Discontinuities and the Maintenance of Chinese Cemeteries in Kolkata (India) (印度加尔各答华人墓地的间断与维持)

Abstract

In India, where migrations from mainland China are not constantly renewed, the Chinese cemeteries constitute the perennial elements of cultural transmission. As they build cemeteries for their community, these overseas-Chinese people inscribe the concrete references that they hold sacred in India, and no longer look to mainland China. We shall see that there are multiple reasons that explain the Chinese cemeteries’ location on the margins of the city. However, the places for the dead are the result of a long process, cultural and spatial, specific to how they were established in Kolkata and its suburbs. The cemetery constitutes in itself a space of adaptation and a space of practice; it reflects the anchoring of the Chinese in India. 在印度，来自中国大陆的移民浪潮经历了长久的间断，而华人墓地却不因中国移民的间断而逐渐消亡，反而成为华族文化传承的不间断载体。当海外华人为自己的社区建立墓地时，意味着他们决定扎根于印度而不再遥望中国作为落叶归根的想象家乡。华人将墓地设在城市边缘的原因众多。但是，地点的选择是一个冗长的、文化与空间局限交织作用的过程，尤其是如何将墓地设于加尔各答及其郊区内。墓地本身便是一个包含不断适应和实践的空间，它反映了华人在印度扎根繁衍的历史现象。 This article is in English.