4 days ago
Cheenapara Gallery to Preserve Calcutta’s Chinese Community Heritage
Calcutta has a Chinese community whose history goes back more than 200 years.
A new gallery will tell this community’s story.
It is called the Cheenapara Heritage Gallery.
The gallery will open on September 5, and visitors can enter from September 6.
Community members provided many of the photographs and objects on display.
These include tools used by dentists and carpenters, as well as traditional religious items.
The project also discusses difficult parts of the past, including discrimination and the opium trade.
Organisers hope to improve the neighbourhood and bring back its Chinese breakfast street.
The gallery is meant to show how different communities helped shape Calcutta.
The Cheenapara Heritage Gallery will open in Calcutta on September 5, with public access beginning September 6.
Located on Black Burn Lane, the gallery occupies part of a Chinese community club near Tiretta Bazaar.
Its permanent displays feature community-sourced photographs, documents, trade tools, gongs, candles, joss sticks and lamp stands.
The project is a collaboration between the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage and The CHA Project.
Organisers also plan to revive Tiretta Bazaar’s Chinese breakfast street, while documenting the community’s history and preserving its pluralist heritage.
- Who
- The Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage, The CHA Project, Chinese community members and heritage researchers are involved; the Chinese consul general, Xu Wei, is scheduled to attend the inauguration.
- What
- The Cheenapara Heritage Gallery is being established as a permanent exhibition on Calcutta’s Chinese community and its history.
- Where
- The gallery is on Black Burn Lane, off Central Avenue, in Calcutta, near Tiretta Bazaar.
- When
- The inauguration is scheduled for September 5, and the gallery will open to the public on September 6.
- Why
- Organisers want to document the community’s lived history, preserve Calcutta’s pluralist heritage and support the revival of the surrounding heritage area.
Heritage Revival Supporters
Historical and Practical Cautions
Preserving Calcutta’s pluralism
Heritage Revival Supporters
Rinkoo Bhowmik, G.M. Kapur and project supporters say documenting the Chinese community and reviving Tiretta Bazaar can preserve an important part of Calcutta’s cosmopolitan heritage.
Historical and Practical Cautions
The project’s own organisers say the history should not be presented only positively; discrimination, the opium trade and other difficult aspects must also be remembered.
Reviving the breakfast street
Heritage Revival Supporters
Organisers plan a clean, hygienic food street with authentic Chinese stalls to revive Tiretta Bazaar’s once-famous Sunday-morning breakfast tradition.
Historical and Practical Cautions
The existing breakfast street is currently described as being in poor condition, creating a practical challenge for any revival effort.
Key facts
- Gallery name
- Cheenapara Heritage Gallery
- Inauguration
- September 5
- Public opening
- September 6
- Location
- Black Burn Lane, off Central Avenue, Calcutta
- Project partners
- Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage and The CHA Project
- Historical scope
- More than two centuries of Chinese community history in Calcutta
- Community population
- People of Chinese origin in Calcutta declined from around 20,000 in the mid-20th century to about 2,000 today
Quotes
Rinkoo Bhowmik
Founder of The CHA Project and a journalist-turned-urban planner
“Calcutta’s pluralism goes back to the days of the Raj, when the city was a salad bowl of different nationalities. This revival hopes to include the larger heritage zone that used to be colonial Calcutta’s Grey Town. The history of Tiretta Bazaar, where people of numerous nationalities lived and traded together, is fascinating and needs to be told and retold.”
telegraphindia.com
“This urban regeneration project has been in the works for more than a decade. We felt this was an important aspect of the city’s heritage and that it would be in the interest of all concerned if we could do something about it. Over the years, we persisted. Now, finally, we have managed to get something going.”
telegraphindia.com
Sources
Related news
Heirloom Cities Book Captures Calcutta’s Layered Food Culture
How Charnock’s Riverbank Decision Shaped Kolkata’s Modern Identity
Kolkata’s ‘Mini-Bangladesh’ Reveals Fire Risks Behind Cheap Hotels
Mumbai's East Indian Heritage Finds New Home at Baptista Bhavan
Inside Sabyasachi’s Delhi Museum of Memories and Heritage
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Vows To Protect Chennai’s Heritage
CPC's Six Strengths Highlighted by President Xi
