Chinese ethnic Thais

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Bilingual signage on Yaowarat Road, Bangkok

Chinese- born Thais or Sinothais ( Thai ชาว ไทย เชื้อสาย จีน ), that is, Thai citizens of Han Chinese descent, are the largest ethnic minority in Thailand . They are one of the largest overseas Chinese communities in Southeast Asia and are considered to be the most integrated and most assimilated.

With Thaiization , the Chinese were often assimilated into the majority population; but also due to the marriage of Chinese with ethnic Thai , the number of Chinese-born Thais cannot be precisely quantified. An estimated 14% of Thais are largely of Chinese descent. Between 20% and 40% of the population have at least some Chinese ancestors. The proportion of the Chinese population is particularly high in Bangkok (most present in the “Chinese Quarter” around Yaowarat Street in the Samphanthawong district ) and other larger cities in central and southern Thailand .

Only a part of them still identify themselves as Chinese, many are aware of a dual Thai-Chinese identity, but most identify themselves predominantly as Thai. In the 2000 census, only 231,350 people stated that they speak Chinese ( standard Chinese or one of the southern Chinese dialects Teochew , Hokkien , Hainanese , Cantonese or Hakka ) as their mother tongue. For second or third generation assimilated Chinese people, whether they identify as ethnic Chinese or Thai is primarily a personal choice.

religion

Visitors in front of the "Chinese" temple Wat Mangkon Kamalawat

Like the majority population, the vast majority of Thais of Chinese descent are , at least nominally, Theravada Buddhists. Similar to the Thai, however, many people of Chinese origin combine this official religion with elements of Chinese folk belief , ancestor worship and Mahayana Buddhism, without seeing any contradiction in this. There are a number of “Chinese” temples that are mainly visited by believers of Chinese descent.

Influence on culture and society in Thailand

Street vendor prepares Chinese lard pastries ( Youtiao = Pa Thong Ko)

Elements of Chinese culture such as astrology and numerology have found their way into majority culture . Certain dishes of the South Chinese cuisine (e.g. dim sum , Siopao = Salapao, Kuai Tiao noodle soups) are now widespread across the country. Vocabulary from Chinese (and especially from the Teochew dialect) first found its way into the Bangkok dialect and then into standard Thai, especially terms from gambling (traditionally a de facto “monopoly” of the Chinese population group) and names of food and courts. Especially in Bangkok and other larger cities with a noteworthy Chinese community, Chinese festivals are celebrated in public, namely the Chinese New Year and the festival of the nine emperor gods ("vegetarian festival").

The Chinese-born Thais have a major impact on the country's economic, political and cultural life. Almost all major entrepreneurs, most prime ministers since 1932, and many academics are ethnic Chinese or have Chinese ancestry.

history

Thian Fa Foundation decorated shrine for the Chinese New Year

Beginning of immigration

The presence of Chinese is documented as early as the Sukhothai period (13th century). According to one of the various legends and theories about the origins of U Thong , the founder of the Siamese kingdom of Ayutthaya , he is said to have been the son of a Chinese merchant. Ayutthaya and other important cities in the empire had Chinese quarters, and the Chinese were particularly active as merchants. The three-seal law from the Ayutthaya period prohibited Thais from marrying or extramarital relations with foreigners on the death penalty. Marriage with Chinese was allowed, however. It is possible that the Siamese rulers did not see them as foreigners because the Chinese had been settled in Siam for centuries and they were mostly Buddhists. A Thai-Chinese marriage therefore did not require conversion to a "foreign" religion such as Islam or Christianity, which Siamese rulers viewed as a threat.

King Taksin , who reunited Siam after the collapse of Ayutthaya in 1767 and founded a new empire with the capital Thonburi (now a district of Bangkok), was the son of a Chinese immigrant from Chaozhou and a Thai. The mother of his successor Rama I , the founder of the Chakri dynasty , which is still in office today , was a Chinese merchant's daughter. He moved the capital to the center of what is now Bangkok, where until then there was a settlement of Chinese traders. Queen Ramas II (the mother of Ramas IV ) was also the daughter of a wealthy Chinese merchant.

The height of immigration in the 19th and early 20th centuries

However, the ancestors of most of the Chinese people in Thailand have immigrated since the mid-18th century. Initially, it was almost exclusively young, single men from southern China who were not allowed to take their families with them under the law at the time. They then often married local Thai women and did not return to China. Their children (luk chin) were brought up as Thai, the assimilation was often complete in the second generation. Under the first kings of the Chakri dynasty (from 1782) people of Chinese descent were given important positions: They received trade monopolies, became court scholars, naval commanders and provincial governors, and some were even raised to the nobility.

In the second half of the 19th century, immigration from China increased rapidly. The Chinese population group was estimated at 230,000 people in 1825, there were 300,000 in 1850 and 792,000 in 1910. The proportion of the population rose from under 5 to about 9.5%. Most of them had fled the poverty and civil unrest ( Taiping Uprising ) in southern China. Over two thirds settled in and around Bangkok and along the northern Gulf coast . They often worked as wage laborers at the port and in rice mills, in sugar fields, in fruit and vegetable gardens, as porters and trading assistants, and as miners in tin mines. Often their employers were Chinese themselves, but immigrated a little earlier and had already risen socially. The government, too, increasingly preferred to pay the Chinese to work on public construction projects instead of using Thai to do compulsory work, because they were often unwilling and less productive.

Since they mostly settled in the larger cities and were outside the feudal system of compulsory labor ( Sakdina ), i.e. were more economically and socially independent than the Thai, they or their children often achieved rapid social advancement. A disproportionately large number of Chinese became merchants, civil servants, tax farmers or even doctors. Local Thai, on the other hand, stayed mostly in the countryside and cultivated rice fields. The more ambitious among them aspired to civil service or monasticism, but hardly any of them - unfamiliar to them - large cities and professions characterized by the market economy. It was mainly the Chinese who were responsible for the rapid economic and infrastructural modernization of Siam in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The construction of canals, railway lines, roads and bridges, new administrative and commercial buildings as well as wholesale and foreign trade were predominantly in Chinese hands.

Soi Wanit 1, narrow Marktgasse in the "Chinese Quarter" Sampheng ( Samphanthawong district )

The assimilation of the Chinese decreased noticeably around 1900. Unlike before, whole families from China came to Siam. They settled in separate Chinese quarters, where they stayed more often to one another. The Teochew dialect was used as a colloquial language not only in the "Chinese quarter" of Sampheng, but also in Bangkok business circles. In 1908 the Chinese went on strike in Bangkok after the government raised the poll tax for Chinese foreigners from 4.5 to 6 baht. Chinese traders stopped selling consumer goods, and for three days there was practically no rice or other food to buy in Bangkok. This event worsened relations between the Chinese and Thai, some of whom felt that a low tax rate was more important to the Chinese than cohesion and loyalty.

Anti-Chinese resentment under Rama VI.

During the reign of King Ramas VI. (Vajiravudhs; ruled 1910–1925) anti-Chinese resentments then emerged, most prominently spread by the king himself. This can also be seen as a reaction to the increased national consciousness of the Chinese and the Xinhai revolution of 1911/12, which ended the monarchy in China, be seen. In his treatise “The Jews of the East” (1914), Vajiravudh labeled the Chinese as incapable, opportunistic, duplicitous, deceitful, secretive, disloyal, mammon-worshiping economic parasites. His writing “The Blocks on Our Car” (1915) was also marked by sinophobic resentment. The Chinese minority with its great economic influence was an obstacle to the Thai national consciousness and economic nationalism propagated by Vajiravudh.

During the reign of Vajiravudh's successor Rama VII (Prajadhipok, ruled 1925–35), the influx of Chinese immigrants remained unchecked. In 1927/28 alone there were 154,600 immigrants (but every year tens of thousands of Chinese returned to China, so the net increase in Chinese in Thailand was not nearly as high). Sino-national associations and institutions enjoyed complete freedom. The number of Chinese schools in Thailand increased from 48 to 271 between 1925 and 1933. Chinese-language newspapers of various political directions flourished. Chinese secret societies were also formed. Political associations in Siam's Chinese community raised funds to support the Kuomintang in China.

Anti-Chinese policy under Phibunsongkhram

Anti-Chinese ideas were put into practice only after the end of the absolute monarchy (1932) during the reign of the radical nationalist Prime Minister Plaek Phibunsongkhram (Phibun), who ruled from 1938 to 1944 . His policy was aimed at economic self-sufficiency and wanted Thailand (he initiated the renaming of Siams in Thailand) in principle, independent of foreign companies. But also because of the idea of ​​an ethnically homogeneous nation that he pursued, he directed himself against the not yet assimilated Chinese. Ironically, Phibun himself was partly of Chinese descent. As part of the " Thaiization ", the residents of Chinese descent were urged to adapt their family names to the Thai.

The government set up state-owned companies to drive back Chinese capital, such as B. Thai Rice Co. Ltd. , and placed certain industries under monopoly. This left Chinese traders and producers in trouble or even bankruptcy. In 1939 and 1940, Chinese were banned from various trades and professions. Taxes on trade profits were sharply increased, mainly affecting Chinese merchants who dominated this sector. The loss of the economic base of many Chinese businessmen also led to an increase in smuggling , extortion and the persecution of other illegal sources of income. Rumors of rampant Chinese lenders and transfers of profits made in Thailand to China fueled anti-Chinese sentiment. In connection with the political developments in China, however, Chinese nationalism also increased among immigrants in Thailand. After the Sino-Japanese War began in 1937, the Chinese boycotted Japanese products in Thailand. Japan was important for Thailand not only as a political alliance, but also as a trading partner.

The police therefore took action against Chinese activists and their political activities. Government agencies increasingly subjected Chinese press products and schools to scrutiny. After official inspections, the authorities closed 25 Chinese schools by mid-1939. In August 1939 the police searched educational institutions, editorial offices and printing plants of Chinese newspapers and arrested hundreds of people, some of whom were later sentenced to prison terms. Phibun's chief ideologist Wichit Wichitwathakan (he too was most likely of Chinese origin himself, but denied this) publicly considered transferring the German National Socialists' Jewish policy to the Chinese in Thailand. The aggressive anti-Chinese sentiment and the increased registration fee led to a decline in the number of immigrants after 60,000 Chinese had immigrated in 1937/38. While workers and small business people were the main victims of the discrimination, the dominance of Chinese big business could not be broken. The assimilation of people of Chinese origin into Thai society increased. During the war years 1941–45, the number of immigrants from and emigrants to China was almost equal. After 1945 migration from China to Thailand increased again sharply.

The founders of the Communist Party of Thailand were predominantly ethnic Chinese. Hence, communism in Thailand was primarily perceived as a Chinese phenomenon. Anti-Chinese resentments increasingly mixed with anti-communist , especially after the victory of the communists in the Chinese Civil War in 1949. Thailand's Chinese were suspected of working as the “ fifth column ” for communist China . After a four-year hiatus in the immediate post-war period, Field Marshal Phibun came to power again in 1948. In the same year, he reduced the quota of Chinese who were allowed to come to Thailand per year from 10,000 (often civil war refugees) to 200. In 1952, the government declared that the quota for Chinese had now been completely fulfilled and that no more immigrants were coming should. Since then, the Chinese community in Thailand has stagnated and there are few first-generation immigrants today. On the other hand, Phibun allowed Chinese citizens to be naturalized under certain circumstances in order to strengthen their loyalty to Thailand and weaken their ties to China. Hundreds of ethnic Chinese were arrested in 1952 on suspicion of communism. In the course of the 1950s, however, business people of Chinese descent often approached Thai officials or the military, who at that time dominated Thailand politically. They entered into informal alliances for mutual benefit: while the Chinese businessmen supported the officials financially, the officials supported them politically. With the Citizenship Act of 1956, naturalization was significantly simplified. As a result, the number of Chinese citizens in Thailand fell from 410,000 to 311,000 between 1960 and 1970.

Rise of Chinese entrepreneurs and politicians

Chinese Gate at the beginning of Yaowarat Street

When Field Marshal Sarit Thanarat took power in 1958, he gave up the policy of promoting state-owned enterprises and obstructing private enterprises - often run by ethnic Chinese. Instead, he invested in the infrastructure, which favored the economic development and growth of privately owned corporations. Foreign investors were also welcome. They often chose Sinothai business people as local partners. Companies founded by ethnic Chinese made a major contribution to the Thai "economic miracle" of the 1960s. They were almost unrivaled. There were no major entrepreneurs who were ethnic Thai, nor did branches of foreign corporations or state banks and industrial companies play a significant role. Entrepreneurs and bankers of Chinese descent did not become politically active themselves, but tried to pursue their interests through the patronage of powerful civil servants or the military.

This changed after the democratic popular uprising in 1973 . Chinese-born business people now often went into politics themselves, were elected to parliament, and founded or supported political parties . Since the renewed transition to multi-party democracy in 1988, almost all chairmen of important parties and prime ministers were at least partially of Chinese descent. Large Sinothai entrepreneurs and their corporations benefited particularly from the economic boom of the 1980s, but were also badly affected by the 1997/98 Asian crisis . You have increasingly appointed Thai in managerial positions, so that the ethnic dividing lines no longer have such a strong impact here. In recent times, Chinese-born entrepreneurs have also found their ethnic background useful in the face of increasing economic ties with China.

Major Thais of Chinese descent

  • King Taksin

  • King Rama I.

  • King Mongkut

  • Chartsiri Sophonphanich (grandson of Chin)

  • Banharn Silpa-archa

  • Chamlong Srimuang

  • Chuan Leekpai

  • Sondhi Limthongkul

  • Thaksin Shinawatra

  • Weng Tojirakarn

  • Abhisit Vejjajiva

  • Yingluck Shinawatra

literature

  • Jiemin Bao: The Chinese diaspora. From China to Thailand to the USA. In: Tan Chee-Beng: Routledge Handbook of the Chinese Diaspora. Routledge, Abingdon (Oxon) / New York 2013, pp. 403-416.
  • Jiemin Bao: Lukchin . Chinese Thai transnational bridge builders. In: Tan Chee-Beng: Chinese Transnational Networks. Routledge, Abingdon (Oxon) / New York 2007, pp. 92-106.
  • Disaphol Chansiri: The Chinese Émigrés of Thailand in the Twentieth Century. Cambria Press, New York 2008.
  • Supang Chantavanich: From Siamese-Chinese to Chinese-Thai. Political Conditions and Identity Shifts among the Chinese in Thailand. In: Leo Suryadinata: Ethnic Chinese as Southeast Asians. Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore 1997, pp. 232-259.
  • Philip A. Kuhn: Chinese Among Others. Emigration to Modern Times. Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham (MD) 2008.
  • Jonathan Rigg: Exclusion and Embededness. The Chinese of Thailand and Vietnam. In: Laurence JC Ma, Carolyn Cartier: The Chinese Diaspora. Space, Place, Mobility, and Identity. Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham (MD) 2003.
  • G. William Skinner: Chinese Assimilation and Thai Politics. In: Journal of Asian Studies , Volume 16, No. 2, 1957, pp. 237-250. Also reprinted in Hong Liu (ed.): The Chinese Overseas. Volume 1, Routledge, Abingdon (Oxon) / New York 2006, pp. 219-233.
  • Tong Chee Kiong, Chan Kwok Bun (eds.): Alternate Identities. The Chinese of Contemporary Thailand. Times Academic Press, Singapore 2001.
  • Wasana Wongsurawat: The Crown and the Capitalists. The Ethnic Chinese and the Founding of the Thai Nation. University of Washington Press, Seattle 2019.

Web links

Commons : Thai people of Chinese descent  - Images and Media Files Collection

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b William A. Smalley: Linguistic Diversity and National Unity. Language Ecology in Thailand. University of Chicago Press, Chicago 1994, p. 207.
  2. ^ Barbara A. West: Encyclopedia of the Peoples of Asia and Oceania. Facts on File, 2009, ISBN 1438119135 , p. 794.
  3. ^ Antonio L. Rappa, Lionel Wee: Language Policy and Modernity in Southeast Asia: Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand. Springer, New York 2006, p. 116.
  4. ↑ a b c d Theraphan Luangthomkun: The Position of Non-Thai Languages ​​in Thailand. In: Language, Nation and Development in Southeast Asia. ISEAS Publishing, Singapore 2007, p. 191.
  5. ↑ Leo Suryadinata: Ethnic Chinese in Southeast Asia. Overseas Chinese, Chinese Overseas, or Southeast Asians? In: Ethnic Chinese as Southeast Asians. 1997, p. 13.
  6. ↑ Maurizio Peleggi: Thailand. The Worldly Kingdom. Reaction Books, London 2007, p. 46.
  7. ^ Ann Maxwell Hill: Tradition, Identity and Religious Eclecticism among Chinese in Thailand. In: Alternate Identities. 2001, p. 302.
  8. ↑ Tong Chee Kiong, Chang Kwok Bun: Rethinking Assimilation and Ethnicity. The Chinese of Thailand. In: Alternate Identities. 2001, p. 31.
  9. ↑ a b c d e Disaphol Chansiri: The Chinese Emigrés of Thailand in the Twentieth Century. 2008, p. 2.
  10. ^ David K. Wyatt : Thailand. A short history. 2nd edition, Silkworm Press, Chiang Mai 2004, p. 54.
  11. ↑ Disaphol Chansiri: The Chinese Emigrés of Thailand in the Twentieth Century. 2008, pp. 24-25.
  12. ^ Wyatt: Thailand. 2004, p. 145.
  13. ^ Wyatt: Thailand. 2004, p. 204.
  14. ^ Smalley: Linguistic Diversity and National Unity. 1994, pp. 207-208.
  15. ^ Wyatt: Thailand. 2004, pp. 203-205.
  16. ^ Thom Huebner: Bangkok's Linguistic Landscapes. Environmental Print, Codemixing and Language Change. In: Linguistic Landscape. A New Approach to Multilingualism. Multilingual Matters, Clevedon et al. a. 2006, ISBN 1-85359-916-6 , p. 43.
  17. ↑ a b Supang Chantavanich: From Siamese-Chinese to Chinese-Thai. 1997, p. 234.
  18. ^ Chee Kiong Tong: Identity and Ethnic Relations in Southeast Asia. Racializing Chineseness. Springer, Dordrecht a. a. 2010, p. 36.
  19. ^ Sebastian Conrad: Globalization and Nation in the German Empire. CH Beck, Munich 2010, p. 197.
  20. ↑ Supang Chantavanich: From Siamese-Chinese to Chinese-Thai. 1997, p. 233.
  21. ↑ a b Supang Chantavanich: From Siamese-Chinese to Chinese-Thai. 1997, p. 251.
  22. ↑ Supang Chantavanich: From Siamese-Chinese to Chinese-Thai. 1997, p. 240.
  23. ↑ a b Martina Peitz: The Elephant's Tiger Leaping. Tiger leaping of the elephant. Rent-seeking, nation building and catch-up development in Thailand. LIT Verlag, Zurich 2008, ISBN 978-3-03735-268-7 , p. 183.
  24. ^ Ansil Ramsay: The Chinese in Thailand. Ethnicity, Power and Cultural Opportunity Structures. In: Global Multiculturalism. Comparative Perspectives on Ethnicity, Race, and Nation. Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham MD 2001, p. 63.
  25. ^ Volker Grabowsky : Brief history of Thailand. CH Beck, Munich 2010, p. 158.
  26. ↑ a b c Peitz: Tiger leaping of the elephant. 2008, p. 191.
  27. ↑ a b Peitz: The Elephant's Tiger Leaping. 2008, p. 192.
  28. ^ Scot Barmé: Luang Wichit Wathakan and the Creation of a Thai Identity. Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore 1993, pp. 40, 57.
  29. ^ Wyatt: Thailand. 2004, p. 257.
  30. ↑ Disaphol Chansiri: The Chinese Emigrés of Thailand in the Twentieth Century. 2008, p. 79.
  31. ↑ Supang Chantavanich: From Siamese-Chinese to Chinese-Thai. 1997, p. 250.
  32. ↑ Supang Chantavanich: From Siamese-Chinese to Chinese-Thai. 1997, p. 244.
  33. ↑ Thak Chaloemtiarana: Thailand. The Politics of Despotic Paternalism. Cornell Southeast Asia Program, Ithaca (NY) 2007, ISBN 978-0-8772-7742-2 , p. 156.
  34. ↑ Supang Chantavanich: From Siamese-Chinese to Chinese-Thai. 1997, p. 252.
  35. ^ John Girling: Corruption, Capitalism and Democracy. Routledge, London / New York 1997, p. 61.
  36. ↑ a b Jamie Mackie: Thailand. In: Chinese Business in Southeast Asia. Contesting cultural explanations, researching entrepreneurship. Routledge Shorton, London / New York 2004, p. 97.
  37. ^ Richard F. Doner, Ansil Ramsay: Competitive Clientelism and Economic Governance. The Case of Thailand. In: Business and the State in Developing Countries. Cornell University Press, Ithaca NY 1997, p. 247.
  38. ^ Yoko Ueda: Sino-Thai Entrepreneurs and the Provincial Economies in Thailand. In: Alternate Identities. 2001, p. 178.
  39. ↑ Doner, Ramsay: Competitive Clientelism and Economic Governance. 1997, p. 263.
  40. ↑ a b c d Mackie: Thailand. 2004, p. 98.
  41. ^ Mackie: Thailand. 2004, p. 96.
  42. ^ Tong: Identity and Ethnic Relations in Southeast Asia. 2010, p. 50.
  43. ↑ Jenny Meng-Hsien Lin, Chin-Ming Lin: Elephant vs. Tiger. A Comparative Analysis of Entrepreneurship of Two Prominent Southeast Asian Beer Corporations. In: Migration, Indigenization and Interaction. Chinese Overseas and Globalization. World Scientific, Singapore 2011, p. 263.
  44. ↑ Disaphol Chansiri: The Chinese Emigrés of Thailand in the Twentieth Century. 2008, p. 190.