This Article Abstract Free Full Text (Free PDF) Free Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Banerjee, P. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Chinese Indians in Fire

Refractions of Ethnicity, Gender, Sexuality and Citizenship in Post-Colonial India's Memories of the Sino-Indian War

Payal Banerjee is at 302, Maxwell Hall, Department of Sociology, Syracuse University, NY 13244, USA. Email: payal.banerjee{at}gmail.com

This article utilises the representation of the Chinese characters in the film Fire (1996) as a strategic site from which to examine the institutional marginalisation of India's Chinese minority community since the Sino-Indian war of 1962. Through a close examination of diplomatic documents and white papers exchanged between the governments of China and India during the 1960s, publications of the Indian government on the Sino-Indian war as well as newspaper articles and film reviews on Fire, this article delineates how the film's dehistoricised approach in representing Chinese minority voices and their criticisms against Indian society results in obscuring the legacy of the oppression of the Chinese community in India and in reiterating the state's nationalist construction of the Chinese Indians as treacherous, back-stabbing and irrational ‘others’.

References

• Alexander, Jaqui M. and Chandra Talpade Mohanty, ‘Introduction: Genealogies, Legacies, Movements’, in M. Jaqui Alexander and Chandra Talpade Mohanty (Eds), Feminist Genealogies, Colonial Legacies, Democratic Futures ( New York: Routledge , 1997), pp. xiii–xlii.
• Banerjee, Purnendu Kumar, My Peking Memoirs of the Chinese Invasion of India ( New Delhi: Clarion Books , 1990).
• Baron, David, ‘ Cultural Conflict Gives "Fire" its Spark ’, The Times-Picayune, 28 January 1998, p. E5 .
• Baumgarten, Marjorie, ‘ Fire ’, Austin Chronicle, 10 November 1997, www.weeklywire.com/filmvault/austin/f/fire1.htm (accessed on 21 February 2001).
• Berardinelli, James, ‘Fire’, http://www.movie-reviews.colossus.net/movies/f/fire.htm (accessed on 3 February 2001).
• Bond, Matthew, ‘ An Indian Tale of Heat and Lust ’, The Daily Telegraph ( London ), 30 June 2000, p. 9 .
• Braude, Jonathan, ‘ When a Thick Hide is Not Enough ’, South China Morning Post, 7 August 1997, p. 17 .
• Brennan, Mary, ‘ Sweet, Clumsy "Fire" is Portrait of Love between Married Women ’, The Seattle Times, 3 October 1997, p. H4 .
• Carr, Jay, ‘ Fire Adds Fuel to Feminism in India ’, The Boston Globe, 3 October 1997, p. D6 .
• Chase, Andrea, ‘Fire’, Movie Magazine International, 24 September 1997, http://www.shoestring.org/mmi_revs/fire96.html (accessed on 3 February 2001).
• Chatterjee, Gouri, ‘ Goodbye Chinatown ’, Far Eastern Economic Review, vol. 159, No. 20, 1996, pp. 28–29 .
• Chatterjee, Partha, The Nation and its Fragments: Colonial and Post-colonial Histories ( New Delhi: Oxford University Press , 1993).
• Chatterji, Shoma, ‘ Fire ’, Cinemaya, No. 35, January/February/March 1997, pp. 20–21 .
• Chaudhury, Pradip and Abhijit Mukhopadhyay, Calcutta: People and Empire ( Kolkata, India: India Book Exchange , 1975).
• Cohen, Alan Jerome and Shao-chuan Leng, ‘The Sino-Indian Dispute Over the Internment and Detention of Chinese in India’, in Alan Jerome Cohen (Ed.), China's Practice of International Law: Some Case Studies ( Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press , 1972), pp. 268–320.
• Dhar, Sujoy, ‘ Time's up for Calcutta Chinese ’, Asia Times Online, 21 December 2000, http://www.atimes.com/ind-pak/BL21Df01.html (accessed on 8 February 2001).
• Fire, directed by Deepa Mehta, 104 mins, 1996.
• Gerstel, Judy, ‘ Women Find Each Other in a House of Missing Men ’, The Toronto Star, 21 September 1997, p. B6 .
• Gopinath, Gayatri, ‘ On Fire’, Film Review of Deepa Mehta's Fire in GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies, Vol. 4, No. 4, Fall 1998, pp. 631–36 .
• Government of India, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), Summary of the Report of the Officials of the Governments of India and the People's Republic of China on the Boundary Question ( Delhi: GOI Press , 1962).
• Government of India, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), Notes, Memoranda and Letters Exchanged between the Governments of India and China: White Papers, No. 9, January 1963–July 1963 ( Delhi: GOI Press , 1963).
• Government of India, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), Notes, Memoranda and Letters Exchanged between the Governments of India and China: White Paper, No. 10, July 1963–January 1964 ( Delhi: GOI Press , 1964).
• Government of India, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), Notes, Memoranda and Letters Exchanged between the Governments of India and China: White Paper, No. 12, January 1965–February 1966 ( Delhi: GOI Press , 1966).
• Government of India, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), Notes, Memoranda and Letters Exchanged between the Governments of India and China: White Paper, No. 14, February 1967–April 1968 ( Delhi: GOI Press , 1968).
• Government of India, External Publicity Division (EPD), Prime Minister on Sino-Indian Relations, Vol. I: Indian Parliament ( New Delhi: Government of India Press , 1961a).
• Government of India, External Publicity Division (EPD) , Prime Minister on Sino-Indian Relations, vol. II: Press Conferences: Part I (New Delhi: Government of India Press, 1961b).
• Government of India, External Publicity Division (EPD) , Prime Minister on Sino-Indian Relations, vol. II: Press Conferences:Part II (New Delhi: Government of India Press, 1962a).
• Government of India, External Publicity Division (EPD), Prime Minister on Sino-Indian Relations, vol. I: Indian Parliament: Part II ( New Delhi: Government of India Press , 1962b).
• Government of India, External Publicity Division (EPD), World Press on Chinese Aggression ( New Delhi: Government of India Press , 1962c).
• Government of India, External Publicity Division (EPD), Prime Minister on Chinese Aggression ( New Delhi: GOI Press , 1963).
• Government of India, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Publications Division (MIBPD), India's Answer to Chinese Aggression ( Delhi: Publications Division , 1962).
• Government of India, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Publications Division (MIBPD), The Sino-Indian Dispute: Questions and Answers ( Delhi: GOI Press , 1963a).
• Government of India, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Publications Division (MIBPD), The Chinese Threat ( Delhi: GOI Press , 1963b).
• Government of India, Directorate of Advertising and Visual Publicity (DAVP), The Chinese Aggression: Some Facts about the India-China Border: Colombo Proposals ( Delhi: National Printing Works , 1965).
• Griffin, John, ‘ Fire is Fitting Festival Opener: Film Reflects Image & Nation's Less Hard-core Approach ’, The Gazette (Montreal), 15 October 1997, p. B4 .
• Grose, Henry John, Piece taken from Grose's ‘Voyage’, 3rd edition, 1772 (Grose, II, Book VIII, pp. 233–67), in Calcutta in the 18th Century: Impressions of Traveller, compiled by P. Thankappan Nair ( Kolkata, India: Firma KLM private limited, 1984 ).
• Haqeeqat, directed by Chetan Anand, 1964.
• Hornaday, Ann, ‘ Women of "Fire" Step outside Tradition ’, The Baltimore Sun, 15 September 1998, p. 4E .
• Howrah Bridge, directed by Shakti Samanta, 1958.
• Institute of Social Sciences, Urban Reaction to the Sino-Indian Conflict ( Agra: Agra University , 1964).
• Jayawardena, Kumari, Feminism and Nationalism in the Third World ( New Jersey: Zed Books , 1986).
• John, Mary and Tejaswini Niranjana, ‘ Mirror Politics: "Fire", Hindutva and Indian Culture ’, Economic and Political Weekly: Commentary, 6–12 and 13–19 March 1999, http://www.epw.org.in/34-1011/comm5.htm (accessed on 3 February 2001).
• Judell, B., ‘In the Firing Line’, Interview with Deepa Mehta, www.filmmag.com/community/cuberlink/interviews/mehta.html (accessed on 21 February 2001).
• Kamani, Ginu, ‘ Burning Bright: A Conversation with Deepa Mehta about Fire ’, Trikone Magazine, Vol. 12, No. 1, 31 October 1997, p. 11 .
• Kapur, Ratna, ‘ Fire Goes Up in Smoke ’, The Hindu, 13 December, 1998, News Section.
• Kaul, T. N., A Diplomat's Diary (1947–99): China, India and USA: The Tantalising Triangle ( Delhi: Macmillan India Limited , 2000).
• Kayn, Ali, ‘Fire’, Festivale Australian online magazine, November 1997, http://www.festivale.webcentral.com.au/filmru/9710frva.htm (accessed on 3 February 2001).
• Kin, Lai Kwok, ‘ Calcutta's Chinatown is Slowly Vanishing as Region's Chinese Population Dwindles ’, Los Angeles Times, 7 August 1988, p. 8 .
• Kishwar, Madhu, ‘Naïve Outpourings of a Self-hating Indian: Deepa Mehta's "Fire"’, Manushi, No. 109, November–December 1998, pp. 3–14.
• Lall, John, ‘The Sino-Indian Border Problem as a Leftover from History’, in Surjit Mansingh (Ed.), Indian and Chinese Foreign Policies in Comparative Perspectives ( New Delhi: Radiant Publishers , 1998), pp. 442–56.
• Liu, Xuecheng, The Sino-Indian Border Dispute and Sino-Indian Relations ( Landam, Maryland: University Press of America , 1994).
• Mahajan, F., ‘Fire’, Horizons, 31 March 1998, p. 43.
• Malhotra-Singh, Angelina, ‘ Sappho's Choice ’, Trikone Magazine, Vol. 14, No. 2, 30 April 1999, p. 10 .
• Malviya, Gopal, Sino-Indian Relations: Security Environment in Nineties ( Madras: Madras University Press , 1992).
• Mccardle, Kevin, ‘ Fire ’. The Herald (Glasgow), 13 May 1999, p. 8 .
• Mehta, Jagat S., ‘India-China Relations: Review and Prognosis’, in Surjit Mansingh (Ed.), Indian and Chinese foreign policies in comparative perspectives ( New Delhi: Radiant Publishers , 1998), pp. 457–83.
• Mehta, Nisha, ‘ Fire: South Asian Women Rebel and Fall in Love ’, Sojourner: The Women's Forum, Vol. 23, No. 2, 31 October 1997, p. 42 .
• Millar, Jeff, ‘Fire: A Challenging, Affecting Drama’, The Houston Chronicle, 21 November 1997, p. 5.
• Morris, Gary, ‘Burning love: Deepa Mehta's "Fire"’, Bright Lights Film Journal, Issue 30, October 2000, http://http://www.brightlightsfilm.com/30/fore.htm (accessed on 3 February 2001).
• Mullick, Swapan, ‘Explosive Power of the Women’, The Statesman (India), 26 November 1998, News Section.
• Neel Akasher Niche, directed by Mrinal Sen, 1959.
• Oxfeld, Ellen, Blood, Sweat, and Mahjong: Family and Enterprise in an Overseas Chinese Community ( Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press , 1993).
• Oxfeld, Ellen, ‘Still "guest people": The Reproduction of Hakka identity in Calcutta, India’, in Nicole Constable(Ed.), Guest People: Hakka Identity in China and Abroad ( University of Washington Press , 1998), pp. 149–75.
• People's Republic of China, Documents on the Sino-Indian Boundary Question ( Peking: Foreign Languages Press , 1960).
• Prem Pujari, directed by Dev Anand, 1970.
• Quinn, Anthony, ‘Film: Also Showing’, The Independent (London), 12 November 1998, p. 11.
• Ramchandani, Vinita, ‘Passionate Plots’, The Week, 6 December 1998, http://www.the-week.com/98dec06/enter.htm (accessed on 21 February 2001).
• Ramesh, Kala Krishna, ‘ Under Fire ’, The Hindu (India), 17 January 1999, News.
• Ringel, Eleanor, ‘ Fire ’, The Atlanta Journal and Constitution, 17 October 1997, p. 13P .
• Said, Edward, Orientalism ( New York: Vintage Books , 1979).
• Sengupta, Smita, ‘ Marginality and Segregation: A concept of Socio-political Environment is Urban Setting ’, Man in India, Vol. 73, No. 1, 1993, pp. 41–47 .
• Sharma, Parvez, ‘ Burning Down the House: The Turmoil in India over Deepa Mehta's Fire ’, Trikone Magazine, vol. 14, No. 2, 30 April 1999, p. 6 .
• Sherman, Paul, ‘ Exotic "Fire" Sputters, Goes Out ’, The Boston Herald, 3 October 1997, p. S04 .
• Shohat, Ella, ‘Post-Third-Worldist Culture: Gender, Nation, and the Cinema’, in M. Jaqui Alexander and Chandra Talpade Mohanty (Eds), Feminist Genealogies, Colonial Legacies, Democratic Futures ( New York: Routledge , 1997).
• Sinha, Pradip, Calcutta in Urban History ( Bombay, India: Firma KLM private limited , 1978).
• Stack, Peter, ‘ "Fire" has Spark but Not Enough Heat ’, The San Francisco Chronicle, 26 September 1997, p. C9 .
• Taylor, Diane, ‘ Lesbian sisters, Freaky in-laws and Pervy Man: This is Indian Life as Deepa Mehta Knows it ’, The Guardian (London), 13 November 1998, p. 10 .
• The Times of India (Bombay). ‘Delhi Demonstrator is Dragged and Beaten’, 2 November 1962, p. 1.
• The Times of India (Bombay), ‘Strict Action against "Security risks": Restrictions Imposed on Chinese Residents’, 15 November 1962.
• Thomas, Kevin, ‘ "Fire" is a Darling Tale of Love in India ’, Los Angeles Times, 27 August 1997, p. F5 .
• Turner, Guinevere, ‘ Star of India: The Lesbian Love Story Fire has Already Touched Off Violence in its Native India. But the Film's Famous Leading Lady Doesn't Scare Easily ’, The Advocate, No. 750/751, 20 January 1998, p. 88 .
• Upadhyay, Arijit, ‘ "Fire" evokes passions ’, Ganashakti Newsmagazine, 7 December 1998.
• Verma, Superna, ‘I Simply Can't Understand the Stereotyping of Women as Film-makers Who Make Soppy Family Dramas’, Rediff on the Net, Movies: An interview with Deepa Mehta, 24 October 1997, http://www.rediff.com/entertai/oct/24deep.htm (accessed on 3 February 2001).

China Report, Vol. 43, No. 4, 437-463 (2007)
DOI: 10.1177/000944550704300404


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?

This Article Abstract Free Full Text (Free PDF) Free Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Banerjee, P. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?