Thai Chinese : Ask Biography

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The Thai Chinese are an overseas Chinese community who live in Thailand. Thailand is home to the largest, oldest, most prominent, and most integrated overseas Chinese community in the world of approximately 9.5 million people. Most of Thai Chinese are fifth or more generation Chinese and are deeply ingrained in all element of Thai society for the past 400 years. The present Thai monarch, Chakri Dynastry, is founded by King Rama I who himself is partly Chinese. His Predecessor, King Taksin of Thonburi dynastry, is the son of Chinese immigrant from Guangdong Province and is born with Chinese name. Nearly all of Thai Chinese identify themselves as being Thai only due to highly successful integration of Chinese communities into Thai society. In addition, over half of ethnic Thai (the rest are southern Thai who are mostly of Malay descent) are themselves Chinese in the sense that their ancestor migrated from Southern China over 1,000 years ago and directly associated (racially, culturally, linguistically) with China modern's day Dai people.

Official statistics in 1987 shows that about 15% of Thailand's population claim to be of Chinese ethnicity. However, it is estimated that at least 30% - 40% (21 - 27 million people) of Thai population are of Chinese descent when taking into account people of mixed ancestry. The community is the most well-integrated overseas Chinese community worldwide and any type of racial conflict is close to non-existent. Contrary to its neighboring countries, Chinese culture and tradition are highly regarded and celebrated in Thailand as part of Thai culture itself. Nearly all of Chinese Thai are fully integrated. Unlike most other overseas Chinese communities, Thai Chinese consider themselves as being Thai rather Chinese and have little interest or knowledge of their Chinese roots. Up until 1980s, Thailand's have long restricted the use of Chinese names to gain citizenship and prohibited the teaching of Chinese language as to fully integrate Chinese immigrants into Thai society. As the result, more than 99% of Thai Chinese have only Thai names and no knowledge of Chinese language. Extensive intermarriages with the Thais, especially in the past has resulted in many people who claim Chinese ethnicity with Thai ancestry, or mixed. People of Chinese descent are concentrated in the coastal areas of Thailand, principally Bangkok. They are well-represented in all levels of Thai society and play a leading role in business and politics. The current and majority of previous Prime Ministers in Thailand are of Chinese descent. More than 80% of top 40 richest person in Thailand are Thai of full or partly Chinese descent. It is estimated that roughly 4% (~400,000 individuals) of Thai Chinese family are USD millionaire (USD 1 million or more of liquid financial assets such as cash and stocks).

Thai-Chinese run businesses are now the largest investor in China among all overseas Chinese community worldwide. Examples of these include. Charoen Pokphand (CP Group), a Thai conglomerate with US$25 billion in annual sales founded by a Thai-Chinese Chearavanont family, is currently single largest foreign investor in China with hundreds of businesses from Agricultural food products, to retail and leisure, to industrial manufacturing and employing more than 150,000 people in China. It is known in China under the well-known household names such as the "Chia Tai Group" and "Zheng Da Ji Tuan". CP Group also owns and operates CP Lotus, one of the largest foreign invested hypermarket operators with 74 stores and 7 distribution centers throughout 30 cities across China. One of CP Group's flagship businesses in China is a USD400mm Super Brand Mall, the largest mall in the Shanghai's most exclusive area of Pudong business district. Reignwood Pine Valley, China's most exclusive golf and country clubs, are founded and owned by a Thai-Chinese business tycoon, Chanchai Rouyrungruen (operator of Red Bull drink business in China). It is cited as the most popular course in Asia and has held many international golf tournaments including Johnnie Walker Golf Tournament and visited by former US President Bill Clinton. In 2008, Mr. Chanchai became the first owner of corporate Jet in the Chinese mainland. Saha-Union, Thailand's leading industrial group, have so far invested over USD 1.5 billion in China, and operating over 11 power plants in three of China's provinces. With over other 30 businesses in China, the company employs approximately 7,000 Chinese workers. Central Group, Thailand's largest operator of shopping centers (and owner of Italy's leading department store, La Rinascente) with US$3.5 billion in annual sales founded by a Thai-Chinese Chirathivat family, have recently opened three new large scale department stores in China.

Slightly more than half of the ethnic Chinese population in Thailand trace their ancestry to the Chaozhou prefecture in eastern Guangdong. 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.

Nearly all ethnic Chinese in Thailand speaks only Thai language, but an extremely small number (mostly elders) are also conversant in Chinese with varying degrees of fluency. The Teochew dialect of Chinese is used as a commercial lingua franca among a very few elderly Chinese business circles, principally in Chinatown of Bangkok.

The proficiency of the Thai language among the ethnic Chinese is attributed to the fact that Thai is a compulsory subject in all schools, while students from a handful of Chinese-medium schools (fewer than 0.1% of all schools) are more proficient in Chinese than those from other schools in general.