The Sing Cheung Company, maker of chilli, garlic and soysauce, is responsible for the sweet smell of molasses wafting into the street in dhapa.
It helps because otherwise the overpowering odor in the Tangra neighborhood is a mix of stagnant water and rotting eggs, the product of chemicals used in the area’s tanneries.
“So many chemicals, there is no malaria here because it kills all the germs,” joked one resident.
Tangra, on the eastern side of Kolkata, the port city in east India once known as Calcutta, the capital of British India, has long been home to most of the city’s Chinese.
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by Esther, on 01.22.09 @ 2:48 pm
I understand that a Sing Cheung Co (owned by Cantonese) existed in old Chinatown in Tiretti Bazaar area before. Opposte of which is Pou Chong Brothers (owned by Hakka). Sing Cheung sells various types of Chinese sauces plus dried groceries imported from Hong Kong etc. and Pou Chong sells sauces plus some gold jewellery business. Next to Sing Cheung is Pou Wah( owned by Hubei), which sells Chinese handicrafts and small accessories.
Just curious, can anyone please advise if all of these three shops still exist today or they have gone down to history forever.
by leon, on 01.22.09 @ 7:01 pm
is Sing Cheung Co owner cantonese ? all the time i thought he is hakka. Well Sing Cheung Co & Pou Chong Brothers is still very much in business and for Pou Wah i have no idea.
by Esther, on 01.22.09 @ 7:28 pm
The owner of Sing Cheung Co may have changed hands to a Hakka now. In the past, Sing Cheung Co had a retail shop in Old Chinatown with its manufacturing plant for all kinds of sauces based in Tangra.
In the old days, it was run by the widow of a Mr Young, a Cantonese. Mrs Young then emigrated to Toronto; so were her two children a few decades ago.
As for the probable survival of these three shops, I was wondering if they still exist where they once stood in Old Chinatown of yester-years.
I do understand from postings in this blog that the manufacturing sections of both Sing Cheung and Pou Chong are still in business in Tangra. They are really old but good brands that weathered all storms as fittest survivors.
by Bill, on 01.23.09 @ 2:45 am
My understanding is that the area where these retail shops used to be in the Teretti Bazaar area is no longer there. They have been torn down and rebuilt. Anyone here from this area care to comment?
by Thien, on 01.23.09 @ 8:03 am
hi ,
both the shops r still there, i mean pouchong n sing cheung, but i have never heard of Pou Wah before. where is it located exactly?
by Esther, on 01.23.09 @ 8:50 am
Pou Wah used to be on the right hand side of Sing Cheung Co., i.e. adjacent and on the same foot-path, say one block away. From another angle of view, it is slightly direct across the road from Pou Chong Brothers.
They all form part of the landmarks of old Chinatown in Teratti Bazaar