Conclusion: Preserving and Creating Identities through Education

Summary

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 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.