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Lee Youn Chin

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Lee Youn Chin

Lee Youn Chin
Born1906
Guangdong, China
Died1991/10/08
Kolkata, India
Burial placeBaptized a Christian. Chinese Cemetary Kolkata India
CitizenshipIndian
Board member ofThe Chinese Tannery Owners Association

The Overseas Chinese Commerce Association of India

Overseas Chinese Commerce Journal 'Seong Pow'
SpouseKoo Tek Xiu
ChildrenLee Shiu Fong, Li Chun Fang, Lee Yam Fong, Lee Sin Fong, Lee Siu Fong, Lee Tung Hsing (son), Li Kin Fang
Lee Hok Seong (son 1935-1969); Lee Jun Fong (daughter deceased 1992); Lee Chun Hsiang (son deceased 2010)
ParentLee Sie Shan (father) Chu Kuik Yien (mother)

Lee Youn Chin (1906 - 1991) was a visionary and a distinguished Chinese Hakka community leader for over half a century in India. He was born in the Hakka village of Meixian in Guangdong, China. At eighteen years old, with the next wave of migrants, he embarked on a voyage to British India’s east coast of Bay of Bengal, Queen Victoria crown city Calcutta (now Kolkata). He went back to China one last time to wed his wife, Koo Tek Xiu, and returned with her to Kolkata. From very early on, his great mind and intellect was noticed by a few elders who would seek his advice. Slowly in time, his reputation and popularity within the community grew; quickly, he found himself as their voluntary leader for over fifty years. At the onset, Lee took initiatives and was instrumental in founding the Chinese Tannery Owners Association of India, the Overseas Chinese Commerce of India, and the new Pei May High School. These institutions for commerce, education, and journalism would have a profound impact for the Hakka Chinese settlement in Kolkata until his death in 1991 at the age of 85.

His Life

Lee Youn Chin was born in 1906 in Guangdong, China: the fourth of five children of Lee Sie Shan and Chu Kuik Yien, consisting of one older sister and four brothers. At six years of age, his father died, and he was raised by his mother and relatives. He was a man of books but could not continue further after high school, as he was encouraged to join the next wave of migrants to British India. At eighteen, he embarked on a sea voyage, arriving in the Bay of Bengal capital, Calcutta (now Kolkata). With confidence, he disembarked and set foot on foreign soil. The Chinese people in India had earlier pioneers, but the first to arrive in Kolkata as per records was Yang Tai Chow. 

Lee Youn Chin had uncles already settled in Kolkata who gave him shelter. At his uncle’s shoe shop, he worked and took on an apprenticeship. He saved enough money over a few years to visit China where he married his wife, Koo Tek Xiu. The young couple labored, and his wife proved to be of great help in their merchandise business selling products used in the tanning industry. With their savings, he purchased a large plot of marsh land and reclaimed the marsh by pouring tons of dirt. He built his house where he raised ten children: seven daughters and three sons. He later expanded and established his company, the Lee Youn Chin Tannery, beside it.[1] His mother, Chu Kuik Yien, joined him and lived in his care to a ripe age of one hundred.

In 1947, the British Raj ended their colonization to leave an independent India. In the 1950's, he applied and was granted Indian citizenship. His oldest son, a well-read young man fluent in English and Bengali, was a tremendous help to him and to the community in filing for the Indian Permanent Residency Permit or Indian Citizenship Application for the community.

Community Leader

Lee Youn Chin[2] founded and was the chairman of The Chinese Tannery Owners Association[3], The Overseas Chinese Commerce Association of India[4] , and the local Chinese Seong Pow newspaper. When the old Pei May Elementary school outgrew, he leased the land and built a bigger and newer Pei May[5] Chinese High school. The need for the community burial land was also bought under his initiative. This community flourished as the largest minorities in Kolkata over the years.[6] There were 1,466 Chinese in Chinatown in 1901, and by 1936, there were 14,000.[7][8]Until the mid 1990's, the unofficial count was estimated to be around 20,000.

Tanneries were the largest businesses of the growing community out of other smaller trades such as carpentry, shoe shops, restaurants, herbal stores, beauty parlors, and dentistry. Tangra, or 'Dhapa', was located outside the inner city where the majority of the Chinese settled. Chinatown was in the inner part of Calcutta then.

Lee saw the need to bring the community together through the initiatives:

He leased the land and built the Chinese Tannery Owners Association in (19??)[4]. This association's initiatives include:

  • Centralizing a tanner market for owners to benefit in the procurement sourcing of the highest market price for finished leather.
  • Introduced carbon footprint (recycling) ahead of his time by reducing and recycling the collective byproduct wastage of hide shavings by curing it and selling it for profit.

He allocated space for The Overseas Chinese Commerce Association of India within the existing Chinese Tannery Owners Association where he:

  • Launched the Overseas Chinese Commerce newsprint, a local Seong Pow Chinese newspaper, to disseminate community announcements and overseas news in 1969.[9][10][11][4] This newspaper published the relevant local news compared with a pro-Kuomintang newspaper, The Chinese Journal of India, that had existed before his arrival. The Overseas Chinese Commerce of India, or 'Seong Pow' newspaper, survived until its last publication with the death of its last editor of forty years, Kuo-Tsai Chang, in 2020.[12][4]

Pei May High School (19?)

  • Acquired the land, built, and founded Pei May High School for the growing needs for education of the community's younger generation. This school became the new grounds for a combined elementary and high school education.
The Overseas Chinese Commerce of India (1969) newspaper. Photo courtesy of Biswarup ganguly
Founded: The Overseas Chinese Commerce of India (1969). Photo courtesy of Biswarup Ganguly

The community bestowed on him the role of a mediator. As a young man, after hearing out and resolving a dispute between two warring parties, the news spread, and he gained prominence. More people brought their problems to him, he heard it out before the gathering, and gave his judgement. Frequently, there would be an audience, not only at his office at the Chinese Tannery Owners Association for which he volunteered four hours daily, but an audience would follow him when he returned home. His wife would complain: "As a man, he avails himself everywhere with little to no time to spend with his family."

The community went to him to settle their grievances with each other. He was renown as a man of great mind and forthcoming in his judgement in settling disputes. His mediation brought him admiration from the community at large. There would also be opposition and hostility. Lee was a man of conviction with a conscientious mind. When an inaccuracy in financial records was reported to him, he questioned their record keeping. In turn, he was accused by them, and there was a fall-out.

His oldest son, Lee Hok Seong, an educated young man with a promising future, was assassinated when a grenade thrown on his back in 1969. Shortly thereafter, Lee Youn Chin survived an assassination attempt when a knife was stabbed to his back by a youth sent to his house on a pretext of handing him a personal letter. A criminal case was filed by him in court on the death of his son. Speaking no English and little Bengali himself, he had entrusted a friend with his court case. Kept in the dark when asked about upcoming court dates, he would later be stunned to learn that the court had dismissed his case for three times due to no show in court.

The new Pei May school was taken over in 1969.

Lee Youn Chin[13] was determined to complete the tasks before him and was not thwarted by adversaries nor sought for accolades. He left behind a legacy of distinguished works as the Hakka community leader for over half a century. In his lifetime the community grew to over 15,000 people.[14]

Sino-Indian war repercussion on the community

When the Sino-Indian war broke out in 1962, the community went through an upheaval with their civil liberties and freedom violated. The Chinese in Calcutta were either deported or confined at Deoli by the Indian government. Those Chinese who were considered stateless or with Chinese documentation were caught and sent to internment camps in the West coast of Deoli in Rajasthan, India. [15] [16][17] Lee, through his English-speaking son, had been helping the community with their application submission and follow-up years before the war broke out. His family and those who possessed Permanent Indian Residency papers were not rounded.

The Deoli Camp on the community

The community went through disruption during the Sino-Indian war. Deoli camp became the infamous place of Internment of Chinese Indians.[18][17] After the war, the community gathered in resilience to restore their properties and businesses, which thrived beyond Lee's death in 1991.

Four years after his death, another directive on the community came by the order of the Supreme court (1995) to relocate the Kolkata tanneries.[19] This caused more Chinese community to leave India, while others stayed and converted their tanneries into restaurants.[20][11][21] An unofficial census in 2020 estimated that the remaining Hakka Chinese population in Kolkata to be over 2,000 people.

Notable Hakka Community Team

In the last 200 years, never had the Chinese people come together like they did under Lee's leadership and the Hakka Chinese community in India. Lee Youn Chin, with a team of contributors under the board of The Chinese Tannery Owners Association and the Overseas Chinese Commerce of India, had the longest and most influential impact on the Hakka Chinese in modern time. The community contributed to the local economic, social, and cultural richness in the Chinese Hakka settlement in India. The pinnacle of its growth and prosperity faded in the mid 1990s with the decline of the tannery businesses and its community. [22]

His team loyalists journeyed with him in the vested interest of the community. A few notable people are:

Lee Youn Chin's collaborators
Chen Zhan Sin Chung Yit Shing Chung Lee Ming Liu San Nyan
Chung Kwi Sheen Lee See Yim Lee Van Yao Liu Dhou Nyan

References

  1. ^ Bureau, India Labour (1958). Large Industrial Establishments in India. Manager of Publications. {{cite book}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  2. ^ "Is this the end for India's last Chinese-language newspaper?". TODAY. Retrieved 2023-03-13.
  3. ^ Pathak, Nilima (2018-01-01). "Chinese newspaper that's Made in India". Gulf News. Retrieved March 11, 2023.
  4. ^ a b c d Staff, Homegrown. "Kolkata's Tannery Neighbourhood Is Home To India's Only Chinese Language Newspaper". Homegrown. Retrieved 2023-03-10.
  5. ^ Gupta, Abir (2016-06-30). "The Story of Chinese People in Kolkata and How it Gave Us Our Favorite Chinese Food". StoryPick. Retrieved 2023-03-11.
  6. ^ Sircar, Jawhar. "The Chinese of Calcutta". {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  7. ^ Bose, Arpita (2019-06-01). "The Chinese in Calcutta: A Study on Settlement and Demographical Patterns". Indian Historical Review. 46 (1): 132–149. doi:10.1177/0376983619856540. ISSN 0376-9836 – via Journals sage pub.
  8. ^ "Chinese Community of Kolkata: A Forgotten Chapter in History". map.sahapedia.org. Retrieved 2023-03-19.
  9. ^ Mukherjee, Soham (2018-11-28). "Chinese Newspaper". Jiyo Bangla. Retrieved 2023-03-17.
  10. ^ Ayandas (2018-05-08). "A Chinese newspaper that represents the indomitable spirit of Kolkata » The Bengal Story". The Bengal Story. Retrieved 2023-03-18.
  11. ^ a b "Tucked away in a Kolkata bylane, India's only Chinese newspaper runs on old methods and perseverance-India News , Firstpost". Firstpost. 2019-10-11. Retrieved 2023-03-18.
  12. ^ Monitor, South Asian (2020-12-28). "Is this the end for India's last Chinese-language newspaper? Editor's death leaves questions over SeongPow's future". South Asian Monitor. Retrieved 2023-03-19.
  13. ^ Roy, Rajdeep Datta (2008-07-26). "News from Tangra". Mint. Retrieved 2023-03-11.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  14. ^ "Chinese Community of Kolkata: A Forgotten Chapter in History". map.sahapedia.org. Retrieved 2023-03-17.
  15. ^ gateway (2017-11-01). "Indian Chinese diaspora: from Calcutta to Toronto". Gateway House. Retrieved 2023-03-12.
  16. ^ Ghosh, Sanchali. "DIASPORA AND NATIONAL IDENTITY: LOCATING THE INDIAN CHINESE IN A POSTCOLONIAL NATION". {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  17. ^ a b "The 1962 jailing of Chinese Indians". Open The Magazine. 2010-11-21. Retrieved 2023-03-17.
  18. ^ "Charting Ethnic Violence through the Lens of Heritage: Engaging with the Indo-Chinese Population of Kolkata". Prace Etnograficzne. 45 (2). 2017. ISSN 2299-9558.
  19. ^ GB Get Bengal, Information Desk (2019-02-20). "How did the Hakka Chinese Community learn Bengali". GB Get Bengal. Retrieved 2023-03-11.
  20. ^ "Chinatown in Kolkata: A Heritage of Negotiation and Survival". map.sahapedia.org. Retrieved 2023-03-17.
  21. ^ Mazumder, Abir Lal. "From Tanneries to kitchens: Indian Hakka Chinese and their memories of making and remaking the Tangra Chinatown in Kolkata, India". nomadit.co.uk. Retrieved 2023-03-19.
  22. ^ "How did the Chinese land up in Kolkata and Bengal?". Get Bengal. Retrieved 2023-03-19.
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