Makum in Upper Assam comes under the Tinsukia District jurisdiction. The word Makum derives its existence from the Tai Ahom dynasty. According to legends, Sargadeo Sukapha and his council of ministers used to meet at this place, hence it is popularly named the meeting point. Makum now is the center point of three important districts of upper Assam which are Tinsukia, Digboi, and Doomdooma, hence it is a bubbling trade center.

It was during British Rule that the Britishers discovered a plant (Tea) from the Singhpho kingdom which lay adjacent to the British-occupied Assam. Once they discovered it, they were determined to cultivate it in Assam itself. However, they lacked manpower, so, they had to bring manpower from neighbouring China and also from other parts of India. The Chinese were the experts in tea plantations and they were quite happy to come and work here in Assam as they were better paid off compared to in their own country. The migration took place in the year 1838.

It was not only the Chinese who had worked in the Tea Gardens, there were also labourers from other parts of the country. Both of these communities came from different places and their language and culture were so different but still, they intermingled. Many Chinese men married local women and started a new society in Assam. As generations passed they were more Assamese than their original ethnicity. Many of them had already forgotten the Chinese language. Yes! And they came to be popularly known as the Assamese Chinese who have given their heart and soul and prospered in the region.

Many China Patty or small China Town as they are known sprang up in different parts of Assam where the China Patty of Makum was the largest. They had established Chinese clubs, Chinese schools, restaurants, etc. Life was good and comfortable for them till one day when everything changed. They became aliens in their own homeland or “Janam Jagah” as they used to refer.

The 1962 Indo-Sino war brought the Chinese Assamese face to face with some unfortunate situations that they had never imagined. Their very own people discarded them only because of their Chinese origin. It was the last day of war: November 19, 1962, when armed forces dropped in different places where the Chinese people inhabited. They were compelled to leave their houses shifted to a safer place for two to three days and were not even allowed to take anything with them except for the papers(documents).

It was very difficult for the administration to separate the Chinese from the non-Chinese as the majority of them didn’t look Chinese. They had been living there for more than two to three generations and most of them had married native Indian women. Thus, the authorities arrested those who they believed to be were Chinese. In that process, families were separated, houses were seized as enemy property and later auctioned, husbands were separated from their wives and children from their parents, and so on.

In the Makum area, they were picked up and packed into a cowshed from where they were taken to Dibrugarh Jail. In other parts, they were arrested and put into jails and then asked to board a closed train which took them to the Deoli internment camp in Rajasthan. That was a tiring 7-day journey and was filled with utter suffering. Everybody of all age groups along with those who were seriously ill was sent to the camp a huge transgression of human rights.

Once the dust have settled, the Government authorities decided to deport the interned back to China in a few batches. Due to the random selection of names, the families that were previously separated were further separated. The majority of them were deported to China. Some of the interned people who were allowed to return to their places in Assam and the other parts of India again faced further hardships as their houses were seized as enemy property and later auctioned. There had no support of any kind from society and the Government. They were compelled to live in sheer misery and isolation. Most of them could not meet their deported family members ever again.

This is the story of the Chinese community in Assam, which we will never hear about nor the injustice that was done to them be ever discussed or brought to the law of the day. They were brought by the British, but they gave their art, lived in harmony, and made this place their home. Can we imagine how tragic it is that some of them who called this place home might never be reunited with their long-lost family members?