Tensions with China revive old fears for Indians of Chinese descent

KOLKATA, India — When Tony Liu was a child, a series of police raids in his hometown made him realize that some people saw him and his family as different from their fellow Indian citizens.

In 1962, Indian authorities went door to door, rounding up people of Chinese descent in his neighborhood of the city then known as Calcutta. The former British colonial capital remains one of India's most diverse metropolises, home to the country's largest Chinatown.

That's where Liu, now 70, grew up. He's a third-generation immigrant. His grandfather was born in China, but his parents were born in India and so was Liu. He's an Indian citizen, and like most Indians, has never been to China.

Still, when India and China fought a border war in 1962, his community of ethnic Chinese Indians fell under suspicion. Thousands were detained and sent to an old British prison camp for months — and in some cases, years. Some died there.

"They arrested my Chinese teachers. I was barely 12 then," Liu recalls. "My classmate's parents were