City’s Chinese community has low-key New Year celebration

As we walk along the Evening Bazaar Road, Park Town, we can’t help but be drawn by the curious case of boards with Chinese letters and names like Shieh Dentistry and Chen’s Intact. The row of dental clinics has been in existence for more than 85 years now. Unlike their counterparts in other parts of the world who are celebrating the onset of a new year, the dentists here, who are members of the Hupeh community that migrated to the city from China in the 1930s by ship via Burma, are having a busy working day. 

“We’re hardly 10 families here now. So there isn’t any big celebration per se. For us, it’s mostly just house visits among the community. We start the day with offering prayers after which friends and family visit each other,” says Dr Sen, who prefers to be called so rather than by his full name Shieh Thou Sen. “But yes, we did have the reunion dinner with as many as 10 dishes. Fish, with eyes, fins and tail intact, is a delicacy that is a must. Dumplings are another important dish. These two dishes signify prosperity. Other dishes are dependent on personal preference though. But everyone must eat at home rather than at a restaurant,” he adds. 

“But restaurants here don’t serve authentic Chinese. They’re very Indianised.” He is the son of Dr Say Maw Seng who migrated from China in 1939, and worked a few blocks away at another building which is now the clinic of Dr Albert Shieh, Sen’s brother. “Although our children spoke Mandarin at home, they learnt Tamil at school. In fact, they speak Tamil better than their mother tongue. Also, they grew up watching Rajnikanth films and celebrated Deepavali as much as they did Chinese New Year,” he says indicating that the transition in the nature of Chinese New Year celebrations is perhaps because of imbibing the local culture. Sen, whose son and daughter are also dentists, says the new generation doesn’t want to settle in the city. “They’ve gone to Canada and Australia in search of a better life. I could choose to migrate where my children are, but my heart will always be in Chennai,” says Sen. 

Tsering Tashi, a beautician who works with a popular salon says, “Having been in the city for over 25 years now, I’m more ‘Madrasi’ than you can fathom. So, I don’t really celebrate Chinese New Year in a big way. But this time, my parents have come down. We burst crackers and ate some homemade dumplings. We also did a little lion dancing. More than anything, it’s just an opportunity to hold on to the past and our culture while living away from it, in whatever way possible.”