Thai or Tai

I should start writing something about Thai people or Thailand in general due to my blog’s name. To be blunt with you, I didn’t dream of  getting any comments from anyone other than those whom I asked or invited to read my writing.  I guess I was wrong.  In that case, I must thank you for checking my blog and left me your comments.  I promise to add some Thai pieces here and there. I can only write about a small part of Thailand that I know and one thing I will not do is to trash my country or my people.  I am proud to be Thai and I love my motherland so here we go my first Thai article. It definitely has to be about my family before I can even think of writing about something else.

My great grand-father (Ah-Kong) was originally from Sichuan province, the mainland China, and was a part of an ethnic group called ‘Tai’ meaning ‘free’.  The corruption of the Qing Dynasty and the massive population increase in China, along with very high taxes, caused many men to leave China for Thailand in search of work. When exactly he arrived in Thailand was unknown to me since the story had never been told or mentioned.  According to my calculation, I assume it must have been between 1810- 1850.

**Original picture location: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tai_peoples **

Early Chinese immigration consisted almost entirely of Chinese men who married Thai women and my great grandfather was not exceptional. I was told that children of such intermarriages were aptly called Sino-thai or known as ‘Luk-Jin’ in Thai. This traditional of Chinese-Thai intermarriage declined when large numbers of Chinese women began to immigrant into Thailand in the 20th century. 

During King Rama VI (1910-1925), a legistration that required the adoptation of Thai surnames was largely directed at easing the tensions with Chinese community by encouraged assimilation.  My grandfather took advantage of the legistration and adoptted the very first Thai surname in our family; that is, Mee-suk = having or possessing happiness.

Shamfully, I didn’t know that he was only half-Chinese. All my life, I had assumed that he was 100% and I had 1/4 of Chinese in me until I talked to my mother. I was pretty ignorance.  My assumption was slightly off but not too far from the fact.  Being a Thai-Chinese, my grandpa could say only one word in Chinese and it was ‘eat’. I found it very funny, though.  He was fluent in Thai language; he finished a compulsory school and became a teacher at a reputable school in Bangkok. Way to go grandpa!!!

My grandmother, who was neither Chinese nor Sino-Thai, mentioned that her father-in-law had lost touch with his Chinese family in Sichuan after his arrival in Thailand. Sadly, a story of ‘Tai’ in my family seemed to be automaticall halted.

I’ve gotten to go to bed. Maybe tomorrow I have something else to write about. I’m too tired to think.

This entry was posted on Monday, June 16th, 2008 at 4:02 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.