View source for Thai Chinese

<!-- {{subst:requested move|Chinese Thai|reason=More correct English is "Chinese Thai", people of Chinese origin with Thai nationality. This is similar to for example "Chinese Americans" which are Americans of Chinese ancestry. An "American Chinese" is a Chinese national of American origin. A Thai Chinese is a Chinese national of Thai origin.}} -->

{{Short description|Ethnic group in Thailand}}
{{About|people of Chinese origin in Thailand|people of Chinese origin in Phuket and the Chinese minority in Northern Thailand|Peranakans|and|Chin Haw}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2020}}
{{Infobox ethnic group
| group            = Thai Chinese
| native_name      = 泰国华人
| image            = [[File:CHM_4202.jpg|220px]]
| caption          = [[Wat Mangkon Kamalawat]], a Chinese Buddhist temple in Thailand
| pop              = {{circa}} '''9.3-10 million''' {{smaller|(Chinese ethnicity or descent)}}<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.culturaldiplomacy.org/academy/index.php?chinese-diaspora|title=Chinese Diaspora|access-date=2022-04-01|archive-date=27 September 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210927053139/https://www.culturaldiplomacy.org/academy/index.php?chinese-diaspora|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ocac.gov.tw/english/public/public.asp?selno%3D1163%26no%3D1163%26level%3DB |title=Overseas Compatriot Affairs Commission, R.o.c. |accessdate=2016-09-23 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110104195124/http://www.ocac.gov.tw/english/public/public.asp?selno=1163&no=1163&level=B |archivedate=2011-01-04 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://minorityrights.org/country/thailand/|title=Thailand - World Directory of Minorities & Indigenous Peoples|date=19 June 2015|website=Minority Rights Group}}</ref><br/>'''13.2%''' of the Thai population (2013)
| popplace         = {{flagicon|TH}} [[Thailand]]
| pop1             = 9.3-10 million (2013)<ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://minorityrights.org/country/thailand/|title=Thailand - World Directory of Minorities & Indigenous Peoples|date=19 June 2015|website=Minority Rights Group}}</ref><br/>country-wide, with significant diaspora in:<br/>
{{flag|Australia}}<br/>{{flag|United States}}<br/>{{flag|New Zealand}}<br/>{{flag|Canada}}<br/>{{flag|Taiwan}}<br/>{{flag|Malaysia}}<br/>{{flag|United Kingdom}}<br/>{{flag|Singapore}}
| langs            = '''Primary languages''': [[Thai language|Thai]] (dominant)<br /> '''Mother-Tongue languages''': [[Chinese Language]]:[[Teochew language|Teochew]] (historically), [[Hokkien language|Hokkien]], [[Hakka language|Hakka]], [[Cantonese language|Cantonese]], [[Hainanese language|Hainanese]] & [[Mandarin Chinese|Mandarin]]
| rels             = Predominantly<br/>[[Theravada Buddhism]], [[Chinese folk religion]]<br/>
Minorities<br/>[[Agnostic]], [[Christianity]], [[Confucianism]], [[Mahayana Buddhism]] ([[Chinese Buddhism]]), [[Taoism]]
| related          = [[Thai people|Thais]]<br/>[[Peranakans]]<br/>[[Overseas Chinese]]<br/>[[Han Chinese]]
}}
{{Infobox Chinese
| s = {{linktext|泰国华人 / 华裔|泰国人}}
| t = {{linktext|泰國華人 / 華裔|泰國人}}
| poj = Hôa-è Thài-kok-lâng
| tl = Huâ-è Thài-kok-lâng
| teo = Huê <sup>1</sup> i<sup>6</sup> tai<sup>3</sup> gog<sup>4</sup> nang<sup>5</sup>
| j = Waa4 Jeoi6 Taai3 Gwok3 Jan4
| p = Huáyì Tàiguórén
}}

'''Thai Chinese''' (also known as '''Chinese Thais''', '''Sino-Thais''') are people of [[Chinese people|Chinese]] descent in [[Thailand]].    Thai Chinese are the largest mixed group in the country and the largest [[overseas Chinese]] community in the world with a population of approximately 9.5 million people, accounting for 11–14 percent of the country's total population as of 2012. It is also one of the oldest and most prominently integrated [[overseas Chinese]] communities, with a history dating back to the 1100s. Slightly more than half of the ethnic Chinese population in Thailand trace their ancestry to [[Chaoshan]], proven by the prevalence of the [[Teochew dialect]] among the Chinese community in Thailand as well as other Chinese languages.<ref name="Baker-2009">{{cite book |last1=Baker |first1=Chris |last2=Phongpaichit |first2=Pasuk |title=A History of Thailand |date=2009 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9780521759151 |edition=2nd, paper}}</ref>{{RP|93}} The term as commonly understood signifies those whose ancestors immigrated to Thailand before 1949.

The Thai Chinese have been deeply ingrained into all elements of Thai society over the past 200 years. The present Thai royal family, the [[Chakri dynasty]], was founded by King [[Rama I]] who himself was partly Chinese.<ref name="RamaI">{{cite book|last1=Reid|first1=Anthony|title=A History of Southeast Asia: Critical Crossroads|year=2015|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cETJBgAAQBAJ&q=chakri+dynasty+chinese+mon&pg=PA215|page=215|publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=9780631179610}}</ref> His predecessor, King [[Taksin]] of the [[Thonburi Kingdom]], was the son of a Chinese father from Chaoshan.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=0LgSI9UQNpwC&dq=tran+fukien&pg=PA8 Woodside 1971], p. 8.</ref> With the successful integration of historic Chinese immigrant communities in Thailand, a significant number of Thai Chinese are the descendants of intermarriages between ethnic Chinese and native Thais. Many of these descendants have assimilated into Thai society and self-identify solely as Thai.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Jiangtao |first1=Shi |title=Time of uncertainty lies ahead for Bangkok's ethnic Chinese |url=https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/2028412/time-uncertainty-lies-ahead-bangkoks-ethnic-chinese |access-date=28 April 2020 |work=South China Morning Post |date=16 October 2016}}</ref><ref name=Gambe-2000/><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Chaloemtiarana |first1=Thak |title=Are We Them? Textual and Literary Representations of the Chinese in Twentieth-Century Thailand |journal=Southeast Asian Studies |date=25 December 2014 |volume=3 |issue=3 |url=https://englishkyoto-seas.org/2014/12/vol-3-no-3-thak-chaloemtiarana/ |access-date=28 April 2020}}</ref>

The Thai Chinese are well-established in the middle class and upper classes of Thai society and are well represented at all levels of Thai society.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Susanto |first1=A. B. |last2=Susa |first2=Patricia |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=budNEqARJBAC&q=chinese+southeast+asia+percent+control&pg=PT15 |title=The Dragon Network: Inside Stories of the Most Successful Chinese Family |publisher=Wiley |date=2013 |access-date=2 December 2014|isbn=9781118339404}}</ref><ref name="google1">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GD5Hya8lgBcC&q=ethnic+chinese+control+percent+of+banks&pg=PA150 |title=Choosing Coalition Partners: The Politics of Central Bank Independence in ... - Young Hark Byun, The University of Texas at Austin. Government - Google Books |access-date=2012-04-23 |isbn=9780549392392 |year=2006 }}{{Dead link|date=April 2020}}</ref><ref name=Chua-2003>{{cite book |last1=Chua |first1=Amy|author-link=Amy Chua |title=World on Fire: How Exporting Free Market Democracy Breeds Ethnic Hatred and Global Instability |date=2003 |publisher=Doubleday |isbn=978-0-385-72186-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hdcrAAAAYAAJ |access-date=27 April 2020 |format=Paperback}}</ref>{{RP|3, 43}}<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Vatikiotis |first1=Michael|last2=Daorueng |first2=Prangtip |title=Entrepreneurs |date=12 February 1998 |journal=Far Eastern Economic Review |access-date=27 April 2020 |url = http://www.chaihah.co.th/docs/Far%20Eastern%20Economic%20Review%20260698.pdf}}</ref><ref name="findarticles1">{{cite journal |url=https://www.proquest.com/openview/406208040b237e1e655ee6977182f321/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=40946 |title=High technology and globalization challenges facing overseas Chinese entrepreneurs |author1=David Ahlstrom |author2=Michael N. Young |author3=Frankie M.C. Ng |author4=Christine M. Chan |date=Spring 2004 |journal=SAM Advanced Management Journal |volume=69 |issue=2 |pages= }}</ref> They play a leading role in Thailand's business sector and dominate the Thai economy today.<ref name="Chua-1998"/>{{RP|22}}<ref name="Chua-2003" />{{RP|179}}<ref name="Yeung-2005">{{Cite book |title=Chinese Capitalism in a Global Era: Towards a Hybrid Capitalism |last=Yeung |first= Henry Wai-Chung|publisher=Routledge |year=2005 |isbn=978-0415309899}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CiTAx3unBkYC&q=business+class&pg=PA713 |title=World and Its Peoples: Eastern and Southern Asia - Marshall Cavendish Corporation, Not Available (NA) - Google Books |date= 2007-09-01|publisher=Marshall Cavendish |access-date=2012-04-23|isbn=9780761476313}}{{nonspecific|date=April 2020}}</ref> In addition, Thai Chinese elites of Thailand have a strong presence in Thailand's political scene with most of Thailand's former Prime Ministers and the majority of [[National Assembly (Thailand)|parliament]] having at least some Chinese ancestry.<ref name="Kolodko-2005">{{cite book|last1=Kolodko |first1=Grzegorz W.|title=Globalization And Social Stress|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_z4tsyRs_-MC&q=ethnic+chinese+control+percent+southeast+asia+retail+trade&pg=PA177|access-date=2020-04-29 |isbn=9781594541940|year=2005|publisher=Nova Science Publishers|location=Hauppauge NY|page=171}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Marshall|first1=Tyler|title=Southeast Asia's new best friend|url=http://articles.latimes.com/2006/jun/17/opinion/oe-marshall17/2|access-date=8 November 2015|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|date=17 June 2006 |archive-date=6 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306185049/http://articles.latimes.com/2006/jun/17/opinion/oe-marshall17/2|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="Chua-1998">{{Cite journal |last=Chua |first=Amy L. |date=January 1998 |title=Markets, Democracy, and Ethnicity: Toward A New Paradigm For Law and Development |url=http://digitalcommons.law.yale.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1340&context=fss_papers |journal=The Yale Law Journal |volume=108 |issue=1 |pages=58|doi=10.2307/797471 |jstor=797471 }}</ref>{{RP|58}}<ref name="Peera-2016">{{cite news |last1=Songkünnatham |first1=Peera |date=30 June 2018 |title=Betraying my heritage: the riddles of Chinese and Lao |url=https://isaanrecord.com/2018/06/30/the-riddles-of-chineseandlao/ |url-status=dead |access-date=29 April 2020 |work=The Isaan Record}}</ref> Thai Chinese elites of Thailand are well represented among Thailand's rulers and other sectors.<ref name="Smith-2005">{{cite journal |last1=Smith |first1=Anthony |title=Thailand's Security and the Sino-Thai Relationship |journal=China Brief |date=1 February 2005 |volume=5 |issue=3 |url=https://jamestown.org/program/thailands-security-and-the-sino-thai-relationship/ |access-date=29 April 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Jiangtao |first1=Shi |date=14 October 2016 |title=In Bangkok's Chinatown, grief and gratitude following Thai king's death |url=https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/2028246/bangkoks-chinatown-grief-and-gratitude-following-thai |access-date=29 April 2020 |work=South China Morning Post}}</ref>

==Demographics==
Thailand has the largest overseas Chinese community in the world outside Greater China.<ref>{{cite web|title=Chinese Diaspora Across the World: A General Overview|website=Academy for Cultural Diplomacy|url=http://www.culturaldiplomacy.org/academy/index.php?chinese-diaspora}}</ref> 11 to 14 percent of Thailand's population are considered ethnic Chinese.{{Citation needed|date=April 2026}}

==Official status==
===Etymology===
Thailand's longstanding policy was not to recognize Thai Chinese as a separate ethnicity, based on the [[Thaification|principle of considering all Tai groups living in Thailand]] as part of the [[Thai people|Central Thai people]]. By [[Endonym and exonym|endonym]], with partial success, now Thai Chinese refer themselves as {{translit|th|chao thai}} ({{langx|th|[[Wikt:ไทย#Thai|ชาวไทย]]}}, {{IPA|th|tɕʰaːw tʰaj|IPA}}), however, the term often creates ambiguity among the various Tai groups in the country, especially the Siamese Thai who also call themselves the same, these groups Thai Chinese refer as {{translit|th|khon pak klang}} ({{langx|th|[[Wikt:คนภาคกลาง#Thai|คนภาคกลาง]]}}, <small>lit: Central Thai people</small>) or {{translit|th|khon tai}} ({{langx|th|[[Wikt:คนใต้#Thai|คนใต้]]}}, <small>lit: Southern Thai people</small>).

In cases where details are required, Thai Chinese people refer to themselves as {{translit|th|khon thai chuea sai chin}} ({{langx|th|[[Wikt:ไทย#Thai|คนไทยเชื้อสายจีน]]}}, <small>lit: Thai of Chinese origin</small>), or sometimes may refer to the [[Ancestral home (Chinese)|ancestral land]]s as {{translit|th|khon krung thep}} ({{langx|th|[[Wikt:กรุงเทพ#Thai|คนกรุงเทพ]]}}, <small>lit: Krungthepian, Bangkoker</small>) or {{translit|th|khon chon bu ri}} ({{langx|th|[[Wikt:ชลบุรี#Thai|คนชลบุรี]]}}, <small>lit: Chonburian</small>), which well known that the Central Thais (Siamese) and [[Mon people|Mon]]s were not indigenous to these two provinces but recent [[internal migration]], [[Bangkok]] and [[Chonburi province|Chonburi]]. The term ''Krungthepians'' still pinned a resentful connotation towards Central Thais, when Krungthep accent is considered as [[Prestige (sociolinguistics)|prestige dialect]] of Central Thai language, while the Central Thai language of Central Thai people is considered an inappropriate language, known as {{translit|th|ner}} ({{langx|th|[[Wikt:เหน่อ#Thai|เหน่อ]]}}).

===Identity===
For assimilated second and third generation descendants of Chinese immigrants, it is principally a personal choice whether or not to identify themselves as ethnic Chinese.<ref>{{Cite book |first=Maurizio |last=Peleggi |year=2007 |title=Thailand: The Worldly Kingdom |publisher=Reaktion Books |page=46}}</ref> Nonetheless, nearly all Thai Chinese solely self-identify as Thai, due to their close integration and successful assimilation into Thai society.<ref name="ReferenceA">{{citation |title=Who Are The Thai-Chinese And What Is Their Contribution to Thailand? |author=Paul Richard Kuehn }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Skinner|first=G. William|title=Chinese Assimilation and Thai Politics|journal=The Journal of Asian Studies|volume=16|number=2|year=1957|pages=237–250|doi=10.2307/2941381|jstor=2941381|s2cid=154714627 }}</ref> [[G. William Skinner]] observed that the level of assimilation of the descendants of Chinese immigrants in Thailand disproved the "myth about the 'unchanging Chinese'", noting that "''assimilation is considered complete when the immigrant's descendant identifies himself in almost all social situations as a Thai, speaks Thai language habitually and with native fluency, and interacts by choice with Thai more often than with Chinese.''"<ref name=Skinner-1957>{{cite book |last1=Skinner |first1=G, William |title=Chinese Society in Thailand: An Analytical History |date=c. 1957 |publisher=Cornell University Press |location=Ithaca |hdl=2027/heb.02474 |isbn=9781597400923 }}</ref>{{RP|237}} Skinner believed that the assimilation success of the Thai Chinese was a result of the wise policy of the Thai rulers who, since the 17th century, allowed able Chinese tradesmen to advance their ranks into the kingdom's nobility.<ref name=Skinner-1957 />{{RP|240-241}} The rapid and successful assimilation of the Thai Chinese has been celebrated by the Chinese descendants themselves, as evident in contemporary literature such as the novel ''Letters from Thailand'' ({{langx|th|จดหมายจากเมืองไทย}}) by Botan.<ref>{{cite book|title=Letters from Thailand: A Novel|isbn=9747551675|author1=Bōtan|date=2002-01-01|publisher=Silkworm Books }}</ref>

Today, the Thai Chinese constitute a significant part of the royalist/nationalist movements. When the then prime minister [[Thaksin Shinawatra]], who is Thai Chinese, was [[2006 Thai coup d'état|ousted from power in 2006]], it was [[Sondhi Limthongkul]], another prominent Thai Chinese businessman, who formed and led [[People's Alliance for Democracy]] (PAD) movement to protest the successive governments run by Thaksin's allies.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.pressreader.com/thailand/the-nation/20091019/282110632670264|title=The Symbolism of Sondhi's Hat|via=PressReader}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Thai PM condemns race-baiting at anti-govt rally |url=https://www.asiaone.com/News/Latest%2BNews/Asia/Story/A1Story20080805-80724.html |access-date=29 April 2020 |work=Asia One |agency=Agence France-Presse |date=5 August 2008}}</ref> Mr. Sondhi accused Mr. Thaksin of corruption based on improper business ties between Thaksin's corporate empire and the Singapore-based [[Temasek Holdings|Temasek Holdings Group]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Sondhi Limthongkul|date=2009-01-23 |website=Political Prisoners in Thailand |url=https://thaipoliticalprisoners.wordpress.com/pendingcases/sondhi-limthongkul/}}</ref> The Thai Chinese in and around Bangkok were also the main participants of the [[2013–2014 Thai political crisis|months-long political campaign]] against the government of Ms. [[Yingluck]] (Mr. Thaksin's sister), between November 2013 and May 2014, the event which culminated in the [[2014 Thai coup d'état|military takeover in May 2014]].<ref>{{cite news |last1=Banyan |title=Why Thai politics is broken |url=https://www.economist.com/the-economist-explains/2014/01/21/why-thai-politics-is-broken |access-date=29 April 2020 |newspaper=The Economist |date=21 January 2014}}</ref>

== History ==
===First wave (Before 1767)===
Traders from China began arriving in [[Ayutthaya Kingdom|Ayutthaya]] by at least the 12th century. In the 1420s, Chinese merchants were involved in the construction of the major Ayutthaya temple [[Wat Ratchaburana, Ayutthaya|Wat Ratchaburana]] and left several Chinese inscriptions and cultural objects within the temple's crypt, including the inscribing of several Chinese family names.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Baker |first1=Chris |last2=Phongpaichit |first2=Pasuk |title=A History of Ayutthaya |date=11 May 2017 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-107-19076-4 |page=54 |edition=Kindle |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GHiuDgAAQBAJ |language=en}}</ref> According to the ''Chronicles of Ayutthaya'', [[Ekathotsarot]] (r. 1605–1610) had been "concerned solely with ways of enriching his treasury," and was "greatly inclined toward strangers and foreign nations".

Following the Qing revocation of the private trade ban in 1684, Chinese immigration to Siam steadily increased, particularly following the massive Southern Chinese famines of the early 18th century. Approximately 20,000 Chinese lived in Siam in the 1730s{{efn|According to a French missionary.}} and were prominent in the city of Ayutthaya and were a prominent faction within the Siamese court by 1767.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Baker |first1=Chris |last2=Phongpaichit |first2=Pasuk |title=A History of Ayutthaya |date=11 May 2017 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-107-19076-4 |page= |edition= |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GHiuDgAAQBAJ |language=en}}</ref>

===Second wave (1767–1911)===
When King [[Taksin]], himself the son of a Chinese immigrant, ruled Thailand, King Taksin actively encouraged Chinese immigration and trade. Chinese settlers came to Siam in large numbers.<ref>{{cite book|title=Blood Brothers: The Criminal Underworld of Asia|last=Lintner|first=Bertil|publisher=[[Macmillan Publishers]]|isbn=1-4039-6154-9|page=234|author-link=Bertil Lintner|year=2003}}</ref> Immigration continued over the following years, and the Chinese population in Thailand jumped from 230,000 in 1825 to 792,000 by 1910. By 1932, approximately 12.2 percent of the population of Thailand was Chinese.<ref>{{cite book|title=A Short History of China and Southeast Asia: Tribute, Trade and Influence|last=Stuart-Fox|first=Martin|publisher=[[Allen & Unwin]]|isbn=1-86448-954-5|page=126|year=2003}}</ref>

The early Chinese immigration consisted almost entirely of men who did not bring women. Therefore, it became common for male Chinese immigrants to marry local Thai women. The children of such relationships were called ''Sino-Thai''<ref>{{cite book|title=Historical Dictionary of Thailand|author=Smith NieminenWin|isbn=0-8108-5396-5|page=231|publisher=Praeger Publishers|year=2005|edition=2nd}}</ref> or ''luk-jin'' (ลูกจีน) in Thai.<ref>{{cite book|title=In the Place of Origins: Modernity and Its Mediums in Northern Thailand|author= Rosalind C. Morris|year=2000|publisher=[[Duke University Press]]|isbn=0-8223-2517-9|page=334}}</ref> These Chinese-Thai intermarriages declined somewhat in the early 20th century, when significant numbers of Chinese women also began immigrating to Thailand.

Economic recession and unemployment forced many men to leave China for Thailand in search of work to seek wealth. If successful, they sent money back to their families in China. Many Chinese immigrants prospered under the "[[tax farming]]" system, whereby private individuals were sold the right to collect taxes at a price below the value of the tax revenues.

The local Chinese community had long dominated domestic commerce and had served as agents for royal trade monopolies. With the rise of European economic influence, however, many Chinese shifted to opium trafficking and tax collecting, both of which were despised occupations.

From 1882 to 1917, nearly 13,000 to 34,000 Chinese legally entered Thailand per year, mostly settling in [[Bangkok]] and along the coast of the [[Gulf of Siam]]. They predominated in occupations requiring arduous labor, skills, or entrepreneurship. They worked as blacksmiths, railroad labourers and [[rickshaw]] pullers. While most Thais were engaged in rice production, the Chinese brought new farming ideas and new methods to supply labor on its rubber plantations,  both domestically and internationally.<ref name="Sowell-1997">{{cite book|last=Sowell|first=Thomas|title=Migrations and Cultures: A World View|year=1997|publisher=Basic Books|isbn=978-0-465-04589-1}}</ref> However, [[republicanism|republican]] ideas brought by the Chinese were considered seditious by the Thai government. For example, a translation of Chinese revolutionary [[Sun Yat-sen]]'s ''[[Three Principles of the People]]'' was banned under the Communism Act of 1933. The government had regulated [[Chinese school]]s even before [[compulsory education]] was established in the country, starting with the Private Schools Act of 1918. This act required all foreign teachers to pass a [[Thai language]] test and for principals of all schools to implement standards set by the Thai [[Ministry of Education (Thailand)|Ministry of Education]].<ref name="W">{{cite journal|last=Wongsurawat|first=Wasana|date=November 2008|title=Contending for a Claim on Civilization: The Sino-Siamese Struggle to Control Overseas Chinese Education in Siam|journal=Journal of Chinese Overseas|volume=4|number=2|pages=161–182|doi=10.1163/179325408788691264 |s2cid=197649902 }}</ref>

===Third wave (1911–1949)===
Legislation by King [[Vajiravudh|Rama VI (1910–1925)]] that required the adoption of Thai surnames was largely directed at the Chinese community as a number of ethnic Chinese families left [[Burma]] between 1930 and 1950 and settled in the [[Ratchaburi Province|Ratchaburi]] and [[Kanchanaburi Province]]s of western Thailand. A few of the ethnic Chinese families in that area had already emigrated from Burma in the 19th century.

The Chinese in Thailand also suffered discrimination between the 1930s and 1950s under the military dictatorship of Prime Minister [[Plaek Phibunsongkhram]] (in spite of having part-Chinese ancestry himself),<ref>{{cite book|title=Dictionary of the Modern Politics of South-East Asia|last=Leifer|first=Michael|year=1996|publisher=[[Routledge]]|isbn=0-415-13821-3|page=204}}</ref> which allied itself with the [[Empire of Japan]]. The Primary Education Act of 1932 made the [[Thai language]] the compulsory medium of education, but as a result of protests from Thai Chinese, by 1939, students were allowed two hours per week of [[Standard Chinese|Mandarin]] instruction.<ref name="W"/> State corporations took over commodities such as rice, tobacco, and petroleum and Chinese businesses found themselves subject to a range of new taxes and controls. By 1970, more than 90 percent of the Chinese ancestry born in [[Thailand]] never have [[Chinese nationality law|Chinese]] or [[Taiwanese nationality law|Taiwanese nationality]] with [[Thai nationality law|Thai only nationality]] instead. In 1975, diplomatic relations were established with China.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.mfa.gov.cn/eng/wjb/zzjg/yzs/gjlb/2787/ |title= Bilateral Relations   |access-date= 2010-06-12 |date= 2003-10-23 |publisher= Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the People's Republic of China |quote= On July 1, 1975, China and Thailand established Diplomatic relations.}}</ref>

==Culture==
Han Chinese intermarriage with ethnic [[Thai people|Thais]] has resulted in many modern Thais who have claimed distant Chinese ancestry.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Thai Economy: Uneven Development and internationalisation|last=Dixon|first=Chris|year=1999|publisher=[[Routledge]]|isbn=0-415-02442-0|page=267}}</ref> Thais of Chinese descent are concentrated in the coastal areas of the country, principally [[Bangkok]].<ref>{{cite book|title=50 Plus One Greatest Cities in the World You Should Visit|author=Paul J. Christopher|year=2006|publisher=Encouragement Press, LLC|isbn=1-933766-01-8|page=25}}</ref> Considerable segments of Thailand's academic, business, and political elites are of Chinese descent.<ref name="Theraphan">{{Cite book |last=Luangthongkum |first=Theraphan |author-link1=Theraphan Luangthongkum |title=Language, Nation and Development in Southeast Asia |publisher=ISEAS Publishing |year=2007 |isbn=9789812304827 |editor-last1=Guan |editor-first1=Lee Hock |page=191 |chapter=The Position of Non-Thai Languages in Thailand |editor-last2=Suryadinata |editor-first2=Leo Suryadinata |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ImjVqAVxO74C&pg=PA191 |via=Google Books}}</ref>

The influence of [[Chinese cuisine]] on [[Thai cuisine]] as a whole has been profound, to the point where there is no longer a clear differentiation between Thai Chinese cuisine and native Thai cuisine. Traditional Thai cuisine loosely falls into four categories: ''tom'' (boiled dishes), ''yam'' (spicy salads), ''tam'' (pounded foods), and ''kaeng'' (curries). Deep-frying, stir-frying and steaming are methods introduced from Chinese cuisine.<ref name="BP-20190922">{{cite news |last1=Sukphisit |first1=Suthon |date=22 September 2019 |title=Curry extraordinaire |url=https://www.bangkokpost.com/life/social-and-lifestyle/1755664/curry-extraordinaire |access-date=22 September 2019 |work=Bangkok Post |issue=B Magazine}}</ref> The street food culture of much of Southeast Asia was introduced by Chinese immigrants during the late 19th century. As a result, many [[Street food of Thailand|Thai street foods]] are derived from or heavily influenced by [[Chinese cuisine]].<ref>{{cite book |author=Carlo Petrini |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KVf94-rwpJ8C&q=%22street+food%22+typical&pg=PA63 |title=Slow Food: Collected Thoughts on Taste, Tradition, and the Honest Pleasures ... |date=October 2001 |publisher=Chelsea Green |isbn=9781603581721 |access-date=2012-08-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220927090649/https://books.google.com/books?id=KVf94-rwpJ8C&q=%22street+food%22+typical&pg=PA63 |archive-date=27 September 2022 |url-status=live}}</ref> Street food was commonly sold by the ethnic Chinese population of Thailand and did not become popular among native Thai people until the early 1960s, when the rapid urban population growth stimulated the street food culture,<ref>{{cite book |author=David Thompson |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9FF8Sjr479AC&q=%22street+food%22+traditions&pg=PT20 |title=Thai Street Food |publisher=Clarkson Potter/Ten Speed |year=2009 |isbn=9781580082846 |access-date=2012-08-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220927090654/https://books.google.com/books?id=9FF8Sjr479AC&q=%22street+food%22+traditions&pg=PT20 |archive-date=27 September 2022 |url-status=live}}</ref> and by the 1970s, it had "displaced home-cooking."<ref>{{cite book |author=B. W. Higman |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YIUoz98yMvgC&q=%22street+food%22+&pg=PT130 |title=How Food Made History |date=2011-08-08 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=9781444344653 |access-date=2012-08-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220927090658/https://books.google.com/books?id=YIUoz98yMvgC&q=%22street+food%22+&pg=PT130 |archive-date=27 September 2022 |url-status=live}}</ref>

==Language==
{{Main|Thai language|Teochew dialect}}

{{See also|Language and overseas Chinese communities#Thailand}}
Today, nearly all Thai with Chinese ancestry speak [[Thai language|Central Thai]] exclusively (even in [[Isan]], [[Northern Thailand]] and [[Southern Thailand]] as well).{{efn|In [[Southern Thai language|Southern Thai]], ethnic Chinese known as '''Leangkaluang''' ({{langx|sou|แหลงข้าหลวง}} <small>lit:Central Thai speakers</small>)}} Only elderly Chinese immigrants still speak their native [[varieties of Chinese]]. The rapid and successful assimilation of Thai Chinese has been celebrated in contemporary literature such as "Letters from Thailand" ({{langx|th|จดหมายจากเมืองไทย}}) by a Thai Chinese author Botan.<ref>{{cite book|isbn = 9747551675|title = Letters from Thailand|author1 = Bōtan|date = 2002-01-01| publisher=Silkworm Books }}</ref>
In the modern Thai language there are many signs of Chinese influence.<ref>{{Cite journal |first1=John |last1=Knodel |first2=Albert I. |last2=Hermalin |title=The Demographic, Socioeconomic, and Cultural Context of the Four Study Countries |journal=The Well-Being of the Elderly in Asia: A Four-Country Comparative Study |publisher=University of Michigan Press |year=2002 |pages=38–39 }}</ref> In the 2000 census, 231,350 people identified themselves as speakers of a variant of Chinese ([[Teochew dialect|Teochew]], [[Hakka Chinese|Hakka]], [[Hainanese]], [[Hokkien]] or [[Cantonese]]).<ref name="Theraphan"/> The Teochew dialect has served as the language of Bangkok's influential Chinese merchants' circles since the foundation of the city in the 18th century. Although Chinese language schools were closed during the nationalist period before and during the Second World War, the Thai government never tried to suppress Chinese cultural expression. Today, businesses in [[Yaowarat Road]] and [[Charoen Krung Road]] in Bangkok's [[Samphanthawong District]] which constitute the city's "Chinatown" still feature bilingual signs in Chinese and Thai.<ref>{{cite book|title=Linguistic Landscape: A New Approach to Multilingualism|last=Gorter|first=Durk|year=2006|publisher=Multilingual Matters|isbn=1-85359-916-6|page=43}}</ref> A number of Chinese words have found their way into the Thai language, especially the names of dishes and foodstuffs, as well as basic numbers (such as those from "three" to "ten") and terms related to gambling.

The rise of China's prominence on the global economic stage has prompted many Thai Chinese business families to see Mandarin as a beneficial asset in partaking in economic links and conducting business between Thailand and mainland China, with some families encouraging their children to learn Mandarin in order to reap the benefits of their ethnic Chinese identity and the increasing role of Mandarin as a prominent language of Overseas Chinese business communities.<ref name="Chua-2003" />{{RP|184-185}}<ref name="Chua-1998"/>{{RP|59}}<ref name="Chua-2003" />{{RP|179}}<ref name="Unger-1998">{{Cite book |title=Building Social Capital in Thailand: Fibers, Finance and Infrastructure |last=Unger|first= Danny|publisher= Cambridge University Press |year=1998 |isbn=978-0521639316}}</ref>{{RP|55}} However, equally there are many Thais, regardless of their ethnic background who study Chinese in order to boost their business and career opportunities, rather than due to reasons of ethnic identity, with some sending their children to newly established Mandarin language schools.<ref name="Chua-2003" />{{RP|184–185}}

==Trade and industry==
{{Main|Bamboo network|Economy of Thailand}}

{{excessive citations|section|date=February 2026}}

[[File:An_office_building_of_Stock_Exchange_of_Thailand.jpg|right|thumb|300px|The [[Stock Exchange of Thailand]] is now pullulated with a myriad of prospering Chinese-owned businesses. Thai investors of Chinese ancestry dominate the Stock Exchange of Thailand as they are estimated to control more than four-fifths of the publicly listed companies by market capitalization.<ref name="auto3">{{Cite journal|last1=Hodder|first1=Rupert |date=2005|title=The Study of the Overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia: Some Comments on its Political Meanings with Particular Reference to the Philippines|pages=8|journal=[[Philippine Studies (journal)|Philippine Studies]]|location=Quezon City, Philippines|publisher=[[Ateneo de Manila University]]|publication-date=2005|volume=53|issue=1}}</ref>]] The Thai Chinese community has played a major role in the development of Thailand's economy and national private sector.<ref name="auto">{{Cite book |title=Business Networks in Asia: Promises, Doubts, and Perspectives |last=Richter |first=Frank-Jürgen |publisher=Praeger |year=1999 |isbn=978-1567203028 |pages=193}}</ref> The early-21st century saw Thais of Chinese ancestry [[dominant minority|dominate]] Thai commerce at every level of society.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Corporate Links And Foreign Direct Investment In Asia And The Pacific |last=Chen |first=Edward |publisher=Routledge |year=2018 |isbn= 9780813389738 |pages=93–94}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=  Leibo|first1=  Steven A. |date= 2013 |title= East and Southeast Asia 2013 |publisher=Stryker-Post Publications|publication-date=2013|pages=260|isbn= 978-1475804751}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=  Freeman |first1=  Nick J. |last2=  Bartels  |first2= Frank L.   |date= 2004 |title =Future Foreign Investment SEA |location=Oxfordshire|publisher=[[Routledge]]|publication-date=2004|pages=259|isbn= 978-0415347044}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1= Hipsher |first1= Scott  |date= 2009 |title =Business Practices in Southeast Asia: An Interdisciplinary Analysis of Theravada Buddhist Countries|location=Oxfordshire|publisher=[[Routledge]]|publication-date=2010|pages=172|isbn= 978-0415562027}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=Ethnic Conflicts in Southeast Asia |last1=Snitwongse |first1= Kusuma  |last2=Thompson |first2=Willard Scott  |publisher=Institute of Southeast Asian Studies |year=2005 |isbn= 978-9812303370 |publication-date=30 October 2005 |pages=154}}</ref><ref name="Chua-2003" />{{RP|127, 179}} Their economic clout plays a critical role in maintaining the country's economic vitality and prosperity.<ref name=Unger-1998/>{{RP|47-48}} The economic power of the Thai Chinese is far greater than their proportion of the population would suggest.<ref name="Chua-2003"/>{{RP|179}}<ref name=Chirot-1997>{{Cite book |title=Essential Outsiders: Chinese and Jews in the Modern Transformation of Southeast Asia and Central Europe|last1= Chirot |first1=Daniel |last2= Reid |first2= Anthony |publisher= University of Washington Press  |year=1997 |isbn= 978-0295976136}}</ref>{{RP|277}} With their powerful economic presence, the Chinese continue to remain a major impetus underpinning the Thailand's commercial undertakings and economic activities and virtually make up the country's entire wealthy elite.<ref name="Chua-2003"/>{{RP|179}}<ref>{{Cite book |title=International Entrepreneurship in Small and Medium Size Enterprises: Orientation, Environment and Strategy (The McGill International Entrepreneurship series)  |last= Etemad  |first= Hamid   |year= 2004 |publisher=Edward Elgar Publishing |page=112 |isbn= 978-1843761945}}</ref> Thailand's lack of an indigenous Thai commercial culture led to the private sector being dominated entirely by Thais of Chinese ancestry themselves.<ref name="auto1">{{Cite book |title=Asian Firms: History, Institutions and Management   |last=	 Tipton  |first=Frank B.  |publisher=Edward Elgar Publishing |year=2008 |isbn=978-1847205148|pages=277}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=Resilient States from a Comparative Regional Perspective Central and Eastern Europe and Southeast Asia   |last=Bafoil  |first= François  |publisher=[[World Scientific Publishing]] |year=2013 |isbn=978-9814417464 |pages=23}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=Business Networks in Asia: Promises, Doubts, and Perspectives |last=Richter |first=Frank-Jürgen |publisher=Praeger |year=1999 |isbn=978-1567203028 |pages=194}}</ref> Development policies imposed by the Thai government provided business opportunities for the Chinese community, where a distinct Thai Chinese business community has emerged as the country's most dominant economic force, controlling the entirety of the country's major industry sectors across the Thai economy.<ref name="auto"/><ref name=Yu-1996>{{Cite book |title=Dynamics and Dilemma: Mainland, Taiwan and Hong Kong in a Changing World. Edited by Yu Bin and Chung Tsungting |last= Yu  |first=Bin |publisher=Nova Science  |year=1996 |isbn= 978-1560723035}}</ref>{{RP|72}} The Chinese community has remained active in every sector of Thailand's economy such as agriculture (sugar, maize, vegetables, rubber), industrial manufacturing, financial services, real estate, and the retail and whole trading sector.<ref name="auto"/> The contemporary Thai business sector is highly dependent on Han Chinese entrepreneurs and investors who control virtually all the country's banks and large corporate conglomerates all the way to the smaller retail hawking outlets at the humbler end of the business spectrum with their support and patronage being augmented by the presence of lawmakers and political operatives, where the vast majority of whom are of pure or partial Chinese ancestry themselves.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Business Networks in Asia: Promises, Doubts, and Perspectives |last=Richter |first=Frank-Jürgen |publisher=Praeger |year=1999 |isbn=978-1567203028 |pages=193–194}}</ref><ref name="Kolodko-2005"/><ref name="Redding 1990 32">{{Cite book |title=The Spirit of Chinese Capitalism |last=Redding |first= Gordon  |publisher= De Gruyter |year=1990 |isbn=978-3110137941 |page=32}}</ref><ref name="Chua-2003"/>{{RP|179}} Thais of Chinese ancestry, a disproportionate wealthy, market-dominant minority not only form a distinct ethnic community, they also form, by and large, an economically advantaged social class: the commercial middle and upper class in contrast to their poorer indigenous Thai majority working and underclass counterparts around them.<ref name="Chua-2003" />{{RP|179-183}}<ref name="Kolodko-2005"/><ref>{{Cite book |title=Political Booms: Local Money And Power In Taiwan, East China, Thailand, And The Philippines|series=Contemporary China |last=White |first=Lynn |publisher=WSPC |year=2009 |isbn=978-9812836823 |page=26}}</ref><ref name="Cornwell 2000 https://archive.org/details/globalmulticultu0000unse/page/67 67">{{Cite book |title=Global Multiculturalism: Comparative Perspectives on Ethnicity, Race, and Nation |last1=Cornwell |first1=Grant Hermans |last2=Stoddard |first2=Eve Walsh |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers |year=2000 |isbn=978-0742508828|pages=[https://archive.org/details/globalmulticultu0000unse/page/67 67] |url=https://archive.org/details/globalmulticultu0000unse/page/67 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Wongsurawat |first=Wasana  |date=May 2, 2016 |title=Beyond Jews of the Orient: A New Interpretation of the Problematic Relationship between the Thai State and Its Ethnic Chinese Community  |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/616587/summary |department=Cultural Studies |journal= Positions: Asia Critique|series=2 |publisher=Duke University Press |publication-date=May 2, 2016 |volume=24 |issue=2 |pages=555–582|doi=10.1215/10679847-3458721 |s2cid=148553252 |url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref name="Chirot-1997"/>{{RP|261}} Highly publicized profiles of wealthy Chinese entrepreneurs and investors attracted great public interest and were used to illustrate the community's strong economic clout.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://kyotoreview.cseas.kyoto-u.ac.jp/issue/issue3/article_280.html |title=Malaysian Chinese Business: Who Survived the Crisis? |publisher=Kyotoreview.cseas.kyoto-u.ac.jp |accessdate=2012-04-23 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120209082211/http://kyotoreview.cseas.kyoto-u.ac.jp/issue/issue3/article_280.html |archivedate=2012-02-09 }}</ref>  More than 80 percent of the top 40 richest people in Thailand are of pure or partial Chinese ancestry.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.forbes.com/2010/09/01/thailands-richest-dhanin-wealth-thailands-rich-10_lander.html|title=Thailand's 40 Richest|website=Forbes}}</ref> Of the five billionaires in Thailand in the late-20th century, all of them were of full or at least had partial Han Chinese ancestry.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Black Rednecks & White Liberals: Hope, Mercy, Justice and Autonomy in the American Health Care System  |last= Sowell  |first=Thomas |publisher=Encounter Books |year=2006 |isbn=978-1594031434 |pages=84}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Chua |first=Amy L. |date=January 1, 1998 |title=Markets, Democracy, and Ethnicity: Toward A New Paradigm For Law and Development |url=http://digitalcommons.law.yale.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1340&context=fss_papers |journal=The Yale Law Journal |volume=108 |issue=1 |pages=22|doi=10.2307/797471 |jstor=797471 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C12x_WTpSHUC&dq=ethnic+chinese+control+percent+of+the+economy&pg=PA176 |title=Migrations And Cultures: A World View - Thomas Sowell - Google Books |accessdate=2012-04-23|isbn=9780465045884|year=1996 |last1=Sowell |first1=Thomas |publisher=Basic Books }}</ref> 

Amounting to 10 percent of Thailand's population, the Thai Chinese control approximately 85 percent of the nation's entire economy.<ref name="auto2">{{Cite book |title=Chinese Business in Malaysia: Accumulation, Ascendance, Accommodation |last1= Gomez |first1=Edmund  |publisher=[[Routledge]]|year=1999 |isbn= 978-0700710935 |pages=8}}</ref> Thai investors of Chinese ancestry control more than 80 percent of public companies listed on the [[Thai stock exchange]].<ref name="auto4">{{Cite book |title=China's Economic Future: Challenges to U.S.Policy (Studies on Contemporary China)  |last=Joint Economic Committee Congress of the United States |publisher= Routledge |year=1997 |isbn=978-0765601278 |page=425}}</ref><ref name="auto8">{{Cite book |title=The Overseas Chinese of Southeast Asia |last1=Witzel |first1=Morgen |last2=Rae  |first2=Ian  |publisher=[[Palgrave Macmillan]] |year=2008 |isbn=978-1-4039-9165-2 |page=32}}</ref> With 80% of Thailand's market capital under Chinese hands, many Thai entrepreneurs and investors of Chinese ancestry have been at the forefront of the establishing the country's most prominent wholesale trading cooperatives owned by traders, merchants, and brokers flush with private equity and venture capital bearing connections to some of Thailand's wealthiest business families.<ref name="auto3"/><ref name="auto1"/><ref name="auto8"/> 10 Thai business families of Chinese ancestry control half of the all corporate assets in the country.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Varieties of Capitalism in Asia |last1= Hundt |first1=David  |publisher=[[Palgrave Macmillan]]|year=2017 |isbn= 978-1349589746 |pages=173}}</ref> 50 Thai business families of Chinese ancestry dominate the Thai corporate landscape, controlling over approximately 81–90% of the total market capitalization in the country's economy.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Haley|first1=G.T.|last2=Haley|first2= U.C.V.|date=1998|title=Boxing with Shadows: Competing Effectively with the Overseas Chinese and Overseas Indian Business Networks in the Asian Arena |pages=303|journal= Journal of Organizational Change Management|location=Bingley|publisher=[[Emerald Group Publishing]]|publication-date=1998|volume=11|issue=4|url=https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/09534819810225878/full/html|doi=10.1108/09534819810225878|url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref name="auto10">{{Cite book |title=The Labors of Sisyphus |last= Chang  |first=  Maria Hsia   |publisher=Transaction Publishers |year=1999 |isbn=978-1412837545 |pages=243}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=Hot Commodities: How Anyone Can Invest Profitably in the World's Best Market |last=  [[Jim Rogers|Rogers]]  |first= Jim  |publisher=[[Wiley & Sons]] |year=2014 |isbn=978-0470015322 |pages=105}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=Megatrends Asia: The Eight Asian Megatrends that are Changing the World |last= Naisbitt |first=John |year=1996 |publisher=Nicholas Brealey |pages=20 |isbn=978-1857881400}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=Managing Across Diverse Cultures in East Asia Issues and Challenges in a Changing Globalized World |last=  Warner |first=Malcolm |publisher=  Routledge |year=2013 |isbn= 978-0415680905 |pages=241}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=Asian Business Groups: Context, Governance and Performance (Chandos Asian Studies Series) |last= Carney  |first=Michael |publisher=  Chandos Publishing |year=2008 |isbn=978-1843342441 |pages=238}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=The Chinese Diaspora: Space, Place, Mobility, and Identity (Why of Where) |last= Ma  |first=Laurence J. C. |publisher= Rowman & Littlefield Publishers |year=2002 |isbn=978-0742517561 |pages=98}}</ref><ref name="auto"/><ref>{{Cite book |title=East Asian Transformation: On the Political Economy of Dynamism, Governance and Crisis |last= Henderson |first= Jeffrey  |year= 2011 |publisher=Routledge |page=69 |isbn= 9780415547925}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=Current Issues On Industry Trade And Investment|publisher=United Nations Publications |year=2004 |isbn=978-9211203592 |page=4}}</ref><ref name="Tipton 2008 277">{{Cite book |title=Asian Firms: History, Institutions and Management|last=Tipton |first=Frank B.|publisher=Edward Elgar Publishing |year=2008 |isbn=978-1847205148|page=277}}</ref><ref name=Gambe-2000>{{Cite book |title=Overseas Chinese Entrepreneurship and Capitalist Development in Southeast Asia |last=Gambe |first=Annabelle |year= 2000 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|isbn=978-0312234966}}</ref>{{RP|10}}<ref>{{Cite book |title=Does China Matter?: A Reassessment: Essays in Memory of Gerald Segal |last1=Buzan  |first1= Barry  |last2= Foot |first2=Rosemary |publisher=Routledge |year=2004 |isbn=978-0415304122 |page=82}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=The Political Economy Of Deng's Nanxun: Breakthrough In China's Reform And Development |last=Wong  |first=John |publisher= World Scientific Publishing Company |year=2014 |isbn=9789814578387 |page=214}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=Chinese Capitalism in a Global Era: Towards Hybrid Capitalism|last=Wai-chung Yeung |first=Henry  |publisher=Routledge |year=2006 |isbn= 9780415408585 |pages=13 }}</ref>

British [[East India Company]] agent [[John Crawfurd]] used detailed company records kept on [[Prince of Wales's Island]] (present-day [[Penang]]) from 1815 to 1824 to report specifically on the economic aptitude of the 8,595 Chinese there as compared to others. He used the data to estimate the Chinese &mdash; about five-sixths of whom were unmarried men in the prime of life &mdash; "as equivalent to an ordinary population of above 37,000, and...to a numerical Malay population of more than 80,000!".<ref name = "Crawfurd">{{cite book|last= Crawfurd |first= John |authorlink= John Crawfurd |title= Journal of an Embassy from the Governor-general of India to the Courts of Siam and Cochin-China |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=sAUPAAAAYAAJ&q=equivalent+to+an+ordinary+population+of+above+37%2C000%2C |volume= 1 |date=21 August 2006 |orig-date= First published 1830 |publisher= H. Colburn and R. Bentley |location= London |oclc= 03452414 |page= 30|chapter= Chapter I |accessdate= February 2, 2012 |edition= 2nd |quote=The Chinese amount to 8595, and are landowners, field-labourers, mechanics of almost every description, shopkeepers, and general merchants. They are all from the two provinces of Canton and Fo-Kien, and three-fourths of them from the latter. About five-sixths of the whole number are unmarried men, in the prime of life: so that, in fact, the Chinese population, in point of effective labor, may be estimated as equivalent to an ordinary population of above 37,000, and, as will afterward be shown, to a numerical Malay population of more than 80,000!}}</ref>{{rp |p.30}} He surmised this and other differences noted as providing, "a very just estimate of the comparative state of civilization among nations, or, which is the same thing, of the respective merits of their different social institutions."<ref name = "Crawfurd" />{{rp |p.34}} In 1879, the Chinese controlled all of the steam-powered rice mills, most of which were sold by the British. Most of the leading businessmen in Thailand at this point in time were of Chinese ancestry and accounted for a significant portion of the Thai upper class.<ref name="Sowell 1997 182–184">{{cite book|last=Sowell|first=Thomas|title=Migrations And Cultures: A World View|year=1997|publisher=Basic Books|isbn=978-0-465-04589-1|pages=182–184}}</ref> In 1890, despite British shipping domination in Bangkok, Thais of Chinese ancestry conducted 62 percent of the Thai shipping sector, operating as agents for Western shipping lines as well as their own.<ref name="Sowell 1997 182–184"/> The Chinese also dominated the rubber industry, market gardening, sugar production, and fish export sectors. In Bangkok, Thais of Chinese ancestry dominate the entertainment and media industries, being the pioneers of Thailand's early publishing houses, newspapers, and film studios.<ref name="auto6">{{Cite book |title=Globalization and Social Stress |last=Kołodko |first=Grzegorz |publisher=Nova Science Pub  |year=2005 |isbn= 978-1594541940 |publication-date=April 30, 2005 |page=171}}</ref> By 1899 in Bangkok, the Chinese owned 18 of the 23 rice mills in the city that produced a capacity of over 100 tons of rice paddies and controlled 56 out of the 66 by 1919.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Owen |first=Norman G. |date=January 1, 1971 |title=The Rice Industry of Mainland Southeast Asia (1850-1914) |url=https://thesiamsociety.org/wp-content/uploads/1971/03/JSS_059_2f_Owen_RiceIndustryOfMainlandSoutheastAsia.pdf |journal=Journal of Third World Studies |publisher=[[Siam Society]] |publication-date=1971 |page=110}}</ref>

Thai Chinese [[moneylender]]s also wielded considerable economic power over the poorer indigenous Thai peasants, prompting accusations of Chinese bribery of government officials, wars between the [[Hui (secret society)|Chinese secret societies]], and the use of violent tactics to collect taxes. Chinese success served to foster Thai resentment against the Chinese at a time when their community was expanding rapidly. Waves of Han Chinese immigration swept into Siam in the 19th and early-20th centuries, peaking in the 1920s. Whereas Thai Chinese bankers were accused of plunging the Thai peasant into poverty by charging high-interest rates, the reality was that the Thai banking business was highly competitive. Chinese millers and rice traders were blamed for the economic recession that gripped Siam for nearly a decade after 1905.<ref name="Sowell-1997"/> The Chinese then moved into [[extractive industry|extractive industries]] such as tin mining, logging and sawmilling, rice milling, as well as the construction of ports and railways that would usher in Thailand's modern transportation industry.<ref name=Unger-1998/>{{RP|48}} Though the Chinese were acknowledged for their industriousness, they were nonetheless scorned by many. In the late 19th century, a British official in Siam said that "the Chinese are the [[Jews]] of Siam ... by judicious use of their business faculties and their powers of combination, they hold the Siamese in the palm of their hand."<ref name="SCMP-20200429">{{cite news |last1=Szumer |first1=Zacharias |title=Coronavirus spreads anti-Chinese feeling in Southeast Asia, but the prejudice goes back centuries |url=https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/article/3081930/coronavirus-spreads-anti-chinese-feeling-southeast-asia-prejudice-goes |access-date=1 May 2020 |work=South China Morning Post |date=29 April 2020}}</ref> In addition, Chinese millers and rice traders were blamed for an economic recession that gripped Siam for nearly a decade after 1905.<ref name="Sowell 1997 182–184"/> Large waves of Han Chinese immigration occurred in the nineteenth and early in the twentieth century, peaking in the 1920s from southern China who was eager to make money and return to their families. By the end of the nineteenth century, the Chinese would lose their control of foreign trade to the European colonial powers and began to act as compradors for Western trading cooperatives. Thais of Chinese ancestry also entered extraction intensive industries such as tin mining, teak-cutting, saw milling, rice-milling, as well as fostered the modernization of the Thai transportation sector through the construction of ports and railways.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Building Social Capital in Thailand: Fibers, Finance, and Infrastructure |last=Unger  |first= Danny  |publisher= Cambridge University Press |year=1998 |isbn=978-0521639316 |pages=48}}</ref>

[[File:Bangkok by night (50714443222).jpg|upright=2.75|thumb|300px|[[Bangkok]] continues to serve as Thailand's major financial district and central business networking nucleus for Thai businessmen and investors of Chinese ancestry.]]

By the early 20th century, the resident Chinese community in Bangkok was sizable, amounting to a third of the capital's population.<ref name="BP-20200124">{{cite news |last1=Baker |first1=Chris |title=The formidable alliance underlying modern Thai history |url=https://www.bangkokpost.com/life/social-and-lifestyle/1842589/the-formidable-alliance-underlying-modern-thai-history |access-date=30 April 2020 |work=Bangkok Post |date=24 January 2020 |type=Book review}}</ref> Anti-Chinese sentiment was rife.<ref name="Chua-2003"/>{{RP|179-183}} In 1914, the Thai nationalist King [[Vajiravudh|Rama VI]], published a pamphlet in Thai and English—''The Jews of the East''— employing a [[pseudonym]]. In it, he lambasted the Chinese.<ref>{{Cite book |title=World On Fire |last=Chua |first= Amy |publisher=Knopf Doubleday Publishing  |year=2003 |isbn=978-0385721868 |pages=181}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=Corporate Links And Foreign Direct Investment In Asia And The Pacific |last=Chen |first=Edward |publisher=Routledge |year=2018 |isbn= 9780813389738 |pages=98 }}</ref><ref name="Wiese-2013">{{cite journal |last1=Wiese |first1=York A. |title=The "Chinese Education Problem" of 1948 |journal=Occasional Paper Series No. 15 |page=6|date=April 2013 |url=https://www.southeastasianstudies.uni-freiburg.de/documents/occasional-paper/op15.pdf |access-date=1 May 2020 |publisher=Southeast Asian Studies at the University of Freiburg (Germany)}}</ref> He described them as "avaricious barbarians who were 'entirely devoid of morals and mercy'."<ref name="SCMP-20200429"/> He depicted successful Chinese businessmen as reaping their commercial success at the expense of indigenous Thais, prompting some Thai politicians to blame Thai Chinese businessmen for Thailand's economic woes.<ref name="Cornwell 2000 https://archive.org/details/globalmulticultu0000unse/page/67 67"/> Rama VI also implicitly implied that the distinct ethnicity of the Overseas Chinese and their commanding role of Southeast Asia's economy through their commercial businesses have also made them targets of reverse discrimination and resentment by the indigenous Thais and Southeast Asian majorities.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Fouberg |first1= Erin H.  |last2= Moseley|first2= William G.|date= 2014 |title= Understanding World Regional Geography|location=New York City|publisher=[[John Wiley & Sons]]|publication-date=December 27, 2017|pages=232}}</ref> King Vajiravudh's views were influential among elite Thais and were quickly adopted by ordinary Thais, fueling their suspicion of and hostility against the Chinese minority.<ref name="Chua-2003"/>{{RP|181-183}} The glaring wealth disparity and the abject poverty of the indigenous Thais resulted in them blaming their socioeconomic ills on the Chinese, especially Chinese moneylenders. Beginning in the late-1930s and recommencing in the 1950s, the Thai government dealt with wealth disparities by pursuing a campaign of forced assimilation achieved through property confiscation, forced expropriation, coercive social policies, and anti-Chinese cultural suppression, seeking to eradicate [[Han nationalism|Han consciousness and identity]].<ref name="Chua-2003" />{{RP|183}}<ref name="Chua-1998"/>{{RP|58}} Thai Chinese became the targets of state discrimination while indigenous Thais were granted economic privileges.<ref>{{Cite book |title=World On Fire |last=Chua |first=Amy |publisher=Knopf Doubleday Publishing |year=2003 |isbn=978-0385721868 |pages=183–184 }}</ref> The [[Siamese revolution of 1932]] only coagulated the grip of [[Thai nationalism]], culminating in World War II when Thailand's [[Second Sino-Japanese War|Japanese ally was at war with China]].<ref name="BP-20200124" />

After [[1947 Thai coup d'état|1947 coup d'état]], Thailand was an agrarian economy hobbled by [[state-owned enterprises]].<ref>{{Cite book |title=World On Fire |last=Chua |first=Amy |publisher=Knopf Doubleday Publishing |year=2003 |isbn=978-0385721868 |pages=15 }}</ref> Thais of Chinese ancestry provided the impetus for Thailand's industrialization, transforming the Thai economy into an export-oriented, trade-based economy with a global reach.<ref name="Chirot-1997"/>{{RP|261}} Over the next several decades, internationalization and capitalist market-oriented policies led to the dramatic emergence of a massive export-oriented, large-scale manufacturing sector, which in turn catapulted Thailand into joining the [[Tiger Cub Economies#Thailand|Tiger Cub Economies]].<ref name="Chua 2003 35">{{Cite book |title=World On Fire |last=Chua |first= Amy |publisher=Knopf Doubleday Publishing  |year=2003 |isbn=978-0385721868 |pages=35}}</ref> Virtually all the industrial manufacturing and import-export shipping firms establishments including the [[Automotive industry in Thailand|auto]] manufacturing behemoth Siam Motors are Chinese controlled.<ref name="Chua 2003 35"/><ref name="auto6"/> In the years between [[World War I]] and [[World War II]], Thailand's major exports, rice, tin, rubber, and timber were under Chinese hands.<ref>{{cite journal
| author = Thitima Sitthipongpanich
| title = 
The Presence and Formation of Business - Political Connections in Thailand
| journal = วารสาร บริหารธุรกิจ - มหาวิทยาลัยธรรมศาสตร์
| pages = 81}}</ref> Despite their small numbers as compared to the indigenous Thai population, the Chinese controlled virtually every line of business, ranging from small retail trade to large industries. Constituting merely ten percent of the population, the Chinese dominated over four-fifths of the country's vital rice, tin, rubber, and timber exports, and virtually controlled the country's entire wholesale and retail trade.<ref>{{Cite book |title=The Nanyang Chinese |last= Viraphol  |first=Sarasin |publisher=Institute of Asian Studies - Chulalongkorn University Press |year=1972 |pages=10}}</ref> By 1924, Thais of Chinese ancestry controlled one-third of all the sawmills in Bangkok. Market gardening, sugar production (The Chinese introduced the sugar industry to Thailand), and fish exporting was also dominated by the Chinese.<ref name="auto9">{{Cite book |title=World On Fire |last=Chua |first=Amy |publisher=Knopf Doubleday Publishing |year=2003 |isbn=978-0385721868 |pages=179 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=Building Social Capital in Thailand: Fibers, Finance, and Infrastructure |last=Unger  |first= Danny  |publisher= Cambridge University Press |year=1998 |isbn=978-0521639316 |pages=55}}</ref> Virtually all of the newly minted manufacturing establishments were Chinese controlled. Despite failed Thai [[affirmative action]]-based policies in the 1930s to economically redestribute the nation's wealth to empower the impoverished indigenous Thai majority, 70 percent of retailing outlets and 80 to 90 percent of rice mills remained Chinese-controlled.<ref name="Farron">{{cite journal|last=Farron|first=Steven|title=Prejudice is free but discrimination has costs|journal=The Free Market Foundation|date=October 2002|url=https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:dEmO8ngfDw4J:www.freemarketfoundation.com/htmupload/PUBDoc948.doc+ethnic+chinese+control+the+economy+of+thailand+81%25&hl=en&gl=ca&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEEShWI9OywZywknnxdu6Wl_FJ5enkdxFNKDW02jWmRw7KMeoNSdP4QJLxQHsHDdRA1rlZXNjynZ3kNAROn-bE3p9cBkhAWS1mmFeAI27ejUuLm4GgYjapQbMJD1FinOupmbLXVkll&sig=AHIEtbQh-lKJZufs8AosFdw-uYNKZbYWIw}}</ref> A survey of Thailand's roughly seventy most powerful business groups found that all but three were owned by Thai Chinese.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Corporate Links And Foreign Direct Investment In Asia And The Pacific |last=Chen |first=Edward |publisher=Routledge |year=2018 |isbn= 9780813389738 |pages=94 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=World On Fire |last=Chua |first=Amy |publisher=Knopf Doubleday Publishing |year=2003 |isbn=978-0385721868 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/worldonfirehowex00chua_0/page/35] |url=https://archive.org/details/worldonfirehowex00chua_0/page/35 }}</ref> Although [[Chinatown, Bangkok|Bangkok has its own Chinatown]], Chinese economic influence is much more pervasive and subtle throughout the city. With Bangkok's Thai Chinese clan associations are prominent throughout the city as the family clans are major property holders and retain ownership of all the non-profit Chinese-operated schools.<ref name="auto"/> With Bangkok being the testament that reflected the extent of Chinese influence on Thailand's economic life, virtually all of Bangkok's business elites are of pure Han Chinese or at least of partial Han Chinese ancestry.<ref name="auto13">{{Cite book |title=The Overseas Chinese of Southeast Asia |last1=Witzel |first1=Morgen |last2=Rae  |first2=Ian  |publisher=[[Palgrave Macmillan]] |year=2008 |isbn=978-1-4039-9165-2 |pages=32}}</ref> Thai entrepreneurs and investors of Chinese ancestry who control much of Thai industry, are seen as a wellspring of upfront private equity and venture capital that serve as chief financial backers behind Thailand's latest investment developments including funding Thailand's newest construction projects in addition to financing the country's state-of-the-art [[Telecommunications in Thailand|telecommunications sector]],<ref name="auto13"/> as Thai entrepreneurs of Chinese ancestry are the key power players behind Thailand's telecommunications industry, being at the forefront of several well-known Thai telecom operators such as the [[Intouch Holdings|Shinawatra telecommunications group]], [[True Corporation]], Jasmine, Ucom, and Samar.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Chinese business in Malaysia |last=Gomez |first=Edmund |publisher=Routledge |year=2012 |isbn=978-0415517379 | pages = 93 }}</ref>   [[Kukrit Pramoj]], the aristocratic former prime minister and distant relative of the Thai royal family, once said that most Thais had a Chinese relative "hanging somewhere on their family tree."<ref>{{cite journal|last=Long|first=Simon|title=The Overseas Chinese|journal=Prospect Magazine|date=April 1998|series=The Economist|issue=29|url=http://www.upf.edu/mon/assig/xialmo/mat/long_3.pdf|accessdate=7 May 2012|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120413164927/http://www.upf.edu/mon/assig/xialmo/mat/long_3.pdf|archivedate=13 April 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Welch|first=Ivan|title=Southeast Asia — Indo or China|publisher=Foreign Military Studies Office|location=Fort Leavenworth, Kansas|pages=37|url=http://fmso.leavenworth.army.mil/documents/SEAsia-Indo-or-China.pdf|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120307112731/http://fmso.leavenworth.army.mil/documents/SEAsia-Indo-or-China.pdf|archivedate=2012-03-07}}</ref> By the 1930s, the Thai Chinese minority dominated construction, industrial manufacturing, publishing, shipping, finance, commerce, and every industry in the country, minor, and major.<ref name="auto6"/> Among the minor industries that they presided were food vending, salt, tobacco, port, and bird's nest concessions.<ref name="Chua 2003 182">{{Cite book |title=World On Fire |last=Chua |first= Amy |publisher=Knopf Doubleday Publishing  |year=2003 |isbn=978-0385721868 |pages=182}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal
| author = Thitima Sitthipongpanich
| title = 
The Presence and Formation of Business - Political Connections in Thailand
| journal = วารสาร บริหารธุรกิจ - มหาวิทยาลัยธรรมศาสตร์
| pages = 82}}</ref> Among the major lucrative industries, the Chinese involved in shipping, rice milling, rubber and tin manufacturing, teak logging, and petroleum drilling.<ref name="Chua 2003 182"/>

By the late-1950s, Thais of Chinese ancestry accounted for 70 percent of Bangkok's business owners and senior business managers, and 90 percent of the shares in Thai corporations were said to be held by Thai investors of Chinese ancestry.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.primetimecrime.com/Articles/RobertRead/Sidewinder%20page%202.htm |title=Sidewinder: Chinese Intelligence Services and Triads Financial Links in Canada |publisher=Primetimecrime.com |date=1997-06-24 |access-date=2012-04-23}}</ref><ref name="Richter-1999">{{Cite book |title=Business Networks in Asia: Promises, Doubts, and Perspectives |last=Richter |first=Frank-Jürgen |publisher=Praeger |year=1999 |isbn=978-1567203028}}</ref> Ninety percent of Thailand's industrial and commercial capital are also held by the Chinese.<ref name="auto15">{{Cite book |title=Understanding China: Center Stage of the Fourth Power |last= Ju |first=Yan'an |publisher=  [[State University of New York Press]] |year=1996 |isbn=978-0791431214 |pages=33}}</ref><ref name="auto10"/><ref name=Yu-1996/>{{RP|73}} 90 percent of all investments in the industrial and commercial sector and at least 50 percent of all investments in the banking and financial sectors are controlled by the Chinese.<ref name="auto16">{{Cite book |title=Expansion of Trade and FDI in Asia: Strategic and Policy Challenges |last1= Chaisse|first1=Julien  |last2=  Gugler |first2= Philippe  |year=2009 |publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]]|isbn=978-1135786755 |pages=42}}</ref><ref name="auto10"/><ref name="auto15"/><ref>{{Cite book |title=Dynamics and Dilemma: Mainland, Taiwan and Hong Kong in a Changing World |last1=Yu |first1=Bin |last2=Chung |first2=Tsungting |publisher=Nova Science Publishing Inc |year=1996 |isbn=978-1560723035 |publication-date=September 1, 1996 |pages=73}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=The Labors of Sisyphus: The Economic Development of Communist China |last= Chang |first= Maria Hsia |year= 1998 |publisher=Routledge |page=243 |isbn= 9780765806611}}</ref><ref name="Ju 1996 https://archive.org/details/understandingchi0000chuy/page/33 33">{{Cite book |title=Understanding China: Center Stage of the Fourth Power |last1=Ju |first1=Yanan |last2=Chu |first2=Yen-An |publisher=State University of New York Press |year=1996 |isbn=978-0791431221 |page=33 |url=https://archive.org/details/understandingchi0000chuy/page/33 }}</ref><ref name="auto12">{{Cite book |title=Chinese Capitalism in a Global Era: Towards Hybrid Capitalism |last=Wai-chung Yeung |first=Henry  |publisher=Routledge |year=2006 |isbn= 9780415408585 |pages=15 }}</ref>{{RP|33}}<ref name=Yu-1996/><ref name="Ju 1996 https://archive.org/details/understandingchi0000chuy/page/33 33"/> Economic advantages would also persist as Thai rice merchants of Chinese ancestry controlled 80–90 percent of Thailand's rice mills, the largest merchant food enterprises in the nation.<ref name="Sowell-1997" /> Of the 25 leading entrepreneurs in the Thai business sector, 23 are of Han Chinese or at least of partial Han Chinese ancestry. Thais of Chinese ancestry also account for 96 percent of Thailand's 70 most powerful business groups.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Redesigning Asian Business: In the Aftermath of Crisis |last= Richter|first=Frank-Jurgen |publisher=Quorum Books |year=2002 |isbn=978-1567205251 |page=85}}</ref><ref name="Chua-2003"/>{{RP|35}}<ref>{{Cite book |title=The Jewish Century |last=Slezkine |first=Yuri  |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=2004 |page=41}}</ref> [[Family firm]]s are extremely common in the Thai business sector as they are passed down from one generation to the next.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Yeung |first1=Henry |title=Corporate Governance and the Global Reach of Chinese Family Firms in Singapore|journal=Seoul Journal of Economics  |publication-date= January 6, 2000 |volume=13 |issue=3|pages=309–310}}</ref> 90 percent of Thailand's industrial manufacturing sector and 50 percent of Thailand's service sector are controlled by the Chinese.<ref name="auto5">{{Cite book |title=The Globalisation of Chinese Business Firms |last1=Yeung |first1=Henry Wai-Chung |last2=Olds |first2=Kris |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |year=1999 |isbn=978-0333716298 |pages=8}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=The Economies of Southeast Asia: Before and After the Crisis |last=  Tongzon|first=  Jose L. |year=2002 |publisher=[[Edward Elgar Publishing]]|isbn=978-1843767442 |pages=216}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Yeung |first1=Henry |title=Under Siege? Economic Globalization and Chinese Business in Southeast Asia |journal=Economy and Society  |publication-date= February 6, 1999 |volume=15 |issue=2|pages=7 |doi=10.1080/03085149900000022}}</ref><ref name="auto11">{{Cite journal |last1=Yeung |first1=Henry |title=Economic Globalization, Crisis and the Emergence of Chinese Business Communities in Southeast Asia |journal=International Sociology  |publication-date= June 6, 2000 |volume=15 |issue=2|pages=270 |doi=10.1177/0268580900015002008}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Yeung |first1=Henry |title=Corporate Governance and the Global Reach of Chinese Family Firms in Singapore |journal=Seoul Journal of Economics  |publication-date= January 6, 2000 |volume=13 |issue=3|pages=302}}</ref><ref name="auto12"/><ref name=BY80>{{Cite book |title=Dynamics and Dilemma: Mainland, Taiwan and Hong Kong in a Changing World |last1=Yu |first1=Bin |last2=Chung |first2=Tsungting |publisher=Nova Science Publishing Inc |year=1996 |isbn=978-1560723035 |publication-date=September 1, 1996 |pages=80}}</ref> According to a ''Financial Statistics of the 500 Largest Public Companies in Asia Controlled by Overseas Chinese in 1994'' chart released by Singaporean geographer Dr. Henry Yeung of the [[National University of Singapore]], 39 companies were concentrated in Thailand with a market capitalization of US$35 billion and total assets of US$95 billion.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Yeung |first1=Henry |title=Under Siege? Economic Globalization and Chinese Business in Southeast Asia|journal=Economy and Society  |publication-date= February 6, 1999 |volume=15 |issue=2|pages=8}}</ref><ref name="auto11"/> Four prominent Thai business families of Chinese ancestry which are the Sophonpanich, [[Lamsam family|Lamsam]], [[Ratanarak family|Ratanarak]], and [[Central Pattana|Tejapaibul]] families respectively control Thailand's largest private banks: [[Bangkok Bank]] (the largest and most profitable in Southeast Asia), [[Thai Farmers Bank]], and the [[Bank of Ayudhya]].<ref name="auto5"/><ref name="auto7">{{Cite book |title=Ethnic Business Chinese Capitalism in Southeast Asia |last1=Folk|first1 =    Brian C. |last2 = Jomo |first2=  K. S.  |year=2013 |publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]]|isbn=978-1134389308 |pages=120}}</ref><ref name="auto16"/><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Yeung |first1=Henry |title=Under Siege? Economic Globalization and Chinese Business in Southeast Asia |journal=Economy and Society  |publication-date= February 6, 1999 |volume=15 |issue=2|pages=7–8}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Yeung |first1=Henry |title=Economic Globalization, Crisis and the Emergence of Chinese Business Communities in Southeast Asia |journal=International Sociology  |publication-date= June 6, 2000 |volume=15 |issue=2|pages=270}}</ref><ref name="Sowell-2006">{{Cite book |title=Black Rednecks & White Liberals: Hope, Mercy, Justice and Autonomy in the American Health Care System |last=Sowell |first=Thomas |year=2006 |publisher=Encounter Books|page=84 |isbn=978-1594031434}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=Chinese Capitalism in a Global Era: Towards Hybrid Capitalism |last=Wai-Chung Yeung |first=Henry  |publisher=Routledge |year=2006 |isbn= 9780415408585 |pages=15 }}</ref><ref name="Richter-1999"/>{{RP|193}}<ref name="Chua-1998"/>{{RP|22}}<ref name="Redding 1990 32"/><ref>{{cite web|last=Weidenbaum |first=Murray |url=http://www.strategy-business.com/article/9702?gko=4a3c6 |title=The Bamboo Network: Asia's Family-run Conglomerates |publisher=Strategy-business.com |access-date=2012-04-23}}</ref><ref name="auto"/> Thais of Chinese ancestry not dominate Thailand's big banking sector, but also the small banking sector presided by a number of Thai business families as well.<ref name="auto7"/> As there weren't that many alternative sources of capital prior to the establishment of the Thai Stock Exchange for up-and-coming Thai entrepreneurs of Chinese descent to draw upon, Chinese-owned Thai banks wielded enormous economic power in the Thai private business sector throughout the 1960s to the 1980s.<ref name="auto7"/> Of the 20 Thai banks that were founded in the years between 1930 and 1950, the Thai Chinese were behind the establishment of 14 of them while the remaining 6 banks were established by the Thai Crown Property Bureau.<ref>{{Citation
| last1 =   Charumilind
| first1 = Chutatong
| author-link = 
| first2 = Yupana 
| last2 = Wiwattanakantang
| author-link2 = 
| editor-last = 
| editor-first = 
| editor-last2 = 
| editor-first2 = 
| contribution = 
| contribution-url = 
| series = 
| date = 2003
| pages = 9
| title = Connected Lending: Thailand before the Financial Crisis
| place = 
| publisher = Institute of Economic Research at [[Hitotsubashi University]]
| url = https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/document?repid=rep1&type=pdf&doi=f884eb80e4bbc0477524bc4e40caffea1923df43
| doi = 
| id = }}</ref> Thai businessmen and investors of Chinese ancestry are influential in the country's real estate, [[agriculture in Thailand|agriculture]], [[banking in Thailand|banking]], and [[Ministry of Finance (Thailand)|finance]], and the wholesale trading industries.<ref name="auto"/> In Central Siam, Thai businessmen and investors of Chinese ancestry control the entirety of the area's residential and commercial real estate and raw land.<ref name="Chua 2003 182"/> The Thai Chinese (mainly of Yunnanese origin) also taken over Chiangmai's lucrative gem industry and ended up owning much of the city's fruit orchards, restaurants, and retail shops while profiting handsomely off of the city's land boom that occurred throughout the late 1980s.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Identity and Ethnic Relations in Southeast Asia |last1=Tong|first1=Chee Kiong |publisher= Springer |year=2011 |isbn= 978-90-481-8909-0 |pages=39}}</ref> During the 1980s, Thai Chinese business groups dominated 37 of the top 100 corporations in the country, with much of the wealth being centralized within the hands of five Teochew business families.<ref name="auto2"/> In the 1990s, among the top ten Thai businesses in terms of sales, nine of them were Chinese-owned with only [[Siam Cement Group|Siam Cement]] being the sole firm that was under the ownership of a non-Chinese.<ref name="auto9"/><ref name="auto14">{{Cite book |title=Building Social Capital in Thailand: Fibers, Finance and Infrastructure |last=Unger  |first= Danny  |publisher= Cambridge University Press |year=1998 |isbn=978-0521639316 |pages=55}}</ref> Following the [[1997 Asian financial crisis]], structural reforms imposed by the [[International Monetary Fund]] (IMF) on Indonesia and Thailand led to the loss of many [[Monopolistic competition|monopolistic position]]s long held by the Thai Chinese business elite.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Yeung |first1=Henry |title=Change and Continuity in Southeast Asian Ethnic Chinese Business |journal=Asia Pacific Journal of Management  |publication-date= September 6, 2006  |volume=23|issue=3 |pages=234–235|doi=10.1007/s10490-006-9007-2 |url=http://scholarbank.nus.edu.sg/handle/10635/22178 }}</ref> In spite of the financial and economic downturn, Thais of Chinese ancestry were still estimated to own 65 percent of the total banking assets, 60 percent of the national trade, 90 percent of all local investments in the commercial sector, 90 percent of all local investments in the manufacturing sector, and 50 percent of all local investments in the banking and financial services sector.<ref name="Ju 1996 https://archive.org/details/understandingchi0000chuy/page/33 33"/><ref>{{cite web|last=Goossen|first=Richard|title=The spirit of the overseas Chinese entrepreneur, by|url=http://www.eleaders.org/downloads/sb_eleaders/EntrepreneurialExpertGordonRedding.pdf|access-date=2 April 2012|archive-date=25 August 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130825111958/http://www.eleaders.org/downloads/sb_eleaders/EntrepreneurialExpertGordonRedding.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=Asian Management Systems: Chinese, Japanese and Korean Styles of Business |last=Chen |first=Min  |publisher=Cengage Learning |year=1995 |isbn=978-1861529411 |page=65}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=Entrepreneurial Excellence |last=  Goossen |first=  Richard J.  |date= October 1999 |publisher=ReadHowYouWant.com |isbn=978-1412837545 |pages=199|edition= EasyRead Large Bold }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=Political Communications in Greater China: The Construction and Reflection of Identity |last=Rawnsley|first=    Gary D.  |year=2003 |publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]]|isbn=978-1135786755 |pages=34}}</ref>

In the urban center of Chiang Saen, a prominent Thai city situated across from Ton Pheung District in the northern part of Laos, the area served as a diverse economic hub for commercial trade among a multitude of merchants hailing from different ethnic backgrounds, engaging in frontier trading activities.  During the era of French colonization, Chiang Saen evolved into a crucial focal point through which the French exerted control over commercial transactions along the Mekong River and assumed authoritative control over the land trade pathways connecting Xishuangbanna, Luang Prabang, and the commercial centers of northern Siam. The French utilized Chiang Saen to advance their economic, cultural, and political interests across borders, often in competition with the British, who operated from the Burmese side of the border. British goods dominated markets in Chiang Mai, Kengtung, and Xishuangbanna, while the French played a significant role in the teak, rice, and opium trade, at times collaborating with ethnic-based trading groups in the region. With the decline of European colonial influence, regional trade, particularly in the nearby highlands, fell largely under the control of the Yunnanese.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Chinese Encounters in Southeast Asia |last= Tan |first=Danielle |publisher=[[University of Washington Press]] |year=2016 |isbn=978-0295999319 |pages=80–81}}</ref> Due to the relaxation of emigration restrictions influenced by economic reform and the implementation of open-border policies by China and Southeast Asian countries, there has been a significant transformation in Chinese out-migration patterns as a result of noticeable decrease in barriers to emigration. This shift has resulted in a notable increase in mainland Chinese migrants relocating to developing nations in Southeast Asia, particularly to Thailand during the 1990s and 2000s.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Chinese Encounters in Southeast Asia |last= Tan |first=Danielle |publisher=[[University of Washington Press]] |year=2016 |isbn=978-0295999319 |pages=84}}</ref> Many of these Chinese immigrants include petty traders, financial middlemen, investors, owners of small to medium-sized enterprises in the formal business sector, shipping agents (some of which have Thai partners), smaller import-export agents, as well as independent traders and intermediaries associated with Chinese enterprises.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Chinese Encounters in Southeast Asia |last= Tan |first=Danielle |publisher=[[University of Washington Press]] |year=2016 |isbn=978-0295999319 |pages=86–87}}</ref>

For a select few Chinese entrepreneurs, a number of them have ventured into Thailand to explore potential investment prospects in a market that remains largely untapped amidst the intensifying commercial competition back in China. Certain Chinese real estate investors opt to acquire properties, particularly modern townhouses and structures located along the riverside and in market areas.<ref name="auto18">{{Cite book |title=Chinese Encounters in Southeast Asia |last= Tan |first=Danielle |publisher=[[University of Washington Press]] |year=2016 |isbn=978-0295999319 |pages=87}}</ref> The rationale behind these property investments has varied, as some investors seek to utilize them for personal residential use, while others strive to establish a lasting commercial real estate foothold in the Chiang Saen area for overseas investment purposes.<ref name="auto18"/> Entrepreneurs operating within the private sector of Chiang Saen vastly outnumber investors, with shipping agents being a prominent group, boasting at least ten registered enterprises situated along the banks of the Chiang Saen river. Many of these entrepreneurs share a common ethnic background, having commenced their business endeavors as small-scale operators whose initial calculated speculations yielded significant dividends within a burgeoning marketplace.<ref name="auto18"/> This trend was especially pronounced among Chinese merchants who ventured into small-scale agricultural enterprises, such as the trading of longans, durians, mangosteens, oranges, and apples. In addition to those in the shipping industry, some of the original traders have progressed to become wholesalers, operating warehouses along the river to facilitate the distribution of goods to Bangkok and other parts of Thailand.<ref name="auto18"/>  Within the town of Chiang Saen, small-scale entrepreneurs often specialize in the trade of agricultural products through import and export, as a significant number of these entrepreneurs were previously successful traders back in China, but relocated to the border region due to increased competition within their native market.<ref name="auto17">{{Cite book |title=Chinese Encounters in Southeast Asia |last= Tan |first=Danielle |publisher=[[University of Washington Press]] |year=2016 |isbn=978-0295999319 |pages=88}}</ref> Petty Chinese merchants operating within the town's premises also engage in the sale of imported Chinese fruits and everyday items to both local residents and tourists exploring Chiang Saen. The high saturation of Chinese merchants operating within this sector has fostered a fiercely competitive atmosphere, albeit they are overshadowed by stiff competition from petty Chinese traders offering Chinese goods in the border markets of northern Laos and northern Vietnam, as well as in urban Cambodia.<ref name="auto17"/>

With the [[reform and opening up|rise]] of [[Economy of China|China]] as a global economic power, Thai businesses under Chinese hands are now at the forefront of opening up the country's economy for foreign direct investment from mainland China and Thai businesses that are Chinese-owned are now the largest sources of investors in mainland China among all overseas Chinese communities worldwide.<ref>{{Cite book |title=World On Fire |last=Chua |first= Amy |publisher=Knopf Doubleday Publishing  |year=2003 |isbn=978-0385721868 |pages=184}}</ref><ref name="CP Group">{{Cite web|url=http://www.cpthailand.com/default.aspx?tabid=107|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110620212355/http://www.cpthailand.com/default.aspx?tabid=107|url-status=dead|title=- CP Group|archivedate=20 June 2011}}</ref> The influx of Thai Chinese investment capital into mainland China has led to a resurgence of Han Chinese cultural pride among the Thai Chinese community while concurrently pursuing new business and investment opportunities while bringing their influx of foreign capital to create new jobs and economic niches on the mainland. Many Thais of Chinese ancestry have begun to rekindle with their long-lost Han ancestral roots, have sent their children to newly established Chinese language schools, visited China in record numbers, invested money in the mainland Chinese economy, and assumed Chinese surnames alongside their Thai names.<ref>{{Cite book |title=World On Fire |last=Chua |first=Amy |publisher=Knopf Doubleday Publishing |year=2003 |isbn=978-0385721868 |pages=184–185 }}</ref> The [[Charoen Pokphand]] (CP Group), a prominent Chinese-owned Thai conglomerate claiming $9 billion in assets with US$25 billion in annual sales founded by the [[Chearavanont]]s, a prominent Thai business family of Chinese ancestry which is one of the most powerful conglomerate companies investing in mainland China today.<ref name="Chua 2003 41">{{Cite book |title=World On Fire |last=Chua |first= Amy |publisher=Knopf Doubleday Publishing  |year=2003 |isbn=978-0385721868 |pages=41}}</ref> The conglomerate company is currently the single largest foreign investor in China with over US$1 billion invested with hundreds of businesses across a multivarieted range of industries traversing from agricultural food products, aquaculture, retail, hospitality, and industrial manufacturing while employing more than 150,000 people in mainland China.<ref name="auto9"/><ref name="auto14"/><ref name="Gomez 2012 94">{{Cite book |title=Chinese business in Malaysia |last=Gomez |first=Edmund |publisher=Routledge |year=2012 |isbn=978-0415517379 | pages = 94 }}</ref><ref name="CP Group"/><ref name="Chua 2003 41"/> The company is known in China under well-known household names such as the "Chia Tai Group" and "Zheng Da Ji Tuan". The CP Group also owns and operates [[Tesco Lotus]], one of the largest foreign hypermarket operators with 74 stores and seven distribution centers throughout 30 cities across the mainland. One of CP Group's flagship businesses in China is a US$400 million [[Super Brand Mall]], the largest mall in Shanghai's exclusive [[Pudong]] business district. Reignwood Pine Valley, CP also controls [[Telecom Asia]], a prominent telecommunications and mobile phone manufacturing company in a joint venture with [[British Telecom]] since making its foray into the Thai telecommunications industry.<ref name="Gomez 2012 94"/> Mainland China's most exclusive golf and country clubs, were established and owned by a Thai business tycoon of Chinese ancestry, Chanchai Rouyrungruen (operator of [[Red Bull]] drink business in China). It is cited as the most popular golf course in Asia. In 2008, Chanchai became the first owner of a business jet in mainland China.<ref>[http://www.reignwood.com/aboutUs_HistoryFormation.asp - Reignwood] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110803175923/http://www.reignwood.com/aboutUs_HistoryFormation.asp |date=2011-08-03 }}</ref> [[Anand Panyarachun#Education and career in civil service and business|Anand's Saha-Union]], Thailand's leading industrial group, have so far invested over US$1.5 billion in China, and is operating more than 11 power plants in three of China's provinces. With over other 30 businesses in China, the company employs approximately 7000 Chinese workers.<ref name="CP Group"/> [[Central Group]], Thailand's largest operator of shopping centers (and owner of Italy's leading high-end department store, [[La Rinascente]]) with US$3.5 billion in annual sales was established by the Chirathivats, a Thai business family of Chinese ancestry, have created three new large scale department store branches in China.<ref name="CP Group"/>

According to Thai historian, Dr. Wasana Wongsurawat, the Thai political elite has remained in power by employing a simple two-part strategy: first, secure the economic base by cultivating the support of the Thai business elites of Chinese ancestry; second, align with the dominant global geopolitical power of the day. {{as of|2020}}, increasingly, that power is China.<ref name="BP-20200124" /> As the Chinese economic might grew, the indigenous Thai hill tribes and aborigines were gradually driven out into poorer land on the hills, on the rural outskirts of major Thai cities or into the mountains. The increased economic clout wielded by Thai Chinese has triggered distrust, resentment, and Anti-Chinese sentiment among the poorer working and underclass indigenous Thai majority, many of whom engage in rural agrarian rice peasantry in stark socioeconomic contrast to their modern, wealthier, and cosmopolitan middle and upper class Chinese counterparts.<ref>{{Cite book |title=World On Fire |last=Chua |first=Amy |publisher=Knopf Doubleday Publishing |year=2003 |isbn=978-0385721868 |pages=179–183}}</ref>

== Religion ==
[[File:ศาลเจ้าพ่อองครักษ์ San Chao Pho Ongkharak Tutelary Shrine 2019 04.jpg|thumb|Chao Pho Ongkharak [[Chinese folk religion|Chinese shrine]] in [[Ongkharak district|Ongkharak]]]]
First-generation Chinese immigrants were followers of [[Mahayana Buddhism]], Confucianism and [[Taoism]]. [[Theravada Buddhism]] has since become the religion of many ethnic Chinese in Thailand, especially among assimilated Chinese. Many Chinese in Thailand commonly combine certain practices of [[Chinese folk religion]] with Theravada Buddhism due to the openness and tolerance of Buddhism.<ref>{{cite book |title=Fundamentalisms and the State: Remaking Polities, Economies, and Militance |url=https://archive.org/details/fundamentalismss00mart|url-access=registration|author=[[Martin E. Marty]] |author2=R. Scott Appleby |author3=John H. Garvey |author4=[[Timur Kuran]]|publisher=[[University of Chicago Press]]|isbn=0-226-50884-6|page=[https://archive.org/details/fundamentalismss00mart/page/390 390] |date=July 1996}}</ref> Major Chinese festivals such as [[Chinese New Year]], [[Mid-Autumn Festival]] and [[Qingming Festival|Qingming]] are widely celebrated, especially in Bangkok, Phuket, and other parts of Thailand where there are large Chinese populations.<ref>{{cite book |title=Rethinking Assimilation and Ethnicity: The Chinese of Thailand |work=Alternate Identities: The Chinese of Contemporary Thailand |author1=Tong Chee Kiong |author2=Chan Kwok Bun |year=2001 |pages=30–34}}</ref> There are several prominent Buddhist monks with Chinese ancestry like the well-known Buddhist reformer, [[Buddhadasa|Buddhadasa Bhikkhu]] and the former abbot of [[Wat Saket]], [[Somdet Kiaw]].

The [[Peranakan]]s in [[Phuket city|Phuket]] are noted for their [[Nine Emperor Gods Festival|nine-day vegetarian festival]] between September and October. During the festival period, devotees will abstain from meat and the [[Tangki|Chinese mediums]] will perform [[mortification of the flesh]] to exhibit the power of the [[Shen (Chinese religion)|Deities]], and the rites and rituals seen are devoted to the veneration of [[Chinese gods and immortals|various Deities]]. Such idiosyncratic traditions were developed during the 19th century in Phuket by the local Chinese with influences from Thai culture.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Way That Lives in the Heart: Chinese Popular Religion and Spirits Mediums in Penang, Malaysia|author=Jean Elizabeth DeBernardi|publisher=[[Stanford University Press]]|year=2006|pages=25–30|isbn=0-8047-5292-3}}</ref>

In the north, there is a small minority of Chinese Muslims known as [[Chin Haw|Chin Ho]]. They are mainly the descendants of [[Hui people]] migrated from [[Yunnan|Yunnan, China]]. There are seven Chinese mosques in [[Chiang Mai]].<ref>{{cite web |title=ประวัติการอพยพของจีนมุสลิม |url=http://www.oknation.net/blog/hidayatool/2008/04/10/entry-2 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080529060059/https://www.oknation.net/blog/hidayatool/2008/04/10/entry-2 |archive-date=2008-05-29 |access-date=2012-04-23 |publisher=Oknation.net}}</ref> The best known is the [[Ban Ho Mosque]].

In addition, Thai Chinese also have some customs that are different from the mainland China, such as not eating [[beef]], especially among elderly who worship [[Guanyin]], etc.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.mendetails.com/life/%E0%B8%84%E0%B8%99%E0%B8%88%E0%B8%B5%E0%B8%99%E0%B9%84%E0%B8%A1%E0%B9%88%E0%B8%81%E0%B8%B4%E0%B8%99%E0%B9%80%E0%B8%99%E0%B8%B7%E0%B9%89%E0%B8%AD-dont-eat-beef-july19/|title=ไขข้อสงสัย ทำไมคนไทยเชื้อสายจีนถึง ไม่กินเนื้อวัว? แต่คนจีนแท้ๆ กลับกินได้สบายใจ|language=thai|accessdate=2024-04-15|work=MENDETAILS |date=4 July 2019 }}</ref>

== Dialect groups ==
{{More citations needed section|date=December 2020}}
The vast majority of Thai Chinese belong to various southern Chinese dialect groups. Of these, 56 percent are [[Teochew people|Teochew]] (also commonly spelled as Teochiu), 16 percent [[Hakka people|Hakka]] and 11 percent [[Hainanese people|Hainanese]]. The [[Cantonese people|Cantonese]] and [[Hoklo people|Hokkien]] each constitute seven percent of the Chinese population and three percent belong to other Chinese dialect groups, as reported in 1994.{{cn|date=March 2026}} A large number of Thai Chinese are the descendants of intermarriages between Chinese immigrants and Thais, while there are others who are of predominantly or solely of Chinese descent. People who are of mainly Chinese descent are descendants of immigrants who relocated to Thailand as well as other parts of [[Nanyang (geographical region)|Nanyang]] (the Chinese term for Southeast Asia used at the time) in the early to mid-20th century due to famine, poverty and civil war in the southern Chinese provinces of [[Guangdong]] (Teochew, Cantonese and Hakka groups), [[Hainan]] (Hainanese), [[Guangxi]] (Cantonese group) and [[Fujian]] (Hokkien, Hockchew and Henghua groups).

===Teochew===
Traditionally, the Teochews are a majority population of coastal provinces like [[Bangkok]], [[Chonburi province|Chonburi]] and [[Chachoengsao province|Chachoengsao]] until the 1950s, in which later it was overwhelmed by [[Thai people|Central Thai]] [[Internal migration|internal immigrant]]s. Many of Thai military commanders as well as politicians come from Teochew backgrounds, while others were involved in trade. During the reign of King Taksin, some influential Teochew traders were granted certain privileges. These prominent traders were called "royal Chinese" (''Jin-luang'' or จีนหลวง in Thai). Prominent Teochew politicians include former prime ministers [[Phot Phahonyothin]], [[Pridi Banomyong]], [[Thawan Thamrongnawasawat]], [[Kriangsak Chamanan]], [[Chatichai Choonhavan]], [[Suchinda Kraprayoon]], [[Banharn Silpa-archa]], [[Chavalit Yongchaiyudh]] and [[Samak Sundaravej]]

===Hakka===
Hakkas are mainly concentrated around [[Chiang Mai]], Nan, Phuket, [[Chanthaburi]] as well as some other central western and eastern provinces. The Hakka own many private banks in Thailand, notably [[Kasikorn Bank]] and [[Kiatnakin Bank]]. Prominent Hakka politicians include former prime ministers [[Thaksin Shinawatra]],  [[Abhisit Vejjajiva]], [[Yingluck Shinawatra]], [[Paetongtarn Shinawatra]] and [[Srettha Thavisin]], former deputy prime minister [[Supachai Panitchpakdi]] and [[Sudarat Keyuraphan]].

===Hainanese===
Hainanese people is another prominent Thai Chinese group which are mainly concentrated in [[Bangkok]], Samui and some central provinces. Notable Hainanese Thai families include the Chirathivat family of [[Central Group]] and the Yoovidhya family of [[Krating Daeng]], while politicians from this dialect group include former prime minister [[Pote Sarasin]] and politicians such as [[Boonchu Rojanastien]], [[Banyat Bantadtan]], [[Jurin Laksanawisit]] and [[Sondhi Limthongkul]].

===Hokkien===
Hokkiens or Hoklos are a dominant group of Chinese particularly in the south of Thailand, mostly can trace their ancestry from [[Xiamen]]; aside from Thais, they also traded with [[Indians in Thailand|Indians]] and other foreigners in Thailand. Hokkiens primarily live in [[Mueang Surat Thani District|Bandon]] in [[Surat Thani Province]]. A smaller Hoklo community can also be found in [[Hatyai]] in [[Songkhla Province]] and [[Satun Province]]. Some Hokkiens live in Bangkok traces their ancestry from [[Zhangzhou]], like [[Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha]]. Prominent Hokkien politicians include former prime ministers [[Chuan Leekpai]], [[Anand Panyarachun]] and [[Srettha Thavisin]].

===Cantonese===
The Cantonese predominantly came from [[Taishan, Guangdong|Taishan]] as well as [[Xinhui District|Xinhui]] counties in [[Jiangmen]] as well as the city of [[Guangzhou]] in Guangdong province of China. This group is not very prominent and is mainly concentrated in [[Bangkok]] and the central provinces. Although Cantonese people from [[Yulin, Guangxi|Yulin]] primarily live in [[Betong District|Betong]] of [[Yala Province]], they are more popularly known as [[Guangxi|Kwongsai]], in which they are distinguished from fellow people from Guangdong province despite sharing the same native dialect ({{langx|th|กวางไส}}, 廣西; <small>literally: Western Canton</small>). Thai Chinese politicians with Cantonese ancestry are [[Plaek Phibunsongkram]], [[Chavarat Charnvirakul|Chavarat]], and [[Anutin Charnvirakul]].

===Fuzhou and Fuqing dialects===
This dialect group is the smallest among the ethnic Chinese populace and are found in places such as [[Chandi, Thailand|Chandi]] located in [[Nakhon Si Thammarat province]] as well as in other provinces such as [[Chumphon province|Chumphon]] ([[Lamae district|Lamae]] and Map Ammarit villages) and also [[Rayong province]] (in the settlement of Ban Chandi, which was renamed after their main population centre of Chandi in Southern Thailand as a result of internal immigration and resettlement) as well as a lesser extent a pocket of them being internal migrants residing in [[Bangkok]] as well as [[Central Thailand]] (surrounding provinces of the capital, Bangkok), they trace their ancestries back to [[Fuzhou]] and [[Ningde]] towns of northern [[Fujian]] province, China.

===Peranakan===
{{main|Peranakan Chinese}}

Some ethnic Chinese living in the Malay-dominated provinces in the far south use [[Kelantan-Pattani Malay|Malay]], rather than Thai as a lingua franca, and many have intermarried with local Malays, and are known as [[Peranakans|Peranakan]]. They are mostly concentrated in [[Phuket Province|Phuket]], [[Trang Province|Trang]] and [[Phang Nga Province]]s.<ref name=Forbes>{{cite book|title=The Muslims of Thailand|author=Andrew D.W. Forbes|publisher=Soma Prakasan|year=1988|isbn=974-9553-75-6}}</ref> In modern sense, Peranakan are not Thai Chinese, because Peranakan speak Southern Thai, while Thai Chinese in [[Southern Thailand]] (especially in [[Hat Yai|Hatyai]] and [[Surat Thani|Bandon]]) speak a localized accent or variant of Central Thai, known as ''Leangkaluang'' ({{langx|th|แหลงข้าหลวง}}) which exhibits Southern Thai influences.

== Family names ==
Almost all Thai-Chinese or Sino-Thais, especially those who came to Thailand before the 1950s, only use [[Thai surname]] in public, while it was required by [[Rama VI]] as a condition of Thai citizenship. The few retaining native [[Chinese surname]]s are either recent immigrants or resident aliens. For some immigrants who settled in [[Southern Thailand]] before the 1950s, it was common to simply prefix ''Sae-'' (from [[Chinese language|Chinese]]: {{linktext|姓}}, 'family name') to a transliteration of their name to form the new family name; [[Wanlop Saechio]]'s last name thus derived from the [[Hainanese]] {{linktext|周}} and [[Chanin Sae-ear]]'s last name is from [[Hokkien]] {{linktext|楊}}. ''Sae'' is also used by [[Hmong people]] in Thailand. In 1950s-1970s Chinese immigrants had that surname in Thailand, although Chinese immigrants to Thailand after the 1970s use their Chinese family names without ''Sae-.''

Sino-Thai surnames are often distinct from those of the other-Thai population, with generally longer names mimicking those of high officials and upper-class Thais<ref>Mirin MacCarthy. [http://www.pattayamail.com/312/columns.htm#hd3 "Successfully Yours: Thanet Supornsaharungsi."] ''Pattaya Mail''. [Undated] 1998.</ref> and with elements of these longer names retaining their original Chinese family name in translation or transliteration. For example, former Prime Minister [[Banharn Silpa-Archa]]'s unusual ''Archa'' element is a translation into Thai of his family's former name [[Ma (surname)|Ma]] (<small>[[traditional characters|trad.]]</small> 馬, <small>[[simplified characters|simp.]]</small> 马, <small>lit.</small> 'horse'). Similarly, the ''Lim'' in [[Sondhi Limthongkul]]'s and [[Pita Limjaroenrat]]'s name is the pronunciation of the name [[Lin (surname)|Lin]] (林). For an example, see the [[Abhisit Vejjajiva#Background|background of the Vejjajiva]] Palace name.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.amed.go.th/aboutus/palace/name_ring.htm |title=Archived copy |access-date=2005-04-26 |language=th |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050426064730/http://www.amed.go.th/aboutus/palace/name_ring.htm |archive-date=April 26, 2005 }}</ref> Note that the latter-day [[Royal Thai General System of Transcription]] would transcribe it as ''Wetchachiwa'' and that the Sanskrit-derived name refers to 'medical profession'.

==Notable figures==
===Royalty===
{{image frame
| border = no
| content = {{image array|perrow=2|width=135|height=135
| image1 =| caption1 = King [[Taksin]] the Great
| image2 = King Rama I of Siam (Yodfa Chulalok) Portrait.jpg| caption2 = King [[Rama I]]
| image3 = HM Queen Indrasakdi Sachi.jpg|caption3 = Princess Consort [[Indrasakdi Sachi]]
| image5 =Queen Suthida of Thailand in 2019 (2, cropped).jpg| caption5 = Queen [[Suthida]]
}}}}

*King [[Taksin]] of Thonburi, son of a Teochew Chinese father migrant gambler or trader and a Thai mother<ref>Baker, Chris; Phongpaichit, Pasuk. A History of Thailand Third Edition (p. 25). Cambridge University Press. (Kindle Edition.)</ref>
*King [[Rama I]], son of "a beautiful daughter of a mix of Chinese and Thai family in Ayutthaya"<ref>Baker, Chris; Phongpaichit, Pasuk. A History of Thailand Third Edition (p. 31). Cambridge University Press.</ref>
*[[Indrasakdi Sachi]], Princess consort of Siam
*Queen [[Suthida]], Queen consort of Thailand

===Prime Ministers===
{{image frame
| border = no
| content = {{image array|perrow=3|width=135|height=135
| image1 = Phraya Manopakorn Nititada.jpg| caption1 = [[Phraya Manopakorn Nititada|Kon Hutasingha]]
| image2 = Thawal Thamrong Navaswadhi.jpg| caption2 = [[Thawan Thamrongnawasawat]]
| image3 = Kriangsak_Chomanan_1976.jpg| caption3 = [[Kriangsak Chamanan]]
| image4 = Chatichai Choonhavan 1976.jpg| caption4 = [[Chatichai Choonhavan]]
| image5 = Chuan Leekpai 2010-04-01.jpg| caption5 = [[Chuan Leekpai]]
| image6 = Banharn Silpa-archa (cropped).jpg| caption6 = [[Banharn Silpa-archa]]
| image7 = Yingluck Shinawatra at US Embassy, Bangkok, July 2011.jpg| caption7 = [[Yingluck Shinawatra]]
| image8 = Samak_Sundaravej.JPG| caption8 = [[Samak Sundaravej]]
| image9 = PM Srettha Thavisin 2023 (cropped).jpg|caption9 = [[Srettha Thavisin]]
}}}}
Thai Chinese Prime Ministers:

====20th century====
*[[Phraya Manopakorn Nititada|Kon Hutasingha]]<ref>{{cite book |first1=Paul |last1=Preston |first2=Michael |last2=Partridge |first3=Antony |last3=Best |title=British Documents on Foreign Affairs--Reports and Papers from the Foreign Office Confidential Print |volume=6 |publisher=University Publications of America |date=1997 |isbn=1-55655-674-8 |page=464 |quote= 51. Phya Manopakarana Nitidhada spoke perfect English and was always very friendly to England. He is three parts Chinese. His wife, a [[Favourite|favorite]] lady-in-waiting to the ex-Queen, was killed in a motor accident in 1929 when on an official visit to Indo-China.}}</ref> 
*[[Phraya Phahonphonphayuhasena|Phot Phahonyothin]]<ref>{{cite book|title=Thailand: A Political, Social, and Economic Analysis|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JiIyAAAAIAAJ&q=%22and+so+was+the+father+of+another%22|year=1957|author=D. Insor|publisher=[[Greenwood Publishing Group|Praeger]]|page=138}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |language=th |script-title=th:ทายาทพระยาพหลฯ เล่าถึงคณะราษฎรในความทรงจำ ทั้งชีวิตยอมปฏิวัติ 24 มิ.ย.ได้ครั้งเดียว |date=June 30, 2012 |newspaper=Prachatai |url=https://prachatai.com/journal/2012/06/41329 |access-date=April 17, 2017}}</ref> 
*[[Plaek Phibunsongkhram]]<ref>{{cite book |last1=Batson |first1=Benjamin Arthur |last2=Shimizu |first2=Hajime |title=The Tragedy of Wanit: A Japanese Account of Wartime Thai Politics |date=1990 |publisher=University of Singapore Press |isbn=9971622467 |page=64 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=35JwAAAAMAAJ&q=9971622467 |access-date=29 September 2018}}</ref> 
*[[Seni Pramoj]]<ref name=SeniKukrit>[http://www.thaiwaysmagazine.com/thai_article/2021_kukrit's_home/kukrits's_home.html An Impressive Day at M.R. Kukrit's Home] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927045532/http://www.thaiwaysmagazine.com/thai_article/2021_kukrit's_home/kukrits's_home.html |date=27 September 2007 }}; [http://www.rootsweb.com/~thawgw/bibliography.html Thailand Bibliography]</ref> 
*[[Pridi Banomyong]]<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.bookrags.com/research/pridi-banomyong-ema-05/|title= Research & Articles on Pridi Banomyong |author=  Gerald W. Fry|date= 18 June 2012 |publisher= BookRags |archive-url=https://archive.today/20111030204126/http://www.bookrags.com/research/pridi-banomyong-ema-05/|archive-date=2011-10-30|url-status= dead|quote= Pridi was included in UNESCO's list of Great Personalities and Historic Events for the year 2000, and this year was declared by UNESCO as the centennial of Pridi. Also, the Université Paris (1 PanthéonSorbonne) in 2000 celebrated the centenary of Pridi and honored him as "one of the great constitutionalists of the twentieth century," comparing him to such figures as Rousseau, Montesquieu, and de Tocqueville.}}</ref><ref name="泰国 洪林, 黎道纲主编 2006 17">{{cite book|language=zh |script-title=zh:泰国华侨华人研究|author=[泰国] 洪林, 黎道纲主编|publisher=香港社会科学出版社有限公司|date=April 2006|pages=17|isbn=962-620-127-4}}</ref> 
*[[Thawan Thamrongnawasawat]]<ref>{{cite book|language=zh |script-title=zh:泰国华侨华人研究|author=[泰国] 洪林, 黎道纲主编|publisher=香港社会科学出版社有限公司|date=April 2006|pages=17, 185|isbn=962-620-127-4}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://bbs.ntut.edu.tw/cgi-bin/bbscon?board=history&file=M.1066497351.A&num=15 |language=zh |script-title=zh:臺北科技大學紅樓資訊站 |publisher=[[National Taipei University of Technology]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928003553/http://bbs.ntut.edu.tw/cgi-bin/bbscon?board=history&file=M.1066497351.A&num=15 |archive-date=28 September 2007 }}</ref> 
*[[Pote Sarasin]]<ref>{{cite book|language=zh |script-title=zh:泰国华侨华人研究|author=[泰国]洪林，黎道纲主编|publisher=香港社会科学出版社有限公司|date=April 2006|pages=17|isbn=962-620-127-4}}</ref> 
*[[Thanom Kittikachorn]]<ref>{{Citation |last=Chaloemtiarana |first=Thak |title=Thailand: The Politics of Despotic Paternalism |year=2007 |place=Ithaca NY |publisher=Cornell Southeast Asia Program |page=88 |isbn=978-0-8772-7742-2}}</ref> 
*[[Sarit Thanarat]]<ref name="Bookrags">Gale, T. 2005. Encyclopedia of World Biographies.</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Historical Dictionary of Thailand|author=Smith Nieminen Win|pages=225|year=2005 |edition =2nd |isbn=978-0-8108-5396-6|publisher=Praeger Publishers}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Trans-Pacific Relations: America, Europe, and Asia in the Twentieth Century|author1=Richard Jensen|author2=Jon Davidann|author3=Yoneyuki Sugita|pages=222|year=2003|isbn=978-0-275-97714-6|publisher=Praeger Publishers}}</ref> 
*[[Kukrit Pramoj]]<ref name="SeniKukrit"/> 
*[[Thanin Kraivichien]]<ref name="FEER">{{Citation |last=Peagam |first=Nelson |title=Judge picks up the reigns |newspaper=Far Eastern Economic Review |year=1976 |page=407}}</ref> 
*[[Kriangsak Chamanan]]<ref name=":1">Krīangsak, Chamanan. ''[https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/739734191 thīralưk Ngān Phrarātchathān Phlœng Sop Phon ʻēk Krīangsak Chamanan: ʻadīt Nāyokratthamontrī 12 Pho. Yo. 2549] translated as Official Documents of Cremation Volumes in honour of former Thai president Kriangsak Chomanan''. Krung Thēp: Khunying Wirat Chamanan, 2006. Print.</ref> 
*[[Chatichai Choonhavan]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ydtz.com/news/shownews.asp?id=22114 |language=zh |script-title=zh:曾经叱咤风云的泰国政坛澄海人 |website=ydtz.com |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928131539/http://www.ydtz.com/news/shownews.asp?id=22114 |archive-date=28 September 2007 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.czpp.com/cgi-bin/topic.cgi?forum=7&topic=365&show=25|language=zh |script-title=zh:潮汕人}}{{Dead link|date=April 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> 
*[[Anand Panyarachun]]<ref>{{cite book|title=A History of Thailand|author=[[Chris Baker (writer)|Chris Baker]], [[Pasuk Phongpaichit]]|date=20 April 2005|publisher=Cambridge University Press|pages=[https://archive.org/details/historyofthailan00bake/page/154 154 and 280]|isbn=0-521-81615-7|url=https://archive.org/details/historyofthailan00bake/page/154}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=泰国华侨华人研究|author=[泰国] 洪林, 黎道纲主编|publisher=香港社会科学出版社有限公司|date=April 2006|pages=185|isbn=962-620-127-4}}</ref> 
*[[Suchinda Kraprayoon]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.csonline.com.cn/news/mtjh/jsbl/t20050719_355194.htm |language=zh |script-title=zh:泰国华裔总理不忘"本" |website=csonline.com.cn |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090422104411/http://www.csonline.com.cn/news/mtjh/jsbl/t20050719_355194.htm |archive-date=22 April 2009 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|language=zh |script-title=zh:泰国华侨华人研究|author=[泰国] 洪林, 黎道纲主编|publisher=香港社会科学出版社有限公司|date=April 2006|isbn=962-620-127-4|page=185}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.mrc-usa.org/nmsp-news-7-95.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080317061501/http://www.mrc-usa.org/nmsp-news-7-95.htm|url-status=usurped|title=The days before ceasefire between SLORC AND NMSP on 25 June 1995|date=6 September 1994|archive-date=17 March 2008|work=The Nation|via=Monland Restoration Council}}</ref> 
*[[Chuan Leekpai]]<ref name="Baker-2009" /><ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.sohu.com/90/85/news148058590.shtml |language=zh |script-title=zh:泰国华裔地位高 出过好几任总理真正的一等公民 |website=[[Sohu]] |access-date=3 October 2019 |archive-date=8 October 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181008022155/http://news.sohu.com/90/85/news148058590.shtml |url-status=dead }}</ref> 
*[[Banharn Silpa-archa]]<ref name=bp>{{cite news |url=http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/politics/944729/banharn-silpa-archa-dies-at-83 |title=Former PM Banharn dies at 83 |work=Bangkok Post |date=23 April 2016}}</ref> 
*[[Chavalit Yongchaiyudh]]<ref>{{cite book|title=The Thaksinization Of Thailand|author=[[Duncan McCargo]], Ukrist Pathmanand|publisher=Nordic Institute of Asian Studies|year=2004|isbn=978-87-91114-46-5|page=''Introduction: Who is Thaksin Shinawatra?'', 4}}</ref>

====21st century====
*[[Thaksin Shinawatra]]<ref name="BP_09_11_29">{{Cite news|last=Tumcharoen|first=Surasak|title= A very distinguished province: Chanthaburi has had some illustrious citizens|newspaper=Bangkok Post|date=29 November 2009}}</ref> 
*[[Samak Sundaravej]],<ref>{{cite book|language=zh |script-title=zh:泰国华侨华人研究|author=[泰国] 洪林, 黎道纲主编|publisher=香港社会科学出版社有限公司|date=April 2006|page=187|isbn=962-620-127-4}}</ref>
*[[Abhisit Vejjajiva]]<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7780309.stm |publisher=BBC News |title=Profile: Abhisit Vejjajiva |date=17 March 2010 |access-date=7 April 2011 |url-status=live |archive-date=8 February 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110208145639/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7780309.stm}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Golingai |first1=Philip |title=Peas in a pod they are not |url=http://www.thestar.com.my/story/?file=%2F2009%2F1%2F17%2Ffocus%2F3045786&sec=focus |work=[[The Star (Malaysia)]] |date=17 January 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171010135611/http://www.thestar.com.my/story/?file=%2F2009%2F1%2F17%2Ffocus%2F3045786&sec=focus |archive-date=10 October 2017 |language=en}}</ref> 
*[[Yingluck Shinawatra]]<ref name="BP_09_11_29"/> 
*[[Srettha Thavisin]]<ref>{{cite news |date=20 July 2023 |title=เปิดตัว "เศรษฐา ทวีสิน" เครือญาติ 5 ตระกูลธุรกิจยักษ์ใหญ่ |language=th-TH |work=Thansettakij |url=https://www.thansettakij.com/politics/571133 |access-date=21 July 2023 |archive-date=21 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230721020113/https://www.thansettakij.com/politics/571133 |url-status=live }}</ref> 
*[[Paetongtarn Shinawatra]]
*[[Anutin Charnvirakul]] (incumbent)

===Cabinet and governors===
*[[Boonchu Rojanastien]], Banker, Deputy Prime Minister, Finance Minister.
*[[Chitchai Wannasathit]], Minister of Justice, Acting Prime Minister.
*[[Pao Sarasin]], Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior.
*[[Jurin Laksanawisit]], Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Health
*[[Chavarat Charnvirakul]], Acting Prime Minister of Thailand, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Social Development and Human Security and Minister of Interior.
*[[Bhichai Rattakul]], World President of [[Rotary International]], Deputy Prime Minister, Speaker of the National Assembly, Minister of Foreign Affairs.
*[[Kalaya Sophonpanich]], Minister of Science and Technology.
*[[Bhichit Rattakul]], Governor of Bangkok and Businessman.
*[[Kanchana Silpa-archa]], Deputy Minister of Education.
*[[Apirak Kosayodhin]], Governor of Bangkok, CEO of [[True Corporation]].
*[[Varawut Silpa-archa]], Minister of Social Development and Human Security and Minister of Natural Resources and Environment.
*[[Supachai Panitchpakdi]], Deputy Prime Minister and the first and only Asian [[Director-General of the World Trade Organization]]
*[[Luang Wichitwathakan|Wichit Wichitwathakan]], Minister of Finance, Economic Affairs and Foreign Affairs, historian and political novelist.

===Business and entrepreneur===
*[[Zheng Yifeng]], famously known as Yi Kor Hong or Er Ge Feng, a businessman and philanthropist in 19th century.
*[[Chin Sophonpanich]], Banker that founded the [[Bangkok Bank]] and [[Bangkok Insurance]].
*Thaworn Phornprapha, Entrepreneur and founder of Siam Motors Group.
*[[Chaleo Yoovidhya]], Billionaire inventor of [[Red Bull]].
*[[Vanich Chaiyawan]], Billionaire and chairman of [[Thai Life Insurance]], the second-largest life insurer in Thailand.
*[[Prasert Prasarttong-Osoth]], founder and owner of [[Bangkok Dusit Medical Services]], Thailand's largest private health care group, and the owner of [[Bangkok Airways]].
*[[Dhanin Chearavanont]], Billionaire and the senior chairman of [[CP Group]].
*[[Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi]], Billionaire business magnate and investor.
*[[Krit Ratanarak]], Billionaire chairman of [[Bangkok Broadcasting & Television Company]].
*[[Chalerm Yoovidhya]], Billionaire Businessman and heir to the Red Bull fortune.
*[[Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha]], Billionaire  founder, owner and chairman of [[King Power]].
*[[Chartsiri Sophonpanich]], Billionaire President of [[Bangkok Bank]].
*[[Panthongtae Shinawatra]], founding Billionaire of [[Voice TV]].
*[[Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha]], youngest Billionaire of Asia.

===Others===
{{image frame
| border = no
| content = {{image array|perrow=3|width=135|height=135
| image3 = BuddhadasaAsiti60.jpg| caption3 = [[Buddhadasa Bhikkhu]]
| image1 = ChangandEng.jpg| caption1 = [[Chang and Eng Bunker]]
}}}}
*[[Buddhadasa Bhikkhu]], famous and influential Buddhist reformist monk.
*[[Somdet Heng Khemachari]], Chief Monk of the Southern Region.
*[[Luang Pu Thong Ayana]], highly revered and one of the longest-lived Thai monks.
*[[Maha Kanachan Yen Tek]], former Chief Monk of the [[Chinese Sangha of Thailand]]
*[[Pita Limjaroenrat]], politician, and businessman. He served as the leader of the [[Move Forward Party]].
*[[Atthaya Thitikul]], professional golfer
*[[Chang and Eng Bunker]], famous conjoined twins.
*[[Bundit Ungrangsee]], symphonic conductor.
*[[Michael Michai Kitbunchu]], cardinal and Archbishop of Bangkok from 1973 to 2009.
*[[Apichatpong Weerasethakul]], award-winning film director.
*[[Jet Tila]], chef and restauraunteur.
*[[Piyabutr Saengkanokkul]], academic and politician. He served as a member of the [[Thai House of Representatives]].
*[[Parit Wacharasindhu]], politician and television host.
*[[Joey Boy]], hip hop singer and producer.
*[[Puttichai Kasetsin]], actor, DJ, television host. 
*[[Tanutchai Wijitwongthong]], actor.
*[[Chalida Vijitvongthong]], actress.
*[[Utt Panichkul]], actor, host, television presenter.
*[[Francis Xavier Kriengsak Kovitvanit]], cardinal and Archbishop of Bangkok since 2009.
*[[Nichkhun]], singer and rapper.
*[[James Ma]], actor and model.
*[[Vachirawit Chivaaree]], actor and singer.
*[[Metawin Opas-iamkajorn]], actor.
*[[Yuenyong Opakul]], singer, musician, record producer.
*[[Ten (singer)|Ten]], singer and dancer.
*[[BamBam]], Boy Band rapper, record producer
*[[Minnie (singer)|Minnie]], singer and actress.
*[[Sophida Kanchanarin]], model, beauty queen, Miss Universe Thailand 2018.
*[[Tontawan Tantivejakul]], actress and model.
*[[Sondhi Limthongkul]], writer, media proprietor and political activist.
*[[Chaithawat Tulathon]], politician. He served as the leader of the [[Move Forward Party]].
*[[Natthaphong Ruengpanyawut]], politician and businessman. He serve as the leader of the [[People's Party (Thailand)|People's Party]].

== See also ==
{{Portal|Thailand|China|Taiwan|Society}}

* [[Chao Mae Thapthim Shrine, Wang Burapha|Chao Mae Thapthim Shrine]] (水尾聖娘廟)
* [[China–Thailand relations]]
* [[Chinese folk religion in Southeast Asia]]
* [[Chow Yam-nam]] (White Dragon King)
* [[Guan Yu Shrine, Khlong San|Gong Wu Shrine]]
* [[Kian Un Keng Shrine]] (建安宮)
* [[Leng Buai Ia Shrine]] (龍尾古廟)
* [[Lim Ko Niao]] (林姑娘)
* [[Poh Teck Tung Foundation]]
* [[Racism in Thailand]]
* [[San Chaopho Suea (Sao Chingcha)]] (打惱路玄天上帝廟)
* [[Thian Fah Foundation Hospital]] (天華醫院)
* [[Wat Bamphen Chin Phrot]] (永福寺)
* [[Wat Mangkon Kamalawat]] (龍蓮寺)
* [[Wat San Chao Chet]] (七聖媽廟)

== Notes ==
{{notelist}}
{{Reflist|group="nb"}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== Further reading ==
*{{Cite book |last=Chansiri |first=Disaphol |title=The Chinese Émigrés of Thailand in the Twentieth Century |publisher=Cambria Press |year=2008 }}
*{{Cite book |last=Chantavanich |first=Supang |chapter=From Siamese-Chinese to Chinese-Thai: Political Conditions and Identity Shifts among the Chinese in Thailand |title=Ethnic Chinese as Southeast Asians |editor=Leo Suryadinata |publisher=Institute of Southeast Asian Studies |place=Singapore |year=1997 |pages=232–259}}
*Coughlin, Richard J. (1955). "[https://www.jstor.org/stable/2087390 The Chinese in Bangkok: A Commercial-Oriented Minority]". ''American Sociological Review''. '''20''' (3): 311–316.
*{{Cite book |editor1=Tong Chee Kiong |editor2=Chan Kwok Bun |title=Alternate Identities: The Chinese of Contemporary Thailand |publisher=Times Academic Press |year=2001 |isbn=981-210-142-X |url=https://archive.org/details/alternateidentit00chee }}
* Skinner, G. William. ''Leadership and Power in the Chinese Community in Thailand''. Ithaca (Cornell University Press), 1958.
* {{Cite book|title=A History of the Thai-Chinese|last1=Sng|first1=Jeffery|last2=Bisalputra|first2=Pimpraphai|publisher=Editions Didier Millet|year=2015|isbn=978-981-4385-77-0}}
* {{cite book |last1=Wongsurawat |first1=Wasana |title=The Crown and the Capitalists; The Ethnic Chinese and the Founding of the Thai Nation |series=Critical Dialogues in Southeast Asian Studies|date=October 2019 |publisher=University of Washington Press |location=Seattle |isbn=9780295746241 |edition=Paper |url=https://uwapress.uw.edu/book/9780295746241/the-crown-and-the-capitalists/ |access-date=30 April 2020}}

== External links ==
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSQGo8IkJjg Dr. Wasana Wongsurawat lectures about her book ''The Crown and the Capitalists; The Ethnic Chinese and the Founding of the Thai Nation'', 15 January 2020 (video)]
* [http://www.thaicc.org/ Thai-Chinese chamber of commerce]
* {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20210225193807/http://en.thaichinese.net/ Thai Chinese.net]}} (archived 25 February 2021)
* {{in lang|th}} {{usurped|1=[https://archive.today/20130222055218/http://www.thaichinese.net/ Thai Chinese.net]}}

=== Associations ===
* [http://www.chonghua.or.th/ The Chinese Association in Thailand (Chong Hua)]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20071102124502/http://www.tiochewassthai.org/ Teochew Association of Thailand] (archived 2 November 2007)
* [http://www.hakkathailand.com/ Hakka Association of Thailand]
* {{in lang|th}} [https://web.archive.org/web/20071222085603/http://www.thaihainantrade.com/default.asp Thai Hainan Trade association of Thailand] (archived 22 December 2007)
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20071121080612/http://www.fujian.or.th/ Fujian Association of Thailand] (archived 21 November 2007)

=== Miscellaneous ===
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20030414222918/http://www.taihuabbs.com/ Thai Chinese BBS] (archived 14 April 2003)
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20050921051807/http://www.cidcm.umd.edu/inscr/mar/assessment.asp?groupId=80001 Assessment for Chinese in Thailand] (archived 21 September 2005)
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20090106144714/http://www.2bangkok.com//2bangkok/Tram/writers.shtml Anti-Chinese Labor riot of 1924, & bottom of page, how Thai Army suppressed 1889 riot between Chinese triads Tang Kong Xi (Teochew) and Siew Li Kue (Fujian)] (archived 6 January 2009)
* [https://archive.today/20120722061820/http://www.apmforum.com/columns/thai4.htm Why do Thais have long surnames?] (archived 22 July 2012)

{{Ethnic groups in Thailand}}
{{Overseas Chinese}}

[[Category:Chinese diaspora in Thailand| ]]
[[Category:Chinese diaspora by country]]
[[Category:China–Thailand relations]]
[[Category:Ethnic groups in Thailand|Chinese]]