As the political tempo rises in West Bengal’s high-stakes Assembly election, the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) has reached out to Kolkata’s Chinese community by appealing for support in Mandarin.TMC’s Topsia candidate Jawad Khan has reached out to Chinatown voters in their own language. Khan has put up graffiti in Mandarin on the walls of Tangra, once a tannery hub established in the 1920s and now a thriving restaurant district serving authentic Chinese cuisine, to bolster his re-election campaign.The older Chinese settlement is in central Kolkata’s Tiretta Bazar. The two together make up the estimated 4,000 Chinese population in Kolkata.Though small in number, the Chinese community thrifty with money by nature, has been important to political parties as a source of funding, especially at the time of elections.In a tightly contested poll, the TMC is seeking to match the BJP’s financial clout by tapping all available resources. “My constituency is a mini-India with people of different faiths, ethnicities and languages living together,” Khan said. “I decided to appeal to my Chinese voters in Mandarin as a mark of respect.”Local Chinese businessmen voiced frustration with the current business climate. “During the Left Front rule, leaders also took money but allowed us to run our businesses in peace. Now they not only take more but also impose new restrictions,” complained one businessman. Others echoed the same sentiment.Asked whether they would welcome a BJP government, many expressed scepticism. “After all, they will always demand money, and we may have to pay even more,” said another restaurant owner.The city’s dwindling Chinese population has largely sent its children abroad, but many remain in Kolkata, considering it home. The community’s roots in the city date back to the late 18th century, when Tong Atchew, one of the first Chinese settlers, arrived in 1778 and set up a sugar factory near Budge Budge.Atchew was granted 650 bighas of land at an annual rent of 45 rupees. The place where the mill came up to be known as Achipur from Atchew, as that is how locals referred to him. Another Chinese settlement by then had grown in Tiretta Bazar, with people who were mostly from Fujian and Guangdong provinces and engaged in the opium trade.After Atchew’s death, most of the Chinese in Achipur moved to Tiretta Bazar to join the others. Atchew’s tomb and a Chinese temple still survive in Achipur. By the mid-19th century, Tiretta Bazar had grown into a vibrant Chinese neighbourhood, with arrivals from Hakka, Cantonese, Fujianese, Shandong, Hubei and other groups contributing trades such as tanneries, laundries, silk, dentistry and beauty salons. The population peaked at over 40,000 before the 1962 war, when many were detained in Rajasthan’s Deoli camps on suspicion of being “Chinese agents.” On release, many found their homes and businesses gone, sparking a mass exodus.Yet some, like Stephen Li, a restaurant owner, remain committed to Kolkata. “I visit my children every year but have no plans to settle elsewhere,” he said.