On the main street in Tangra, one of Calcutta's Chinatowns
Just a few decades ago, Calcutta could boast of having several Chinese schools. But as Chinese Indians have either enrolled in English schools or moved out of Calcutta altogether, the schools shut down one by one. And now Calcutta’s last Chinese school, the Pei May, has also closed, according to The Telegraph. (Thanks to Calcutta’s Robert Hsu for the alert.)
Once full of Chinese Indian students, the Pei May is now closed
I’d visited the Pei May in December, when I was in Calcutta (see my photos), and was struck both by the size of the school — huge and sprawling, it had enough classrooms to house several hundred pupils and a traditional temple on the roof — and by its emptiness. (You can see for yourself in this video of the school’s 80th anniversary celebration in February.) On the main road in Tangra I ran into an elderly Chinese man who immediately took me by the arm and led me on a tour of the town, winding through the dusty lanes and to the Pei May. His name was Lee Kar Shong, and he was Tangra’s calligrapher. He also spoke very little Mandarin and no English, so we mimed a lot as I tried to decipher his Hakka.
Best Friends Forever?
At the Pei May, a class of maybe a dozen students was in session, but otherwise, the classrooms were closed. Portraits of Gandhi and Sun Yat Sen hung side by side on the wall, a relic from a time when Taiwan vied with China for influence in India. I heard shouting coming from the field by the school, where neighborhood kids were playing cricket.
Suddenly it seemed like Tangra’s Chinese community, built from a wave of immigration that started more than a century ago, was destined to search again for a new home. Many of the immigrants were Hakkas, an ethnic group known for wandering (and for business acumen), and their descendants have left India, looking for more opportunities in places like Canada, the U.S. and Australia. Mostly, they’ve gone to Toronto. Alex Wu, a tannery owner I met at a restaurant in Tangra, told me that every Chinese family in Tangra has someone in Toronto. He estimated that there were 10,000 Chinese Calcuttans in Toronto. I wondered how he felt about all the departures. “You can’t help it,” he replied.
This part of Calcutta had been built largely by the Chinese tanners and leather workers, but now to that there were only a few thousand Chinese Indians left in Calcutta — two thousand? four thousand? Everyone had their own estimates — who knows what the future holds?
For more about the Chinese Calcuttan community, check out the Dhapa blog.
Hi
nice to see the great write ups. Just wondering when you visited cal again.
It’s really sad to see that the only Chinese school left in India is closed down & the people vanishing, wish we could revitalized the good old days ..
Anyhow I would like you to follow up next great articles to Toronto
Hi Leon, thanks! This was from my visit in December, but I hope I’ll have another chance to visit Calcutta. Did you or your friends used to attend Pei May, or did you go to English-medium schools? About Toronto–absolutely, I’d like to follow up with some Chinese Calcuttans in Toronto.
Hi Michelle,
A short albeit informative article on the Chinese community in Kolkata. I did attend Pei May as a child, and am much saddened by its closure. The place could be regarded as the heart of the Chinese in Tangra- where not only most of the youth hung out as part of the tightly-knitted community, but also where working adults found a place to sit by and chat after a day’s labour. As an educational institution, much credit can be attributed to it and its staff for spreading the Chinese culture and reminding the students of our inherent roots. I am sure that many others would be equally regretful of its closure and disdainful of the few personnel who forced it so.
Hi Lennon,
How interesting to hear about Pei May’s time as a cultural center! How long ago did you attend the school? And would you say there’s another place today that serves the same purpose in Tangra/Calcutta today?
there was two chinese school older than pei moi outisde tangra.thats where hakka and cantonese began
Only till class.. 3?
Ohhh nooo!!! Absolutely no other place like Tangra in Cal, especially during the Chinese New Year, when people who immigrated elsewhere came back here to celebrate every year. If you could, you should visit tangra during Chinese new year around FEB, the atmosphere is largely different. It’s without comparison, more lively than any other place like Taiwan (where I am settled in now) and Toronto.
Hi Michelle,
It is sad to hear that The Only Chinese School In INDIA is closing! My siblings and most of my friends did attend that school!
The only thing that i can remember is that we use that School not only for education, but as a Banquet halls for wedding and parties, sports grounds for the basket ballers and foot ballers, play ground for the kids (we love going there when we were kids playing on the swings, slides), Social place for most elders in the evening as they watch their sons/daughters/grandson/granddaughters play, a carnival during the Chinese new year and of course the Temple up on the roof top.
So is more like a Community hall in what most of the western countries will call it.
With the state now it is in because of some self centered ‘person’ declaring as his own!
Plus getting a govt support as a minority is like a dreams and not possible of reaching.
I’m really sad to hear that Pei Moi is closed and wish all the Chinese in Calcutta join hands and put the differences aside and get this School back to as it was.
Good to know that someone like you are writing these article…
cheers.
Hi Michelle,
It wasn’t too long ago since I attended my elementary education in Pei May- from 1990-96. I am afraid that no other place exists anymore that serves the same purpose as Pei May anymore. Like Jerry said, it is more than a school- it can be referred as a community hub for the people in Tangra.
I am one of the boys studied at PeiMay 1959 to 1965, its was at the height of the Chinese empire in Tangra Dhapa Calcutta. Like any thing else the rise and fall is imminent for all dynasties like in China. The story of Dhapa is history and it will never revive again, what gone is gone. Its is sad for me even though I am not living in Dhapa for close to 40 years but my little(now old) heart is still roaming in Dhapa and my webcam is still on top of the temple roof of the once famous old school of mine, only in Dhapa that I feel I am home, I am sure that there are many like me. Lets hope the place will remain as such for years to come.
what dynasty can compare to china lol
“His name was Lee Kar Shong, and he was Tangra’s calligrapher.”
Why is the sentence in past tense?
Joseph, welcome to the blog! No special reason — the whole blog post was in past tense.
I just feel its wrong to write about a person who is still alive in past tense.
hakka has been in calcutta goes back century ago.we had suffered the hardship.lol@dynasty
hi michelle
how was ur trip to india.im hakka born and raised in calcutta
Dear Michelle,
very nice reading your post, but does it include Grace Ling Liang as a chinese school? BTW, I am a great enthusiast in Chinese culture, history, and while of bengali descent, consider the chinese in calcutta my kin, no less. I had friends from the community who are, alas, in Australia now. My grandfather had close friends who were restauranteurs, and it made me cry when I read one of their names in “The Last Dragon Dance”…..
Well, here’s hoping I shall meet my friends this year during the New Year’s Day with a glass of chinese beer, a dish of chao fan and ham choy pork, and a hearty Kung Hei Fat Choy…
hi,
1. Are there any teachers from this school who can teach me Mandarin in Chinatown? I want to learn Mandarin from a native speaker in Cal.
2. Where is Hakka dialect spoken in the world? I mean in which countries.
on the first pic is my grandmother sittin on the rickshaw ( seriously, i am not joking…. ) ….wow ….=)
Hi Stacy–that is so cool! I love this photo and always thought the woman would have to remain a mystery.