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Thai Chinese
Thai people of Chinese Origin
泰国华人 or 泰国华人
ไทยเชื้อสายจีน
Wat mangkon kamalawat.jpg
Visitors at Wat Mangkon Kamalawat, one of the most prominent Chinese Buddhist temples in Thailand
Total population
9,349,900 (est)
14% of the Thai population (2012)[1]
up to 26,000,000
Thais of at least partly Chinese descent (around 40% of the Thai population) (2012)[2]
Regions with significant populations
Thailand
Languages
Thai
historically Varieties of Chinese (Teochew, Hakka, Hainanese, Cantonese and Hokkien)
Religion
Predominantly
Theravada Buddhism
minorities
Mahayana Buddhism, Chinese folk religion, Sunni Islam and Christianity
Related ethnic groups
Thai people • Southern Chinese • Peranakan
Overseas Chinese
Thai Chinese are Thais descended from various Chinese ethnic groups, particularly Han Chinese. Thailand is home to the largest overseas Chinese community in the world [3] with a population of approximately nine million people, accounting for 14% of the Thai population as of 2012.[4] It is also the oldest, most prominent, and best integrated overseas Chinese community. Slightly more than half of the ethnic Chinese population in Thailand trace their ancestry to eastern Guangdong province. 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.[5]
The Thai Chinese have been deeply ingrained into all elements of Thai society for over the past 200 years. The present Thai royal family, the Chakri Dynasty, was founded by King Rama I who himself was partly Chinese. His predecessor, King Taksin of the Thonburi dynasty, was the son of a Chinese immigrant from Guangdong Province and a Thai mother. With the highly successful integration of historic Chinese immigrant communities throughout Thailand, a significant number of Thai Chinese are the descendants of intermarriages between Chinese immigrants and Thais. Many Thai Chinese have intermarried and assimilated into Thai society and self-identify solely as Thai.[6][7]
In modern times, Thai Chinese exist at all levels of Thai society and have a strong presence in Thailand's business sector and political arena.[8][9][10][11][12][13][14] Thai Chinese have a presence in the Thai political scene with many of the Thailand's former Prime Ministers having Chinese ancestry.[15]
Demographics Edit
Thailand has the largest overseas Chinese community in the world.[3] 14% of Thailand's population are considered ethnic Chinese.[4] One Thai academic of Chinese origin claims the share of those having at least partly Chinese ancestry is estimated at about 40%,[2] but without an accurate census or nationwide DNA testing, there is no credible evidence to support this theory.[2]
Identity Edit
For assimilated second and third generation Thai Chinese and even some first generation immigrants, it has remained principally a personal choice whether or not a Thai person of Chinese decent chooses to identify themselves as ethnic Chinese.[16] Nonetheless nearly all Thai Chinese self-identify as Thai, due to their close integration and successful assimilation into Thai society with many Thais of full Chinese descent or partial Chinese descent that even deny being Chinese.[6]
History Edit
Thai Chinese in the past set up small enterprises so as to eke out a living as street vendors, a profession passed on to the present day.
The history of Han 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 the Qianlong Emperor of the Qing dynasty was alarmed by the Burmese military might. From 1766-1769, the Qianlong Emperor sent his armies four times to subdue the Burmese, but the Sino-Burmese Wars ended in complete failure. Ayutthaya then fell in the Burmese–Siamese War (1765–1767). The Chinese efforts diverted the attention of Burma's Siam army; General Taksin, himself 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.[17] 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.[18] However, early Chinese immigration consisted almost entirely of Chinese men who married Thai women. Children of such intermarriages were aptly called Sino-Thai[19] or known as Luk-jin (ลูกจีน) in Thai.[20] This tradition of Chinese-Thai intermarriage declined when large numbers of Chinese women began to emigrate into Thailand in the early 20th century.
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 19th century, 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 foster Thai resentment against the Chinese at a time when the community was expanding rapidly due to immigration. Chinese were also accused of producing poverty for the Thai peasant, charging astronomically high interest rates, when in reality, the Thai banking business was highly competitive.[21] In 1879, the Chinese controlled 100% of the steam powered rice mills, mostly which were sold by the British. Though most of the leading businessmen in Thailand were of Chinese extraction and comprised a significant portion of the Thai upper class, some Thai-Chinese during this period lived in huts without any electric and toilet facilities.[21]
From 1882 to 1917, nearly 13,000 to 34,000 Chinese entered the country per year from southern China which was vulnerable to floods and drought, mostly settling in Bangkok and along the coast of the Gulf of Siam. They predominated in occupations requiring arduous labor, skills, or entrepreneurship worked as blacksmiths, railroad laborers, and rickshaw pullers. While most Thais were engaged in rice production, Chinese brought new ideas towards crops and new methods to supply labor on its rubber plantations, both domestically and internationally.[21] However, republican ideas brought by the Chinese were considered seditious by the Thai government; for example, a translation of Chinese revolutionary Sun Yat-sen's Three Principles of the People was banned under the Communism Act of 1933. The government had regulated Chinese schools since even before compulsory education was established for the country, starting with the Private Schools Act of 1918. This act required all foreign teachers to pass a Thai language test, and for principals of all schools to implement standards set by the Thai Ministry of Education.[22]
Over the years between World War I and World War II, Thailand's major exports, rice, tin, rubber, and timber were under Chinese control. Though Western predominance from the Australians, Europeans, and Americans, competed best with the Chinese in forestry, dredge mining, and steam-powered rice mills. By 1924, ethnic Chinese controlled 3 of the 9 sawmills in Bangkok. Marketing gardening, sugar production and fish exporting remained dominant by the Chinese also. Despite British dominance in the Thai economy in the 1890s, Chinese also controlled 62 percent of the import export business, that operated as agents for the British as well as the Chinese.[21]
Legislation by King Rama VI (1910–1925) that required the adoption of Thai surnames was largely directed at the Chinese community as a number of ethnic Chinese families left Burma between 1930 and 1950 and settled in the Ratchaburi and Kanchanaburi Provinces of Western Thailand. A few of the ethnic Chinese families in that area had already emigrated from Burma in the 19th century. Ethnic Chinese families can be recognized by the shrines in their homes and shops, which are mostly located straight on the ground and painted in red, decorated with gold tinsel and small red lamps.
The Chinese in Thailand also suffered discrimination between the 1930s to 1950s under the military dictatorship of Prime Minister Plaek Phibunsongkhram (in spite of having part-Chinese ancestry himself),[23] which allied itself with the Empire of Japan. The Primary Education Act of 1932 made the Thai language the compulsory medium of education, but as a result of protests from Thai Chinese, by 1939, students were allowed two hours per week of Mandarin instruction.[22] State corporations took over commodities su
Open main menu EditWatch this pageThai ChineseThai people of Chinese Origin泰国华人 or 泰国华人ไทยเชื้อสายจีนWat mangkon kamalawat.jpgVisitors at Wat Mangkon Kamalawat, one of the most prominent Chinese Buddhist temples in ThailandTotal population9,349,900 (est)14% of the Thai population (2012)[1]up to 26,000,000Thais of at least partly Chinese descent (around 40% of the Thai population) (2012)[2]Regions with significant populationsThailandLanguagesThaihistorically Varieties of Chinese (Teochew, Hakka, Hainanese, Cantonese and Hokkien)ReligionPredominantlyTheravada BuddhismminoritiesMahayana Buddhism, Chinese folk religion, Sunni Islam and ChristianityRelated ethnic groupsThai people • Southern Chinese • PeranakanOverseas ChineseThai Chinese are Thais descended from various Chinese ethnic groups, particularly Han Chinese. Thailand is home to the largest overseas Chinese community in the world [3] with a population of approximately nine million people, accounting for 14% of the Thai population as of 2012.[4] It is also the oldest, most prominent, and best integrated overseas Chinese community. Slightly more than half of the ethnic Chinese population in Thailand trace their ancestry to eastern Guangdong province. 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.[5]The Thai Chinese have been deeply ingrained into all elements of Thai society for over the past 200 years. The present Thai royal family, the Chakri Dynasty, was founded by King Rama I who himself was partly Chinese. His predecessor, King Taksin of the Thonburi dynasty, was the son of a Chinese immigrant from Guangdong Province and a Thai mother. With the highly successful integration of historic Chinese immigrant communities throughout Thailand, a significant number of Thai Chinese are the descendants of intermarriages between Chinese immigrants and Thais. Many Thai Chinese have intermarried and assimilated into Thai society and self-identify solely as Thai.[6][7]In modern times, Thai Chinese exist at all levels of Thai society and have a strong presence in Thailand's business sector and political arena.[8][9][10][11][12][13][14] Thai Chinese have a presence in the Thai political scene with many of the Thailand's former Prime Ministers having Chinese ancestry.[15]Demographics EditThailand has the largest overseas Chinese community in the world.[3] 14% of Thailand's population are considered ethnic Chinese.[4] One Thai academic of Chinese origin claims the share of those having at least partly Chinese ancestry is estimated at about 40%,[2] but without an accurate census or nationwide DNA testing, there is no credible evidence to support this theory.[2]Identity EditFor assimilated second and third generation Thai Chinese and even some first generation immigrants, it has remained principally a personal choice whether or not a Thai person of Chinese decent chooses to identify themselves as ethnic Chinese.[16] Nonetheless nearly all Thai Chinese self-identify as Thai, due to their close integration and successful assimilation into Thai society with many Thais of full Chinese descent or partial Chinese descent that even deny being Chinese.[6]History EditThai Chinese in the past set up small enterprises so as to eke out a living as street vendors, a profession passed on to the present day.The history of Han 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 the Qianlong Emperor of the Qing dynasty was alarmed by the Burmese military might. From 1766-1769, the Qianlong Emperor sent his armies four times to subdue the Burmese, but the Sino-Burmese Wars ended in complete failure. Ayutthaya then fell in the Burmese–Siamese War (1765–1767). The Chinese efforts diverted the attention of Burma's Siam army; General Taksin, himself 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.[17] 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.[18] However, early Chinese immigration consisted almost entirely of Chinese men who married Thai women. Children of such intermarriages were aptly called Sino-Thai[19] or known as Luk-jin (ลูกจีน) in Thai.[20] This tradition of Chinese-Thai intermarriage declined when large numbers of Chinese women began to emigrate into Thailand in the early 20th century.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 19th century, 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 foster Thai resentment against the Chinese at a time when the community was expanding rapidly due to immigration. Chinese were also accused of producing poverty for the Thai peasant, charging astronomically high interest rates, when in reality, the Thai banking business was highly competitive.[21] In 1879, the Chinese controlled 100% of the steam powered rice mills, mostly which were sold by the British. Though most of the leading businessmen in Thailand were of Chinese extraction and comprised a significant portion of the Thai upper class, some Thai-Chinese during this period lived in huts without any electric and toilet facilities.[21]
From 1882 to 1917, nearly 13,000 to 34,000 Chinese entered the country per year from southern China which was vulnerable to floods and drought, mostly settling in Bangkok and along the coast of the Gulf of Siam. They predominated in occupations requiring arduous labor, skills, or entrepreneurship worked as blacksmiths, railroad laborers, and rickshaw pullers. While most Thais were engaged in rice production, Chinese brought new ideas towards crops and new methods to supply labor on its rubber plantations, both domestically and internationally.[21] However, republican ideas brought by the Chinese were considered seditious by the Thai government; for example, a translation of Chinese revolutionary Sun Yat-sen's Three Principles of the People was banned under the Communism Act of 1933. The government had regulated Chinese schools since even before compulsory education was established for the country, starting with the Private Schools Act of 1918. This act required all foreign teachers to pass a Thai language test, and for principals of all schools to implement standards set by the Thai Ministry of Education.[22]
Over the years between World War I and World War II, Thailand's major exports, rice, tin, rubber, and timber were under Chinese control. Though Western predominance from the Australians, Europeans, and Americans, competed best with the Chinese in forestry, dredge mining, and steam-powered rice mills. By 1924, ethnic Chinese controlled 3 of the 9 sawmills in Bangkok. Marketing gardening, sugar production and fish exporting remained dominant by the Chinese also. Despite British dominance in the Thai economy in the 1890s, Chinese also controlled 62 percent of the import export business, that operated as agents for the British as well as the Chinese.[21]
Legislation by King Rama VI (1910–1925) that required the adoption of Thai surnames was largely directed at the Chinese community as a number of ethnic Chinese families left Burma between 1930 and 1950 and settled in the Ratchaburi and Kanchanaburi Provinces of Western Thailand. A few of the ethnic Chinese families in that area had already emigrated from Burma in the 19th century. Ethnic Chinese families can be recognized by the shrines in their homes and shops, which are mostly located straight on the ground and painted in red, decorated with gold tinsel and small red lamps.
The Chinese in Thailand also suffered discrimination between the 1930s to 1950s under the military dictatorship of Prime Minister Plaek Phibunsongkhram (in spite of having part-Chinese ancestry himself),[23] which allied itself with the Empire of Japan. The Primary Education Act of 1932 made the Thai language the compulsory medium of education, but as a result of protests from Thai Chinese, by 1939, students were allowed two hours per week of Mandarin instruction.[22] State corporations took over commodities su
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