Preserving Cultural Identity through Education: The Schools of the Chinese Community in Calcutta, India 9789814279888

Table of contents :
Contents
Foreword
A Note on Romanisation
About the Author
Preserving Cultural Identity through Education: The Schools of the Chinese Community in Calcutta, India
THE SOURCES FOR THE STUDY OF CHINESE SCHOOLS IN CALCUTTA
HOME EDUCATION AND THE PRESERVATION OF CHINESE IDENTITY
CHINESE SCHOOLS IN CALCUTTA
THE CURRICULA AND TEXTBOOKS AT THE CHINESE SCHOOLS
THE CHINESE SCHOOLS AND FACTIONALISM WITHIN THE COMMUNITY
CONCLUSION: PRESERVING AND CREATING IDENTITIES THROUGH EDUCATION
Appendix: Chinese-Medium Schools in Calcutta
REFERENCES
Index

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Reproduced from Preserving Cultural Identity through Education: The Schools of the Chinese Community in Calcutta, India by Zhang Xing (Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 2010). This version was obtained electronically direct from the publisher on condition that copyright is not infringed. No part of this publication may be reproduced without the prior permission of the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies. < http://bookshop.iseas.edu.sg >

PRESERVING CULTURAL IDENTITY THROUGH EDUCATION

The Nalanda-Sriwijaya Centre (NSC) at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore, pursues research on historical interactions among Asian societies and civilisations. It serves as a forum for comprehensive study of the ways in which Asian polities and societies have interacted over time through religious, cultural, and economic exchanges and diasporic networks. The Research Series provides NSC Fellows with an avenue to present the outcome of their research undertaken and supported by the Centre, and allows an opportunity to develop new or innovative approaches in the sphere of intra-Asian interactions.

The Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS) was established as an autonomous organisation in 1968. It is a regional centre dedicated to the study of socio-political, security and economic trends and developments in Southeast Asia and its wider geostrategic and economic environment. The Institute’s research programmes are the Regional Economic Studies (RES, including ASEAN and APEC), Regional Strategic and Political Studies (RSPS), and Regional Social and Cultural Studies (RSCS). ISEAS Publishing, an established academic press, has issued more than 2,000 books and journals. It is the largest scholarly publisher of research about Southeast Asia from within the region. ISEAS Publishing works with many other academic and trade publishers and distributors to disseminate important research and analyses from and about Southeast Asia to the rest of the world.

RESEARCH SERIES

Preserving Cultural Identity through Education The Schools of the Chinese Community in Calcutta, India Zhang Xing

INSTITUTE OF SOUTHEAST ASIAN STUDIES Singapore

First published in Singapore in 2010 by ISEAS Publishing Institute of Southeast Asian Studies 30 Heng Mui Keng Terrace, Pasir Panjang Singapore 119614 E-mail: [email protected] Website: http://bookshop.iseas.edu.sg All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission of the publishers. © 2010 Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore The responsibility for facts and opinions in this publication rests exclusively with the author and her interpretations do not necessarily reflect the views or the policy of the publisher or its supporters. ISEAS Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Zhang, Xing, Preserving cultural identity through education: the schools of the Chinese community in Calcutta, India. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Chinese—India—Calcutta—Ethnic identity. Chinese—Education—India—Calcutta. Chinese diaspora. China—Emigration and immigration. India—Emigration and immigration.

I. Title. DS432 C5Z63

2010

ISBN 978-981-4279-87-1 (soft cover) ISBN 978-981-4279-88-8 (E-Book PDF) Cover photo: The Meiguang School in Calcutta, India. Reproduced courtesy of Zhang Xing. Typeset by Manohar Publishers Printed in Singapore by Utopia Press Pte Ltd

Contents

Foreword

vii

A Note on Romanisation

xi

About the Author Preserving Cultural Identity through Education: The Schools of the Chinese Community in Calcutta, India

xiii

1

The Sources for the Study of Chinese Schools in Calcutta

5

Home Education and the Preservation of Chinese Identity

11

Chinese Schools in Calcutta

17

The Curricula and Textbooks at the Chinese Schools

49

The Chinese Schools and Factionalism within the Community

54

Conclusion: Preserving and Creating Identities through Education

72

Appendix: Chinese-Medium Schools in Calcutta

79

References

81

Index

85

Foreword

Scholars working on India–China interactions have rarely focused on the history and experiences of the Chinese who began immigrating to India over two centuries ago. These immigrants from China also seldom feature in works that deal with the Chinese overseas. In fact, there are only two book-length studies on this topic, the first by the American scholar Ellen Oxfeld entitled Blood, Sweat, and Mahjong (1993), and the second called Chinois à Calcutta: Les Tigres du Bengale (1999) by a French researcher named Julien Berjeaut. In an introduction to a special issue of China Report entitled ‘Kolkata and China’ published in 2007, I lamented that very few Indian or Chinese researchers had undertaken in-depth studies of the Chinese community in India. Zhang Xing’s examination of the Chinesemedium schools established by the Chinese community in Calcutta presented in this inaugural volume of the Nalanda-Sriwijaya Centre’s Research Series is a step toward addressing this lacuna. After coming to India in several stages from the late eighteenth to the early twentieth century, Chinese immigrants settled in Calcutta, Bombay, Darjeeling, Assam, Madras, and other cities and states of India. Engaging in carpentry, shoemaking, tannery, dentistry, laundry and, more recently, restaurant businesses, these Chinese quickly carved out their niches within Indian society. Their numbers reached about 27,000 in the mid-1950s (this figure does not include immigrants from the Tibet and Xinjiang regions of China), becoming one of the largest foreign migrant communities in India. Yet they are perhaps also, as Ellen Oxfeld pointed out in her study, the most marginalised minority groups in that country.

viii

Foreword

This marginalisation is evident in Calcutta, where the Chinese have mostly lived segregated from other ethnic groups. While this isolation, both self-imposed and induced by local cultural and social norms, has helped preserve their traditional Chinese cultural practices and languages, it has also limited their access to the Indian political, economic, and educational systems. The India–China conflict of 1962 was a watershed moment for the Chinese in India. Not only was their allegiance to India questioned by the Indian government, but several thousands were also interned and deported from India. Many who remained in India subsequently explored ways to emigrate to Europe, Australia, and North America. As a consequence, the size of the Chinese community in India has now declined to a few thousand. The vicissitudes of the Chinese community in India during the twentieth century is reflected in Zhang Xing’s study of the Chinesemedium schools in Calcutta. It outlines the fascinating history of the China-focused education offered to the children of Chinese immigrants living in Calcutta, to which neither the local authorities nor the central government raised any objections. The indifference of the Indian government is especially noteworthy since, as Zhang Xing points out, the stated goal of the education at these schools was to train students for further studies in China and ‘contribute to the construction of the “Motherland”’. The study also examines the impact of the Guomindang-Communist factionalism within the Chinese community and the effects of the India–China conflict on these Chinese-medium schools. The sources used by Zhang Xing for the study of Chinese-medium schools in Calcutta are impressive. They include Chinese-language materials produced by the Chinese community in Calcutta, secondary works edited in Taiwan, and Indian intelligence and police reports. Also incorporated are interviews of several former principals and students of these schools who now live in China and Canada. This study, which constitutes a section of the author’s forthcoming Ph.D. dissertation,

Foreword

ix

will add significantly to our understanding of the Chinese community in India. It will also be of interest to those working on India–China interactions and Calcutta’s immigrant communities. The NalandaSriwijaya Centre is glad to have supported Zhang Xing’s research and is pleased to publish this outcome in its Research Series. TANSEN SEN HEAD NALANDA-SRIWIJAYA CENTRE INSTITUTE OF SOUTHEAST ASIAN STUDIES SINGAPORE

A Note on Romanisation

Within this work Chinese words are transcribed using hanyu pinyin romanisation, except in a few cases of names which are best known in other transcriptions, such as Sun Yat-sen and Chiang Kai-shek. The names of some of the Chinese schools in Calcutta often appear in forms other than hanyu pinyin. To aid identification, the following listing provides both the formal pinyin transcriptions and equivalent local names of Calcutta Chinese schools. Huaqiao (Hua Chiao/Hwa Chiao) Jiahua (Chia Hua/Chia Hwa) Jianguo (Chien Kuo) Meiguang (Mei Kuang) Minzhong (Min Chung) Peimei (Pei Moy/Pei May) Shengxin (Sing Sum) Xinghua (Hsing Hua/Hsing Hwa) Zhenhua (Chen Hua/Chen Hwa) Zhonghua (Chung Hua/Chung Hwa) Zhongshan (Chung Shan) Zhongzheng (Chung Cheng)

About the Author

Zhang Xing ്ࢉ is a Ph.D. candidate at Peking University, China, and Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Germany. Her research focuses on Bengali literature and culture as well as the Chinese community in Calcutta, India. She has studied in Bangladesh and has done fieldwork in Calcutta and Toronto, Canada. Her dissertation examines the issues of cultural assimilation and the preservation of identity of the Calcutta Chinese. She has co-edited a special issue of the journal Huaqiao Huaren lishi yanjiu ဎ቞ဎԳ ᖵ‫׾‬ઔߒ (English Title: Overseas Chinese History Studies) devoted to the Chinese community in India and written several articles and conference papers on the Calcutta Chinese. Since 2007 she has been doing research in Germany with a fellowship from the Gottlieb Daimler-und Karl Benz-Foundation.

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Preserving Cultural Identity through Education: The Schools of the Chinese Community in Calcutta, India*

A Chinese must know Chinese [culture] —XIE ZHIPING, FORMER PRINCIPAL OF THE MEIGUANG SCHOOL, CALCUTTA The history of the Chinese community in India is generally taken to begin with a person named Yang Dazhao ἞໻䞫who came to Bengal as a tea trader from Guangdong province in 1778. In exchange for the tea he brought with him to Bengal, Yang received a large land-grant from Warren Hastings, the governor-general of British India from * This study is based on fieldwork conducted in India in 2008 and 2009 for my forthcoming Ph.D. dissertation entitled ‘The Chinese Community in Calcutta: Cultural Assimilation and Preservation of Identity’. I wish to thank Professor Rahul Peter Das for his guidance and help with my research and writing. I am also thankful to Professor Atish Dasgupta for giving me access to the West Bengal State Archives in Calcutta, India. I am grateful to the Gottlieb Daimler-und Karl Benz-Stiftung, Martin Luther University (Germany), and the Nalanda-Sriwijaya Centre at ISEAS (Singapore) for supporting the research and fieldwork upon which this work is based. For facilitating my fieldwork and research in Calcutta, I would like to thank Liu Guozhao, Li Wancheng, Wu Jihong and his family, and Yang Xiaohong. Uma Dasgupta and Barnali Chanda helped with the archival work. Consul-General Mao Siwei and the former Deputy Consul Wen Zhencai of the PRC Consulate-General in Calcutta were also very supportive. In Canada, help from Mr. and Mrs Henry Lin as well as Mr. and Mrs. James Lee was instrumental in contacting various people for my interviews. Zhang Xiuming and Chen Jianhua facilitated my fieldwork in China.

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1773 to 1786 (Bose 1934). Soon thereafter, Yang Dazhao (nicknamed Atchew) established a sugar mill on the land and later brought Chinese labourers to India to work for him. This area, located about 33 km from Calcutta, became known as Atchepur (now Achipur). Chinese immigrants, mostly Fujianese and Cantonese, started settling in Calcutta in the late eighteenth century. Within about 50–60 years, these people established their own unique neighbourhood in central Calcutta, in what is now the Bowbazar area and its vicinity, which included institutions such as native-place associations (known as huiguans ᳗仼) and temples. One of the temples was dedicated to Guanyu 䮰㖑 (also known as Guandi 䮰Ᏹ), the god of war popular among Chinese merchants. A second temple was established for the sea goddess Tianhou ໽ৢ. A large number of Hakkas migrated to Calcutta from Guangdong province after the Punti–Hakka Wars (1856–67) and the failure of the Taiping Rebellion (1850–64). The census of 1901 for Calcutta indicates that the Chinese population in the city had grown to 1640. During the 1930s and 1940s, the Japanese invasion of China and the civil war between the Guomindang and Communists that ensued after the end of World War II brought another wave of Chinese immigrants to Calcutta (Liang 2007). By the early 1950s, the Chinese population in Calcutta peaked at about 15,000, with many of them residing in central Calcutta. A second Chinese neighbourhood emerged in Tangra (or Dhapa) in the 1920s, where the Hakka immigrants started operating tannery factories and related businesses. At both these neighbourhoods, popularly called Chinatowns, the Chinese immigrants established temples, stores, restaurants and schools. The immigrants from China in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries considerably transformed the composition of Chinese residents in Calcutta. Before the twentieth century, the community consisted mostly of male workers who were either bachelors or had left their families behind in China in order to earn

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money in India. The new immigrants, on the other hand, included a large number of women and children (Liang 2007). The presence of children and the uncertain future of their return to China made it necessary for the community to establish proper educational institutions. Writing about this need, Jennifer Liang (‘The Chinese in Calcutta’) explains: The bachelor society of the Chinese had to undergo transformation in order to accommodate the growing families that they were confronted with. One way they dealt with that was to start schools where their children would get an education in the Chinese language and be grounded in Chinese values and thinking. This was a direct attempt at indoctrinating children with their culture and their roots. Earlier, it was an unspoken rule for all Chinese parents to send their children to a Chinese school in their formative years so that ‘they can learn the basic Chinese values and manners’. Later on they may go to English schools but if children are not to become ‘phaan kwei’ or ‘foreign devil’, then it is important that they be grounded in Chinese education in their primary years.

Indeed, education among the Chinese in Calcutta, as this study will demonstrate, generally included school education, family education and social education. Between 1901 and 1911, the wealthy families among the Calcutta Chinese arranged private teaching and tutorial classes at home for their children. In the 1920s and 1930s several Chinese-medium primary and middle schools were established in Calcutta,1 offering for the first time an opportunity for the children 1

The meaning of ‘Chinese-medium schools’ is obvious, whereas ‘Chinese schools’ in this study refer to the schools established by or for the Chinese community in Calcutta and other parts of India. While most of these schools used Chinese language(s) as the medium of instruction, some of the Christian schools that targeted the Chinese community used English-language instruction. These Chinese schools followed the structure used in China, where primary schools, called ‘xiaoxue’ ᇣᅌ consisted of six grades, and middle schools (or ‘zhongxue’

4

Zhang Xing

of Chinese immigrants to formally study history, mathematics, social sciences and other subjects in Chinese languages (initially in Hakka and Cantonese and then in Mandarin). Chinese-medium schools for the Chinese were also established in other Indian cities, including in Bombay, Darjeeling, Kalimpong, and Shillong. These schools, as explained below, played a crucial role among the immigrant communities in preserving what was and continues to be regarded as Chinese identity—whatever this may in actual fact be—and links with the ancestral homeland.2 This was undertaken not only through Ёᅌ) had six grades, junior middle grades 1 to 3 and senior middle grades

1 to 3. The Chinese middle schools in Calcutta did not have senior middle grades. 2 Scholars from several disciplinary perspectives have discussed the issue of cultural identity among ‘diasporic’ and immigrant communities. Stuart Hall (1990), for example, offers two ways of looking at cultural identity. ‘The first position’, he writes (1990: 223) defines ‘cultural identity’ in terms of one, shared culture, a sort of collective ‘one true self’, hiding inside the many other, more superficial or artificially imposed ‘selves’, which people with a shared history and ancestry hold common’. The second definition, Hall writes (1990: 225) recognises that ‘there are also critical points of deep and significant difference which constitute “what we really are”; or rather—since history has intervened—“what we have become”’. The first definition by Hall seems to apply to the Chinese immigrants, who have resisted transformation and becoming something other in their two hundred years of history in India. However, scholars such as Tong Chee-kiong and Chan Kwok-bun (2001) have pointed out that definitions of Chineseness are not always obvious or easily explained. Chinese identity, either self-perceived or imposed by others, could be through physical features, biological descent, Chinese-language abilities, cultural practices, and other attributes. In their survey of the Chinese in Singapore, Tong and Chan show that those who call themselves ‘Chinese’, are also not very clear about what makes them Chinese. The Chinese in Calcutta, who also find it difficult to answer what makes them ‘Chinese’, usually emphasise biological descent and ancestry, the ability to speak a Chinese language, and

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the teaching of Chinese languages and traditions, but also by following educational curricula and textbooks imported from China. The stated goal of Chinese education for the students at these schools was to return to China, where they would complete their education and contribute to the ‘construction of the Motherland’.3 THE SOURCES FOR THE STUDY OF CHINESE SCHOOLS IN CALCUTTA

There are four major types of textual sources on Chinese schools in Calcutta. The first are the school publications, especially those published as commemorative volumes. The second is a set of works on the Chinese communities in southern Asia published in Taiwan in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The third category includes miscellaneous notices and records, and newspaper articles. The fourth are the secret reports about the Chinese community in Calcutta that were collected by the Indian intelligence agencies and local police authorities. Many of these sources date from the period before the 1980s and are usually difficult to locate. In fact, it was only during my fieldwork in Calcutta that I was able to procure these materials after an extensive search. cultural practices and beliefs as the main elements of their Chinese identity. 3 This goal of education for the Chinese in India is noted in various publications by the Chinese community in Calcutta, including in an essay by Tan Xichang 䄮䣿ᯠ (1942: 85), a representative of the Guomindang government in India as well as the principal of the Jianguo School, called ‘Dui Yindu Huaqiao jiaoyu de qiwang’ ᇡॄᑺ㧃‫ڥ‬ᬭ㚆ⱘᳳᳯ (Expectations for Education among the Overseas Chinese in India). He stressed that teachers should encourage students to have an interest in returning to China to do further studies. It seems, from the work entitled Yindu bandao Huaqiao jiaoyu (1958: 65–6), that a count of how many students returned to China for further studies was kept by the schools.

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The first category of sources consists of the following five works: Yindu Jiacheng Meiguang xuexiao niankan ॄᑺࡴජṙ‫ܝ‬ᅌ᷵ᑈ ߞ (Annual Issue of the Meiguang School in Calcutta, India);4 Yindu Jiacheng Meiguang xuexiao fuban shi zhounian jinian tekan ॄᑺࡴජṙ‫ܝ‬ᅌ᷵㻛䕺਼ᑈ㋔ᗉ⡍ߞ(Special Commemorative Issue Marking the Tenth Anniversary of the Reestablishment of the Meiguang School in Calcutta, India) published on 15 November 1942; Yindu Jia’ergeda Jianguo xuexiao wu zhounian jinian tekan ॄ ᑺࡴ⠒৘ㄨᓎ೟ᅌ਼᷵ᑈ㋔ᗉ⡍ߞ(Special Issue Marking the Fifth Anniversary of the Jianguo School in Calcutta, India), published in January 1949; the Peimei xuexiao xinxiao luocheng jinian tekan ෍ṙ ᅌ᷵ᮄ᷵㨑៤㋔ᗉ⡍ߞ(Special Commemorative Issue Marking the Completion of the New Peimei School), published in 1955; and the Xianggang Lingliangtang ershi zhounian jinian tekan 佭␃䴜㊻ූѠक ਼ᑈ㋔ᗉ⡍ߞ 1959–79 (Special Commemorative Issue Marking the Twentieth Anniversary of the Hong Kong Ling Liang Church). The special commemorative issues published by Meiguang ṙ‫ ܝ‬Jianguo ᓎ೟ and Peimei ෍ṙ schools offer detailed histories of the schools until the 1950s, including the number of students and teachers, curricula, photographs of cultural activities at the schools, essays by former students and scholars, congratulatory speeches and poems by local dignitaries, lists of donors, etc. Among these, the volume published by the Jianguo School is the best organised and most detailed. Together, these works provide excellent information on Chinese-medium education in Calcutta during the 1940s and 1950s. Although it seems obvious that such commemorative volumes were regularly published by the three schools, only the abovementioned publications pertaining to individual schools were available to me. Many such publications (and, in fact, other relevant documents 4

I currently have the second volume (dierqi ㄀Ѡᳳ) published on 31 August 1936 by Yindu baoshe ॄᑺฅ⼒.

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published by the schools) may have been lost during the 1960s, when the conflict between India and the People’s Republic of China led to the closure of the Chinese schools that were sponsored by the ConsulateGeneral of the PRC in Calcutta. Records and documents were either destroyed or just thrown away when local property dealers bought some of the school buildings. Other schools that managed to retain their buildings, such as the Jianguo, Peimei and Meiguang schools, have not attempted to preserve their documents and publications most likely due to the lack of funds and manpower. The Grace Ling Liang School was established much later than the schools mentioned above. Founded by Christian missionaries David and Mary Lamb in 1962, it began as a school for the poor in the Bowbazar neighbourhood (Rohrer 1986: 63). The Xianggang Lingliangtang ershi zhounian jinian tekan includes a brief history of the school, as well as letters from the alumni (including those who studied in its branch school in the Tangra area). Another source for the Ling Liang schools is the work on David and Mary Lamb compiled for the Grace Community Church by Norman B. Rohrer called Light in the Black Hole. Although overtly predisposed to the home institution, these two works provide important details about the emergence and popularity of Christian education among the Chinese in Calcutta. Information about the Ling Liang schools is also found in the recently published memoirs of a former teacher named Li Fengzhao ᴢ勇᢯ (2009). Entitled Wusi de ai ⛵⾕ⱘᛯ (Selfless Love), it also describes the contributions of David and Mary Lamb to the Chinese community in Calcutta. Three publications from Taiwan belong to the second category of sources. These are the works edited by Dai Zi’an (Tai Tze An) ᠈ᄤ ᅝ, who lived in India but was deported by the Indian government in the 1950s. Dai Zi’an had come to India from Xinjiang through the Pamirs in 1949 to escape the civil war in China. He lived in India for over 8 years, working for and helping various Chinese schools and

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organisations in Calcutta. In this process, he collected detailed information about the Chinese schools and other institutions belonging to Chinese communities in the Indian subcontinent, and this can be found in Yindu bandao Huaqiao jiaoyu ॄᑺञዊ㧃‫ڥ‬ᬭ㚆 (Education among the Overseas Chinese in the Indian Subcontinent), published in 1958; Yindu Huaqiao shihua ॄᑺ㧃‫ڥ‬৆䁅 (Historical Sketch of Overseas Chinese in India), the second edition of which was published in 1958; and Yindu Huaqiao zhi ॄᑺ㧃‫ڥ‬ᖫ (Records of the Overseas Chinese in India), published in 1962. The first work is an extensive survey of the schools and education system available to the Chinese communities in India, (undivided) Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. It outlines the history of the Chinese schools in Calcutta and elsewhere in India, the most recent numbers of students and teachers at these schools, the curricula and textbooks, and also points out the problems and prospects of the Chinese schools in the Indian subcontinent. Much of the information found in this book is repeated in the other two works; only occasionally does something new relating to education or the Chinese schools appear in them. These three works, albeit very comprehensive and based on first-hand information collected by Dai Zi’an, are nevertheless problematic. The author, as mentioned above, was deported by the Indian government for his activities against the government of the People’s Republic of China, so that one can a priori surmise that the books are not free from such tendencies. And indeed, their statements on the role of the PRC Consulate-General in Calcutta do not create the impression of an impartial account. Dai Zi’an portrays the Consulate as a manipulative organisation trying to take over the major Chinese schools in Calcutta. While the involvement of the PRC Consulate in the activities of the Chinese schools is confirmed by the Indian intelligence and police reports, some of the political issues pertaining to the Guomindang–Communist factionalism described in these Taiwanese sources should be dealt with cautiously.

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A third type of source is the occasional writings on the Chinese schools found in newspapers, journals, books, and publications of the Yinhua wenhua fazhan xiehui ॄ㧃᭛࣪ⱐሩन᳗ (Indian Chinese Association for Culture, Welfare and Development). The earliest extant mention of the Chinese-medium schools in Calcutta can be found in an article published on 27 December 1928 in the Chinese newspaper Guangzhou minguo ribao ᒷᎲ⇥೟᮹ฅ (The Guangzhou Republican Daily). Entitled ‘Yinjing Huaqiao jinkuang’ ॄҀ㧃‫ڥ‬䖥⊕ (The Recent Situation of the Overseas Chinese in the Indian Capital), the article reports of a Catholic school as well as two other schools for the Chinese community in Calcutta.5 Two years later, Chinese schools were also mentioned in an article written by the renowned Sinologist in India Tan Yunshan 䄮䳆ቅ. Tan Yunshan (1930: 27) laments that the Huaqiao xuexiao 㧃‫ڥ‬ᅌ᷵ (Overseas Chinese School) and the Zhenhua xuexiao ᤃ㧃ᅌ᷵ (Zhenhua School) for the Chinese community use regional languages instead of Mandarin for instruction, the former Hakka, the latter Cantonese. Reports about Chinese schools have also appeared in local newspapers and magazines, including those in the Chinese, Bengali, and English languages.6 In fact, the local Chinese-language newspapers frequently carried articles on the Chinese-medium schools. An important collection of articles published in the Chinese-language newspaper Yindu shangbao ॄᑺଚฅ (Overseas Chinese Commerce of India), entitled Yindu shangbao duzhe zhiye zhuanji (di yi ji) ॄᑺଚฅ䅔㗙П ䷕ᇜ䔃 (㄀ϔ䲚) (Special Edition of the Readers’ Response Page from the Overseas Chinese Commerce of India, Vol. 1), was published in 1973. This volume has a number of letters from readers expressing their 5

The article is reprinted in Huaqiao yu Qiaowu shiliao xuanbian ဎ቞ፖ቞೭‫׾‬றᙇᒳ (Guangdong), vol. 1 (1991): 826–7. 6 Most of these reports do not add anything new to our understanding of the Chinese schools in Calcutta and are therefore not cited in this study.

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views on the Chinese schools during the 1970s. Articles on the Chinese schools in Calcutta were also published in two other important local Chinese-language newspapers, Yindu ribao ‫ٱ‬৫ֲ໴ (The Chinese Journal of India) and Zhongguo zhoubao խഏၜ໴ (The China Review). While Yindu shangbao and Yindu ribao had Guomindang leanings, the Chinese Consulate-General of the People’s Republic of China in Calcutta supported Zhongguo zhoubao. Additionally, because of rivalry among the owners, Yindu shangbao and Yindu ribao often offered contradictory views on the Chinese schools and the people who ran these institutions. Consequently, the coverage on the Chinese schools in these newspapers should also be cautiously approached. The annual Diary of the Indian Chinese Association for Culture, Welfare and Development, an organisation established in 2000, also contains information about the Chinese schools in Calcutta. The two book-length studies on the Chinese community in Calcutta by Ellen Oxfeld (1993) and Julien Berjeaut (1999) have sections related to the Chinese schools. Additionally, there are various notes, letters, and other fragmentary documents that discuss issues relating to Chinese-medium instruction and education among the Chinese community in Calcutta. Rarely used for the study of the Chinese community in Calcutta are the Indian intelligence and police reports that date back to the early twentieth century. Housed in the West Bengal State Archives at Shakespeare Sarani in central Calcutta, files until 1957 are presently available to the public. In addition to the detailed surveillance and interrogation reports on the community, these files contain important information about businesses, associations, schools, and other institutions of the Chinese in Calcutta as well as other regions of West Bengal. For this study, I have used reports that describe some of the Chinese schools and the political factionalism within the Chinese community in Calcutta that affected these schools. In addition to the above-mentioned sources, I have gathered rel-

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evant information through interviews and surveys of students, teachers, and principals. While most of the people I have interviewed are residents of Calcutta, there are also others who now reside in China and Canada. These interviews and surveys provide personal observations and views about the Chinese schools and Chinese-medium education in Calcutta. HOME EDUCATION AND THE PRESERVATION OF CHINESE IDENTITY

Before the establishment of Chinese-medium schools in Calcutta, the rich Chinese immigrants hired private tutors to educate their children. The children of the poor families, as noted in Yindu bandao Huaqiao jiaoyu (1958: 28), rarely had the opportunity to receive proper education. During the early twentieth century there was only one private educational institution with a single teacher. The textbooks used by this teacher were mostly Confucian works known as the Sishu ؄஼ (Four Books) and Wujing նᆖ (Five Classics).7 Students were also taught calligraphy, the use of abacus, and mathematics. After this type of rudimentary education, they usually went to shops and factories to receive vocational training in craftsmanship and in running businesses. They would then enter the workforce, especially family businesses such as tannery, carpentry, and restaurants. Education at home by family members and private tutors conti7

The Four Books were the Daxue Օᖂ (Great Learning), Zhongyong խ൉ (The Doctrine of the Mean), Lunyu ᓵ፿ (The Analects), and Mengzi ࡯՗ ([The Writings of] Mencius). The Five Classics consists of Shijing ᇣᆖʳ(Book of Poetry), Shangshu ࡸ஼ (Book of Documents), Liji ៖ಖ (Books of Rites), Yijing ࣐ᆖ (Book of Changes), and Chunqiu ਞટ (Spring and Autumn Annals).

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nued even after the opening of Chinese schools and has persisted until the present time. In fact, parents pay significant attention to the education of their children and when possible help them with their course work. They also hire private tutors for specific courses, including mathematics, sciences, and languages (usually Mandarin, English, and Hindi). Special emphasis is put on learning Mandarin. Sometimes tutors are invited to give private lessons at home, and at other times parents send their children to receive language training at designated places, including at the Peimei School. According to one Mandarin tutor, the demand for Mandarin instruction is so high, especially because of the shortage of trained Chinese language instructors in Calcutta, that she has to teach children of five separate families in one evening.8 Such tutorials are part of the popular phenomenon called buxi ᇖ฾ (additional tutorials/training), which includes teaching groups of students at private homes or at other designated places.9 Home education among the Chinese community in Calcutta involves more than just an emphasis on the supplementary learning of subjects taught at schools. One of the important aspects of home education is the emphasis on Chinese traditional values and etiquette that are passed down from parents to children. Parents start installing the ideas of filial piety and proper familial and social behaviour from early childhood. In this way, many Confucian values are preserved in families even when contact with China and the opportunities to study at Chinese schools are limited. Also vital is the role of Chinese families in the transmission of Chinese regional languages to the younger generation. Indeed, the only way the new generation of Chinese in Calcutta learns Cantonese and Hakka is through communication 8

Based on an interview I conducted on 27 January 2008 in Tangra. This is mirrored in various strata of Indian society, in which school education is supplemented by private tuition. The difference is the teaching of social/cultural values, which seems peculiarly Chinese. 9

Preserving Cultural Identity through Education

Figure 1: Tutorial classes for adults at the Sacred Heart School

Figure 2: Tutorial classes for children at the Peimei School

13

14

Zhang Xing

among family members. This learning of Chinese languages, including Mandarin, is closely related to the preservation of Chinese cultural identity and links with their ancestral homelands, mostly located in Guangdong province. During my fieldwork in Calcutta and China I encountered several instances when the significance of language learning at home and its link to the issue of identity was evident. Among the fourth-and-fifth generation Chinese in Calcutta, Cantonese and Hakka are used at home and during conversations with other Chinese in Calcutta. But, in the wider context of the social life in Calcutta, English and Hindi are more prevalent. Additionally, for many of these people, the main source of news, information and entertainment is in English and Hindi. When I asked some of these teenagers why they still speak Chinese regional languages amongst each other instead of English, Hindi or Bengali, most of them responded by saying: ‘because we are Chinese, we have to [speak Chinese]. It’s very important to know our own language.’10 A ten-year old Chinese boy who lives in Tangra and studies at the well-known English-medium International School11 expressed similar sentiments. When his Indian teacher asked him if she could go to his house to meet the parents, the child thought for a while and said, ‘Only if you speak Chinese, you may come’. Clearly at this early age, the child was able to relate to the uniqueness of the language spoken by his family and community and distinguish it from the languages used by other members of the local society. It shows no matter what kind of language training the

10

This was a common response to my questions about the use of the Chinese language during my fieldwork in Calcutta in 2008. The Chinese in Calcutta opt for Hindi, instead of Bengali, the language of West Bengal State, because they live amongst and, in their daily business dealings, mostly interact with non-Bengalis using Hindi as a means of communication. 11 Very few children in the Chinese community are able to attend the International School given the high tuition fees.

Preserving Cultural Identity through Education

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Calcutta Chinese may be receiving at non-Chinese medium schools, at home the language of choice and training is the Chinese regional language spoken by their parents.12 The ability to speak Chinese languages is also considered important by the relatives of the Calcutta Chinese living in China. During my field trip to Meizhou ම‫ڠ‬, I asked some of them about how their relatives living in Calcutta differed from them and other local Chinese. They answered that other than the fact that they live in a different country there was nothing special about the Calcutta Chinese. As a follow-up I enquired why they felt that the Calcutta Chinese were no different from them. Explaining that it was because of their ability to speak the local language, they said, ‘As long as they can speak Hakka we will always recognise them as Hakkas’.13 Thus, for those in Calcutta and in Meizhou, knowledge of Mandarin and other Chinese languages seem to be closely associated with Chinese identity. It seems clear from the above three examples that the ability to speak Chinese regional languages, learnt at homes, and Mandarin serves to preserve ancestral links with China and contribute to the preservation of Chinese identity in Calcutta. In sum, it should be noted that parental guidance, private tutorials, and language skills acquired at home are important aspects of education among the Chinese in Calcutta, especially when most of the Chinese schools have now closed and Chinese-medium instruction is only available at the Peimei School. In the case of Chinese regional languages, training received at home is even more significant since there is

12

The grandmother of the child related this story to me. On the issue of language choices among the Chinese community in Calcutta, see Ray (1989). 13 Based on my interview with Mr. Li Siqiang ‫ޕ‬ཎൎ and his daughter Li Liya ‫ܓޕ‬ႁ in Meixian on 25 February 2009.

16

Zhang Xing

no possibility of learning Hakka or Cantonese anywhere else in India. In recent years, Chinese-language TV channels, CCTV-4 broadcast from Mainland China and Phoenix TV based in Hong Kong, have become popular among members of the Chinese community in Calcutta. Both these channels are in Mandarin and are easily available through local cable providers. They are regularly watched by the older generation of the community, even by those who do not fully comprehend Mandarin. The younger generation usually watches the Chinese channels during major events, such as the Olympic Games held in Beijing and the PRC National Day celebration. For these people the Chinese channels provide an opportunity to listen to and possibly retain their knowledge of Mandarin. The same role is played by Taiwanese TV series that are brought to Calcutta by family members returning from overseas. One Chinese girl who lives in Tangra and attends a local English-medium school frequently watches Chinese-language TV series. She points out that with her friends and relatives she would watch such TV series everyday during the holidays. In fact, I joined them one day and watched a Taiwanese TV series in Mandarin. Those who knew the language would explain some of the words to the friends who were unable to fully comprehend Mandarin. They told me that such TV series and films gave them a chance to ‘improve listening comprehension and spoken skills in Mandarin’. However, I must mention that there were others within the community, having little or no knowledge of Mandarin, who told me that they were more interested in Indian TV and Hindi films because they were easier to understand. With regard to cultural identity, the former group seems to have an interest and inclination toward the cultural and popular traditions of China, while the latter group identified more with their Indian experience.

Preserving Cultural Identity through Education

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CHINESE SCHOOLS IN CALCUTTA

The decision to set up schools expressly for the children of Chinese immigrants was made in 1919, leading to the establishment of the Yinjing Huaqiao xuexiao ‫ࠇٱ‬ဎ቞ᖂீ (The Yinjing Overseas Chinese School) in 1920. The school was later called Meiguang. Within three decades of the establishment of the Yinjing Huaqiao xuexiao, several other Chinese schools opened in Calcutta, offering Chinesemedium, China-related education to the local Chinese community. Jennifer Liang (‘The Chinese in Calcutta’) points out that the Chinese living elsewhere in India would also send their children to attend the Chinese schools in Calcutta. ‘The general feeling’, she writes, ‘was that if they stayed away from the community they would become “Indian” (and thus an “alien”) without knowing Chinese mannerisms and culture. Sometimes one parent would even take up accommodation here in Calcutta and stay with the children allowing them to attend Chinese school and mix with the community till they were grown up and settled into the “Chinese ways”’. Emphasising the fact that the attempt to preserve the Chinese identity through such kind of Chinese-medium education continued until her generation, Jennifer Liang adds, Some of the third generation (like myself too) started schooling in a Chinese school as it was thought fit to send children first to a Chinese school for a few years. They would get to know the proper conduct so required for a ‘disciplined Chinese life’: Greeting and according respect to all who they meet, the method by which respect may be accorded, obedience to elders, undying loyalty to family, fear of teachers, etc. So, many third generation of Chinese, born in Calcutta, have passed through Chinese schools.

Most of these Chinese schools were established in the Bowbazar neighbourhood of central Calcutta because a majority of the Chinese during the early twentieth century lived there. The schools in this area had intimate connections with the local huiguans. Four Christian

18

Zhang Xing

schools were also established for the Chinese community. These were the two Catholic schools called Shengxin xuexiaoʳ ᆣ֨ᖂீʳ (Sacred Heart Catholic Chinese School) and the Zhonghua Pingmin xuexiao խဎؓ‫ا‬ᖂீ (Chinese Pingmin School), and the Protestant School known as the Grace Ling Liang School, with branches in both Bowbazar and Tangra. Today, only the Peimei School, located in the Tangra area, continues to offer Chinese-medium instruction to a student population that has dwindled to below 100. The Grace Ling Liang schools, on the other hand, follow the Indian educational system, with students taking the Indian School Certificate (ISC) examination at grade twelve, and are not solely dependent on Chinese students. Details about most of the early Chinese schools in Calcutta come from Yindu bandao Huaqiao jiaoyu. More information is available for the Meiguang, Jianguo, Peimei, and Grace Ling Liang schools because of the commemorative volumes and other publications on the Chinese schools noted above. As a result, the descriptions given below are more detailed about these four schools than for the other Chinese schools, including those that were funded by the Consulate-General of the People’s Republic of China. In fact, some of the descriptions of these other schools may appear incomplete due to the lack of relevant sources. I have nevertheless decided to list these schools here because they have not been described in existing secondary works in Western languages. In the few studies and reports that have appeared on the Chinese schools in Calcutta, the main criteria used to distinguish them have been their affiliations with either the pro-Guomindang or the proCommunist faction in Calcutta. This categorisation fails to do justice to the history and contributions of these schools not only because the Guomindang–Communist division emerged only in the forties, but also due to the fact that some of the leading schools established before the 1940s were divided more along regional than political lines. In the outline of the Chinese schools below, I have avoided the

Preserving Cultural Identity through Education

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political distinctions and organised the schools chronologically based on the year of their establishment. The political factionalism that affected the Chinese schools in Calcutta is discussed in a separate section. Meiguang School: Meiguang was the first Chinese school to be established in Calcutta. The decision to launch it was made in 1919 and the school, then called Yinjing Huaqiao xuexiao ‫ࠇٱ‬ဎ቞ᖂீ, opened in 1920 (Yindu Jiacheng Meiguang xuexiao fuban shi zhounian jinian tekan 1942: 7).14 It was located in the Zhongyi Tang ࢘ᆠഘ (Hall of Loyalty and Righteousness) belonging to the Jiaying Huiguan ቯᚨᄎᙴ in the Bowbazar area.15 Between 1930 and 1933, when a new building for the Jiaying Huiguan was being constructed, the school was temporarily closed for about two years (from 1930 to 1932). But the teachers from the school, on their own initiative, tried to offer courses at several makeshift locations in the neighbourhood. The school reopened in 1933, when the new building for the Jiaying Huiguan was completed. The new steering committee of the school 14

According to Yindu Huaqiao zhi (1962: 65), the name Yinjing ‫ࠇٱ‬ meant ‘the capital of India’, indicating Calcutta, which was then the capital of British India. 15 In an article published in 1930, Tan Yunshan gives a brief description of this school, which he calls Huaqiao xuexiao. He notes that the school was operated by the Hakkas from Meixian and was located in and funded by the Zhongyi Tang. According to Tan (1930: 27), it had over 130 students, over 100 boys and more than 30 girls. The medium of instruction was Hakka. The principal and the three teachers were all male. Tan points out that the tuition fee for the school was based on different grades. Those in the senior grade paid Rs. 4 every month, those in the first year of junior grade paid Rs. 2, those in the second year Rs. 2.5, third year paid Rs. 3, and those in the 4th grade paid Rs. 3.5. The school, he reports, had raised Rs. 50,000 to rebuild the Zhongyi Tang and expand the school building.

20

Zhang Xing

Figure 3: The Meiguang School, Calcutta

decided to rename it Meiguang wanquan xiaoxue ම٠‫ݙ‬٤՛ᖂʳ (Meiguang Comprehensive Primary School). The education section of the Qiaowu weiyuanhui ቞೭ࡡ୉ᄎ (Committee of Overseas Chinese Affairs) under the Guomindang government in China passed a bill to formally recognise the school, and it was decided to officially call it Yindu Jiacheng sili Meiguang xiaoxue ‫ٱ‬৫‫مߏৄף‬ම٠՛ᖂ (The Meiguang Private Primary School in Calcutta, India). In 1937, a junior middle class (chuzhong ban ॣխఄ) was added due to increased enrolment. The school also established various facilities including a library and a laboratory, and procured specimens needed for courses related to natural sciences. In 1940, after the Japanese declared war against China, the principal of the school acquired reading material related to the Sino–Japanese conflict and contemporary international affairs. He also purchased radio sets so that students could listen to news and become aware of the dire situation

Preserving Cultural Identity through Education

21

in China caused by the war (Yindu Jiacheng Meiguang xuexiao fuban shi zhounian jinian tekan 1942: 8). The Japanese occupation of Singapore, Malaysia and other Southeast Asian countries over the years 1941–5 triggered the flow of a new wave of Chinese immigrants to Calcutta. The Indian government ordered some of these refugees to settle in other parts of India such as Kalimpong in North Bengal. To provide education to the children of these immigrants, the Meiguang School established branches in these cities. It also opened a night school in Calcutta and requested additional funding from the Committee of Overseas Chinese Affairs. According to Yindu Jiacheng Meiguang xuexiao fuban shi zhounian jinian tekan (1942: 8), the school received about 20,000 Chinese yuan from the Committee. By the time the war ended, student enrolment at the school exceeded 600 (Qiu and Qiu 1977: 6, 89). In 1952, a full-fledged junior middle school division (chuzhong bu ॣխຝ) was established at the Meiguang School despite economic hardships caused perhaps by the conflict between Mainland China and Taiwan. One of the reasons for the addition of this division was to compensate for the closure of the Huaqiao zhongxue ဎ቞խᖂ (Overseas Chinese Middle School). Since students graduating from the primary sections of the closed school needed to continue their education, the management at the Meiguang School felt obliged to offer junior middle school education. The Meiguang School, similar to the Peimei School discussed later, employed principals and teachers who mostly came from Meixian county primarily because the school was founded by Hakka immigrants from that region. When it was established in 1920, Meiguang had 3 teachers, all from Meixian, and about 50 students, all presumably Hakkas. In 1933 there were 4 teachers and 142 students; and by 1937 the numbers had increased to 10 teachers and 227 students. In 1942, there were 289 students in

22

Zhang Xing

the day school and about 100 evening school students. In the late 1950s, the number of students and teachers peaked at about 500 and 15 respectively. Also by this time, some of the graduating students started going to Taiwan to pursue further studies (Yindu Jiacheng Meiguang xuexiao fuban shi zhounian jinian tekan 1942: 7–8, 61–3). The India–China conflict of 1962 had a severe impact on the Meiguang School. Because of the deteriorating relations between India and China many Chinese living in Calcutta were arrested, some were forced to leave India, and all registered and unregistered Chinese were required to seek permission before leaving their districts. Some of the schools funded by the PCR Consulate-General were also shut down. The Meiguang School was affected primarily because of the decline in student enrolment. Many parents, as Qiu Xiuqiang ‫ߐ׋‬ൎ and Qiu Shangyao ‫׋‬㨚໯ (1977: 6, 89) point out, in the aftermath of the conflict decided to send their children to receive English-medium education with the aim of eventually emigrating to North America or Europe. As a result of the decline in student enrolment, the Meiguang School was forced to close the junior middle school division in 1968. In August 1968, perhaps as an enticement to students who had opted for English-medium schools and due to requests from many parents, the school started offering Chinese-language tutorial classes in the evenings. On 17 and 18 October 1970, the Meiguang School organised a large fair to mark the 50th anniversary of its establishment. The festivities, which included various cultural performances, were organised by Li Weibin ‫ྍޕ‬ᛍ and Wang Zhiyuan ‫ݳ׆‬᎛, members of the Taiwanese Committee of Overseas Chinese Affairs in Calcutta. From 1973 to 1976, Xie Zhiping ᝔‫ ؓݳ‬served as the principal of the Meiguang School. Now living in Toronto, Canada, Xie Zhiping remembers the cultural festivals that Meiguang organised in collaboration with Peimei and Jianguo schools. The aim, according

Preserving Cultural Identity through Education

23

to him, was to bring the Chinese community together and promote Chinese culture.16 However, as pointed out later in the study, Xie Zhiping was a target of criticism in one of the local Chinese-language newspapers because he allegedly reduced teachers’ salaries. The school closed sometime in 1993 due to lack of funds and student enrolment, which, at the time of its closure, numbered only 20 (‘Chinese Schools in Calcutta’). The Zhonghua xuexiao խဎᖂீ (Zhonghua School) and Shanghui xuexiao ೸ᄎᖂீ (Shanghui School): These two primary schools were established in 1922 by immigrants from Meixian living in the Bentinck Street area of Bowbazar. The Zhonghua School was founded by and situated in the premises belonging to the Zhonghua Julebu խဎଟᑗຝ (Chinese Club). It was small in scale, with only primary grades and about 30 students. The first principal was Chen Depu ຫᐚཏ. The school closed after one year. The Shanghui School was established by the Zhonghua Shanghui խဎ೸ᄎ (Chinese Chamber of Commerce). The first principal of the schools was Ye Jingqiuʳᆺᤁટ . It enrolled about 60 students and closed after three years.17 Zhenhua xuexiao ஡ဎᖂீ (Zhenhua School) and Zhongxing xuexiao խᘋᖂீ (Zhongxing School): The Zhenhua School was established at the Nanshun Huiguan in 1926. The inaugural principal of the school was Zhang Gongquan ്ֆᦞ. At the time it was established as a

16 Interview on 27 November 2009 in Toronto, Canada. Born in Meixian,

Xie Zhiping went to India in 1951 at the age of 20 to join his father who was engaged in the shoe business in Kurseong. After studying at Kurseong for about four years, he went to Calcutta to teach at the Peimei and Meiguang schools. He left India for Taiwan in 1976, from where he went to Canada in 1979. 17 Yindu bandao Huaqiao jiaoyu (1958: 31).

24

Zhang Xing

primary school, it had about 60 students. Later, the school shifted to the Siyi Huiguan. As a replacement, the Nanshun Huiguan তႉᄎᙴ launched the Zhongxing School in 1929 funded by Feng Rugen ႑‫ڿ‬௅. It was also a primary school with about 30 students. The Zhongxin School closed after only two years. Writing about the Zhenhua School in 1930, Tan Yunshan (1930: 27) points out that it belonged to the local Cantonese and had about 100 students, more than 40 girls and more than 50 boys. The principal and the 3 staff members, a full-time teacher and 2 teaching associates, were all male. Tan Yunshan, who advocated the use of Mandarin as the medium of instruction, says that he attended one of the classes taught by the principal of the Zhenhua School, but could not understand him because he was teaching in Cantonese. Zhongshan xuexiao խ՞ᖂீ (Zhongshan School) and Minzhong xuexiao ‫ا‬ฒᖂீʳ (Minzhong School): A Chinese immigrant named Zhu Zhijian ‫ڹ‬ᔆഒ founded the Zhongshan School in January 1933 in the Bowbazar area. The school had about 50 to 60 students, with Zhu Zhijian as the first principal. Later, another immigrant named Ma Guanxian ್ᨠᆡ succeeded Zhu Zhijian as the school’s next principal. In January 1940, Ma Guanxian established another school named Minzhong School. This school also enrolled between 50 and 60 students, with Ma Guangxian as the first principal. In 1941, Kuang Yiping ㋗ԫؓ assumed the position of principal. It is unclear when these two schools closed. Peimei School: The Peimei School was established in the Tangra area of Calcutta in 1934. The Chinese in Tangra were mostly Hakkas from Meixian who had, in the early twentieth century, relocated to the area to engage in the tannery business. Within two decades, i.e. by the mid-1920s, the Chinese population in the area had increased significantly and the leather business had flour-

Preserving Cultural Identity through Education

25

ished due to the growth in demand during World War I (Liang 2007). In 1929, the proposal to establish a school for the children of those residing in Tangra was made by Chen Zanxin ຫᢥᄅ, a prominent Hakka entrepreneur, and others. Soon thereafter, a plot of land was rented in Tangra and a simple structure, made of bamboo and consisting of a hall, a room for teachers, and a classroom, was built (Peimei xuexiao xinxiao luocheng jinian tekan 1955: 7–9). Initially, only 10 students were enrolled at the school.18 During the next few years the number increased to 40, forcing the school to also use the existing hall for teaching purposes. Even with the increase in the number of students, no additional teachers were hired. Chen Zanxin served as the Chairman of the Board of Directors as well as its principal until 1936, when a new principal was appointed. By this time, the number of students had increased to 80, and an additional teacher was hired. The school also rented rooms in the office of the Huaqiao lianhe hui ဎ቞ᜤ‫ٽ‬ᄎ (Calcutta Chinese Welfare Association) for use as classrooms. It was then decided that a new building was needed. Individuals and tanneries from the Tangra area donated money for the construction of this new building. In fact, in order to sustain the funding, the Calcutta Chinese Welfare Association requested the tannery owners to every month donate the proceedings from the sale of gelatine to the school. Because of these measures, the donations received by the school exceeded expectations and it was decided that a two-storey building would be constructed instead. On 9 May 1936 the old structure was destroyed and replaced by a building made of brick (Peimei xuexiao xinxiao luocheng jinian tekan 1955: 7–11).

18 Some

sources indicate that there may have been 30 students initially. The Yindu bandao Huaqiao jiaoyu, Yindu Huaqiao shihua, and the Yindu Huaqiao zhi mention 1934 as the year of the establishment.

26

Zhang Xing

The two-storey building, completed in March 1938, had six classrooms, a hall, a library, and a room for instructors. Because one of the Board members donated a large clock, a clock tower was added to the building. After construction of the building, the enrolment of students increased to more than 100. The Board hired two additional teachers and two more grades were added to the school. Several people also volunteered to teach at the school. During the Sino–Japanese war, branches of the school were established in Darjeeling and the nearby hill station Kurseong (Qiu and Qiu 1977: 6. 90). By the time the war ended, there were between 400 and 500 students and 10 teachers at the Peimei School (Peimei xuexiao xinxiao luocheng jinian tekan 1955: 9–10).

Figure 4: The old Peimei School building

Preserving Cultural Identity through Education

27

Figure 5: The new Peimei School building

The increasing number of students led to the plan to renovate and expand the existing school. To fund this expansion, the Calcutta Chinese Welfare Association recommended the creation of an organisation that would collect gelatine from the Chinese tanneries and sell it in local markets. It was decided that Rs. 5 from the sale of each ton of gelatine would go to meet the expenses of the school. Because of the immediate need for funds, some of the tanneries decided to advance Rs. 200,000, the anticipated three-andhalf years of income from the sale of gelatine. From this amount, Rs. 40,000 were used to buy a large piece of land in the Iswar Mandal Lane in southern Tangra. The plan was to build a threestorey building for the school, with 3 large halls, 18 classrooms, 9 rooms for teachers, an office, a library, a storage room, as well as dormitories for students and a playground. The construction began in November 1946 and the work was expected to be completed

28

Zhang Xing

in the autumn of 1947. But because of legal problems with the contractors, the construction came to a halt (Peimei xuexiao xinxiao luocheng jinian tekan 1955: 10). In 1950, when a new principal was appointed, the existing building was able to accommodate fewer than 400 students. Since the first storey of the incomplete building could be utilised, some of the classes were held at that location. The Taba Changshang lishi huiʳ Ⴣ᧸ᐗ೸෻ࠃᄎʳ(Dhapa Chinese Tannery Owners’ Association) decided to support the economically needy students by funding half their tuition. It also provided funds for the construction of a swing in the playground and equipment for exercise and other extra-curricular activities (Peimei xuexiao xinxiao luocheng jinian tekan 1955: 10).19 The following year, the Peimei School received permission from the Taiwanese government to establish a junior middle school. Books belonging to the former Overseas Chinese Middle School were transferred to the Peimei School in 1951, making it, according to Yindu bandao Huaqiao jiaoyu (1958: 80), one of the finest repositories of Chinese books in Calcutta. Two years later, a vocational programme (zhuanxiu bu റଥຝ) was added for students who wanted to take up an occupation after graduation (Yindu bandao Huaqiao jiaoyu 1958: 32). In 1954, a new contractor was hired and the construction work on the new building resumed.20 However, since the expenses had increased in the interim, the school needed additional funds. Once again the 19 An Indian intelligence report (File No. 357-42: 307) from 1950 indicates

that there were 250 students at the school, which was running a deficit of Rs. 8,000, ‘a part of which’, according to the report, ‘was collected by a drama play held during the Chinese New Year’. The report also notes the contribution of the Tannery Association was ‘Rs. 5 per ton of flesh sold every month. This contribution amounts to about Rs. 500 per month’. 20 The case against the original contractors continued until 1967, when the Supreme Court in Delhi decided in favour of the school. See Qiu and Qiu (1977: 6. 91).

Preserving Cultural Identity through Education

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Dhapa Chinese Tannery Owners’ Association stepped forward and donated Rs. 200,000. The three-storey building was eventually completed in January 1955. Chen Zanxin continued to head the school Board. There were at that time already 700 students and 10 teachers. On 29 May 1960, Peimei School was formally recognised by the Taiwanese authorities as a ‘Primary Middle School’ (chuji zhongxue ॣ్խᖂ), enabling students graduating from this school to continue education in Taiwan (Qiu and Qiu 1977: 6. 91).21 Most of the teachers at the Peimei School, like those at the Meiguang School, came from Meixian. But what differentiated the Peimei School from the other Chinese schools in Calcutta was the teaching of Hindi and the employment of non-Chinese teachers. These nonChinese teachers taught Hindi and English courses (Peimei xinxiao xinxiao luocheng jinian tekan 1955: 69–70). Also unique to Peimei was the three-year vocational school not found at other Chinese-medium schools in Calcutta. The organisation of the school followed the educational structure of China, i.e. kindergarten followed by six years of primary school that was divided into lower (1st and 2nd grades), middle (3rd and 4th grades) and senior (5th and 6th grades) grades. The Peimei School continues to function to the present day as a Chinese-medium school. For Indian students, courses are usually taught in English or an Indian language. There are currently only 56 (32 Chinese and 24 Indian) morning-class students and 70 (66 Chinese and 4 Indian) afternoon-class students.22 The school maintains six grades 21

This recognition was given after the school submitted a formal report to the Guomindang Committee of Overseas Chinese Affairs in 1947. The certificate number recognising the school was ‘Chu ॣʳ 456’. See Qiu and Qiu (1977: 6. 91). 22 The number of students at the Peimei School has remained steady in recent years. In 2005, there were 57 (all Chinese) morning-class students and 78 (66 Chinese and 12 Indian) afternoon-class students; in 2006, the numbers were 50 (all Chinese) and 100 (94 Chinese and 6 Indian) respectively; and in

30

Zhang Xing

Figure 6: Liu Aiai, a student at the Peimei School

and offers Chinese language classes to students from the local Chinese community. It also serves as a base for those who want to take Chinese as a second language in the Indian School Certificate Examination (ISCE) system. The school is a popular destination for the Chinese community because of the various cultural festivities, including the Chinese New Year celebrations, which are regularly held here. Thus, despite the decline of the Peimei School as one of the leading educational institutions, it maintains its status as the icon of Chinese culture and tradition in Calcutta.

2007 there were 72 (44 Chinese and 28 Indian) and 72 (70 Chinese and 2 Indian) students. While most courses are taught in English to Indian students, there is an option for them to take Chinese language courses.

Preserving Cultural Identity through Education

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The Sacred Heart Catholic Chinese School: Unlike the above Chinese schools which were established by the Chinese community, the Sacred Heart Catholic School was founded by a Belgian missionary called Father C. De Moor. After spending one year in Guangdong province, Father De Moor, who had learned to speak Mandarin, came to India and established a Catholic school for the Chinese in the spring of 1936. The school was located at Weston Street, near Bentinck Street in the Bowbazar area, with Father De Moor serving as its inaugural principal. Because of donations and support from the local Catholics, the school did not face any substantial financial problems. Initially, it had 20 students and 2 Catholic teachers, Paul Lee and his wife, who had come to Calcutta from Hong Kong.23 The two worked at the school for about five years before returning to Hong Kong. Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Yu, another Catholic couple, replaced them. Although a Chinese-medium school, it emphasised English language courses and followed strict administrative guidelines. The increasing numbers of Chinese Catholics in Calcutta seems to be one of the reasons for the establishment of this first Christian school.24 Because of its good reputation among the Chinese community, the Sacred Heart Catholic Chinese School attracted many new students. By 1955 there were 241 students; the number increasing to 253 in 1957 (Yindu bandao Huaqiao jiaoyu 1958: 61–2). Anthony Wu, a former student of the Sacred Heart Catholic Chinese School remembers that even during the India–China conflict in the early

23 There are three sources on the Sacred Heart Catholic Chinese School:

Dai Zi’an’s Yindu bandao Huaqiao jiaoyu; the annual Diary of the Indian Chinese Association; and a fragmentary letter from the school. While the letter mentions that there were 20 students when the school was founded, Dai Zi’an reports 60 students. 24 The issue of conversion of the Chinese in Calcutta to Christianity is discussed in my forthcoming dissertation.

32

Zhang Xing

Figure 7: Father C. De Moor and the teachers and students of the Sacred Heart School

1960s there were over 300 students. ‘The movement of the Chinese in Calcutta was restricted,’ he says, ‘and so most of us had nowhere else to go but attend school.’25 Even with the increase in the number of students, the tuition fee for the school remained the same, ‘causing’, according to one source, ‘a yearly deficit, made good by the donations of the Chinese Community’ (‘The Sacred Heart Chinese School’). After the death of Father De Moor in 1968, who had till then served as its principal, a special committee was appointed to take charge of the school. The first chairman of this committee was the Archbishop of Calcutta L.T. Picachy. The committee consisted of both Chinese and non-Chinese members (‘The Sacred Heart Chinese School’). Under the leadership of this committee, the number of students grew rapidly, leading to the need for new classrooms and other facilities. To 25 Interview

on 2 October 2009.

Preserving Cultural Identity through Education

Figure 8: Main entrance to the Sacred Heart School

Figure 9: School bus belonging to the Sacred Heart School

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finance a new building for the school, the committee requested the Archbishop to seek funds from relevant organisations and individuals. One-third of the costs of the project was financed by the Catholic Church in Rome, one-third came from the local Chinese residents, and the remaining portion was donated by MISEREOR, the German Bishops’ organisation. The new building was completed on 12 June 1975, and inaugurated by Archbishop Lawrence Trevor Cardinal Picachy, S.J. (‘The Sacred Heart Chinese School’). Since 1978 several principals and vice-principals have been appointed by the committee, including Agnes Siew, a Malaysian national of Chinese origin residing in Taiwan. In 1996, the Archbishop of Calcutta Henry D’Souza requested the Sisters of St. Joseph of the Apparition to take over the administration of the school. The Sisters accepted the invitation and appointed Sister Renee Quadros as the new principal. The new management committee established by the Sisters, like the previous committee, consisted of European missionaries, members of the Chinese community, and local Indians. Until 1999 the school offered classes up to grade six, after which grades seven and eight were added. In 2005, Sr. Rosa followed as the new headmistress and continues to serve till today. However, the school no longer offers Chinese-medium instruction. It follows the Indian Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) system and uses English as the medium of instruction. It currently has about 400 students, with very few, if any, Chinese. The Jianguo School: In 1943 the Zhongshan, Zhenhua, and Minzhong schools located in Calcutta’s Bowbazar area merged to form the Jianguo School. This was the year when the Jiaoyu zhuanyuan ඒߛ റ୉ʳ(Commissioner of Education) Jiang Jianbai ᓏ৬‫ػ‬, dispatched by the Chinese government, came to India to survey the situation of the Chinese schools in Calcutta. He recommended merging these three

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schools in order to combine human and financial resources and provide a better educational environment for the Calcutta Chinese. The principals of the three schools immediately supported his proposal. On 3 May 1943, a joint meeting that included the Commissioner and the three principals was held at the nearby Nanking Restaurant. During the meeting, a Choubei weiyuanhui ᤂໂࡡ୉ᄎ (Preparatory Committee) for merging the three schools was established, with the three principals serving as key members. It was also decided that the new school would bear the name ‘Jianguo Xiaoxuexiao’ ৬ഏ՛ᖂீʳ (Jianguo Primary School), which would aim to provide ‘training for talented students who would contribute to the construction of their Motherland’. The Preparatory Committee sought funds from local Chinese organisations, associations, and individuals interested in promoting education (Yindu Jia’ergeda Jianguo xuexiao wu zhounian jinian tekan 1948: 6–7). With these and existing funds from the three schools, the Jianguo School officially opened on 1 July 1943. It was located on the first storey of the building belonging to the Minzhong School at 83 Phears Lane (now known as Bepin Behary Ganguly Street). The first principal of the school was Deng Yaonian ᔥᤌ‫ڣ‬. The new school had seven classrooms, a big hall, meeting rooms, library, kitchen, toilets, and three boarding rooms for teachers and one for students. The teachers and students initially came from the three original schools. But their numbers increased soon after the new school was established. By 1949 there was a total of 311 students from kindergarten to the sixth grade. Although the annual income for the school rose to Rs. 22,000, the expenses amounted to Rs. 40,000. The deficit amount was raised through cultural activities and donations from local associations, businesses, and individuals (Yindu Jia’ergeda Jianguo xuexiao wu zhounian jinian tekan 1949: 6–7, 76–7). The Jianguo School soon emerged as one of the leading schools

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Figure 10: The Jianguo School

for the Chinese in Calcutta (Yindu Jia’ergeda Jianguo xuexiao wu zhounian jinian tekan 1949: 6), especially due to the efforts of the principals Tan Xichang ᢟᙔ࣑ (1944–5) and Wang Rongjiu ‫׆‬ዊ԰ (1946–9). However, the number of students at the school started declining after the opening of other Chinese schools that were supported by the Consulate-General of the People’s Republic of China. But from 1955, after the school relocated to 13 Damzen Lane (present-day Sreenath Babu Lane), to 1957, the number of students increased again from 206 to 271. In the late 1950s,

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students numbered 280 (Yindu bandao Huaqiao jiaoyu 1958: 60–1). The teachers, who numbered between 7 and 15 during the first five years. While most of these teachers came from Guangdong province, there were also instructors who were from other parts of China. Reports about the activities of the Jianguo School during the 1960s appeared in local Chinese-language newspapers. On 19 December 1967, for example, the Yindu ribao reported on the graduation ceremony held at the school. More than 200 people, including the members of Board, teachers, and students, participated in the ceremony. The Principal Ma Guanxian reported on the teaching activities during the academic year. He advised the graduating class to preserve links with their alma mater, motivate each other, and make progress together. To the students in grades 1 to 5, he recommended that they should use their vacation to finish their homework. A description of the Jianguo School during the 1950s and 1960s is found in the collection of short stories written by Kwai-Yun Li (2008). When Kwai-Yun Li studied at the Jianguo School there were 150 students enrolled in kindergarten and grades 1 to 6. There were 7 teachers, one of whom, called ‘Mr. Thai’, came to Calcutta from Shanghai after the Japanese occupation of the city. An ‘anti-Communist’, Mr. Thai taught courses highlighting the noble characters of soldiers in the Nationalist army. The principal, a person named ‘Mr. Wu’, also came to Calcutta during the Japanese occupation of China and taught the abacus and drawing. In his sixties, Mr. Wu is said to have ‘scandalised’ the community by marrying a 25-year old woman. Kwai-Yun Li remembers (2008: 61) that ‘all classes were taught in Chinese. I learned to read our textbooks in Cantonese from kindergarten to Class Three, and Mandarin from Class Four to Six’. Kwai-Yun Li also describes how the deterioration of India–China relations in the late 1950s affected her and other Chinese schools. To

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counteract this, the Chinese schools in Calcutta, she writes (2008: 68), ‘had put up a picture of Mahatma Gandhi in the assembly hall. The orange, white and green Indian flag hung above Gandhi, beside the red, blue and white twelve-cornered-star flag of the Nationalist Chinese. A picture of Sun Yat Sen hung under the flag, beside Gandhi’s. We wore Indian flags on our lapels and we sang the Indian National anthem as well as the Chinese Nationalist anthem during the morning assembly’. In addition, she writes that Hindi courses were added to the school’s curriculum. After the death of the previous principal in 1997, the school witnessed a total transformation. Today, even though the Chinese continue to manage the school, the student population is entirely nonChinese, and Chinese-medium instruction is no longer offered.26 The decline in the number of Chinese students in the 1970s and 1980s seems to be the main reason for this transformation. In order to sustain itself financially, the school had to admit non-Chinese students and institute an Indian educational system. The school that was supposed to help the Chinese in Calcutta preserve their Chinese identity seems to have in the end assimilated into the local society. Huaqiao zhongxue ဎ቞խᖂʳ (Overseas Chinese Middle School): Established on 1 January 1944, the Overseas Chinese Middle School was initially housed in the Nanshun Huiguan in the Bowbazar area. The first chairman of the Board of the school was Li Weibin and the principal was the Consul-General of the PRC Consulate-General in Calcutta. There were around 100 students at the time the school was established. Due to some unspecified reasons, the school was 26 In 2001, the annual Diary published by the Indian Chinese Association

for Culture, Welfare and Development reported that the school then had about 70 students, with ‘almost no Chinese students’. See ‘Chinese Schools in Calcutta’.

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temporarily relocated to the Tangra area. In 1946, in order to mark the sixtieth birthday of President Chiang Kai-shek, who was also known as Zhongzheng, the name of the school was changed to Zhongzheng zhongxue խ‫إ‬խᖂ (Zhongzheng Middle School) and shifted back to the Bowbazar area. However, it closed shortly thereafter due to lack of funds. As the following two reports from the Calcutta Police indicate, the Consulate-General of the PRC in Calcutta attempted to revive the school in 1950. The first report, dated 22 January 1950, notes: Consul HO MIEN–SHAN (3941-7887-9663) has been selected as the next principal of the Overseas Chinese Middle School. He is expected to join the post on the 23rd. The school will be shifted back to Dhapa as soon as suitable accommodation be available. Mr. HO is reported to be an opportunist and there is every possibility of his co-operating with the communist regime.

(File No. 357-42: 287)

The second report, dated 8 April 1950, suggests that the attempt may not have been fully successful, because of financial issues and the reluctance of qualified people to take charge of the school. It states: In view of the critical financial position it has now been decided by the Board of the Overseas Chinese Middle School in Calcutta to remove the school from Dhapa in the new building of the Pei Mei School. The proprietors of the tanneries of Dhapa have agreed to arrange for transport of the teachers and students. The Manager of the Bank of Communication has been elected as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the school. Mr. C.S. Liao, the manager of the Chinese Journal of India, Calcutta was approached by the school authorities to take up the post of the principal of the school but he being a staunch KMT member didn’t accept that offer on principle.

(File No. 357-42: 316)

In fact, in January 1951, the anti-Communist faction in the

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community seems to have wrested control over the school and made the above-mentioned C.S. Liao (Liao Chongsheng ኣശᆣ), the principal (Yindu bandao Huaqiao jiaoyu 1958: 29). But after only one year the school shut down because of the lack of financial support. Xinghua zhongxue ᘋဎխᖂ (Xinghua Middle School): Founded in 1951, the Xinghua Middle School was one of the first Chinese schools established by the Consulate-General of the People’s Republic of China. Since the newly-established Communist government offered free education at this middle school, it attracted many Chinese students after their graduation from local Chinese-medium primary schools. The establishment of this school was prominently reported in Zhongguo zhoubao (China Review). One of such reports was translated in the Calcutta Police Survey Report dated 25 August 1951. Since the report gives a detailed history of the Xinghua School, not available in any other sources, I have given below a slightly edited version of the translated text that appears in the Police Survey Report titled ‘A Secret Note on Hsing Hua High School’. Under the instruction of the Chinese Ambassador of the Chinese Republic in India, the Chinese Consulate General, Calcutta, made a proposal to the local Chinese public to start a new Chinese School in Calcutta to impart advanced study to the Overseas Chinese students in India. The Chinese Consulate-General preferred that neither the students nor the institution would be utilised for any political purpose but only advance modern education would be given to the students. He then appealed for donations and a considerable sum of money was donated to the proposed school fund by the local Chinese. The institution was opened in a spacious building at 170/2 Lower Circular Road on a monthly rental of Rs. 1,000 on 17.1.51 with about 164 Chinese students on the roll. At first the School was started with a fund of about Rs. 18,000 donated by the Chinese merchants of Calcutta. Mr. C.P. HSUEH of Pao Yun Trading Co., who is also a Director of the School Board

Preserving Cultural Identity through Education donated Rs. 10,000 to this fund. Later on, the staff of the Bank of China donated Rs.10,000 towards the general fund of the school. It is reported that the Chinese Consulate-General, Calcutta, was empowered to draw as much money as he liked from the Bank of China to contribute for the local cause and he is said to have promised Rs. 30,000 for the Hsing Hua High School, on behalf of the Ministry of Education, of the People’s Republic of China, but so far, no money was paid to the School from this account. After the initial fund collected for the school was exhausted, Chinese nationals of Calcutta and Dhapa 24-Parganas were approached, and a sum of Rs. 81,338.20 was collected. The Education Department of the People’s Government, donated Rs. 20,000 and the Bank of China Rs. 10,000 and the Bank of Communication Rs. 5,000 towards the fund. The Chinese merchants of Calcutta and Dhapa also contributed towards this fund. The school is now situated at 170/2, Lower Circular Road, Calcutta. The authorities of the school have intention to purchase the premises. They have it is reported, offered Rs. 2 lakhs, whereas the landlord demands 2½ lakhs. The main hall of the School is decorated with the photographs of Dr. SUN, Chairman MAO TSE-TUNG and General CHU THE, the Commander-in-Chief of the People’s Republic of China. Teaching is carried on in communist line. The teachers read WIN HAI-Pao, a procommunist newspaper published in Hongkong. The sign board of the school is in red colour, Durwans, cooks and servants of the school are all Chinese. The teaching staff including five Indians were carefully selected from amongst the pro-communist elements. A library which imparted communist literature, magazines and newspapers was set up in the school for the use of the students. The teachers gave lessons on communism and taught the students the popular ‘Harvest Dance’ of the Communist China. Thus the institution turned into a teaching centre of the Chinese Communist ideology in India. The teachers and students of the school raised funds in aid of the Chinese Volunteer Corps in Korea. They also gave financial help to the poor Chinese students proceeding to Communist China for training. Periodical parties to entertain the family members of the students were given in the school premises apparently for the purpose of

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Zhang Xing propaganda and with a view to gaining sympathy and support of the Overseas Chinese by coming in close contact with them. All the activities of the school were given publication in the pro-communist Chinese daily the ‘China Review’.

(File No. 236-29 [12]: 121–2; Serial No. Calcutta)

The report carried a list of the office holders at the school and the names of teachers. In 1952, there were about 200 students and 10 teachers at the Xinghua School. But, like other Chinese schools funded by the Chinese Consulate-General, this school was also forced to close during the India–China conflict. Jiahua xuexiao ‫ף‬ဎᖂீ (Jiahua School): Established in January 1951 by the local Chinese named Liu Tieping Ꮵᥳؓ and Huang Songqing ႓࣪ᐜ, the school was located near the Peimei School in the Tangra area. The name Jiahua means ‘Chinese [School] in Calcutta’. The first principal of the school was Liu Tieping. A report published in China Review on 16 January 1951, titled ‘The Amalgamation of the Pei Moy and Chia Hua Primary Schools,’ suggests that the school merged with the bigger Peimei School soon after its establishment. The report, translated into English by the Office of the Deputy Commissioner of Police in Calcutta, reads: The Board of Directors of the Chia Hua Primary School in Dhappa recently received a letter from the Board of Directors of the Pei Moy Primary School in Dhappa suggesting that with a view to achieving the unity of the Chinese people and that of the educational system in Dhappa, the two Schools should amalgamate with each other. At present the Authorities of the Chia Hua Primary School have agreed to this proposal, and the School is now in the process of closing down after a recent talk between LIAO KUO-CHUN (7064-6609-3289) and LIANG TSAI-CHU (7021-11485-2624), Principals of the Pei Moy and Chia Hua Schools respectively. The amalgamation of the two Schools will take place sometime this year. All students of Chia Hua School can register their names with the Pei Moy School on the dates

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announced, and have themselves admitted into the latter School, to whose authorities indigent students may apply for half tuition or total exemption from tuition fee.

(File No. 236-39 [12]: 71; Serial No. Calcutta)

A report about the fate of the school is also given in the Yindu bandao Huaqiao jiaoyu (1958: 33), which notes that it closed after a year of operation due to financial problems. Zhongguo xiaoxue խഏ՛ᖂ (Zhongguo Primary School): The Consulate-General of the People’s Republic of China in Calcutta established this school in the Bowbazar area in 1952. Similar to the Xinghua Middle School, this school also offered free education. The number of students quickly surpassed 400. Some of these students seem to have transferred to this school expressly because they did not have to pay any tuition. I met some of the former students of this school who were deported from India during the India–China conflict of 1962. These former students, now living in Sihui county in Guangdong province, have fond memories of the education they received at the Zhongguo Primary School. Almost all of them remember that the goal of education at the school was to train the Chinese students to one day ‘return’ to China. One of the former students of the Zhongguo Primary School I interviewed was Chen Jianhua ຫ৬ဎ, who was born in India in 1949 and lived there till 1963.27 Chen Jianhua attended Zhongguo Primary School from kindergarten to the 6th grade and then transferred to the Xinghua Middle School. He is now the Chairman of the Sihui Qiaolian ؄ᄎ቞ᜤʳ (Sihui Overseas Chinese Association). According to Chen Jianhua, the textbooks used at Zhongguo Primary School were the same as those used at that time in Mainland China. The subjects taught at the school included Chinese language, 27

The interview was conducted in Sihui county on 27 February 2009.

44

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mathematics, history, geography, natural sciences, and sports. The teachers sometimes mentioned Indian history, but there were no specific courses on the subject. The teachers, he pointed out, were from the local Chinese community, and the medium of instruction was Mandarin because the students originated from different provinces of China, such as Hubei, Shandong, and Guangdong. The students also used Mandarin to communicate with each other when they were at school. Chen Jianhua also noted that the Zhongguo Primary School was at that time perceived to be pro-Mainland China. ‘Students who attended this school’, he pointed out, ‘were hoping to return to Mainland China after their education. Those who were pro-Guomindang would choose the Peimei, Meiguang, or Jianguo schools’. He remembers that soon after he started attending the school, he was moved by patriotic songs, especially one from the mainland Chinese film called Zuguo de huaduo లഏऱक़‫‘( ں‬The Flowers of the Motherland’). The song, called ‘Rang women dangqi shuangjiang ᨃ‫ݺ‬ଚᘒದᠨᑖ’ (‘Let’s begin to row the boat’), had scenes from and descriptions of the life of students in Mainland China. At the time he hoped that one day he would be able to see those things with his own eyes.28 Zhonghua Pingmin xuexiao խဎؓ‫ا‬ᖂீ (Zhonghua Pingmin School): This was the second Chinese school established in Calcutta by a Christian church. Located in the premises of the Grace Ling Liang Church, the Zhonghua Pingmin School was established in January 1952. According to Yindu bandao Huaqiao jiaoyu (1958: 35), the main goal of this school was to spread Christian teachings. In the beginning it had around 40 students and all the teachers were Christian missionaries. The school paid special attention to the teaching of 28 Chen Jianhua also mentioned that he would listen to radio programmes

from Mainland China at the Huining Huiguan in order to know more about the People’s Republic of China.

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English language. The tuition fees were kept low to attract more students. Even though the facility was small, the school was able to enrol 80 students in the mid-1950s. Dada Huaqiao xiaoxue ሒሒဎ቞՛ᖂ (Tata Overseas Chinese Primary School): Located in Jamshedpur, in the present-day state of Jharkhand, this school for the Chinese in India was named after the Indian company Tata, which had a steel factory in the town. The idea of establishing this school came from the PRC ConsulateGeneral in Calcutta in 1954–5, with the aim to promote Chinese education among the children of 70 Chinese families that worked at the Tata steel factory. Some of these workers had married local Indians. These mixed couples had about 30 children, many of whom were first to enrol at this school when it opened in January 1956. During the first year of its operation, the school had 50 students and 2 teachers. Grace Ling Liang School: Although the first Grace Ling Liang School in Calcutta was formally established in 1962, its origins date from 1950. Mary Lamb, one of the founders of the Ling Liang School, during the monsoon season of 1950 encountered a 14-year old Chinese girl called ‘Lee Kwei Fong’ who was crying because she could not attend school due to financial constraints. Mary offered to teach her in the Gospel Hall of her Church, ‘every morning at 9 and for two hours’ (Rohrer 1986: 81). Lee studied basic reading and writing skills and also received training in accounting. After three months of studying she was hired by a local Chinese laundry shop to manage the accounts. When the news of Lee’s training and employment spread among the local Chinese community, other Chinese teenagers also started coming to Mary to receive similar education and training. ‘From one student’, the book on Mary and her husband David Lamb’s proselytising activities among the Calcutta

46

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Chinese points out, ‘the poor children’s school quickly grew to 40 pupils from ages 7 to 14’ (Rohrer 1986: 82). The school, which became known as the Poor Children’s School, also attracted the attention of the media and other organisations. The increase in the number of students led to the need for larger space, which was provided by the Carey Church in the nearby Lalbazar area. But, since the school needed a separate building to accommodate the students, David and Mary Lamb sought help from the local government and businesses. While the Calcutta Improvement Trust agreed to provide necessary land on favourable terms to the Lambs, the Chinese owner of the Waldorf Restaurant donated Rs. 10,000 for the construction of the school building. The new building of the school opened on 12 January 1962 and was called the Ling Liang School. The opening of the school coincided with the deterioration of India–China relations, and occurred shortly before the India–China conflict that took place in June 1962. The English-medium Ling Liang School quickly emerged as the most successful Chinese educational institution in Calcutta. It had a well-crafted curriculum that followed the Indian educational system; it was selective about students and teachers; and benefited from the fact that a number of Chinese Consulate-supported schools closed during the aftermath of the India–China conflict. In fact, as noted above, it grew into a full-fledged high school that offered kindergarten to grade 12 education to the students. In 1970, the school had 550 students and 34 faculty members with a budget of about Rs. 1 million (Rohrer 1986: 100). It also played an important role in converting a large number of Chinese students to Christianity. The success of the Ling Liang School in the Bowbazar area convinced the Lambs to open a branch in the Tangra area. The project to build the new school known as the Immanuel Ling Liang School, later renamed Grace Ling Liang English School, began in 1970. The two Ling Liang schools continue to function today, drawing

Preserving Cultural Identity through Education

Figure 11: The Grace Ling Liang School at Bowbazar

Figure 12: The Grace Ling Liang School at Tangra

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students and teachers from Chinese and non-Chinese communities. They offer a curriculum based on the Indian educational requirement that provides opportunity for the Chinese students to pursue higher education in Indian colleges and universities. The random establishment and closure of the Chinese-medium schools outlined above indicate that there was no planning and limited coordination among the Chinese community in Calcutta with regard to offering appropriate education to the children of Chinese immigrants. While the Meiguang, Peimei and Jianguo schools coordinated some of their activities and the curricula, there was no attempt, as the former principal of Peimei School Ye Ganzhong points out, to work in partnership with schools supported by the Consulate-General of the People’s Republic of China.29 Additionally, before the 1960s, the possibility of some of these students pursuing higher education in Indian schools and colleges was, it seems, never considered at all. Present sources fail to indicate if any of the Chinese-medium schools ever approached the Indian government for recognition or financial support. Rather, individuals or groups from the community funded these schools; and resources and recognition were often sought from either Taiwan or Mainland China. They were established solely to prepare students for higher education in either Taiwan or Mainland China. Consequently, these schools, except for the Grace Ling Liang schools, remained segregated from the Calcutta society, with little, if any, interaction with the non-Chinese schools in the city. The decision to establish schools exclusively for the Chinese immigrants was no doubt related to the community’s attempt to preserve its cultural heritage and identity. It also seems to underscore the fact that the Chinese in Calcutta desired to some day return to their ancestral homeland. The curricula and textbooks used at 29 Interview

on 26 November 2009 in Toronto, Canada.

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49

these schools, as detailed below, corroborate this desire and make it evident that many, perhaps a majority, in the community did not consider Calcutta as their permanent residence. In fact, according to Xie Zhiping, the former principal of Meiguang School, India had ‘nothing to do with us; it was none of our business’.30 Jennifer Liang (‘The Chinese in Calcutta’) also seems to agree with this disconnection between the schools for the Chinese community in Calcutta and the local educational system. She points out that the Chinese seem to have felt that basic primary education was ‘sufficient to see a person through life’. Higher education, she notes, ‘was never stressed upon and one studied till one “could manage” after which one could always start working’. It is perhaps due to this reason that some of the schools outlined above started offering vocational training courses instead of revising their curricula. Jennifer Liang (‘The Chinese in Calcutta’) believes that the lack of emphasis on higher education was also connected to ‘a policy of discouraging interactions with nonChinese’. The segregated nature of education described above and the nature of the curricula at the Chinese schools discussed below seem to confirm this argument. THE CURRICULA AND TEXTBOOKS AT THE CHINESE SCHOOLS

One of the early features of the Chinese schools in Calcutta was the use of regional languages as the medium of instruction. While schools such as the Meiguang and Peimei, established by immigrants from Meixian, employed Hakka as the medium of instruction, those founded by the Cantonese used their own regional language. This situation persisted until the 1940s, when Mandarin was accepted as the medium of instruction at most of the Chinese schools in Calcutta. At

30 Interview

on 27 November 2009.

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the Meiguang School, for example, Mandarin became the language of instruction in January 1942. It was announced that in order to unify the use of languages, the Meiguang School would use Mandarin, or the ‘Guoyu’ ഏ፿ (‘national language’), starting with the first semester of that academic year. Additionally, the school decided to organise lectures in Mandarin for students to practice ‘proper pronunciation, use it with confidence, and eventually become eloquent in the language’ (Yindu Jiacheng Meiguang xuexiao fuban shi zhounian jinian tekan 1942: 69–70). A person I interviewed noted that during the 1960s and 1970s speaking in Mandarin was a requirement at the Chinese schools no matter to which linguistic group the student belonged. It was because of this requirement to study in Mandarin that many of the third- and fourth-generation Calcutta Chinese have the ability to converse in this language. With the closure of most of the Chinese schools, however, the knowledge of Mandarin among the new generation of Calcutta Chinese has declined. Other than at the Peimei School and the Grace Ling Liang School, where Mandarin is offered as an elective subject, and through private tutorial lessons, the new generation has no opportunity to learn the language. The teaching of Mandarin at the Chinese schools in Calcutta was part of the overall educational programme that emphasised an eventual return to China. Before 1950, the textbooks on Chinese language, general knowledge, mathematics, history, geography, civics, and natural sciences used by the Meiguang, Jianguo and Peimei schools were imported from China. Teachers at the local Chinese schools compiled some other course materials in India. From 1952, three years after the establishment of the Communist government in Mainland China, the Meiguang, Jianguo, and Peimei schools started using textbooks printed by the Xinjiapo qingnian shudian ᄅ‫ڣॹࡕף‬ ஼ࢋ (Singapore Youth Bookstore).31 The content of these textbooks 31 Initially, shortly after the establishment of the People’s Republic of China,

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included the politics, culture, and history of Southeast Asia and thus was not fully appropriate for students in India. Nonetheless, since there were some common aspects among the people living in tropical regions, these textbooks were more relevant than the China-focused books used previously. They also did not overtly show any political affiliations. In 1955 it was decided that the three schools would use textbooks sponsored and freely distributed by the Committee of Overseas Chinese Affairs in Taiwan. These books were called the ‘Nan qiao ban’ ত቞ठ (edition for the Overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia) and printed by the Zhengzhong shuju ‫إ‬խ஼‫ݝ‬ʳ (Zhengzhong Publishing House). They incorporated material about the history, geography and customs of Southeast Asia and primarily targeted the Chinese immigrants in that region. In the case of the junior middle school division of the Meiguang School, the textbooks from the former Huaqiao Middle School, which were imported from pre-1949 China, were used (Yindu bandao Huaqiao jiaoyu 1958: 71–2). The Sacred Heart Catholic Chinese School and the Zhonghua Pingmin School continued to use textbooks published by Singapore Youth Bookstore until the late 1950s (Yindu bandao Huaqiao jiaoyu 1958: 71). In addition to the normal course-work, the Sacred Heart Catholic Chinese School emphasised topics related to Christian values and morals, as well as extra-curricular activities (Yindu bandao

there seems to have been disagreement among the three schools regarding the use of textbooks. A report from the Calcutta Police, dated 14 October 1950, states: ‘there is a controversy among local Chinese schools about the adoption of school textbooks for the next term. The Pei Moy School, Dhapa has decided to use the new books of Mao Tse-Tung’s New Democracy. The Mei Kuang School, however has decided to continue using the ‘Sam Min Chu I’ (three principles) textbooks. Chien Kuo School is still considering the question. A majority of the members of the School Board of Directors are in favour of Mei Kuang’s decision’. (File No. 357-42: 361)

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Huaqiao jiaoyu 1958: 71). Unlike the other Chinese-medium schools, the Christian schools did not have courses on Chinarelated civics and instead offered English language courses. During Father De Moor’s leadership, the school seems to have also stressed, especially because of his personal interest, the importance of Confucian values and the preservation of traditional Chinese teachings associated with morality and benevolence (Yindu bandao Huaqiao jiaoyu 1958: 37). This emphasis on Confucian values continued even after Father De Moor’s death. On 28 September 1968, for example, the Sacred Heart Catholic Chinese School celebrated the birthday of Confucius (also recognised as Teachers’ Day). About 170 people participated in the celebrations, which included various cultural performances, songs, dances, and opera, and speeches by the chairman of the school and teachers. In the evening the school organised a feast to express appreciation to the teachers. In his speech at the celebration, the acting Principal Yu Qingyuan ‫܇‬෎᎛ encouraged students to follow the path of Confucius in regard to learning and education. He also underscored that the best way to respect teachers was for the students to study hard, develop their moral character, and fulfil the expectations of their teachers. The curriculum instituted at the Grace Ling Liang schools was significantly different from that of the other Chinese schools in Calcutta. They not only provided English-medium instruction, but also followed an Indian educational curriculum. Like other Indian schools, they offered kindergarten to grade-12 education and an opportunity for the graduating students to enter colleges and universities after the completion of the India-wide higher secondary examinations. Also, unlike other Chinese-medium schools, except for the Sacred Heart Catholic Chinese School, a majority of teachers at Grace Ling Liang schools were (and continue to be) non-Chinese teachers. The schools continue to offer Mandarin only as an elective course. The Grace Ling Liang schools attracted many Calcutta Chinese

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especially because they were located near their neighbourhoods and used English as the medium of instruction. English education not only made it easier to access higher education in Indian colleges, it also facilitated the emigration of the Calcutta Chinese to Western countries. Indeed, as Ellen Oxfeld (1993: 53) points out, ‘families reasoned that a background in English was useful if one emigrated and even within India itself ’. Because of this demand, English was also introduced at the Peimei School. In sum, the curricula, the teaching of languages, and the use of textbooks at Chinese schools in Calcutta followed the vicissitudes of the life of the Calcutta Chinese. During the first half of the twentieth century, when Chinese schools were established and flourished in Calcutta, the curricula were designed to provide basic Chinese education with the expectation that the students would return to China and continue their studies. With the establishment of schools supported by the Consulate-General of the People’s Republic of China, textbooks emphasising the political and cultural aspects of Mainland China were introduced. In contrast, the schools that became aligned with the pro-Guomindang faction used textbooks that were printed in Southeast Asia. Explaining why the textbooks from the PRC were not appropriate for the Meiguang School, Xie Zhiping notes that ‘the ideology was very different’.32 As the section below points out, this ideological difference in regard to textbooks became a political issue at the Peimei School. Dai Zi’an has noted the shortcomings of the above curricula and textbooks of the Chinese schools in the late 1950s. According to him (Yindu bandao Huaqiao jiaoyu 1958: 67), the curricula for the overseas Chinese schools should have not only introduced the culture of the ‘Motherland’ to the students, but also the languages, politics, culture, and the history of the host community. In his opinion, 32 Interview

on 27 November 2009.

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this had not taken place because of the short history of the Chinese school educational system in India. As a result, the Chinese schools in Calcutta were only able to follow the Chinese curricula for primary and middle schools. Students, as he points out, got to learn only about the situation in their ‘Motherland’. Anything that they knew about India came from their daily experiences outside the classroom. Dai Zi’an had hoped that the situation would change and the curricula modified by the schools to suit the needs of the Chinese living in India. However, the India–China conflict of 1962, financial constraints, and internal divisions led to the decline of Chinesemedium schools in Calcutta. Chinese students started to opt for English-medium schools, such as the two Grace Ling Liang schools, and pursued studies based on the curricula and textbooks used by other Indian schools. It had become clear at this point that the remaining Chinese in Calcutta had to either integrate or emigrate to a third country, where English and a Western education would have more utility than Chinese education. THE CHINESE SCHOOLS AND FACTIONALISM WITHIN THE COMMUNITY

Factionalism within the Chinese community in Calcutta had discernible impact on Chinese schools in the city. During the 1950s, the divisions were drawn based on support for either the Guomindang or the Communists, an outcome of the civil war within China that led to the establishment of Communist rule in Mainland China and the formation of the Guomindang government in Taiwan. Some in the Chinese community in Calcutta supported the Guomindang government, and others the People’s Republic of China. One episode mentioned in the Yindu Huaqiao shihua (1958: 35–6) that highlights not only the conflict between these two factions, but also the Indian government’s delicate position in maintain-

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ing order among the Chinese population in Calcutta involved Li Weibin. A leading figure within the Calcutta Chinese community, Li Weibin had been involved in the founding of the local Chineselanguage newspaper called Yindu ribao, and also played an important role in the establishment of the Overseas Chinese School and the Zhongzheng School. For over twenty years, starting from 1936, he served as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Meiguang School. His involvement with the celebrations commemorating the ‘victory’ of Taiwan over the People’s Republic of China in the conflict on Jinmen Island in the Taiwan Straits in September 1954 led to his detention by the Indian government. The celebration took place at the Jiaying Huiguan on 10 October, a day also known as the ‘Double Ten Day’, which marked the collapse of the Qing dynasty in 1911 and is recognised as the national day of Taiwan. A lavish dinner was held to celebrate the two events. Li Weibin was one of the main organisers and delivered a ‘rousing’ speech at the celebration. Within one week there were rumours that he and two other key people involved in the celebrations would be arrested. At first, most people thought this was meant to intimidate the proGuomindang faction in the city. But, on the night of 30 October, the Calcutta police took Li Weibin into custody. The reason given was that as an Indian citizen, his speech hampered the diplomatic relations between India and the People’s Republic of China. He was released in 1955 after a year-long imprisonment. The report by Dai Zi’an portrays this event as an attempt by the Consulate-General of the People’s Republic of China in Calcutta to take control of the leading Chinese schools in the city. His and other Taiwanese records of the episode allege that the Consulate convinced the Indian government to arrest Li Weibin and thereby hindered the operations of the Meiguang School. The Jianguo and Peimei schools were also, according to the Taiwanese sources, targeted by the Consulate-General of the

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People’s Republic of China in Calcutta. In February 1952, a serious confrontation took place between the pro-Communist and pro-Guomindang factions over the Jianguo School. Specifically, the altercation was between the PRC Consulate-General and the pro-Guomindang members of the school Board. According to Yindu Huaqiao shihua (1958: 33–4), the Consul-General Yao Zhongkang ৔٘ൈ and two other members of the Chinese Consulate led a small group of people to the Jianguo School to confront the Guomindang supporters. One of the consuls was injured when a stone was thrown at him. In order to quell the conflict, the local police were called, which led to the arrest of a number of people. At the Peimei School, the materials published from Taiwan suggest an attempt by the PRC Consulate to appoint a proCommunist person as the Chairman of the Board of Directors. In 1956, in order to accomplish this goal, the Consulate is said to have targeted the main financial source of the school, i.e. the Dhapa Chinese Tannery Owners’ Association. It is said to have done so by convincing the pro-Communist members of the Association to form a separate organisation called Huaqiao piye hezuo fuwushe ဎ቞‫ؼ‬ᄐ‫ࣚ܂ٽ‬೭ष (Calcutta Leather and Allied Products Marketing Cooperative Society Limited), which would also engage in the sale of gelatine. This is said to have had immediate impact on the finances of the school because its funding, which depended on the sale of the commodity, declined rapidly. According to Yindu bandao Huaqiao jiaoyu (1958: 40), the PRC Consulate-General wanted the Peimei School to shut down so that the Xinghua Middle School, which was located far from the Tangra and Bowbazar areas, and operated by the Consulate, could eventually move into the premises of the Peimei School. To strengthen its case, the Peimei School sought the Taiwanese government’s permission to add a middle school. As mentioned above, the permission was granted by the Taiwanese government on 29 May 1960 (Qiu and Qiu 1977: 6. 91).

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Figure 13: Graduation picture from the Peimei School, 1963

Indian intelligence records also note the political factionalism centring on the Peimei and Jianguo schools. They frequently mention the involvement of the PRC Consulate-General, and report on the violence that ensued because of the rivalries between the supporters of the Guomindang and the People’s Republic of China. A report (File No. 236-39 [12]: 192–3; Serial No. Calcutta) dated 28 December 1951, by the Security Control Office located at 3/1 Pretoria Street mentions the visit of Li Weibin, the principal of the Peimei School, and Chen Zanxin, the President of the Chinese Tannery Owners’ Association, to the Office to complain about the perceived threat to the members of the Board of Directors of the Peimei School by the Communist supporters. The Board of Directors, the report noted, ‘received two threatening letters from the Committee members of the

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Peimei School Ex-Students’ Union, a Communist organisation, over the issue of the appointment of teachers in the school for the 1952 term and selections of textbooks for the students of the said school’. The letters from the Peimei School Ex-Students’ Union objected to two decisions by the school’s Board of Directors. First, they charged that one of the teachers at the school was inappropriately dismissed and insisted that he be rehired. Secondly, the Union members demanded that the school use textbooks from the People’s Republic of China instead of those printed in Singapore. The two representatives of the Peimei School explained that ‘Hou Keng-hua’, the teacher mentioned in the letter, was dismissed because he ‘was in the Communist camp and that he was spreading Communism amongst the students’. As for the textbooks, Li Weibin and Chen Zanxin noted that they were selected according to the curricula at the school. The two also accused the Consul-General of the People’s Republic of China named ‘Tai Pien’ and the manager of the Bank of China for taking sides with the Union. The pro-Communist China Review, on the other hand, reported that the Chinese Consulate was playing a more constructive and ‘patriotic’ role in unifying the community in Calcutta. Also found in the files of the Indian intelligence report, was a quote from the Chinese Consul-General as saying: The complicated situation in Calcutta has put more difficulty in our way. But the establishment of the Hsing Hua High School may be said to be some sort of success on our part. The School now has 150 odd students, and also a motor van and scientic [sic] apparatus which were not provided previously by the former Overseas Chinese High School here. However there are still a small number of people spreading malicious rumours against us. This is not frightening us. We will achieve our unity, and these people will come to their senses. We want to unify 99.9 per cent of the people and work harmoniously under our Government which represents our fellow-Chinese. The interests of China and those of her Overseas Children are identical. Our country

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and fellow Overseas-Chinese are indivisible. We are trying our best to help our fellow-Chinese to promote their education.

(File No. 236-39 [12]: 70; Serial No. Calcutta)

The fact that these ideological differences were leading to violence between the two factions was a concern to the local police and the intelligence office. A report dated 28 January 1952 from the Special Branch of the Office of the Deputy Commissioner of Police regarding possible consequences of the clashes between the Guomindang and Communist supporters at the Jianguo School, mentioned above, notes: The situation in the above school area in Iswar Mandal Lane was peaceful till 10 p.m. last night. There was no thing [sic] unusual happened to report. It was learnt that at about 9 a.m. on 13.1.52 some nationalist chinese [sic] assaulted some Communist Chinese in the jurisdiction of Bengal Police and as such there was some tension in Iswar Mandal Lane under its neighbouring areas. In the evening of 13.1.52 a meeting of the Communist Chinese was held in Tsingh Wah School at 172/2, Lower Circular Road (Sec. R) where they decided to set fire at the Tanneries of South Tengra [sic] Road belonging to Nationalist Chinese and also foreibly [sic] occupy the Chinese Nationalist School at South Tengra [sic] Road. The places in question being in the jurisdiction of Tollygunge (Bengal Police) O/C ‘Q’ already informed the local Police, Lallbazar Control and D.C.(S). Inspr. A.K. Mukherjee and B.B. Bhattacharyya of S.C.O. was also watching the situation with local police. Necessary forces with wireless van was posted in the Iswar Mandal Lane, Chinese School. A great tension is prevailing amongst both the groups of the Chinese of the above locality and there is every chance of great trouble there. The situation is being further watched.

(File No. 236-39 [12]: 199; Serial No. Calcutta)

The acrimonious situation between the two factions seems to have continued until the late 1950s, when the relations between

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India and China deteriorated and the schools supported by the Consulate-General of the People’s Republic of China were forced to close. However, despite these ideological divisions in the 1950s, which introduced new distinct political/national identities among the Chinese community in Calcutta, the number of students enrolled both at the Guomindang-supported and the Consulate-sponsored schools increased significantly. The cordial relations between the new Republic of India and the new People’s Republic of China facilitated the movement of people between Calcutta and China, especially Guangdong province. In fact, the number of teachers from Meixian and other regions of Guangdong province present in Calcutta shows significant growth during the early 1950s. In the aftermath of the India–China conflict, the remaining Chinese schools in Calcutta maintained their contacts with Taiwanese institutions and continued to attract many students. But, as noted below, factionalism and funding problems continued to mar these remaining few, so-called Guomindang-supported, schools in Calcutta. In spite of the fact that there was a significant decrease in the Chinese population of Calcutta during the 1960s, three Chinese-medium schools continued to offer courses in the late 1960s and during the 1970s. These were the Meiguang, Peimei, and Jianguo schools, all of which had been identified with the pro-Guomindang faction in Calcutta. The Christian schools Sacred Heart and Grace Ling Liang also continued to operate. In fact, the Grace Ling Liang School, with its branches in Bowbazar and Tangra, emerged as the most successful educational institution of the Chinatowns in Calcutta during this period. Factionalism and divisions within the Chinese community in Calcutta, on the other hand, affected the two leading Chinese schools, Peimei and Meiguang. Indeed, the 1970s marked the decline of Chinese schools in Calcutta, mostly due to power struggles among various individuals and associations belonging to the community. The problems with the Chinese educational system, political

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factionalism, China-focused curricula, and limited scope of text-books, were noted by Dai Zi’an (Yindu bandao Huaqiao jiaoyu 1958: 85–9). Financial resources, inadequate compensation for teachers, and the desire to study at English-medium schools were highlighted by him as the three main concerns for the Chinese schools in Calcutta. To resolve these issues, Dai Zi’an recommended that the schools should first and foremost try to improve themselves. There should be, he suggested, more coordination among the schools to design proper course offerings and curricula. The educational system for the Chinese should be standardised, with a proper role for vocational schools and the addition of an upper middle school. The curricula should include, he recommended, courses on India, and teachers should be paid well. The need to change the existing curricula to meet the need of a modern society was recognised by the Chinese schools in the early 1970s. The Peimei School, for example, replaced the textbooks on natural sciences, emphasised the learning of the English language, and reduced tuition fees for students facing economic hardship.33 It also started offering Chinese language classes during the winter break for Chinese students studying at the local English-medium schools. The Meiguang and Jianguo schools similarly modified their curricula, especially in regard to the teaching of English. At commencement and graduation ceremonies, which were common at these schools in the 1970s and frequently reported in the local Chinese-language newspapers, the need for a change was highlighted. On 12 December 1972, for example, the Yindu ribao reported commencement 33

‘Peimei zhongxue zuo juxing kaixue: Qingpin xuesheng ke shenqing jianfei’ ഛමխᖂਤᜰ۩ၲᖂΚ෎ຆᖂ‫عױس‬ᓮ྇၄ [The commencement at Peimei Middle School took place yesterday: Students with financial difficulties can apply to reduce tuition fees], Yindu ribao (12 December 1972: 4).

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ceremonies at the Peimei, Meiguang and Jianguo schools, where the speeches by the respective principals of the three schools, in addition to emphasising the need for proper education, upholding of moral values, and students’ respect for teachers, also noted the plans to revise the curricula by introducing English language courses and, at the Meiguang School, topics related to business. The Yindu ribao is one of the main sources for examining the situation at the Chinese schools in Calcutta during the 1970s. In addition to reporting about the commencement and graduation ceremonies, the newspaper also published articles on funds that were raised by the schools from subletting their premises,34 attempts to establish close cooperation between some of the Chinese schools in Calcutta and various organisations in Taiwan and Hong Kong,35 and on the death of principals and other administrators of the schools. It also listed the names of top students at each of the schools. One such list also contains snippets of the speeches delivered at the announcement of names of top students at the Peimei School. The principal of the school in his speech remarked that education will provide students the foundation to serve China as ‘primary school teachers, pilots, engineers, etc.’.36 A special report published in the Yindu ribao marking the Taiwanese National Day fair held at the Peimei School October 1972 has a vivid description of the attempt to revitalise the Chinese schools in Calcutta. It points out that such fairs were discontinued after 1961, i.e. shortly before the India–China conflict. In 1971, with the 34

On 4 January 1973, for example, the newspaper reported that in 1972 Peimei had collected about Rs. 3,500. 35 See, for example, the 9 January 1973 edition of Yindu ribao. 36 Yindu ribao (19 November 1972). This is remarkable since it shows that even after the war of 1962 such solely China-focused activities were possible in India.

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encouragement of the Yinhua jiaoshi fuli hui ‫ٱ‬ဎඒஃጝ‫ܓ‬ᄎ (India– China Association for Teachers’ Welfare), the Peimei School decided to organise an opera in collaboration with the Meiguang and Jianguo schools. However, for some unspecified reason the plan was shelved. During the first semester of 1972, the Peimei School decided to revive the school fair. The following year, it chose the Mid-Autumn festival to re-launch the fair, but had to postpone it due to a strike by tannery workers. Eventually, it was decided that the fair would take place on the 10 October, the Taiwanese National Day. Teachers and students from Peimei started preparing various cultural events and, with the sale of entrance tickets and other funds, the electric wiring inside the school was fixed and walls painted. The event included various singing and dancing performances, and English and Chinese language plays, one of which was titled ‘Being a good Chinese’.37 While the Yindu ribao mostly published reports and articles that highlighted the positive aspects of the Guomindang-supported Chinese schools in Calcutta, the letters to the editor published in another local Chinese-language newspaper named Yindu shangbao depict deep divisions and internal debate in regard to some of these schools during the 1970s. Most of the publications in the Yindu shangbao, as quoted below, are critical of the Meiguang School and its principal, Xie Zhiping. In my interviews with Xie Zhiping and other former school officials now living in Canada, it was pointed out that Yindu shangbao tried to promote its owner and the former Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Peimei School named Li Yunzhen ‫ޕ‬ႆੴ.38 The criticisms levelled against Xie Zhiping and the Meiguang School, in their opinion, were selective and unjustified. 37

Yindu ribao (8 October 1972). Interviews with Xie Zhiping, Ye Ganzhong, and other former school officials were conducted in Toronto, Canada between 26 and 28 November 2009. 38

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Indeed, while the Guomindang–Communist divisions had already split the community during the 1950s, the conflicts in the 1970s resulted from personal jealousies and the attempts by several individuals and cliques within the community to control the finances of the Chinese schools in Calcutta. In one of these letters to the editor of the Yindu shangbao, the writer, in response to an article on the Peimei School published in the Yindu ribao, notes the controversy over the reappointment of its principal.39 She/he points out that the principal was not reappointed by the Chairman of the Board of Directors, as had been the regular practice, but was supported by an influential group of people within the community. The problems at the Peimei and other Chinese schools are also reflected in another letter written on 14 May 1972.40 The writer points out that the number of students at the Peimei School had declined from 500 to 400, the fewest, she/he notes, the school had had in recent times. The reasons for this decline, according to the writer, included schisms within the community, the teachers’ advice to students to boycott classes, and the illegal activities of the students. The 39

The letter is titled ‘Wo qiao wenjiaojie guaishi heqi duo: du moubao ‘texie’ yougan’ ‫ݺ‬቞֮ඒ੺ࢡࠃ۶ࠡ‫ڍ‬Κᦰਬ໴Ϙ௽ᐊϙ‫ڶ‬ტʳ[How come there are so many bizarre incidents in our education system: Reflections on the ‘Special Report’ Published in a Certain Newspaper], Yindu shangbao duzhe zhiye zhuanji (1973: 56–8). The letter was written in response to a special report on the Peimei School published in Yindu ribao on 23 April 1972. Titled ‘Yindu zuigao xuefu: Pemei zhongxue’ ‫ٱ‬৫່೏ᖂࢌΚഛ මխᖂ [The Peimei Middle School: The Highest Chinese Educational Institution in India], the report mostly highlighted the achievements of the Peimei School and disregarded the contentious issue of the reappointment of the principal. 40 The letter is titled ‘Bu zhong yu shishi de baodao’ լ࢘࣍ࠃኔऱ໴ᖄ [A Report Not Based on Facts], Yindu shangbao duzhe zhiye zhuanji 1973: 59–61).

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writer argues that while the teaching of Indian and Chinese cultures and Chinese language were important, the schools must also play an important role in unifying the Chinese community in Calcutta. With regard to the funding issue, the writer observes that some schools had reduced the salaries of teachers, discontinued the purchase of new books for libraries and equipment for science laboratories, or stopped the construction and renovation of school buildings in order to meet their budgetary needs. As a result, the writer says, the schools had become dirty and the students did not have the necessary equipment for science and chemistry experiments. On top of this, after Ye Ganzhong ᆺიխ became the principal of the Peimei School, a fee of Rs. 4 per month was imposed on each student. Through this fee, the school collected about Rs. 20,000 every year. It had also increased the price of textbooks, causing, according to the writer, financial burden on the families of students attending the school. The writer believed that these kinds of steps were flawed and not conducive to meeting the budgetary needs of the schools. If the community could be unified then the Peimei School could revert to the previous policy of two-year tuition remission for students, a procedure instituted by its former Chairman of the Board of Directors Li Yunzhen. On 7 May 1972, a special report entitled ‘Meiguang xuexiao sumiao’ ම٠ᖂீై༴ʳ(A sketch of the Meiguang School) was published in Yindu ribao. A letter in response written by someone called Yufa ‫د‬ऄ, titled ‘Jiaoyuan jianxin, xuefei jiandi, weihe xuesheng bujian zengjia’ ඒ୉྇ᜲᖂ၄྇‫܅‬੡۶ᖂ‫س‬լߠᏺ‫( ף‬Why does the number of students fail to increase despite the reduction in teachers’ salary and tuition fees?) published on 22 May 1972, challenged what the writer perceived to be a excessively positive description of the Meiguang School.41 The writer acknowledged that Meiguang had a ‘long and glorious past’ and produced talented students. However, 41 Yindu

shangbao duzhe zhiye zhuanji (1973: 62–4).

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she/he pointed out that while at its peak the school had attracted around 500 students, during the previous two years the numbers had fallen to below 100. This decline in the number of students took place despite the principal Xie Zhiping’s policy to reduce tuition fees. In the writer’s opinion, the number of students had declined because of Xie Zhiping’s decision to cut the salaries of teachers at the school. The writer explains that since teachers were unable to meet the increasingly high living costs, many of them, especially the most qualified, had left the Meiguang School and taken jobs at other schools. According to her/him, this exodus of teachers had had a significant impact on the school not only due to the fact there were very few teachers at the Meiguang School to begin with, but also because the lack of qualified and experienced teachers meant that it was difficult for the school to maintain a good standard and attract new students. ‘As a result’, the writer says, ‘families have opted to send their children to other schools’. Pointing a finger at the principal of the Meiguang School, the writer adds, ‘Although people have been saying that we must attach importance to the education for the Chinese community, in reality they are abusing the teachers and in fact destroying the framework of the Chinese schooling and hindering the development of the Chinese educational system [in Calcutta]. It is indeed very disturbing!’ (Yindu shangbao duzhe zhiye zhuanji 1973: 63). The writer makes a further point about the India–China Association for Teachers’ Welfare, which was, in her/his opinion, originally supposed to protect and promote the cause of the teachers. The association, the writer says, had wasted several thousands of rupees on festivals and organising excursions instead of addressing the issue of low wages.42 42 The India–China Association for Teachers’ Welfare was established on

Chiang Kai-shek’s birthday (i.e. 31 October) in 1958 by teachers belonging to the Meiguang, Jianguo, and Peimei schools. The Association coordinated and planned various activities of the schools, and attempted to jointly revive

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Similar sentiments were expressed in another letter in a more analytical way. The writer lays out eight shortcomings of the Meiguang School that stemmed from the principal’s decision to lower the wages for teachers. First, the writer notes that the decision to cut the salaries was made by the principal without consulting the school board. When the adverse affect of the decision became clear, the principal refused to take any responsibility. Second, while the policy of lowering the tuition fee for students was correct, the decision to cut the salaries, the writer believes, was taken without assessing the long-term implications. Third, the writer points out that the principal had previously stressed that teachers, along with possessing the required qualifications, knowledge, and experience, must also have enthusiasm and take on necessary responsibilities. However, she/he questions how these teachers could have enthusiasm and take responsibility if they had to struggle with their basic livelihood due to low wages. Fourth, due to poor remuneration, the writer notes, many qualified and awardwinning teachers, with 10 and 20 years of experience, had left the Meiguang School for other schools that offered better benefits. According to her/him this was an important point that the principal had failed to mention in his article praising the Meiguang School. Fifth, even though the policy to lower the tuition fee for students and the wages of teachers had been in existence for three years, it had failed to increase student enrollments. In fact, in the writer’s opinion the school had actually declined during this time. Sixth, the writer argues that the benefits provided to teachers were few and their salaries were lower than even that of door guards, which had created a negative perception about the teaching profession. All other Chinese schools in Calcutta except the Meiguang School, the writer further says, were raising the wages for teachers. In her/his seventh point the writer asks and promote Chinese culture among the Calcutta Chinese. See Qiu and Qiu (1977: 90).

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how the teachers were expected to teach properly if they went hungry, and what would be the use of using flattering words when no respect was shown to the teachers. Eighth, the writer observes that the principal had increased his own salary by Rs. 100 to reward himself for the ‘progress’ made by the school. The writer thinks there were no improvements at all at the school; and if there had been any progress then everyone should be rewarded. She/he points to a specific example of how the principal had to use a part-time teacher to teach 22 classes a week because the full-time teachers were dissatisfied with their salaries. The part-time teacher, despite her heavy teaching load, received only Rs. 140. A third letter regarding the situation at the Meiguang School was written by an alumnus/alumna on 25 June 1972.43 The writer says that although her/his eldest son was educated at the Meiguang School, she/he decided to send her/his other children to an English-medium school. Only parents, according to the writer, could understand the dilemma of choosing schools for their children. The writer had at one point considered transferring her/his two children from the English-medium school to the Meiguang School in order to ‘receive education connected to the Motherland’. But, because of the problems within the local Chinese associations and the exodus of teachers from the Chinese school, it was very difficult for her/him to make the decision. Seeing the decline of the Meiguang School, the alumnus/alumna expressed deep sadness. The glorious past of the school under the former principal Chen Dixin, according to the writer, did not exist any longer. To solve the problems at the school, the writer suggests, the administrators had to seek opinions of the members of the community. These problems, according to him/her, could only be rectified through the unity of the community. 43 The letter written by someone called Yun Sheng ႆฐ

is titled ‘Muxiao shiwei gankai xi zhi’ ‫ڤீئ‬პტ༩ߓհ [Feelings about the Decline of My Alma Mater ]. See Yindu shangbao duzhe zhiye zhuanji (1973: 86).

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Even though some letters were critical of the Peimei School, most of them seem to suggest that the problems at the Peimei School were not as severe as those at the Meiguang School. In a letter to the editor dated 2 July 1972, one of the teachers of the Meiguang School described a dialogue between the principals of the Peimei and Meiguang schools. The dialogue took place soon after Xie Zhiping, the principal of the Meiguang School, made a decision to reduce the salary of its teachers by one-third. Li Yunzhen, the former Chairman of the Board of the Peimei School, who, almost at the same time, had decided to increase the salary of his teachers, asked Xie Zhiping why instead of raising the salary of teachers he was cutting it. ‘At present the salary of teachers at Chinese schools is already too low to sustain a family’, Li Yunzhen is supposed to have told Xie Zhiping, ‘so the benefits given to teachers should be increased for them to engage in their professions without having to worry. What the Meiguang School did was not appropriate’. In Li Yunzhen’s opinion this would result in the teachers looking for jobs that paid better salaries. He told Xie Zhiping that ‘if the Chairman of the Board of Directors could not find a way to solve this problem, Xie should leave his position to others’. The writer points out that Li Yunzhen’s view of dire consequences had indeed come true after two years.44 The writer also suggests that the India–China Association for Teachers’ Welfare should address the issue of salary, in addition to their other helpful activities, such as rewarding teachers and providing funds for travel, child-birth, marriages, and illness.45 44

Xie Zhiping, in my interview with him, indicated that he had no recollection of this conversation with Li Yunzhen. In fact, he charges that Li Yunzhen meddled in the affairs of the Meiguang School. Xie Zhiping also dismissed the reports in the Yindu shangbao as ‘bogus and divisive’. 45 The letter by a person using the name Lulu ᥻᥻ is titled ‘Ling yige jiaoshide “chiping zhi lun”: Yige jiaoshi de xinsheng’ ‫׼‬ԫଡඒஃऱϖ਍ؓ հᓵϗΚԫଡඒஃऱ֨ᜢʳʳ[‘An Unbiased View’ of Another Teacher: The

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The problems with the Peimei and Meiguang schools, one of which had raised the fees for students and the other of which had cut the wages of teachers, indicate several issues related to the few remaining schools for the Chinese in Calcutta during the 1970s. First, from the letters to the editor it is clear that there were many people within the community who were aware of and concerned about the crisis in the Chinese schools. Most of these writers, as seen from their writing style, were educated and seemed to genuinely understand the importance of school education for the Chinese community. It also becomes apparent that one of the key problems affecting the Chinese schools in the 1970s was related to administrative issues. In fact, in one of the letters to the editor, the administrators of the school are called ‘evil-minded’ persons, who were to be blamed for all the woes, and even for the closure of the Chinese schools in Darjeeling and Bombay (Yindu shangbao duzhe zhiye zhuanji 1973: 127–8).46 The root cause of these problems seems

Inner Voice of a Teacher]. See Yindu shangbao duzhe zhiye zhuanji (1973: 90–2). According to the writer, the Association received its funds from the fees collected from teachers and the Overseas Chinese Council, which donated US $500 every year. In the summer of 1973, the Board of the Meiguang, including the principal, Mr. Xie Zhiping, decided to raise funds in order to eliminate tuition fee for all their students. Starting from the winter semester the Meiguang School formally instituted free education for its students. See Qiu and Qiu (1977: 90). 46 The writer, in the letter entitled ‘Guai xianxiang zhong zhi guai xianxiang: Jisheng zai gongwen shang de “shishi”’ ࢡ෼ွխհࢡ෼ွΚബ‫س‬ ‫ڇ‬ֆ֮Ղऱϖࠃኔϗ[Strange Phenomenon among Strange Phenomenona: Parasitism of ‘Reality’ in Official Documents], asks why the Overseas Chinese Council in Taiwan, which provided funds to the Chinese schools in India, had never enquired about the reasons for the closure of the schools in Darjeeling and Bombay and did not try to figure out reasons for the decline in the number of students at the two Chinese schools it recognised in Calcutta. The schools in Darjeeling and Bombay had enough funds and

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to have been the various kinds of factionalism within the community, especially among the associations in charge of governing the schools and some influential people. These divisions were caused by various factors, such as the Guomindang–Communist factionalism mentioned above, disagreements about the proper use of funds, attempts to exert power within the community, and perhaps also personal rivalries and dislikes.47 It is surprising that none of the letters mention the impact of the India–China conflict on Chinese schools. The close links between the schools in Calcutta and Guangdong province, which supplied teachers and other resources, were broken in the aftermath of the conflict; the Chinese consulate, which established and provided funding for some of the schools, closed; and the number of Chinese families, including teachers and students, living in Calcutta declined due to deportation by the Indian Government. Prospects of education at Indian colleges and universities still did not seem to be a major concern among those writing about the situation at Chinese schools in Calcutta during the 1970s. In fact, like in the 1940s and 1950s, the members of the property to sustain themselves but still closed due to, in the reader’s opinion, the selfishness of those who were supposed to run the schools. 47 Many of these problems are highlighted in a letter to the editor of Yindu ribao dated 29 October 1972 (Yindu shangbao duzhe zhi ye zhuanji 1973: 162–7). Entitled ‘Tan fajue he qingchu qiaoshe de wenti yu bihai’ ᓫ࿇ᤚ ࡉ෎ೈ቞षऱംᠲፖኤ୭ [Discussion on the Detection and Elimination of the Problems and Destructive Issues within the Overseas Chinese Community], its writer notes how various individuals and associations were responsible for the problems at the Chinese schools, especially the Peimei and Meiguang schools. Another set of letters points out the disappearance of funds assigned to the Zhongshan Fellowship programme, managed by the India–China Association for Teachers’ Welfare, which supported exceptional students studying at English-medium schools. See Yindu shangbao duzhe zhi ye zhuanji (1973: 146–7, 151–3, and 177).

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Chinese community seemed to be thinking about returning to China (specifically to Taiwan in many cases at this time), where their children would continue their Chinese education. CONCLUSION: PRESERVING AND CREATING IDENTITIES THROUGH EDUCATION

The early Chinese migrant community in Calcutta mostly consisted of workers who had received little or no education in China. Additionally, many did not understand the local Indian culture or even the languages. Under these circumstances, the role and impact of education for the Chinese in Calcutta was regarded as very important. The Chinese schools and their curricula served to preserve Chinese traditions and culture. At the same time, various events sponsored by the schools, such as operas, musical shows, films, and sports, contributed to interactions among different groups of Chinese and brought about cultural unity, despite the issues of political factionalism outlined above. During the first half of the twentieth century, the Chinese schools in Calcutta served hundreds of students, some of whom departed to China, while others remained in India. The goal of education was to facilitate the return of the Chinese living in Calcutta to China for further education and contributions to the ancestral homeland. At the celebrations in 1942 marking the tenth anniversary of the re-establishment of the Meiguang School, Tan Xichang noted that it was not easy to establish schools for the Chinese overseas, especially where the immigrant population was not very large. Establishing a good school for the Chinese immigrant community, he explained, required adequate funds, qualified teachers, equipment, etc., which were difficult to procure from a small community. Despite these shortcomings, Tan Xichang emphasised that the community had to think about the future generations not only for the prospects of the community in Calcutta, but also for the expected contributions to

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their ancestral homeland (Yindu Jiacheng Meiguang xuexiao fuban shi zhounian jinian tekan 1942: 84–5). Similarly, Jiang Jianbai, an educationist and a representative of the Chinese government in India, pointed out that education was important for the construction of a nation. He hoped that the Chinese schools in Calcutta would remove illiteracy among the community by providing basic education to the children. This, in his opinion, would ‘increase cultural awareness and bring glory’ to China and recognition by the host community (Yindu Jiacheng Meiguang xuexiao fuban shi zhounian jinian tekan 1942: 82). While Tan Xichang and Jiang Jianbai advocated education for the preservation of Chinese cultural traditions and identity, links with the ancestral homeland, and the cultural development of the overseas community in Calcutta, there were others who suggested that education for the Chinese community in Calcutta could also promote India–China relations. In an essay entitled ‘Huaqiao jiaoyu yu jinhou Zhongyin guanxi’ ဎ቞ඒߛፖվ৵խ‫ٱ‬ᣂএʳ (Education of the Overseas Chinese and the Future of Sino–Indian Relations), Chen Xianchuan ຫᔃ՟ summarised the recent developments in India–China relations and suggested that with proper education the Chinese students in Calcutta could contribute to the study of Indian culture by the Chinese and to the understanding of India–China interactions.48 He pointed out that the interest in India studies in contemporary China could be discerned by the newly-established research institutes. In his opinion, the Chinese community in India

48 In

the first part of the essay, after summarising recent developments in India–China relations, Chen Xianchuan suggests the following two ways to establish and develop a new kind of bilateral relationship: (1) by reviving the spirit of the ancient cross-cultural relationship in order to develop and expand the future cultural collaborations between the two countries; and (2) by also developing economic cooperation.

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was uniquely qualified to undertake such kind of research because they had been brought up in India and had intimate interactions with the locals, which gave them a better insight into the Indian society and economy. Secondly, because of the ‘geographical setting’, these Chinese had to learn Indian languages. Even though their reading and writing skills were limited, they could still converse in these languages. Third, since they had many Indian friends and acquaintances, the Chinese in India could serve as a nexus between the two countries. Given these advantages, Chen Xianchuan believed that the Chinese settled in Calcutta, with proper educational training and guidance, could play a significant role in promoting the India–China relationships. He argued that the education system at the Chinese schools in Calcutta should focus on fulfiling these future needs, including training the students to deal with the new political and cultural relationships between India and China. He concluded by stressing that the Chinese youth in Calcutta must be educated in order to fulfil China’s need for talented people; for the future of the community itself; and to contribute toward the development of India–China interactions. Chen Xianchuan also had several proposals about how to accomplish these goals. He suggested that a Sino–Indian research committee should be formed with experts in the field of Sino–Indian studies. These experts could, according to him, instruct, guide, and provide in-depth analysis of issues related to India and China. He also recommended that a discussion group on issues pertaining to India and China should be organised, where famous scholars would give lectures. And on a designated day of the week, the members of this discussion group would gather to discuss and exchange their views on India and China. Finally, he proposed that appropriate experts should be invited to teach Hindi language and literature courses to members of the Chinese community in Calcutta (Yindu Jia’ergeda Jianguo xuexiao wu zhounian jinian tekan 1949: 120–3). It is interesting that similar to the other advocates of education for

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the Chinese communities, Chen Xianchuan also does not consider the possibility of the Chinese community integrating with the Indian society and pursuing higher education in Indian colleges and universities. Indeed like Tan Xichang and Jiang Jianbai, he seems to have also promoted the notion that students at the Chinese schools should one day return to China and contribute to the ‘Motherland’. The only differences seem to be the fact that he wanted the Chinese students to first acquire knowledge of Indian languages and also contribute to the development of India–China interactions. Overall, all these advocates encouraged the creation of a Chinese nationalist identity among the Chinese students in Calcutta. Wang Gungwu ‫׆‬ᔇࣳ (1988: 2) points out that the concept of Chinese nationalist identity developed in the 1920s and 1930s based on Sun Yat-sen’s idea of minzu ‫ا‬ග (‘race’ or ‘nation’). ‘What then emerged’, he writes in the case of the Chinese in Southeast Asia was, a Chinese nationalist identity that became real to the local Chinese because of the successful efforts of numerous teachers and journalists recruited from China to propagate the idea of such an identity. In particular, the establishment of hundreds of Chinese primary and secondary schools consolidated this identity for the next generation, and the expansionist activities of the Japanese in China leading to the Sino–Japanese War and ultimately to the invasion of Southeast Asia made that identity a stronger and more emotional one.

The remarks made by Tan Xichang and Jiang Jianbai reflect the role they perceived Chinese schools in Calcutta could play in creating and fostering such Chinese nationalist identity among the local Chinese populace. Even at the Christian school founded by the Belgian missionary Father De Moor, the significance of maintaining links with Chinese culture and the ‘Motherland’ was emphasised. At the commence-

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ment ceremony of the Sacred Heart Catholic Chinese School on 20 July 1968, attended by 200 people, the administrator Father Steiner praised the glory of Chinese culture and said that he expected students to pursue their studies with a ‘sprit of patriotism’ (Yindu ribao 22 July 1968). Then, at the graduation ceremony in the same year, 21 December 1968, the acting principal urged the graduating students not to forget their cultural roots. He hoped that after graduation they would continue to pursue their study of Chinese ‘so that they could have a deeper understanding of their culture and the moral values of their Motherland’. They should not, he emphasised, ‘forget their Motherland and become Westernised just because they have learned English’ (Yindu ribao 23 December 1968). Clearly, at the Sacred Heart Catholic Chinese School, similar to the other Chinese-medium schools in Calcutta, the preservation of Chinese cultural identity was a key goal. Writing about the importance of education for the preservation of Chinese cultural identity, Jennifer Cushman and Wang Gungwu (1988: 33) point out: ‘No single institution has been more effective in maintaining a sense of China’s cultural heritage than have Chinese schools; their curricula and medium of instruction ensured that Chinese cultural values were transmitted to successive generations of young Chinese’. Indeed, the same role of preserving China’s cultural heritage and Chinese cultural values was played by the Chinese schools in India. While endogamy had ensured the preservation of the descentbased ethnic identity of the Chinese in Calcutta, only educational means could contribute to the maintenance of the Chinese cultural identity among the future generations. In fact, the aim of education at the Chinese schools in Calcutta, similar to that in many of the Southeast Asian countries, was to ensure that Chinese youth grasped the fact that the foreign land was not their homeland and that they were merely temporary visitors. Consequently, they had to not only speak a Chinese language, but also understand Chinese cultural heritage (as

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any Chinese living in China ideally should do). The 1960s and 1970s marked a watershed in the history of Chinese schools in Calcutta. On the one hand, the India–China conflict of 1962 led to the closure of Chinese schools supported by the Communist government in Mainland China. On the other hand, the divisions and problems within the Chinese community, the emigration of many local Chinese to North America and Europe, the importance attached to learning English, and bad management affected the remaining Chinese schools in Calcutta. But, even in the 1970s, the goal of ‘studying Chinese and serving the Motherland’ continued among the Chinese community in India. For example, when the Chinese in Shillong were thinking of re-establishing the Chinese school, they noted that the schools would train the next generation of the Chinese to ‘direct their heart toward the “Motherland” ’ (Yindu shangbao duzhe zhi ye zhuanji 1973: 96). As noted above, at present, all Chinese-medium schools in Calcutta, except the Peimei School, have closed. However, recently there is again an interest in learning Mandarin and Chinese culture among the young generation of Calcutta Chinese. One reason for this renewed interest within the community is the rise of China as a major economic power. In fact, even those who were born in India and have never visited China say that they are proud to be a Chinese, happy to see the development taking place in China, and would like to learn about their ancestral homeland. For them the preservation of their Chinese identity, whatever it may mean to them, is important and they are willing to spend extra time acquiring Chinese language skills, which, in their opinion, is one of the main markers of their Chineseness. Private tutorial classes are now available to these people. Even the Mandarin courses offered by the Taiwanese Buddhist organisation Foguangshan have attracted many students from the community. One has to wonder if this interest in Chinese language learning and the attempt to reinforce the Chinese identity is

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also connected to, what Jennifer Liang (‘The Chinese in Calcutta’) has called, the ‘fear of becoming Indian’. Indeed, as this study indicates, Chinese education for the community was never about the integration of the community into the Indian society. Rather, it was meant to preserve Chinese identity and sustain the links between the Chinese community in Calcutta and their ancestral homeland.

? 1997

1936 1940 1943

Sacred Heart Catholic Chinese School Minzhong School Jianguo School

Overseas Chinese Middle School Zhongzheng Middle School Xinghua Middle School

1929 1931 ? Continues to offer courses 1999

1926 1929 1933 1934

Zhenhua School Zhongxing School Zhongshan School Peimei School

1946 1952 1962?

1944 1946 1951

Founder/Important Personalities

Bowbazar

BowbazarTangra Bowbazar

Bowbazar Bowbazar

Bowbazar

100

50–60 150–350

20–400

60 30 50–60 10–700

50–500 30 60

Number of Students#

Originally Overseas ? Chinese Middle School Consulate-General of the 200 P.R. China

Ma Zhixian Created by merging Zhongshan, Zhenhua, and Minzhong schools Nanshun Huiguan

Father C. De Moor

Bowbazar Jiaying Huiguan Bentinck Street Chinese Club Bentinck Street Chinese Chamber of Commerce Bowbazar Nanshun Huiguan Bowbazar Nanshun Huiguan Bowbazar Zhu Zhijian Tangra (Dhapa) Chen Zanxin

1920 1922 1922

Meiguang School Zhonghua School Shanghui School

1989 1923 1925

Year of Year of Closure/ Location Establishment End of ChineseMedium Instruction

Name of School

Chinese-Medium Schools in Calcutta*

APPENDIX

10

?

?

(Contd.)

? 7–15

2–?

? ? ? 2–20

3–15 ? ?

Number of Teachers#

Preserving Cultural Identity through Education 79

? ?

Continues to offer courses Continues to offer courses

Zhonghua Pingmin School 1952 Tata Overseas Chinese 1956 Primary School

1962 1974

Grace Ling Liang School

Immanuel Ling Liang School

Bowbazar Jamshedpur

Liu Tieping and Huang Songqing Consulate-General of the P.R. China Grace Ling Liang church Consulate-General of the P.R. China

Founder/Important Personalities

David and Mary Lamb

1000

1000

40–80 30–50

400

250

Number of Students#

?

?

4 2

?

?

Number of Teachers#

* Mostly based on the information provided in Yindu Huaqiao zhi and Yindu Huaqiao jiaoyu. Some of the information is incomplete due to lack of sources. # Numbers at the time of setup and the highest known count.

Tangra (Dhapa) David and Mary Lamb

Bowbazar

Other Schools (English Medium)

?

Zhongguo Primary School 1952

Tangra (Dhapa) Bowbazar

1951

Jiahua School

1952

Year of Year of Closure/ Location Establishment End of ChineseMedium Instruction

Name of School

(Contd.)

80 Zhang Xing

Preserving Cultural Identity through Education

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REFERENCES Anonymous. 1928. ‘Yinjing Huaqiao jinkuang’ ‫ࠇٱ‬ဎ቞२उ [The Recent Situation of the Overseas Chinese in the Indian Capital]. Reprinted in Huaqiao yu Qiaowu shiliao xuanbian (Guangdong)ဎ቞ፖ቞ ೭‫׾‬றᙇᒳʳʻᐖࣟʼ, Guangdong sheng dang’anguan ᐖࣟઊᚾூᙴ, Guangzhou Huaqiaozhi bianweiban ᐖ‫ڠ‬ဎ቞‫ݳ‬ᒳࡡᙄ, Guangzhou Huaqiao yanjiuhui ᐖ‫ڠ‬ဎ቞ઔߒᄎ, and Guangzhou shifan xueyuan ᐖ‫ڠ‬ஃᒤᖂೃ eds., vol. 1, pp. 826–7. Guangzhou: Guangdong renmin chubanshe, 1991. Berjeaut, Julien. 1999. Chinois à Calcutta: Les Tigres du Bengale. Paris: L’Harmattan. Bose, Basanta Kumar. 1934. ‘A Bygone Chinese Colony in Bengal’. Bengal Past and Present 47: 120–2. Chen Xianchuan ຫᔃ՟. 1949. ‘Huaqiao jiaoyu yu jinhou ZhongYin guanxi’ ဎ቞ඒߛፖվ৵խ‫ٱ‬ᣂএʳ [Education of the Overseas Chinese and the Future of India–China Relations]. Yindu Jia’ergeda Jianguo xuexiao wu zhounian jinian tekan ‫ٱ‬৫‫ף‬ዿ‫ٺ‬࿠৬ഏᖂீնࡌ‫ڣ‬ધ࢚ ௽‫ע‬ʳ(January 1949): 120–3. ‘Chinese Nationals’. West Bengal National Archives, Shakespeare Sarani, Kolkata, File No. 236-39 [12]; Serial No. Calcutta; and File No. 357-42. ‘Chinese Schools in Calcutta’. 2001 Diary, Indian Chinese Association for Culture, Welfare and Development. Cushman, Jennifer and Wang Gungwu. 1988. ‘Literacy and Culture: Introduction’. In Changing Identities of the Southeast Asian Chinese, Jennifer Cushman and Wang Gungwu eds., pp. 33–4. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press. Dai Zi’an ᚮ՗‫ڜ‬. 1958. Yindu Huaqiao shihua ‫ٱ‬৫ဎ቞‫׾‬ᇩ [Historical Sketch of Overseas Chinese in India]. Taipei: Haiwai wenku chubanshe. Hall, Stuart. 1990. ‘Cultural Identity and Diaspora’. In Identity: Community, Culture, Difference, Jonathan Rutherford ed., pp. 222–37. London: Lawrence & Wishart Limited. Li Fengzhao ‫ޕ‬Ꮥࢵ. 2009. Wusi de ai ྤߏऱფʳ [Selfless Love]. Private publication.

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Li Kwai-Yun. 2008. The Last Dragon Dance: Chinatown Stories. New Delhi: Penguin Books Ltd. Liang, Jennifer. 2007. ‘Migration Patterns and Occupational Specialisations of Calcutta Chinese: An Insider’s History’. China Report 43, no. 2 (October–December 2007): 397–410. _____. ‘The Chinese in Calcutta: An Insider’s History’. Unpublished paper. Oxfeld, Ellen. 1993. Blood, Sweat, and Mahjong: Family and Enterprise in an Overseas Chinese Community. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. Peimei xuexiao xinxiao luocheng jinian tekan ഛමᖂீᄅீᆵ‫ګ‬ધ࢚௽‫ע‬ʳ [Special Issue Marking the Completion of the New Peimei School]. Calcutta: Yindu baoshe, 1955. Qiu Xiuqiang ‫ߐ׋‬ൎ and Qiu Shangyao ‫׋‬㨚໯ eds. 1977. Meizhou wenxian huibian di liu ji ම‫֮ڠ‬᣸ნᒳรքႃ [Collection of Documents Related to Meizhou, vol. 6]. Taipei: Meizhou wenxian she. Ray, S.K. 1989. ‘Language Choice of the Chinese People of Calcutta’. Asian Studies 7, no. 4: 53–72. Rohrer, Norman B. 1991. Light in the Black Hole. Tempe, AZ: Grace Community Church. ‘The Sacred Heart Chinese School’, 2003 Diary, Indian Chinese Association for Culture, Welfare and Development. Tan Xichang ᢟᙔ࣑. 1942. ‘Dui Yindu Huaqiao jiaoyu de qiwang’ ኙ‫ٱ‬৫ဎ቞ඒߛऱཚඨʳ (Expectations from Education among the Overseas Chinese in India). Yindu Jiacheng Meiguang xuexiao fuban shi zhounian jinian tekan ‫ٱ‬৫‫ৄף‬ම٠ᖂீᓤᙄ˄˃ࡌ‫ڣ‬ધ࢚௽‫ע‬ʳ(1942): pp. 84-5. Tan Yunshan ᢟႆ՞. 1930. ‘Yindu Jia’ergeda zhi Huaqiao’ ‫ٱ‬৫‫ף‬ዿ‫ٺ‬࿠ հဎ቞ʳ[The Overseas Chinese of Calcutta]. Dongfang zazhi ֱࣟᠧ ፾ 2 (The Eastern Miscellany) 7, no. 11 (June 1930): 23–30. Tong Chee-kiong and Chan Kwok-bun. 2001. ‘One Face, Many Masks: The Singularity and Plurality of Chinese Identity’. Diaspora 10, no. 3: 361–89. Wang Gungwu. 1988. ‘The Study of Chinese Identities in Southeast Asia’. In Changing Identities of the Southeast Asian Chinese, Jennifer Cushman and Wang Gungwu eds., pp. 1–21. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press.

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Yindu bandao Huaqiao jiaoyu ʳ‫ٱ‬৫‫୾ת‬ဎ቞ඒߛʳʳ [Education among the Overseas Chinese in the Indian Subcontinent]. Edited by Dai Zi’an ᚮ՗‫ڜ‬. Taipei: Haiwai chubanshe, 1958. Yindu Huaqiao zhi ‫ٱ‬৫ဎ቞‫[ ݳ‬Records of Overseas Chinese in India]. Edited by Huaqiao zhi bianzuan weiyuanhui ဎ቞‫ݳ‬ᒳᤊࡡ୉ᄎ. Taipei: Huaqiao zhi bianzuan weiyuanhui, 1962. Yindu Jiacheng Meiguang xuexiao fuban shi zhounian jinian tekan ‫ٱ‬৫‫ৄף‬ ම٠ᖂீᓤᙄ˄˃ࡌ‫ڣ‬ધ࢚௽‫ע‬ʳ [Special Volume Marking the Tenth Anniversary of the Reestablishment of the Meiguang School in Calcutta, India]. Calcutta: np, 1942. Yindu Jiacheng Meiguang xuexiao niankan ‫ٱ‬৫‫ৄף‬ම٠ᖂீ‫[ עڣ‬Annual Issue of the Meiguang School in Calcutta, India]. Edited by Chen Dixin ຫዷᄅ. Calcutta: Yindu baoshe, 1936. Yindu Jia’ergeda Jianguo xuexiao wu zhounian jinian tekan ‫ٱ‬৫‫ף‬ዿ‫ٺ‬࿠৬ ഏᖂீˈࡌ‫ڣ‬ધ࢚௽‫ע‬ʳ [Special Issue Marking the Fifth Anniversary of the Jianguo School in Calcutta, India]. Calcutta: Yindu ribaoshe, 1949. Yindu shangbao duzhe zhiye zhuanji (di yi ji) ‫ٱ‬৫೸໴ᦰृհ଄റᙀΰรԫ ႃʼ, [Special Edition of the Readers’ Response Page from the Overseas Chinese Commerce of India, vol. 1]. Calcutta: Yindu shangbao bianji weiyuan hui, 1973.

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Postscript

On 14 June 2010, the local Calcutta daily The Telegraph reported that the Peimei School had ‘stopped functioning following infighting in the city’s Chinese community’. The newspaper noted that the school had not reopened since the Christmas vacation in 2009.1 A few weeks before the publication of this report, a video showing intense bickering among the members of community at the Peimei Schools was posted on YouTube.2 With the demise of this iconic institution of the Calcutta Chinese, it seems that factionalism within the community has sadly brought to an end the ninety-year history of Chinese-medium education in Calcutta.

1

Zeeshan Jawed, ‘Lone Chinese School Shuts Down’, The Telegraph, 14 June 2010. See http://www.telegraphindia.com/1100614/jsp/calcutta/ story_12562992.jsp (accessed on 10 July 2010). 2 The video is titled ‘Pei Moi’s shameful chapter’, http://www.youtube. com/watch?v=gPjOsxsHv7w&feature=related (accessed on 10 July 2010).

Index

Berjeaut, Julien 10 Bowbazar 2, 19, 24, 31, 38, 39, 43, 46 Calcutta Chinese Welfare Association (Huaqiao lianhe hui ဎ቞ᜤ‫ٽ‬ᄎ) 25, 27 Cantonese 2, 4, 9, 12, 14, 16, 24, 37, 49 Carey Church 46 Chen Depu ຫᐚཏʳ23 Chen Dixin ຫዷᄅʳ68 Chen Jianhua ຫ৬ဎʳ43–4, 44n.28 Chen Xianchuan ʳຫᔃ՟ 73–5, 73n.48 Chen Zanxin ຫᢥᄅ 25, 29, 58 Chiang Kai-shek (Zhongzheng խ‫إ‬, Jiang Jieshi ᓏտ‫ )ف‬39, 66n.42 China Review (Zhongguo zhoubao խഏ ၜ໴) 10, 58 Chinese educational system, 60, 66, See also education, educational Chinese language 3, 4–5, 14, 14n.10, 15, 15n.15, 43, 50, 63, 76; classes 30, 61; newspaper 9, reasons for learning 14, 77; tutorial classes for 22, TV channels (CCTV-4) 16 Chinese schools in Calcutta 17–49; closure of 70; commemorative issues of 6; community factionalism in 54–72; curricula and textbooks at 49–54; history of 77; sources for study of 5–11; survey of 34; Taiwan publications on 7 Chinese, Catholics in Calcutta 31; community in India 1, 5n.3; identity 4, 4-5n2, 15, 17, 38, 77–8, see also identities, immigrants

to Calcutta 2–4, 21; medium of instruction 15; medium schools 3, 3n.1, 48, 79–8; population in Calcutta 2 Christianity 31n.24; impact of 7, 34, 44-6 Christian schools 3, 3n.1, 17–18, 31, 52, 60, 75; effect of the Church on 34, 44-45. See also under individual names Grace Ling Liang, Sacred Heart Catholic Chinese School, and Zhonghua Pingmin xuexiao Chu The (Zhu De‫ڹ‬ᐚ) 41 Committee of Overseas Chinese Affairs in Taiwan 51 Confucius (Confucianism) 11, 52 Consulate-General of People’s Republic of China 18, 36, 39–40; 48, 53, 60; in Calcutta 7, 10, 39, 43, 55–6 conversion. See proselytising Cushman, Jennifer 76 D’Souza, Henry, Archbishop of Calcutta 34 Dada Huaqiao xiaoxue ሒሒဎ቞՛ ᖂ 45 Dai Zi’an ᚮ՗‫ڜ‬ʳ7–8, 53–4, 61 De Moor. See Moor, De (Father) Dhapa Chinese Tannery Owners’ Association (Taba Changshang lishi hui Ⴣ᧸ᐗ೸෻ࠃ) 28, 29, 56, 57 Double Ten Day 55, See also Taiwanese National Day education 3, 5, 8, 10, 11, 12, 15, 17, 21, 29, 49, 52, 62, 71, 72, 73, 76; English 53; basic 73; basic primary

86

Index

49; buxi ᇖ฾ (additional tutorial/ training) 12; family 3; goal of 5, 5n.3, 43, 72; higher 48, 49, 53, 75; modern 40; private 11, 12n.9; rudimentary 11; social 3; teachers 5n3, 6, 8, 11, 17, 19, 21–3, 25–7, 29, 31, 35, 37, 39, 41–2, 44–6, 52, 58, 60–2, 64–72, 75 educational, environment 35; institutions 30, 46, 60; programme 50; requirement 48; structure 29; system 18, 38, 42, 46, 54, 60-61, 64, 66, 74 English-medium education 22; schools 22, 71n.47; Ling Liang School 46–47 Feng Rugen႑‫ڿ‬௅ 24 Fujianese 2 Grace Ling Liang School(s) 7, 18, 44, 45–9, 50, 52–3, 54, 60, 80, 85 Guangzhou minguo ribao ᐖ‫اڠ‬ഏֲ ໴ʳ9 Guanyu ᣂ‫ ۓ‬2 Guomindang government in Taiwan 54 Guomindang–Communist factionalism 8, 18, 54–60, 64, 71 Guoyu ഏ፿ʳ(national language) 50 Hakka 4, 9, 12, 14, 15, 19, 21; immigrants (migration) 2, 21 Harvest Dance 41 home education 12, 14, see also private tutors Hsing Hua High School 41, 58, see also Xinghua zhongxue Hsueh, C.P. 40–1 Huang Songqing ႓࣪ᐜʳ42 Huaqiao lianhe hui ဎ቞ᜤ‫ٽ‬ᄎʳ (Calcutta Chinese Welfare Association) 25, 27 Huaqiao piye hezuo fuwushe ဎ቞‫ؼ‬ ᄐ‫ࣚ܂ٽ‬೭षʳ(Calcutta Leather

and Allied Products Marketing Cooperative Society Limited) 56 Huaqiao zhongxue ဎ቞խᖂ (Overseas Chinese Middle School) 21, 38–40, 55 huiguan ᄎᙴ 2, 17, 19; Huining 44, 44n.28; Jiaying 19, 55; Nanshun 23, 24, 38; Siyi, 24 identities, home education for 11–16, see also under home education; preservation of 17; through education 72–8; India–China Association for Teachers’ Welfare 66, 69, 71n.47 India–China conflict (of 1962) 7, 22, 31, 42–3, 46, 54, 59–60, 62, 77; and Chinese schools 71 India–China relations (India-China interactions, Sino-Indian relations) 46, 73–75; deterioration of, 37, 46 Indian Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) system 34 Indian Chinese Association for Culture, Welfare and Development 10, 38n.26 Indian School Certificate Examination (ISCE) system 30 Japanese invasion of China 2, 20–1 Jiahua xuexiao ‫ף‬ဎᖂீ 34–8,42–3, 55–6 Jiang Jianbai ᓏ৬‫ ػ‬34, 73, 75 Jianguo (Jianguo Xiaoxuexiao ৬ഏ՛ ᖂீ) School 5, 5n.3, 6, 7, 18, 22, 34, 35, 36, 37, 44, 48, 50, 55, 56, 57, 59 Jiaoyu zhuanyuan ඒߛറ୉ (Commissioner of Education) 34 Kuang Yiping ㋗ԫؓ 24 Lamb, David and Mary 7, 45–6

Index Languages: See under individual names Cantonese, Hakka, Mandarin Lee Kwei Fong 45–6 Li Fengzhao ‫ޕ‬Ꮥࢵ 7 Li Kwai-Yun 37-8 Li Weibin ‫ྍޕ‬ᛍʳ22, 38, 55, 57, 58 Li Yunzhen ‫ޕ‬ႆੴ 63, 69 Liang, Jennifer 3, 17, 49, 77–8 Liao, C.S. (Liao Chongsheng ኣശ ᆣ) 40 library 41 Light in the Black Hole 7 Liu Tieping Ꮵᥳؓ 42 Ma Guanxian ್ᨠᆡ 24, 37 Mandarin 4, 9, 12, 14, 15, 16, 24, 31, 37, 44, 49, 50, 52; courses for 77; teaching of 50 Mao Tse-Tung (Mao Zedong ֻᖻࣟ) 41 Meiguang (Mei Kuang) School ම٠ 6, 17, 19, 20, 21, 22, 24, 29, 34–5, 49–52, 55, 62, 63–8, 69, 70; 50th anniversary of 22 Minzhong xuexiao ‫ا‬ฒᖂீ 24 MISEREOR, the German Bishops’ organization 34 Moor, C. De (Father) 31–2, 75; death of 52 Nan qiao banʳত቞ठ 51 Nanshun Huiguan তႉᄎᙴ 24 Oxfeld, Ellen 10, 53 Peimei School (Peimei xuexiao ഛමᖂ ீ) 21, 24–30, 42, 48, 50, 55–58, 61–3, 64, 66, 69, 70; demise of 84; letter about 64n.39; number of students at 29, 29-30n.22 private tutors 11–12 proselytising 31, 45–6 Punti–Hakka Wars 2

87

Qiu Shangyao ‫׋‬㨚໯ 22 Qiu Xiuqiang ‫ߐ׋‬ൎ 22 Rohrer, Norman B. 7 Rosa, Sr. 34 Sacred Heart Catholic Chinese School 31–4, 51, 52; ceremony of 75–6; number of students at 31, 31n.23 Shanghui xuexiao ೸ᄎᖂீ 18, 23 Siew, Agnes 34 Sino–Japanese conflict (Sino-Japanese war) 20–1, 25 Sishu ؄஼ 11 Sister Renee Quadros 34 Sun Yat-sen 38, 41, 75 Taba Changshang lishi hui Ⴣ᧸ᐗ ೸෻ࠃʳ(Dhapa Chinese Tannery Owners’ Association) 28, 29, 56, 57 Taiping Rebellion 2 Taiwanese National Day 63; fair 62 Tan Xichang ᢟᙔ࣑ 36, 72–3, 75; Tan Yunshan ᢟႆ՞ 9, 19n.15 Tangra (Dhapa) 2, 7, 12, 14, 16, 18, 24, 25, 27, 39, 42, 46, 47, 56, 60 textbooks 5, 8, 11, 37, 43–4, 48, 49–54, 58, 61, 65; disagreement about 51n.31 Tianhou ֚‫ٿ‬, sea goddess 2 Trevor, Lawrence (Archbishop Cardinal Picachy, S.J.) 32, 34 Wang Gungwu ‫׆‬ᔇࣳ 75–6 Wang Rongjiu ‫׆‬ዊ԰ 36 Wang Zhiyuan ‫ݳ׆‬᎛ 22 Wujing նᆖ 11 Xie Zhiping ᝔‫ ؓݳ‬22–3, 23n.16, 49, 53, 63–4, 66, 69, 69-70n.44 Xinghua zhongxue ᘋဎխᖂ (Xinghua Middle School) 40–2, shutting down of 56

88

Index

Xinjiapo qingnian shudian ᄅ‫ॹࡕף‬ ‫ڣ‬஼ 50 Yang Dazhao ᄘՕಿʳ1–2 Yao Zhongkang ৔٘ൈ 56 Ye Ganzhong ᆺიխ 48, 65 Ye Jingqiu ᆺᤁટ 23 Yindu bandao Huaqiao jiaoyu ‫ٱ‬৫‫ת‬ ୾ဎ቞ඒߛ 8, 11, 18, 25, 28, 31, 43, 44, 56 Yindu Huaqiao shihua ‫ٱ‬৫ဎ቞‫׾‬ ᇩ 8, 56 Yindu Huaqiao zhi ‫ٱ‬৫ဎ቞‫ ݳ‬8 Yindu Jiacheng Meiguang xuexiao fuban shi zhounian jinian tekan ‫ٱ‬৫‫ף‬ ৄම٠ᖂீᓤᙄ10ࡌ‫ڣ‬ધ࢚௽‫ע‬ 6, 19, 21–2, 50, 73, 83 Yindu Jiacheng Meiguang xuexiao niankan ‫ٱ‬৫‫ৄף‬ම٠ᖂீ‫עڣ‬ 6, 83 Yindu Jiacheng sili Meiguang xiaoxue ‫ٱ‬৫‫مߏৄף‬ම٠՛ᖂ see also under Meiguang Yindu ribao ‫ٱ‬৫ֲ㦅 10, 55, 64 Yindu shangbao ‫ٱ‬৫೸໴ 9, 10, 63–4

Yinhua jiaoshi fuli hui ‫ٱ‬ဎඒஃጝ‫ܓ‬ ᄎ 63 Yinjing Huaqiao xuexiao ‫ࠇٱ‬ဎ቞ᖂ ீ 17, 19, 19n.14 Yu Qingyuan ‫܇‬෎᎛ 52 Yu, Joseph (Mr. and Mrs) 31 Zhang Gongquan ്ֆᦞ 23 Zhengzhong shuju ‫إ‬խ஼‫ ݝ‬51 Zhenhua xuexiao խဎᖂீ 23–4 Zhongguo xiaoxue խഏ՛ᖂʳ43–4 Zhongguo zhoubao 10, see also under China Review Zhonghua Julebu խဎଟᑗຝ 23 Zhonghua Pingmin xuexiao խဎؓ‫ا‬ ᖂ 44–5, 51 Zhonghua Shanghui խဎ೸ᄎ 23 Zhonghua xuexiao խဎᖂீ 23 Zhongshan Fellowship programme 71n.47 Zhongshan xuexiao խ՞ᖂீ 23–4 34 Zhongzheng zhongxue խ‫إ‬խᖂ. See Huaqiao zhongxue ဎ቞խᖂ Zhongzheng. See Chiang Kai-shek Zhu Zhijian ‫ڹ‬ᔆഒ 24 Zuguo de huaduo లഏऱक़‫ ں‬44