yuthana's Blog

THAI CHINESE

The Thai Chinese are an overseas Chinese community who live in Thailand. Official statistics show that six million people in 1987, or about 14% of Thailand's population claim to be of Chinese ethnicity.Extensive intermarriages with the Thais, especially in the past has resulted in many people who claim Chinese ethnicity with Thai ancestry, and many people of Thai ethnicity with some Chinese ancestry as well. People of Chinese descent are concentrated in the coastal areas of Thailand, principally Bangkok. They are well-represented in all levels of Thai society and play a leading role in business and politics. The present king, Bhumipol Adulyadej, has some Chinese ancestry from his mother.

Slightly more than half of the ethnic Chinese population in Thailand trace their ancestry to the Chaozhou prefecture in northern Guangdong. This is evidenced by the prevalence of the Minnan Chaozhou dialect among the Chinese in Thailand. A minority trace their ancestry to Hakka and Hainanese immigrants.

LANGUAGE

Most ethnic Chinese in Thailand are proficient in the Thai language, and a large number are also conversant in Chinese with varying degrees of fluency. In general, ethnic Chinese use Thai as a working language, while Chinese is spoken at home and relatives. Assimilated Thais of Chinese ancestry, on the other hand, have since use Thai in everyday life and are much less adept in Chinese. The Teochew dialect of Chinese is used as a commercial lingua franca among the Chinese business circles, principally in Bangkok.

The proficiency of the Thai language among the ethnic Chinese is attributed to the fact that Thai is a compulsory subject in all schools, while students from Chinese-medium schools are more proficient in Chinese than those from other schools in general. In recent years, many Chinese have also used Mandarin as a source of communication among the Chinese in Thailand.

RELIGION 

The first-generation Chinese immigrants were followers of Mahayana Buddhism and Taoism. Theravada Buddhism has since become the religion of many ethnic Chinese in Thailand, especially among the assimilated Chinese. Very often, many Chinese in Thailand combine practices of Chinese folk religion with Theravada Buddhism. Major Chinese festivals such as Chinese New Year, Mid-Autumn Festival and Qingming are widely celebrated especially in Bangkok, Phuket and other parts of Thailand where there are large Chinese populations.

The Chinese in Phuket are noted for their nine-day vegetarian festival between September and October. During the festive season, devotees will abstain from meat and Mortification of the flesh by Chinese mediums are also commonly seen, and the rites and rituals seen are devoted to the veneration of Tua Pek Kong. Such idiosyncratic traditions were developed during the 19th century in Phuket by the local Chinese with influences from Thai culture.

HISTORY

The history of Chinese immigration to Thailand dates back many centuries. Chinese traders in Thailand, mostly from Fujian and Guangdong, began arriving in Ayutthaya by at least the thirteenth century. According to the Chronicles of Ayutthaya, it was mentioned that King Ekathotsarot (r. 1605-1610) had been "concerned solely with ways of enriching his treasury," and was "greatly inclined toward strangers and foreign nations," especially Portugal, Spain, the Philippines, China, and Japan.

Ayutthaya was under almost constant Burmese threat from the 16th century onwards, and Qianlong, the Emperor of Qing was alarmed by the Burmese military might. From 1766-1769, Qianlong sent his armies four times to subdue the Burmese, but all four invasions failed. Ayutthaya thus fell to the Burmese in 1767. The Chinese efforts diverted the attention of Burma's Siam army, General Taksin, who was the son of a Chinese immigrant, took advantage of the situation by organizing his force and attacking them. Taksin actively encouraged Chinese immigration and trade. Settlers principally from Chaozhou prefecture came in large numbers.

The Chinese population in Thailand jumped from 230,000 in 1825 to 792,000 by 1910. By 1932, approximately 12.2% of the population of Thailand was Chinese.

However, early Chinese immigration consisted almost entirely of Chinese men who married Thai women. Children of such intermarriages were aptly called Sino-Thai or known as Luk-jin (ลูกจีน) in Thai. This tradition of Chinese-Thai intermarriage declined when large numbers of Chinese women began to emigrate into Thailand in the early 20th century.

Many Chinese in the past set up small enterprises so as to eke out a living as street vendors, a profession that was passed on until present day.

The corruption of the Qing Dynasty and the massive population increase in China, along with very high taxes, caused many men to leave China for Thailand in search of work. If successful, they sent money back to their families in China. Many Chinese prospered under the "tax farming" system, whereby private individuals were sold the right to collect taxes at a price below the value of the tax revenues.

In the late 1800s, when Thailand was busy defending its independence from the colonial powers, Chinese bandits from Yunnan Province began raids into the country in the Haw wars (Thai: ปราบกบฏฮ่อ). Thai nationalist attitudes at all levels were accordingly colored by anti-Chinese sentiment. Members of the Chinese community had long dominated domestic commerce and had served as agents for the royal trade monopolies. With the rise of European economic influence, however, many Chinese shifted to the opium traffic and tax collecting, both of which were despised occupations. In addition, Chinese millers and rice traders were blamed for an economic recession that gripped Siam for nearly a decade after 1905. Accusations of bribery of officials, wars between the Chinese secret societies, and use of violent tactics to collect taxes served to turn foster Thai resentment against the Chinese at a time when the community was expanding rapidly due to immigration.

By 1910, nearly 10 percent of Thailand's population was Chinese. Moreover, the new arrivals frequently came in families and resisted assimilation. Chinese nationalism, encouraged by Sun Yat-sen, the leader of the Chinese revolution, had also begun to develop, parallel with Thai nationalism. The Chinese community even supported a separate school system for its children.

Legislation by King Rama VI (1910-1925) that required the adoption of Thai surnames was largely directed at easing tensions with Chinese community by encouraging assimilation. Thai Chinese had to choose between forsaking their Chinese identity or being regarded as foreigners. Most opted to become Thai.

The Chinese in Thailand also suffered discrimination between the 1930s to 1950s under the military dictatorship of Prime Minister Plaek Pibulsonggram, (in spite of being part-Chinese himself). State corporations took over commodities such as rice, tobacco and petroleum, and Chinese businesses found themselves subject to a range of new taxes and controls.

Nevertheless, the Chinese were still encouraged to become Thai citizens, and by 1970 it was estimated that more than 90 percent of the Chinese born in Thailand had done so. When diplomatic relations were established with China in the 1970s, resident Chinese not born in Thailand were offered the chance of becoming Thai citizens. The remaining permanent resident Chinese alien population was then estimated at less than 200,000.

Suvarnabhumi (pronounced “Su-Wana-Poom”) means “The Golden Land”.

Developing Thailand as the aviation and air transport hub of Southeast Asia is among the priorities set by the Royal Thai Government.

One of the ways this can be achieved is to develop Suvarnabhumi Airport to achieve the highest international standards, to ensure its support for the rapidly increasing air traffic demand corresponding to the need of aviation business worldwide. His Majesty the King has graciously conferred the name of ?Suvarnabhumi Airport? which means the ?Golden Land? and is located in Bang Phli District, Samut Prakan province, covering an area of approximately 3,200 hectares.

The Suvarnabhumi Airport, which is due to replace the overloaded and unexpandable Bangkok International Airport (Don Muang), is scheduled to open in June 2006. However, this date may be delayed until September 2006 for testing and validation by ICAO.

The ‘New Bangkok International Airport’ company was formed in 1996 but due to political and economic chaos it took six years for construction to start. The new airport has also been delayed countless times due to cost overruns and construction problems.

The new airport is located on a boggy, 3,100ha site in the Samut Prakarn province of Thailand at Nong Ngu Hao (translated as Cobra Swamp), 30km east of Bangkok. Construction of Suvarnabhumi Airport began in January 2002.

Don Muang will be relegated to domestic-only status when the new airport opens. Don Muang is currently the world’s 22nd busiest airport and the busiest in Southeast Asia, but it has already reached its full capacity at over 37 million passengers per year.

Suvarnabhumi will be able to cope with 30 million passengers per year when it first opens, a figure which will be increased to 45 million within a short space of time. Following further expansion phases, including two additional runways, it will cater for over 100 million passengers per year.

Suvarnabhumi Airport Background

The plot of land occupied by the airport with an approximate area of 8,000 acres (324 km?) was purchased back in 1973, but the Thammasat student uprising on October 6 of the same year succeeded in overthrowing the military government of dictator Thanom Kittikachorn and the project was shelved.

After a series of ups and downs, the “New Bangkok International Airport” company (NBIA) was formed in 1996. Due to political and economic instabilities, notably the Asian financial crisis of 1997, the civil construction began only six years later in January 2002.

The airport is located in a once low-lying marsh, formerly known as (”Cobra Swamp”), which took about 5 years (1997 - 2001) to clear through land reclamation. In 2005, the construction supervision and management was transferred to the Airports of Thailand PLC, while the NBIA company was dissolved.

The airport was due to open in late 2005, but a series of budget overruns, construction flaws, political interference and allegations of corruption continues to plague the project, and after much speculation the Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra announced that the airport would be open by September 2006 at the latest. Symbolic first test flights involving two Thai Airways aircraft were held on September 29, 2005, a previously announced deadline for opening.

The construction of the City Airport Terminal in Makkasan and a 28.6 km high-speed rail link to the new airport started in July 2005 and are planned for completion in November 2007, although this deadline, too, seems unlikely to be met.

The airport express, informally known as the Pink Line and operated jointly with SRT’s planned Red Line commuter service, will connect with the BTS Sukhumvit Line and MRT Blue Line at Phaya Thai and Phetchaburi stations respectively, offering airport-bound passengers a fast 15-minute limited stop journey from the city.