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{{Use Indian English|date=November 2018}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2024}}
{{Infobox settlement
| name = Tiriti Bazaar
| official_name =
| other_name = Tiretta Bazaar, Old Chinatown, Kolkata Chinatown, Tereti Bazaar
| native_name = {{lang|zh-Hans-CN|蒂雷塔集市}}<br>টিরিটি বাজার
| nickname =
| settlement_type = [[Neighbourhoods in Kolkata Metropolitan Area|Neighborhood of Kolkata]]
| image_skyline = Chinese New Year 2014 in Kolkata - Dragon Collecting Money.jpg
| imagesize =
| image_caption = Chinese New Year celebrations in Tiriti Bazaar in 2014
| image_flag =
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| subdivision_type1 = Country
| subdivision_name1 = {{IND}}
| subdivision_type2 = State
| subdivision_name2 = [[West Bengal]]
| subdivision_type3 = City
| subdivision_name3 = [[Kolkata]]
| subdivision_type4 = [[List of districts of West Bengal|District]]
| subdivision_name4 = [[Kolkata district|Kolkata]]
| subdivision_type5 = [[Kolkata Metro|Metro Station]]
| subdivision_name5 = [[Central metro station, Kolkata|Central]] and [[Mahakaran metro station|Mahakaran]]
| subdivision_type6 =
| subdivision_name6 =
| seat_type = [[Municipal Corporation]]
| seat = [[Kolkata Municipal Corporation]]
| parts_type = [[Kolkata Municipal Corporation|KMC]] ward
| parts_style =
| parts = [[Ward No. 44, Kolkata Municipal Corporation|44]]
| government_type =
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| established_date =
| area_magnitude =
| unit_pref = Imperial
| area_total_km2 =
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| elevation_footnotes =
| elevation_m =
| elevation_ft = 36
| elevation_max_m =
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| population_as_of =
| population_note =
| population_total = For population see linked KMC ward pages
| timezone = IST
| utc_offset = +5:30
| timezone_DST =
| utc_offset_DST =
| coordinates = {{coord|22|34|26|N|88|21|18|E|display=inline,title}}
| postal_code_type = PIN
| postal_code = 700073
| area_code = +91 33
| blank1_name_sec1 = [[Lok Sabha]] constituency
| blank1_info_sec1 = [[Kolkata Uttar (Lok Sabha constituency)|Kolkata Uttar]]
| blank2_name_sec1 = [[Vidhan Sabha]] constituency
| blank2_info_sec1 = [[Chowranghee (Vidhan Sabha constituency)|Chowranghee]]
| website =
}}

{{Infobox Chinese
| pic =
| t = 蒂雷塔集市
| s = 蒂雷塔集市
| p = Dì léi tǎ jí shì
| h = Di luiˇ tabˋ xib sii
| showflag = h
| altname = Old China Market
| t2 = 舊中國市場
| s2 = 旧中国市场
| h2 = Kiu zungˊ guedˋ sii congˇ
| p2 = Jiù zhōngguó shìchǎng
}}

'''Tiriti Bazaar''', also known as '''Chinatown''',<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.outlookindia.com/travel/a-walk-through-kolkata-s-chinatown-news-185282 |title=A Walk Through Kolkata's Chinatown |date=5 March 2022 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/lifestyle-culture/article/3209089/indian-chinatowns-forgotten-history-comes-alive-kolkata-walking-tours |title=Indian Chinatown's 'forgotten' history comes alive in Kolkata walking tours |date=5 February 2023 |access-date=18 August 2023 |archive-date=18 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230818233910/https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/lifestyle-culture/article/3209089/indian-chinatowns-forgotten-history-comes-alive-kolkata-walking-tours |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/travel/travel-news/kolkatas-old-chinatown-makes-it-to-the-world-monuments-fund-watch-list-for-2022/articleshow/89988853.cms |title=Kolkata's Old Chinatown makes it to the World Monuments Fund watch list for 2022 |newspaper=The Times of India |archive-date=18 August 2023 |access-date=18 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230818233910/https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/travel/travel-news/kolkatas-old-chinatown-makes-it-to-the-world-monuments-fund-watch-list-for-2022/articleshow/89988853.cms |url-status=live }}</ref> & also spelled as '''Tiretta Bazaar''' is a neighborhood near [[Lalbazar]] in Central [[Kolkata]]. It is usually called '''Old China Market'''. The locality was once home to 20,000 ethnic [[Chinese community in India|Chinese Indian]] nationals, but now the population has dropped to approximately 2,000.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20120818231627/http://business.blogs.cnn.com/2012/08/17/kolkatas-vanishing-chinatown/ Kolkata's vanishing Chinatown] - CNN, 17 August 2012</ref> Most of the [[Hakka people|Hakka Chinese people]] in the area moved closer to [[Tangra, Kolkata|Tangra]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Tiretta Bazaar in Kolkata |url=https://www.indiatimes.com/culture/food/open-at-5am-tiretti-bazaar-in-kolkata-is-a-paradise-for-every-authentic-chinese-food-lover-321337.html |archive-date=13 July 2019 |access-date=13 July 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190713055143/https://www.indiatimes.com/culture/food/open-at-5am-tiretti-bazaar-in-kolkata-is-a-paradise-for-every-authentic-chinese-food-lover-321337.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |date=31 July 2004 |title=Calcutta's Chinatown facing extinction over new rule |newspaper=[[Taipei Times|The Taipei Times]] |url=http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2004/07/31/2003181147 |access-date=13 November 2015 |archive-date=7 January 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190107040217/http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2004/07/31/2003181147%20 |url-status=live }}</ref> The traditional occupation of the Chinese Indian community in Kolkata had been working in the nearby [[Tanning (leather)|tanning]] industry as well as in Chinese restaurants. The area is still noted for the Chinese restaurants where many people flock to taste traditional Chinese and [[Indian Chinese cuisine|Indian Chinese]] cuisine.

==History==
{{Main|Chinese community in India}}
The [[bazaar]] is named after [[Edoardo Tiretta]],<ref>{{cite journal |date=5 April 2022 |first=Alessandro |last=Mastro Magno |journal=Il Gazzettino |title=Il conte Edoardo Tiretta, grande seduttore trevigiano di Calcutta (che gli dedica un mercato) |url=https://www.ilgazzettino.it/nordest/treviso/edoardo_tiretta_conte_seduttore_calcutta_mercato_bazar_trebaseleghe-6609381.html?refresh_ce |archive-date=8 November 2023 |access-date=13 November 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231108140134/https://www.ilgazzettino.it/nordest/treviso/edoardo_tiretta_conte_seduttore_calcutta_mercato_bazar_trebaseleghe-6609381.html?refresh_ce |url-status=live }}</ref> an Italian immigrant from [[Venice]], who was a land surveyor and owner in the area during late 18th-century.<ref>{{cite news |title=Streetwise Kolkata: Tiretta Bazaar, a Chinatown named after an Italian |url=https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/kolkata/streetwise-kolkata-tiretta-bazaar-a-chinatown-names-after-an-italian-6176952/ |date=20 December 2019 |first=Neha |last=Banka |newspaper=[[Indian Express]] |archive-date=10 December 2021 |access-date=9 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211210205855/https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/kolkata/streetwise-kolkata-tiretta-bazaar-a-chinatown-names-after-an-italian-6176952/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

During the time of [[Warren Hastings]], the first governor-general of [[Bengal Presidency|Bengal]], a businessman by the name of Tong Achew established a sugar mill, along with a sugar plantation at Achipur, {{convert|33|km}} from Calcutta, on the bank of the [[Hooghly River]] near the town of [[Budge Budge]].<ref name="Tong">{{cite news |last=Datta |first=Rangan |date=19 March 2006 |url=http://www.telegraphindia.com/1060319/asp/calcutta/story_5983329.asp |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060527095038/http://www.telegraphindia.com/1060319/asp/calcutta/story_5983329.asp |url-status=dead |archive-date=27 May 2006 |title=Next weekend you can be at ... Achipur |work=[[The Telegraph (Calcutta)|Telegraph]] |access-date=13 November 2015 }}</ref> A temple and the grave of Tong Achew still remain and are visited by many Chinese Indians, who arrive from the city to celebrate [[Chinese New Year]].<ref name="Tong" />

One of the earliest records of immigration to India from China can be found in a short treatise from 1820. This records hints that the first wave of immigration was of [[Hakka people|Hakkas]] but does not elaborate on the professions of these immigrants. According to a later police census, there were 362 Chinese in Calcutta in 1837. A common meeting place was the Temple of [[Guan Yu|Lord Guan]], the Martial God of Loyalty & Righteousness, located in the Chinese quarter near [[Dharmatolla]].<ref name="Banglapedia">{{cite web |last=Haraprasad |first=Ray |date=16 November 2014 |url=http://en.banglapedia.org/index.php?title=Chinese,_The |title=The Chinese |work=[[Banglapedia]] |access-date=13 November 2015 |archive-date=17 November 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151117023407/http://en.banglapedia.org/index.php?title=Chinese,_The |url-status=live }}</ref> A certain C. Alabaster mentions in 1849 that Cantonese carpenters congregated in the Bow Bazar Street area.<ref name="Banglapedia"/> As late as 2006, [[Bow Bazar]] is still noted for carpentry, but few of the workers or owners are now Indians of Chinese origin.

According to Alabaster, there were lard manufacturers and shoemakers in addition to carpenters. Running tanneries and working with leather were traditionally not considered "respectable" professions among [[caste system|upper-caste]] [[Hindus]], and work was relegated to the so-called "lower caste" ''muchis'' and ''[[chamar]]s''. Nevertheless, there was a significant demand for high quality leather goods in [[British Raj|colonial India]], which Chinese Indians were able to fulfill. Alabaster also mentions "licensed" [[opium]] dens, run by "native Chinese" and a "''Cheena Bazaar''", where "[[contraband]]" was readily available. Opium, however, was not illegal until after [[Partition of India|India's Independence]] from Great Britain in 1947. Immigration continued freely through the turn of the century and during [[World War I]] partly due to political upheavals in China, including the [[First Opium War|First]] and [[Second Opium War]]s, the [[First Sino-Japanese War]] and the [[Boxer Rebellion|Yihetuan Movement]]. Around the time of the First World War, the first Chinese-owned tanneries sprang up.<ref name="Banglapedia"/>

==Transport==
===Road===
[[Chittaranjan Avenue]] (C.R. Avenue) and Rabindra Sarani pass through the area from north to south. [[Bepin Behari Ganguly Street]] (B.B. Ganguly Street) and [[Kshirode Prasad Vidyavinode|Kshirode Vidyavinode]] Avenue (New CIT Road{{clarify|date=June 2020|reason=what does CIT stand for?}}) pass through the area from east to west. Many bus routes follow these roads.<ref>Google maps</ref>

===Train===
[[Sealdah Station]] and [[B.B.D Bag railway station]] are the nearest railway stations of Tiretta Bazaar.

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:Chinese New Year in Chinatown, Tangra, Kolkata, India.png|The Chinese New Year celebrated in Chinatown
File:KolkataChinaTownOld.jpg|An [[opium den]] in the Chinatown, Kolkata, 1945
File:Chinese New Year Kolkata.jpg|Chinese New Year Celebration, [[Kolkata]]
File:Morning Chinese Breakfast at Old Chinatown ~ Tiretta Bazar, Calcutta 02.JPG|Morning Chinese Breakfast at Tiriti Bazaar
File:Achipur.jpg|Chinese New Year Celebration, Achipur, near [[Kolkata]]
File:CNY3.jpg|The Chinese New Year celebrated in [[Kolkata]]
</gallery>

==See also==
* [[Chinese temples in Kolkata]]
* [[Chinese of Calcutta]]
* [[Tangra, Calcutta]]
* [[Indian Chinese cuisine]]

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{commons category}}

* [http://www.KolkataChinaTown.com Kolkata ChinaTown]
* [http://www.rangan-datta.info/photo/thumbs.php?gallery=27 Photos of Chinese New Year, Calcutta]
* [http://www.rangan-datta.info/photo/thumbs.php?gallery=49 Photos of Chinese Temple, Tiretta Bazar, Calcutta]
* [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/business-11994406 Trade changes Indo-Chinese relations - BBC.co.uk]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20120818231627/http://business.blogs.cnn.com/2012/08/17/kolkatas-vanishing-chinatown/ Kolkata's Vanishing Chinatown]

{{Asia Chinatown}}
{{Kolkata topics}}

[[Category:Chinese-Indian culture]]
[[Category:Ethnic enclaves in India]]
[[Category:Neighbourhoods in Kolkata]]
[[Category:Chinatowns in Asia|Kolkata]]
[[Category:Restaurant districts and streets in India]]
[[Category:India–Italy relations]]

Tiriti Bazaar - Revision history

ChloeBrogan: created new stub