In 1831 the intrepid missionary-adventurer Charles Gutzlaff sailed by native junk along the China coast. En route, he observed that “[the inhabitants of] Chaou-chow-foo [Taechiu], the most eastern department of Canton province, are, in general, mean, uncleanly, avaricious, but affable and fond of strangers.... Being neighbours to the inhabitants of Fuhkeen [Hokkien], the dialects of the two people are very similar, but in their manners there is a great difference. This dissimilarity in their customs, joined to the similarity of their pursuits, has given rise to considerable rivalry, which frequently results in open hostility.”
In Thailand, the Hokkien and Taechiu speech groups compiled a centuries-long record as economically important but quite distinct and often antagonistic immigrant communities. How did the ethnic rivalry that Gutzlaff observed in China play itself out in their adopted land? An analysis of that issue from the Ayutthaya era to its end in the early twentieth century places a number of events and processes of Thai history in a fresh light, providing a degree of clarity while it introduces an additional layer of complexity. This lecture will speculate on the scattered evidence available for the Ayutthaya and Thonburi periods, concluding with the events associated with the founding of Bangkok. Discussion of the gradual decline of the Hokkien- Taechiu rivalry during the Bangkok era will be left for another occasion.
Dr. Edward Van Roy is Visiting Fellow at the Asian Studies Institute, Chulalongkorn University. He has recently completed a book titled
Sampheng: Bangkok’s Chinatown Inside Out and is currently preparing a companion volume on the history of Sampheng.
พระบรมราชูปถัมภ์
