreement with Tibet about a border drawn by erstwhile
British Foreign Secretary of India, Sir Henry McMahon. China refused to
recognise the McMahon Line. When China invaded Tibet in 1950, and Nehru’s
government chose to give shelter to the Dalai Lama, head of Tibet’s government,
relations between the two countries became strained. Small border skirmishes
with China exploded into open war on the 20th of October, 1962. For
the Chinese in India, dark days lay ahead. For Mother India, her own citizens of
Chinese origin were now suspected spies and a threat to state security. A
massive sweep operation began all over India, but especially in the North East,
to arrest all Chinese and send them to the Deoli Internment Camp in Rajasthan. They
were held there, without due process for years. Many Chinese with longstanding
jobs at Calcutta’s port, found themselves laid off overnight. In Calcutta, the
Chinese found themselves boxed in, with special permission needed to step
outside Tiretta Bazar. Those who survived tell stories of living in fear; a
knock on the door in the middle of the night could mean the police had come to
cart them off to Deoli. No restaurant could prosper under such circumstances,
and Nanking began a slow fall from grace. The restaurant that once served the
biggest film stars became a “house of ill repute”, especially thanks to the
curtained cabins along its walls. Nanking finally shut down in the late 1970’s.
HOW
TOONG ON CHURCH WAS ALMOST LOST
Any
visitor to Toong On Church today, will find two gigantic Calcutta Telephones
buildings to its south and west. Calcutta Telephones had originally wanted to
demolish Toong On, and take over the entire plot. The Au family went to court
to put an end to this, and the temple trust handed over to them the original
deed of conveyance, which they simply never returned. By the time Nanking shut
down, ownership had passed to the founder’s grandson, Au Yau Wah. Unable to make
the restaurant work, Au Yau Wah began to strip the temple on its first floor
bare. Toong On contained priceless relics, furniture and fine examples of
Chinese craftsmanship. Au began to cart them out in dead of the night, and sell
them all. Things came to a head when Au tried selling the property itself in
2008. Alarmed, the secretary of Toong On Church, Li Han Kuang, who was then
working on a ship in Athens, returned to Calcutta to begin legal proceedings
against Au. The court sided with the temple trust, put a stop to the sale, and
ultimately the temple trust were able to regain control of the property. Au
died in 2008, a few months after his legal defeat. His successors have no
interest in the property, and only his widow is rumoured to be living in Calcutta
now, at their family home on 75, Ganesh Chandra Avenue.
DIRECTIONS
TO TOONG ON CHURCH
The
easiest way to get to Toong On Church, would be to use the metro and get off at
the Central Metro station. From there, find your way to the crossing of Central
Avenue and Sun Yat Sen Street. It is easy enough to find since right on the
crossing stands a black statue of Maharana Pratap on horseback. Take the road
to the left of the statue and proceed forward or West. As you proceed forward,
take note of the Burmese Buddhist Temple to your left. Blackburn Lane is the 5th
right turn. To make matters simpler, here it is on Google Maps. The temple is
open all day, even on Sundays. If you find the gate locked, ring the bell, and
someone will let you in. Chinese temples are much less restrictive, especially
about things like attire, so feel free to walk around and explore. There is no
restriction on photography inside or outside the temple. For the best shot of
the exterior of the temple, climb up the stairs of the half constructed
building on the opposite side of the lane.
THE
PRESENT AND FUTURE OF TOONG ON CHURCH
New
trouble faced Toong On in 2013. The municipality had placed an open garbage
dump at the entrance to Blackburn Lane. It now chose to move the garbage dump
right into Blackburn Lane, right next to the entrance to Toong On. Protests
from the Chinese community led to the municipality promising to move the dump,
but so far nothing has been done. Blackburn Lane also become home to poor
migrants from Bihar, who scavenge the garbage for plastic and other recyclable
materials and turn waste wood into kindling to sell. Their shacks are all over
the lane. Opposite Toong On is a building which apparently belongs to
Calcutta’s Metro Railway. It has remained in a half constructed state for ages,
and is now a multi-storeyed shanty town. The Cha Project, an effort by Indians
abroad, as well as Indian Chinese, would like to revitalise the Tiretta Bazar
area and showcase it. Their efforts have led to a lot of recent activity and
renewed interest in the Chinese temples and other properties of Tiretta Bazar.
A recent dragon boat festival drew huge crowds. Toong On Church was featured in
the recent Bollywood film Detective Byomkesh Bakshy which recreated Nanking
Restaurant on its ground floor. The municipality has recently acquired modern
garbage compactors, which if installed near Toong On, would improve matters
considerably. However getting the shanties cleared is political dynamite and
not many politicians have the stomach for it.
In the
real world, Kwan Ti, the man the Chinese now worship as their warrior god, was
a loyal and fierce warrior. Legend says he was able to fight off thousands
single-handed. Will his temple fall prey to something as mundane as government
apathy? Only time will tell.
-
By
Deepanjan Ghosh
SUGGESTED
FURTHER READING
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
- I am grateful to Iftekhar Ahsan of Calcutta Walks and blogger Rangan Datta for sparking my interest in Tiretta Bazar. Plan a walking tour of Calcutta with Iftekhar, check out his website here. Read Rangan Datta’s posts about history, architecture and travel in his blog here.
- I am deeply indebted to Rinkoo Bhowmick and everyone involved with the Cha Project. Without their help, this post would not have been possible.
- Something more than a simple “thank you” is due to Ho Yuan That, Lawrence Ho, and all the wonderful people of Tiretta Bazar for patiently answering my endless questions and sharing their stories with me.
SOURCES
New
Faces in Old Calcutta – Roy, Pijush Kanti
Temples
of Calcutta – Roy, Pijush Kanti
Chinatown
Kolkata – Ellias, Rafeeq
Project
Report – The Cha Project
Temple
for Sale, The Telegraph, 1st June, 2008
Strung
Out, The Caravan, 1st September, 2012
Heritage
Buried Under Garbage, The Times of India, 18th December, 2013
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