From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Thai Chinese is a group of overseas Chinese born in Thailand. They constitute about 14% of the population, although due to intermarriage there can be no definite figure.

The majority of the Thai Chinese traces their ancestry back to the Chaozhou prefecture in northern Guangdong, thus they speak the Minnan Chaozhou dialect. A minority traces their ancestry to Hakka and Hainanese immigrants. As of 1987, there are approximately six million Thais of Chinese descent.

Contents 1 Language 2 Religion 3 History 4 Dialect groups 5 Surnames 6 See also 7 External links 8 Notable Thai Chinese

The Thai language has now largely supplanted Chinese language, although Teochew is sometimes used as a commercial lingua franca among the Chinese in Thailand, principally in Bangkok. However, the wide usage and revival of Mandarin Chinese is gradually becoming the second language of the majority of the newer generation Thai-Chinese for business purposes as well as a tool to reunite with their heritage.

Theravada Buddhism has overshadowed the traditional Mahayana Buddhist and Taoist beliefs of the Thai Chinese, although some of the less assimilated Chinese do retain some or most of their beliefs. For example, the Teochew and Hainanese bring ashes from incense burned at the shrines in their villages. The Hakka have religious images in their houses called Faa Jukong, representing a male deity with black skin and upward pointing hair.

Unlike in Singapore, and to a lesser extent in Malaysia, where the Chinese have largely eschewed Christianity and the speaking of Mandarin as their first language, the majority of the Thai Chinese do not identify with being Chinese, as many have assimilated into mainstream Thai society.

The history of Chinese immigration to Thailand dates back several centuries. Chinese traders in Thailand date back at least to the thirteenth century with Ayutthaya. Most of Siam was under Burmese control since the sacking of Ayutthaya in the 16th century, and Qianlong Emperor of Qing ruled China, was alarmed by Burmese military might. From 1766- 1769, the Qianlong Emperor sent his armies four times to subdue the Burmese, but all four invasions failed, but diverting the attention of Burma's Siam army. Half Thai Chinese General Taksin, taking advantage of the situation, organized his force and revolted. It was said that Taksin actively encouraged their Chinese immigration and trade, principally from Chaozhou prefecture, came in large numbers. Also, according to Chronicle of Ayudhyan Kings, King Ekathotsarot (r. 1605-1610) was concerned solely with ways of enriching his treasury,' and he was as well 'greatly inclined toward strangers and foreign nations', especially Portugal, Spain, the Philippines, China and Japan. The Chinese population in Thailand thus jumped from 230,000 in 1825 to 792,000 by 1910. By 1932, approximately 12.2% of the population of Thailand was Chinese.

However, such early Chinese immigration consisted almost universally of Chinese men who later settled down to marry Thai women. Children of such intermarriages were known as Luk-jin in Thai. This tradition of Chinese-Thai intermarriage declined to a considerable extent when large numbers of Chinese women began to immigrate into Thailand from the early 20th century onwards.

The corruption of the Chinese Qing government and the massive increase of the population in China, along with high taxes, encouraged many Chinese men to leave China for Thailand in search for jobs, thereby support their families back 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 1800's, as Thailand was busy warding off attacks from French Indochina and British Malaya, Chinese from Yunnan Province began raids into Thailand. Thai nationalist attitudes at all levels of society were colored by anti-Chinese sentiment. For centuries members of the Chinese community had dominated domestic commerce and had been employed as agents for the royal trade monopoly. With the rise of European economic influence many Chinese entrepreneurs had shifted to opium traffic and tax collecting, both despised occupations. In addition, Chinese millers and middlemen in the rice trade were blamed for the economic recession that gripped Siam for nearly a decade after 1905. Accusations of bribery of high officials, wars between the Chinese secret societies, and use of oppressive practices to extract taxes also served to inflame Thai opinion against the Chinese community at a time when it was expanding rapidly as a result of increased immigration from China. By 1910 nearly 10 percent of Thailand's population was Chinese. Whereas earlier immigrants had intermarried with the Thai, the new arrivals frequently came with families and resisted assimilation into Thai society. 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 in 1909 by Rama V, King Chulalongkorn requiring adoption of Thai surnames was in large part directed at easing tensions with Chinese community by assimilation, whose members would be faced with the choice of forsaking their Chinese identity or accepting the status of foreigners. Many of them made the accommodation and opted to become Thai.)

The Chinese in Thailand also suffered discrimination under the military dictatorship of Prime Minister Plaek Pibulsonggram in the 1930s. 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.

In spite of differences created by nationalism in Thailand and China likewise, the Chinese were still encouraged to become Thai citizens, and in 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 had the option of becoming Thai citizens; the remaining permanent resident Chinese alien population was estimated at fewer than 200,000.

The vast majority of the Thai Chinese belong to various southern Chinese dialect groups. Of these, 56% are Teochew, 16% Hakka and 11% Hainanese. The Cantonese and Hokkien each constitute 7% of the Chinese population and 3% belong to other Chinese dialect groups.

The Teochew Chinese, which constitute 56% of Thailand Chinese population, mainly settled in the region around Chao Phraya River in Bangkok. Many of them worked in government sectors, while others were involved in trade. During the reign of King Taksin, many influential Teochew Chinese traders enjoyed certain privileges granted by the king. These Chinese were called "Royal Chinese" (Jin-luang in Thai).

The Hakka Chinese constitutes approximately 16% of the Thai Chinese population. Many of them are in Songkhla and Phuket. The Hakka own many private banks in Thailand. Bangkok Bank and Kasikorn Bank are both examples of Hakka owned banks.

There are also many Thai Chinese that have been descended from intermarriages with Native Thais. These Thai Chinese are called Peranakan Thai Chinese, or Luk jin in Thai. Most of them can be found in the Southern and Central Thai provinces especially near the border with Malaysia. They share a common culture and identity with the Peranakan Chinese in neighboring Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia. More information on the Peranakan Thai Chinese can be found in the links below.

A Thai Chinese can often be recognized by having his/her surname containing Chinese surname or its translation. One example is Banharn Silpa-Archa, a former prime minister, where Archa means horse which is the translation of Chinese surname Ma (馬). Another example is Sondhi Limthongkul, where Lim is the Teochew dialect of Chinese surname Lin. Many Thai Chinese adopted long surnames to mimic surnames given to high rank officials by the kings. Native Thais tend to have short surnames (e.g. "Boonmee", "Srisai") but many gradually changed to longer ones. Many Thai Chinese adopted Thai surnames in order to avoid persecution and to assimilate into Thai society. When choosing their new surnames, they would often combine various auspicious words with their Chinese surname.

• Overseas Chinese
• British Chinese

• Thai-Chinese chamber of commerce
• Assessment for Chinese in Thailand
• The Peranakan Resource Library - A resource website for all things Peranakan Chinese
• Anti-Chinese Labor riot of 1924, & bottom of page, how Thai Army suppressed 1889 riot between Chinese triads Tang Kong Xi (Techiew) and Siew Li Kue (Fujian)
• Why do Thais have long surnames?