Thai-Chinese Heritage in Bangkok
On our recent trip to Asia, I was delighted to visit Bangkok, Thailand’s vibrant capital. Since Brian and I did not particularly enjoy our 2019 visit to Thailand, I was eager to return and explore the cosmopolitan side of Thailand. Perhaps we were just not the types of travelers who prefer urban energy over a tropical beach holiday. We certainly enjoyed the opportunity to check out the city’s numerous palaces and temples during our three-day stay, but what made this trip special was that I was able to meet up with my cousin, Kevin.
Kevin used to stay with my family when I first immigrated to California, and I haven’t seen him for over two decades. I want to take advantage of this opportunity to catch up and see how he acclimated to life in Thailand. It appears that they have no plans to relocate back to Taiwan or the United States anytime soon. As an immigrant myself, I was keen to see how his family, particularly their two daughters, grapples with the issues of cultural identity as ethnic Chinese in Thailand. Do they identify as Thai, Chinese, or Taiwanese?
Although Thai Chinese represent only 15% of the population, they are by far the largest ethnic minority and have historically been influential across a broad section of Thai society. Six out of the last ten Thai prime ministers are of part-Chinese descent, including the incumbent, Paetongtarn Shinawatra. Perhaps more symbolically, King Rama I, the founding monarch of the current Thai royal house, is himself of half-Chinese descent. Unlike other countries in the region, such as Vietnam and Indonesia, the anti-Chinese sentiment has been largely held in check in Thailand. It is one aspect of Thailand that warrants a look for any visitors to Bangkok.
Bangkok Chinatown
Not surprisingly, the center of Bangkok’s Thai Chinese community is Chinatown. The history of this Chinatown dates back as far as Bangkok itself. When the royal family relocated the capital here from Ayutthaya, King Taksin, who was part Chinese himself, enlisted the help of Teochew merchants from southeastern China to construct his new capital. When Taksin was overthrown by King Rama I in 1782, the Chinese community was relocated to Sampheng, a swampy area outside the fortified walls. As the settlement expands, Sampheng evolves into the Chinatown we see today.
Thai Chinese in Bangkok embody a mercantile heritage closely tied to the liberalization of global trade. Following the signing of the Bowring Treaty, international trade expanded significantly, making Bangkok one of the most important trading hubs in Southeast Asia. It did not take long for Chinatown to become Bangkok’s main commercial center. Its commercial importance also made this one of the densest neighborhoods in the country. Unsurprisingly, Chinatown also became a notable hub for entertainment and a red-light district.
The commercial thoroughfare of Chinatown is Yaowarat Road. The stretch running through the center is particularly popular with visitors, mainly due to the numerous neon advertisements hanging from the buildings and street food offerings. Having grown up in Taiwan, the streetscape here is familiar to me. Unregulated billboards were such a menace in Taiwan, so I was amused by the fact that Yaowarat Road has become such an Instagramable spot for foreign visitors. In the age of digital advertising, I suppose the place’s retro billboards are a place of nostalgia for a bygone era.
Like any other Chinatown around the world, this is an excellent place for affordable street food. However, our visit coincided with Songkran, which is the least optimal time for street food. While I expected most of the city to be quiet, I was surprised that most of Chinatown appeared abandoned. The Chinese are known for being entrepreneurial, and I mistakenly thought only the lunar new year would shut Chinatown down. It was jarring to see how light the traffic and crowd were. There were only a couple of restaurants open during our visit. We count ourselves very lucky that one of the very few open eateries is the Michelin-listed Nai Ek Roll Noodle. The famous Thai-Chinese roll noodle was actually our first meal in Bangkok.
With most stores shuttered for Songkran, the most active section of Chinatown is the market street of Sampheng. The wholesale market was once a major distribution center for fresh foods and imports. But like other traditional markets in Bangkok, the businesses had gone into precipitous decline since the rise of e-commerce. As much as we would like to see rows and rows of shops selling traditional Chinese medicines and dried goods, most items on offer here are mass-produced goods like cell phone cases and fashion accessories. Because of Songkran, the most popular items for sale were the wide variety of water guns.
Having visited Manhattan’s Chinatown for over a decade, there is something very familiar about Bangkok’s Chinatown. As a historical ethnic enclave, Chinatown is a spiritual center of early immigrants and their legacy. As immigration from China increased after the Chinese Civil War, generations of new immigrants set up their separate communities, often organizing themselves among those from the same region of China. New Chinatowns sprang up across the cities. While new immigrants still identify with the original Chinatown as a spiritual center, the entire neighborhood could sometimes feel like a time warp.
Wat Mangkon Kamalawat is the religious and spiritual center of Thai Chinese.
The spiritual center of the Thai Chinese community is probably Wat Mangkon Kamalawat. Translated as Dragon Lotus Temple, the complex was founded in 1871 by a Teochew monk and is named after local lotus seeds that supposedly have extraordinary medicinal powers. The temple is hidden in a courtyard and is accessible via rather conspicuous entrances from the main roads. The temple looks familiar to me, as I grew up visiting in Taiwan. The first difference I noticed was the modesty dress code, barring visitors with shorts or exposed shoulders. That said, I don’t think they enforced the rules during our visits.
Wat Mangkon Kamalawat.
A conspicuous entrance to Wat Mangkon Kamalawat.
The complex followed a traditional Chinese temple layout, and it was comfortably familiar to me. Because my family has never been religious, I am a horrible tour guide to explain all the deities to Brian. Our best point of reference would be the Mengjia Longshan Temple in Taipei. Wat Mangkon Kamalawat may be a lot older, but the building lacks the layer of patina visitors would expect. I may be biased, but I could honestly say the temple in Taipei was far more enjoyable and atmospheric for visitors.
Museum Siam
At the main entrance to Wat Mangkon Kamalawat, I spotted a giant portrait of the Thai king hanging high above. I found the “Thain-ess” of this Thai Chinese temple fascinating. The question of Thai-ness is an interesting one, and Bangkok happens to have just one such museum to answer that question. A few blocks away from the world-famous Wat Pho is Museum Siam, a “discovery museum” dedicated to the meaning of national identity and Thailand’s relations with other cultures in the region. In the era of globalization and increased cross-migration, issues with national identity could not be more relevant for a multi-ethnic nation like Thailand.
Housed inside the former office of the Ministry of Commerce, Museum Siam is surprisingly small. It was not aware of what it means to be a “discovery” museum, and it wasn’t long until Brian said that the target audience is children. Since we knew so little about Thailand, a children's museum was just fine with us. With the help of a free audioguide, the museum tells an abridged history of Thailand with an international perspective. The exhibit first showcases some of the symbols that are most quintessentially Thai, such as the royal throne and ceremonial costume of the Ayutthaya period. The subsequent galleries gradually introduce different lesser-known symbols of Thai identity, such as Chut Thai and Sala Thai.
For me, the most significant section of the museum is the gallery with a tired podium filled with mannequins. The tiers represent various levels of “Thai-ness”, at least according to the curator’s perspective. At the top is a representation of Ravana, the ultimate divinity in Thai Buddhism. Near the bottom are water-gun-wielding participants of Songkran and a statue of Ronald McDonald giving the Thai wai greeting gestures. The levels of “Thai-ness” are determined by three pillars: nation, religion, and king. This national hegemony is said to be a 20th-century invention and a tool for Thaisification.
While many contemporary Thai scholars raised objections to these three pillars of Thai-ness, it was far from me to judge. Flawed or not, this metric does help us to evaluate how many Thais assess their surroundings and cultural traditions. Few things could embody all three elements, so I could not help wondering whether this understanding of Thai-ness is a project by the Thai military to elevate the monarchy for their political ambitions. Thailand’s strict Lèse-majesté laws certainly cement the monopoly of the Thai identity.
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