Chinese community in India
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| Total population | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4,000 Chinese Indians (2014) 5-7,000 Chinese expatriates (2015) |
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| Regions with significant populations | ||||
| Chinese Indians: Kolkata, Mumbai Chinese expatriates: Mumbai, Gurgaon, Bangalore |
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| Languages | ||||
| Bengali, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, varieties of Chinese (especially Hakka), English | ||||
| Religion | ||||
| Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism | ||||
Chinese people in India are two communities with separate origins and settlement. One is of immigrants from China and Indian-born people of Chinese ancestry and the other is of expatriate Chinese living in India for terms of usually 2–3 years.
The immigrant community started centuries ago and became more prominent in the late 18th century with arrivals working at the ports in Calcutta and Madras, and has gone on to contribute to the social and economic life of Kolkata through manufacturing and trade of leather products and running Chinese restaurants. The community numbers about 4,000 with around 2,000 living in Kolkata and 400 families in Mumbai, where there are Chinatowns.
There are an estimated 5-7,000 Chinese expatriates living in India as of 2015, having doubled in number in recent years. Most work on 2-3 year term contracts for the growing number of Chinese brands and companies doing business in India.
The first record of travel from China is provided in the travelogue of Faxian (Fa-Hien) who visited Tampralipta, in what is now Tamluk in the 5th century AD. Records of immigration for the next sixteen centuries are not reliable although many words in Bengali can be attributed to Chinese influences. For example, chini, the Bengali word for "sugar" comes from the word for China, and words like Chinamati for porcelain china hint at Chinese influences.
The first recorded Chinese settler in India is Tong Achew,a trader who landed near Budge Budge in late 18th century. Achew set up a sugar cane plantation along with a sugar factory. Achew brought in a band of Chinese workers to work in his plantation and factory. This was the first Chinese settlement in India. Achew died shortly after and the Chinese settlers moved to Kolkata. The place came to be named as Achipur, after Tong Achew. Achew's grave and a Chinese temple is still seen in Achipur.
Chinese children who were kidnapped by the Portuguese from China were sold as slaves in Portuguese India. The Portuguese were alleged to have eaten some of the Chinese children. In Portuguese India, the Indian Muslim Kunjali Marakkars fought against the Portuguese and raided their shipping. One of the Kunjali Marrakars (Kunjali IV) rescued a Chinese boy, called Chinali, who had been enslaved on a Portuguese ship. The Kunjali was very fond of him, and he became one of his most feared lieutenants, a fanatical Muslim and enemy of the Portuguese, terrorizing them in battle. The Portuguese were terrorised by the Kunjali and his Chinese right-hand man, eventually, after the Portuguese allied with Calicut's Samorin, under Andre Furtado de Mendoça they attacked the Kunjali and Chinali's forces, and they were handed over to the Portuguese by the Samorin after he reneged on a promise to let them go. Diogo do Couto, a Portuguese historian, questioned the Kunjali and Chinali when they were captured. He was present when the Kunjali surrendered to the Portuguese, and was described: "One of these was Chinale, a Chinese, who had been a servant at Malacca, and said to have been the captive of a Portuguese, taken as a boy from a fusta, and afterwards brought to Kunhali, who conceived such an affection for him that he trusted him with everything. He was the greatest exponent of the Moorish superstition and enemy of the Christians in all Malabar, and for those taken captive at sea and brought thither he invented the most exquisite kinds of torture when he martyred them." However, de Couto's claim that he tortured Christians was questioned, since no other source reported this, and has been described as lacking credibility.
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