NEW DELHI, Dec 23: India’s only Chinese language paper, the Chinese Journal of India, has shut down, news reports said Sunday.

Indian Express reported that the publication, based in Calcutta, shut down because of union problems and a dwindling circulation.

The paper, started 60 years ago, catered to the once bustling Chinese population in Calcutta, considered to be the only Indian city with a genuine Chinatown.

Indian Express quoted a trust member as saying that an “acute fund crunch and indifferent readership” were the main reasons for closure.

A dwindling Chinese population in the city and a perceptible indifference among the younger generation to read and write in their native script resulted in a steady decline in circulation.

In the past few years, the circulation of the paper has dropped from 1,000 readers to 300.

Also, in July this year, some employees demanded a wage revision and insisted that negotiations with the management would only be done through a union leader not connected with the paper, but management refused to negotiate.—dpa