The Problem of the Chinese in Thailand

THE THAI nation is generally believed to have attained the status of an organized kingdom first under King Ram Kamheng in the thirteenth century. He united under his rule cities as far north as Nan, as far south as Nakon Sritammarat, and as far west as Tavoy. He went twice to China, in 1294 (when Kublai Khan was still alive), and again in 1300. On Ram Kamheng's return to Siam after the first journey he brought with him a number of Chinese artisans. Among them were weavers. Some scholars believe that there were also among them the potters who under the king's patronage started the famous Sawankaloke potteries. Apparently, at least from this time onward, Chinese artisans have been an integral part of the Thai nation. Certainly in the nineteenth century when travelers were allowed to penetrate the hinterland beyond Ayudhia for the first time, they found Chinese established in the trading centers. Thus Holt S. Hallett, who surveyed parts of the north in preparation for a railroad to connect Burma and Thailandwhich was never built-said

Political science · Asian Geopolitics and Ethnography · Cambodian History and Society · Southeast Asian Sociopolitical Studies