On the 28th of April 1767, Ayutthaya, the capital of Siam was captured and
destroyed by the Burmese and the history of the kingdom of Ayutthaya, which lasted
416 years, finally came to its end. It was King Taksin, the Governor of Tak province,
who saved the country in a time of great turmoil. Although he could not defend
Ayutthaya from the Burmese conquest, he led his troops to cities along the east coast of
the Gulf of Siam, such as Rayong, Chonburi, Chanthaburi and Trat, and secured them.
Then in October 1767, he took the port of Thonburi on the west bank of the Chao
Phraya River. He established this location as the headquarters for defeating the
Burmese forces and on the 28th of December in 1768, he declared himself the King of
Siam. The reign of King Taksin is usually described as a story of the kingdom’s
restoration after it was devastated by the Burmese invasion.
Compared to those found in previous ages, we can find an unprecedented level of
detailed accounts from Chinese historical sources, along with this major upturn in
Siamese history. During the Ayutthaya period, Siam experienced the usurpation of the
throne time and time again and four times of dynasty change. As Dhiravat suggests, the
Kings of Ayutthaya, who established a new dynasty, were always challenged by “a
handful of princes and pretenders from the previous dynasty” while establishing their
legitimacy (Dhiravat 1998:125-126). However, this “same old pattern” of dynastic
struggle had never attracted China’s attention. On the contrary, the extinction of the
Siamese Royal line and the state of political confusion in Siam before and after the
annihilation of Ayutthaya drew considerable attention from China. China tried to
collect information regarding Siam’s political situation and did not regard King Taksin
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as a legitimate successor in the early period of his reign. Therefore to find a way out of
political turmoil after the Burmese destruction, it was essential for Siam to be sensitive
to Chinese reactions to maintain smooth relations with China.1
Chin points out through careful examination of Chinese published documents, on
the subject of King Taksin’s diplomatic contacts with China, that the King laid stress
on Siam’s interactions with China in his external relationships and this basic pattern
was carried on by the Kings of the early Rattanakosin dynasty (Chin 1993: 22).
However, how Siam’s indigenous diplomatic view of China changed after the fall of
Ayutthaya has never been fully examined. To reveal this, we need to gather the
knowledge we acquired from the Chinese documents and put it into the framework of
the political history of Siam, which are written based on Siamese historical sources
during the period following the destruction of Ayutthaya.2
To clarify this point, in this
paper I will focus on the process of restoration of the disrupted order of Siam’s tribute
to China during 1767 and 1787 by utilizing historical records of the two countries.3
Since King Taksin’ s political movement was not restricted within the sphere of inner
politics in Siam but included international politics of mainland Southeast Asia and
China, I will focus on the period following the fall of Ayutthaya in the context of