The Chinese community living in the city has always celebrated their New Year in their own unique style. But this time, they have put their heads together and vowed to make a new beginning, in true sense of the term. To begin with, the community has already started renovating the Pei May School complex, which has remained abandoned for long. A cooperative has been formed to steer the community.

Pei May is the only Chinese-medium school in the city that was set up to teach kids of the migrating Chinese community. However, Chinese children started going to English-medium schools and Pei May lost its relevance with time. Gradually, people stopped visiting it. But finally, it dawned upon the community that wasting more than 2 lakh sq ft area was not a good idea.

Led by Liu Kuo Chao, the Chinese Welfare Association brought together 5,000 Chinese residents to form a co-operative that would run the trust governing the school and temple complex. The temple already stands spruced up. Interestingly, a statue of Sinthee, a man who is believed to have superhuman protective powers, stands outside the altar with his horse. Almost every Chinese home has prepared some offering for the deities and will visit the temple at least once during the weeklong festivities that start Wednesday.

The massive school building will be repaired after the New Year celebrations. The trust plans to start a Chinese language training school here for graduates and professionals. “Our kids are joining the hospitality, IT and teaching professions in China because they are proficient in English and they can also speak Chinese. The fact that they cannot read or write Chinese is not being counted as a dampener. The school will target those from outside the community who want to learn the language from Chinese trainers,” said Monica Liu, owner of several Chinese restaurants in Tangra.

“There are a large number of elderly people within the community who are extremely gifted as far as Chinese writing and even literature is concerned. We will rope them in to create easy speaking and writing modules for non-Chinese youth,” said Sze Shiyenyeh, a senior enthusiast of the Welfare Association.

The community has finally started feeling vindicated in Kolkata. “For years, Tangra has been neglected. A look at the streets outside the swanky restaurants will tell you how the Chinese have been relegated to one corner of the city. When the tanneries were ordered out, many of us shut our units and got into motley businesses, most of which did not work. But now we have found a cause to live once again,” said Liu Ka Keen, who might join as a part-time teacher in the school.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Kolkata / by Jhimli Mukherjee, TNN / February 19th, 2015