Chinese in India gear up to mark Lunar New Year with gala feast

For tens of thousands of Chinese in cities in India, geographic location is no barrier at all to celebrating Lunar New Year.

Many of them－whether in Kolkata, Bengaluru, New Delhi or Mumbai－are preparing to usher in the arrival of the Year of the Rat as if in their own patch of China.

There will be red lanterns hung in lanes and on balconies, and red couplets pasted on doors as symbols of the year's prosperity. There will be bursting of fireworks and traditional lion dances performed to the rhythm of drums.

On the menu will be dishes and delicacies too numerous to list comprehensively, but including dumplings, stuffed lotus root in osmanthus sauce, wok-fried sea bass in Sichuan sauce, Peking duck, and niangao sweet rice cake.

And of course, there will be prayers for good fortune and to banish bad things.

"Anyone who is a Chinese will create his or her own China no matter where they are," according to a Kolkata-based Chinese diplomat.

Zha Liyou, China's consul general in Kolkata, said the consulate general will organize a "bigger family reunion" dinner－a gala feast to celebrate Lunar New Year with his colleagues, their families and friends.

"When I look at all my colleagues getting together in such a lively gathering, we feel so proud. It makes life worth it," he said.

His consular colleagues Zhao Yuqing (from Henan province) and Zhou Yaoyao (from Hunan province) said they were "immensely proud of serving a greater cause "even though they felt a tinge of sadness at being away from their families and friends in China during Lunar New Year.

He said he plans to visit historic Tangra, the most famous Chinatown in Kolkata.

Another place of Chinese heritage in Kolkata is Tiretta Bazaar, also known as Old China Market, of which Melwin Chiu Chieh Ming is a third-generation Chinese-Indian.

"My grandfather moved from Beijing to Kolkata, probably during some war. I was not born then. I heard that a lot of people moved from China to Kolkata then, and never returned to China," he said. "Some opened tanneries, some opened Chinese restaurants.

"But the number of Chinese-Indians in Kolkata is dwindling," said the 35-year-old, who works in the hotel industry in Dubai.

"I am back in Kolkata (for Lunar New Year), and you know why," he said, adding that he was looking forward to the dragon show at Tiretta Bazaar and Tangra.

"I really love that," he said.

'Two great cultures'

In the southern metropolis of Bengaluru, about 1,900 kilometers from Kolkata, lives Emily Duan, a native of Shenzhen in South China's Guangdong province.

The practitioner of traditional Chinese medicine, in her 40s, runs a clinic called Ancient China.

Duan is married an Indian. "That's how I have been living here (since November 2011)," the mother-of-three said.

"Of course, I miss China, my home and my near and dear ones. Lunar New Year is a time when we all want to unite; it's a time when we all feel we are Chinese," she said.

She said this year she would join others at a celebration to be organized by the Chinese consular office in Bengaluru.

Any New Year resolutions? "My only resolution is to continue doing good things," Duan said. "My children are really lucky because they know two great cultures."

Duan's compatriots at the consular celebrations will include Li Junjie, who runs an e-commerce startup specializing in mobile accessories.

A native of Chizhou city in East China's Anhui province, Li went to Bengaluru in 2008 after finishing high school.

"I got myself enrolled in Dayananda Sagar University. In fact, an education agency in China told me that the IT scene in Bengaluru is pretty good," said Li, who married an Indian woman.

"The decision to make India my home was the realization that India is a big country with big potential," said Li, who "can speak a few words in Hindi" as well.

For Li, fond memories of celebrating Lunar New Year as a child include hopping into shops to buy new clothes, and all the family members coming together.

"Now, far away from home (in Bangalore), it's about people from my community getting together and organizing house parties."