Searching For The Largest Overseas Chinese Community Outside of China
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 7 ต.ค. 2021
- Searching For The Largest Overseas Chinese Community Outside of China
Curiously learning about one of the most assimilated Overseas Chinese groups outside of China
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I think the most interesting fact you can take from this is that Chinese culture has been blended together with Thai culture so much, and for so long, that it feels incredibly natural and almost like a new "Chainese" cultural bubble has formed. Almost every Thai-Chinese living and growing up in Thailand just feels like a normal Thai person with occasional "Chinese traditions" thrown into their lives. If you have lived and grown up, regardless of ethnic roots and backgrounds, within the Thai border, you will both consider and be considered as Thai
Yes, majority of anyone either full or mixed with both thai and chinese actually IDENTIFIES as THAI. In bkk that view might be mixed but outside of bkk many dont really point out that theyre full or half or part chinese. Several of my cousins and anyways relatives who are half, part or full chinese ethnically identify also as thai. So yeah…
I think the early generations of Chinese really integrated themselves very well into Thai community. If you ask if they feel that they're more Thai or they're more Chinese. Im pretty sure that they feel more Thai. Younger generations dont even considered themself Chinese anymore, they're just feel that they're Thai. Majority cant speak any Chinese or know any relatives in China. Chinese to them is just an ethnicity. As a Thai Chinese myself, i find it fascinating too that Thai Chinese dont encounter any racial prejudices like few neighboring countries.. (eg; Indonesia riot against Chinese etc) Given the fact that Chinese are generally more affluent and owns literally everything. I think Thai Chinese have to be grateful (as I am), to the native Thais of the past and present that allow them to settle into their society and ingrained themselves to this country to the point that they call this country their home.
It’s not easy to migrate to new lands of different people and build new life and new communities. There are numerous challenges to say the least. I have respect for anyone that can do that even if it is just to escape poverty.
I read an old book about Chinatown in Manila and how the locals would get jealous, riot, kill everyone, burn Chinatown down then steal everything. But new waves of Chinese immigrants would come rebuild, do their thing and create wealth only to have the same event repeat over again and again.
Whenever I hear Filipinos bragging about Manila having the oldest Chinatown in the world, I think it’s probably not even true, and I remember that story and understand how they can be.
That’s why I love to hear peoples stories and histories, like yours, so that I can learn and understand.
Thailand is weird because it’s the only country where Chinese are fully assimilated that they see themselves as Thai the race not just nationality, they abandon their Chinese roots and culture and they adopt Thai names, Thai language and Thai culture. Even when I was in Thailand Thai people kept speaking Thai to me assuming that I speak Thai or that I’m Thai when I’m not.
Just because you never experienced it doesn’t mean it never happened. My grandparents (who barely speak Thai) were bullied a lot by local Thai people. They were even threatened by Thai officers asking for money. Although that was long time ago, I don’t think it’s right to over-optimistically state that “Thai Chinese don’t encounter any racial prejudice…”
@@nathanchang7713you mean ETHNICITY NOT RACE, as BOTH THAI AND CHINESE ARE FROM THE SAME RACE, which, you guessed it, is the ASIAN race. Chinese and thai are ethnicities, not races. Both are asian by race (same as black is referred to ppl of any african decent and same as white is referred to ppl of any european origins).
@@snowynight6225Thats sad, but majority wont do that. The most discrimantion here is towards any ppl of non thai citizenship. Half thai half white/european decent often are just considered (inlcudes my half thai/italian cousin) as farang (even tho farang is the WRONG word for halfies, as farang is specifically for someone whos FULL ethnically of european decent, yet they still use that term with half thai half europeans too, which in my opinion is quite ignorant, halfies are MIXED or in thai called luk krueng and not just “white” as many thais seem to be highly ignorant about). Anyways some thais dont make sense in this topic as many want mixed kids but mostly only want to claim one side of a mixed race child…. Super weard for me as a THAI citizen. I am mainly thai with only one quarter chinese ethnic backround. Anyways for FULL ASIANS here its a different topic especially thai-chinese rarely face discrimination.
But i can tsay that its different for mainland chinese, in THAT case they arent much liked here, neither in vietnam and so on, as sadly often t8mes chinese mainlanders who come to visit southeast asia ingeneral can be quite rude in behaviour. Thaichinese are seen as different from outside chinese ppl , no matter if full or mixed with chinese.
Great subject to talk about Personally I have 100% respect for the Chinese community everywhere in the world
I am a 3rd generation of Thai-Cantonese, we are completely blended with the Thai society, never encounter any racial discrimination or get bullied here, Thai government never has such discrimination policy (ie Malaysia's Bumiputera policy) to divide and classify their own people or make us us feel like a 2nd class citizen, Thai cultures and our major religion (Buddhism) are not a barrier for intermarriage between Chinese and natives therefore even the Thai royal family is partly Chinese.
In Thailand, we can access to education, jobs, property ownership and other opportunities equally, race doesn't matter.
I’m very happy to hear 😊
Is it easy to find Thais still speaking Cantonese in Bangkok, l hear Teochew more, and happy to know if there are any Thai Cantonese areas in Bangkok?
@@peterthermocline All of us are actually living across the country and integrated as a Thai people.
Many of Thai-Chinese in my generation are no longer speak Chinese languages, we speak Thai, we have Thai family name (some of us adapted their Chinese family name to Thai family name), we celebrate Songkran day but we also celebrate Chinese New Year, we visit our ancestral tomb on the Qingming Festival but we also go to Buddhist temple to make merit etc.
We are Thai people but we are fully aware where we come from.
I hope he did, before or after.555 Dam she is cute.
The family of former Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra was of Chinese descent, specifically Hakka Chinese.
I'm Thai Chinese born and growing up in Thailand, we never have an identity issue, most everyone that were born in Thailand think they are Thai no matter where their parents are from originally. If he or she were born in Thai land and you ask them, most will say they are Thai.
I am the 4th generation Thai-Chinese in Thailand. My family background is from Zhao'an, Zhangzhou, Fujian. They came to Thailand by junk and settled in the south of Thailand. ฺBefore my great-grandfather dies He urged me to try to learn Mandarin and Hokkien ( Minnan accent)
So that one day I can go back to pay respect to the ancestral cemetery there!! Now I'm trying hard to learn Chinese :))))))
you'll hear overseas chinese:-
"so miserable - why foreigners can live in china n overseas chinese can't"
"why they hire my students that's blue eyes blond n not me to teach english"
"my great grandma sent everyone back to her village to marry someone who speak read write chinese - i'm 7th of 8 generation n we have family all over usa newszealand australia canada n most usa ones r in usa airforce but we all speak chinese"
"i learn chinese many times but not fluent - can speak a bit of
china hongkong/canton taiwan/fukien"
--------------
chinese r hatecrimed n china bully wared forever
china never fight an aggressive war never lost a defensive one
china 8000yrs civilization chinese highest iq - google bing search
usa 200yrs wild wild west bomb happy evil barbarian bully
coward usa never dare declare it's bully wars n never dare one on one
usa n gang lost korea to lone china
usa n gang lost vietnam to lone china
usa n gang lost to lone afghan n cry n ran home after 20 long yrs
usa n gang did not win ww2 - russia n china did - they were fighting
germany n japan for over a decade n only when they start to win then
coward cunning usa came in with dday n nukes unnecessarily n stole
russia n china's thunder - usa thief
china invented gunpowder n make fireworks for fun
good smart happy gene dna blood race people
uk stole it n make cannon to kill
usa stole china forest n call it vietnam
usa is stealing china island n calling it taiwan
colonist criminals mother uk son usa demon whitemen stole lands all over
abraham's religions christians muslims jews wield cross n invade occupy
all stolen lands will be returned
world will reset to precolonial order
natives aborigine tribal redindians in the americas newzealand australia n
all islands r from china so all these/whole pacific n half atlantic belongs to china so return all to china with reparation n without a shot - like british hongkong n portuguese macau - the 2 omen of things to come n all evil greedy racist thieves 600mil total immigrate back home to europe africa mideast india ...
---------------
father of boeing is chinese
mother of atomic bomb is chinese
nasa cofounder is chinese
usa fake moon trip - claimed no water but china found water - china own moon
early days engineers the chinese built canada n usa's rails n made industrial revolution happen making usa n canada great n both countries made
anti chinese laws - the only laws against a race😠
I’m a 4th generation Malaysian-Chinese and my ancestors are also from Fujian. Thus, I also have a hokkien background., I am able to speak mandarin, but sadly I can’t speak hokkien :((. Our culture is dying
1993 I visited Bangkok, Pattaya, ChiangMai at my classmates' invitation. He was half Thai and half Chinese. Many of my classmates were Thais Chinese and Indonesian Chinese. In Bangkok I asked the classmates if the locals discriminated against us Chinese (there was an old Thai man staring at us at the street corner as we waited to cross the street). He said, "No. They don't qualify to look down on us". Mind you all my Thai classmates felt very "Thai". There was no identity crisis. However the quirky thing is they also observed Chinese customs. The seemed more knowledgeable about Chinese customs than we Western Chinese Americans/Canadians, etc.
I can relate to what you're concerned about. Like the owner of the shop said, "The Land of Smiles". To be frank, it is very hard to find someone not having any Chinese roots if their family hails from BKK, Nakorn Sawan, or Nakorn Prathom. I am from BKK and have Cantonese roots. I can even trace my family back to mainland China since we are only 3rd generation. Many of my peers and co-workers here are Teochew. I think Thais have been proud to be associated with Chinese traditions and ceremonies for as long as I can remember, and that many many decades. There'sdefinitely nothing to worry about in terms of prejudism, or a difference in treatment or friendships here other than having a different nationality on your documents.
Happy to hear 😊
@@ForrestLee One comment Forrest being Half South American and Chinese I look Chinese and you are right..Canadian . .Its refreshing in Thailand to see you are just one family. I think North America have to learn to blend this in their culture..but I dont this will ever happen. I cannot speak Chinese but I know more Spanish...lol
thai r from south china
burmese r from north china
Howdy Forrest from Texas! I had the same curiosity when I first visited Thailand some 20+ years back. I was told by my Thai-Chinese friends that Chinese were forced to assimilate and change their surnames. For example, if you see a person with a rather long surname, chances are he or she is a Thai-Chinese. Also there was an anti-Chinese movement in the early 1900s and Thai government passed a law requiring everyone to adopt Thai surnames. This is the reason you don’t see Lee, Chen or Lin’s in Thailand. King Rama VI even wrote a newspaper article titled “Jews of the East.” Also look up Siam Movement which was mainly an anti-Chinese movement with the slogan ‘Thailand for the Thai’.
Can’t wait to return to Thailand - cheers!
This is true. I also would add that the names tend to be Chinese names with additional characters whacked on at the end. You will see long last names prefixed with Chinese names like Lee..., Chan..., Xhan..., Wong...., etc. Also to purchase land that you need to be Thai citizen, so people would often change the last name to better assimilate and smoothen the process of land acquisition.
@@guamiedinho1650 I ain’t mad at that… it reminded of ‘Wongamat’ in Pattaya
Rama VI just want those juicy chinese money to build up his army (that later fight and claim victorious against france indo-china in 1940) he later wrote latter said "thank for my chinese citizens" when he gain a huge sums of donation after calling out them jew. (It's all about business)
And to note those who condemned with anti chinese policy seem to be the very chinese themselves (thai royal family is mon-chinese general pleak is also chinese it's seem like people who force them into thai are chinese themselves)
There are Not only Chinese in Thailand. There are indian, Mon, Malay, Khmer, Lao, Burmese, Vietnamese, Hmong, and hill tripe people. Chinese can remain their original surname by put it after Sae(family name) because before that thai people don’t have surname so the law required everyone in Thailand have surname to make house registration. My Chinese grandpa also do this by remain his Chinese name and Chinese surname after Sae but he is first gen so he could not own land. His cousin came to Thailand before him, their offspring born in Thailand and they all own land and properties. My grandpa born in China but his brother born in Thailand so he can own land. All properties are in the name of his brother. They uphold family value to be unite not to betray each other so my father got his part in the name of my grandpa. Second gen onward can own land and has the same rights as any Thai. (thai is invented term (it’s root is Tai though) to accommodate any kind of people background including those mixed and make same identity to be strong as one and United nation. Isn’t it the right things to do by any ruler when his people are diverse? There were also many Chinese gangsters back then who made trouble then the many laws issued.
@@guamiedinho1650 Chinese descent people in Thailand tend to have long last name by 2 reasons. As we know they have duplicate surnames. 1st is to avoid the duplication of surnames, they have to find a word for their surname to make them longer because Thailand doesn't allow duplicate surnames if you guys are not related.
2nd The upper class and noble people in Thailand is the first class who have surnames in our history and their surnames are often long to show the greatness and nobility. So Chinese people when they change their surnames to Thai, they intentionally make their surnames to be accepted in aristocratic society. Having a long last name doesn't always mean having to be of Chinese descent.
Interesting topic……totally agree with u regarding the racism issues here in the US, as a Chinese immigrant growing up here…..the early years were definitely not fun…..it’s an issue not just with Chinese Americans, but Asian Americans as a whole, along with the other groups of people of color……it’s been a lingering problem in the US for many years and depending on where u live in the country, it’s gotten better and worse…….that’s why I’ll be retiring to SE Asia as well……..stay safe man!
There's actually a lot of racism against Chinese people in SE Asia, which is what brought SE Asian Chinese to Western Countries to begin with.
A lot of Thai Chinese don't really have a Chinese surname for that reason. And don't identify as Chinese as Thai,
@@yesviews there are chinese surname such as lee... Tang...(chen in mandarin) lim... Tae... Etc. Who told you that there no chinese surname? There is but government encourage to name your surname elegant way so chinese usually mix they sae(surname) with pali or sanskrit to look as elegant as possible so chinese surname usually longer than most thai people you can see the difference in the first grace but some keep it short like my surname sae-lee or my friend sae-lim so please don't spread misinformation.
@@rodrozil6544 While many southeast Asian have small degree of Chinese ancestry, that’s very small barely anything.
@@yesviews Philippines and Thailand would disagree because many Chinese settled there intermarried with the natives lol.
Very cool interview, I had no idea, that there was 10Million Chinese Thai.
I'm 6th generation Thai-Chinese. My ancestor came to Thailand from somewhere near Guangdong sometime before WW2. When I was very young I asked my grand mother where was our family hometown back in Mainland China but she said it doesn't matter anymore. She said we are now Thais, the country welcome us and we have to living the present and looking forward to the future. Before she died 12 years ago, she told us that we no longer need to carry Chinese traditions like Chinese new year, just remember how much this country welcome our family and continue to live our life as Thai people.
When Forrest speaks Thai it melts my heart
I just saw this lol ❤️
Interesting interview, Forrest. Now many get to know about Chinese living in Thailand. Kob khun krub.
My mum is Thai Chinese. There are many nuances to the Thai Chinese community. Firstly, most Thai Chinese are not overtly Chinese in public at least. this is truer for Chinese that have been in Thailand for many generations. I remember once my cousin asking that we not refer to her by her chinese name in public. However, there is still almost like an invisible, unspoken bond between members of the Chinese community. Even for Thai Chinese who have been in Thailand for generations, there is a strong preference to marry within the community. Of course this is not absolute by any means as there are many intermarriages, but the cultural bond to marry within the community is still there. It's a really weird cultural identity. They consider themselves Thai first and foremost, but the cultural practices, the food and festivals still live on
Glad you commented
The marrying in theyr own community is more of thing for chinese ethnics in bangkok, im from outside of bkk and most chinese i know here (includes some of my own fam members) are mixed with chinese , means many chinese here marry mostly to nonchinese or mixed thai/chinese. Neither of our full or part/half mixed thai chinese in my fam for example identify as thai in theyr private life aswell as publicy. Chinese ancestors are only mentioned if we specfically want to talk about that topic or chinese communities in thailand, rarely happens tho.
Forrest, good video. As Chinese, I believe no matter where we live, we should keep our culture and traditions and at the same time, respect and try to blend in with the locals.
Hey 👋🏻just wanna say keep up the good work!! Your videos are really educating and interested. Good insight for people wanting to travel to thailand 🇹🇭 thank you!
Love the historic context on the vlogs.
This is an interesting case study for me because as a 1.5-Gen Chinese-Canadian, I hesitate to consider myself “really” Canadian. When people ask me where I’m from I tell them 1 of 2 things: Canada BUT my family’s from China, China (Chongqing) BUT I grew up in Canada (Vancouver). Never “just” Vancouver. And I grew up around a significant Chinese community in a part of town called Richmond (if you’ve heard of it). The 3 big malls are Parker Place, Aberdeen, and Yohan.
So when I watched the Thaiger video hosted by Natty where Natty and her two interviewees simply no longer identified as Chinese apart from bringing it up in casual conversation, it’s like a contrast both to me and to some less assimilated groups of overseas Chinese. When I was in Malaysia the average Malaysian Chinese had 3 generations in Malaysia (starting from their grandparents) but they very much saw themselves being apart from the other ethnicities. I could get by in Penang hardly using any English.
Thailand is pretty much one of the very few countries ,where you are accepted as whatever your citizenship is, in this case THAI citizenship. Many full chinese and thais who are either half or part (one quarter) mixed with chinese mainly identify as thai here , little to no ppl question that ere nor have a issue with that.
INSTEAD youre not really accepted as thai here if youre half of european or black backround. Many half thai half white ppl here are considered farang (which is normally a word used for ONLY ppl of 100% european origins) so its actually the wrong word to call half thai half (for example) italian. My cousin was raised here yet always called outsider , foreigner and non asian from thais (she is half thai italian) +she looks much more asian than south european… normally we have a word for mixed people here which is luk krueng (mostly used for ppl who are not asian on the nonthai side) but strangely ppl rarely use it. Besides that i met many half thai half european decent ppl here who are just seen as full white. So in that case many thais can be quite ignorant cause they basically leave out your thai side , but then again, this is common in many asian countries. If youre ha,f white they just see you as white , NOT mixed, NOT asian, but just white….
The least to no discrimination here is towards mainly full ASIAN citizens here (means anything southeast and east asian btw), no matter if you have some thai in you or youre ethnically 100% non thai but still asian. South asians such as indians, nepalese etc as example are a different case.
Great honest content with cultural details and opinions that we overseas chinese live and experience…!!! Great job
Big shoutout to K Wan for her ongoing support!
There're several articles about why Chinese in Thailand seem to blend with Thais and Thai culture almost as if they've been together from the beginning. Unlike Chinese in Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Vietnam, or in western countries, the Chinese in other countries seem to keep their identities. They populate themselves within the Chinese communities. Other cultures can't break their heritage Chinese culture............ But in Thailand, it's the opposite. Chinese in Thailand; especially, Gen X, Y, Z,.... they don't think they're Chinese. They think of themselves as Thai. They worship Thai Buddhism. They go to Thai temples. They don't confine themselves within Chinese communities; instead, they live all over the places, mingle with native Thai population....There's a theory about this. Some people say this is because of the Thai monarchy. As you may know, Thai monarch is different from UK or Japan or etc. They're the center point of Thai people spirit. So, think about this, the Thais uphold the monarch dearly. The Chinese in Thailand do the same. So, both Thai and Chinese share something in common. That's why the Chinese are able to blend in the Thai society so damn well .... In summary, Chinese in Thailand are very unique... P.S. However, for the White People, they'll never be able to blend in. They'll be looked at as "Farang", even if they speak fluent Thai.
I’ve read some things where the Thai Chinese are very hardline royalist… even went against Taksin Shinawatra, who is the son of Chinese immigrants, to support the royal family
@@ForrestLee Yep, you're in the correct direction. I better not say much (as u know why), cuz I'm currently in BKK. Have to wait until I get back to CA in a few months, LOL. In short, it's an 90 years ongoing conflict between left (power should belong to majority of people) and right (power should belong to certain groups, such as elites, people with high edtucation, deep state, etc.). But most Thai people have never thought that Thailand has this type of conflict. They thought each uprising are seperate incidents those are not related to each others. In fact, they're all the same conflict, but the key players and sub-stories line may have chaged as time goes by. Thaksin ousted, 16 yeares ago is just another chapter / battle within this lengthy war. But it was an important one, cuz it was an eye-opener. Many people started to realize, the true power that runs the country doesn't belong to the government nor legislative nor judicial. There's higher power. You can call it "Deep State". The scenes of new generation riot that you're seeing today, is the most recent chapter in this thick book.
Alot of chinese in Thailand seem to be awaken recently due to accessibility of internet mostly chinese royalist seem to be those who age pass 60s who live and working during cold war era , Thailand is changing not sure for the worse or the best but it definitely change.
I believe the main reason is that Thailand is not colonised like other SEA countries.
@Ben.Your undertanding is incorrect. Maybe due to the main media. Thai been taught to learn to accept and not to discrminate since they are young. It is part of their culture and religion. Thus, this had integrated all of them. Whereby, the nearby countries had a different political system. Their identity card identify them as Chinese. This is how they been distingush. I understand that is the LAW. Nothing much, these Chinese can do about it. This is not something for them to be proud off.
Hey Forrest! This is an awesome video. I am a Teochew Laotian, married to a Teochew Thai. I have traveled many places around world, particularly in SE Asia. Here in Thailand, we Chinese blend in well with locals. On the contrary, in Indonesia and Malaysia, there are still some issues among Chinese descents and locals.
I Ben watching your VDOs for a while. One of them was in Mexico In search for Chinese Mexicans.
Good luck on your journeys.
Fascinating ! Thank you for sharing.. Learned something new ! I would have guessed the Philippines as Manila has the world's oldest Chinatown (from the 1500's).. but I think more recent immigrants (20th century) went elsewhere in SouthEast Asia or the New World. Heck, I've even seen Chinese in Denmark !!! Well done !
Great video !
Chinese roots in Thailand for centuries since Ancient Siam
The native of Thai and the Chinese has religious and culture compatibility and hence they have integrated really well. Most have intermarried. You will be hard-pressed to find a true Chinese in Thailand who can speak a Chinese dialect. Most Chinese in Thailand don't even want to call themselves Chinese or Tang people. An ABC like yourself is more Chinese then any so-called Chinese in Thailand.
If you want to find authentic Chinese who hasn't integrated with the local natives, who have their own Chinese school system, who rarely intermarrry with natives (a few who did will almost always be disowned), who still speaks dialects at home, school or work, go to Malaysia or Singapore. The natives in Malaysia are predominately Muslims with a culture that is somewhat incompatible with the Chinese, hence the isolation. Most Chinese can speak more than one dialects which are primarily Hokkien, Hakka, Cantonese and Teochew. Heck, you can still find traditional Chinese Opera performing outside temples in Penang on certain days of the lunar calender. You can even argue that these Chinese are more Chinese than the Han Chinese in China. The Han Chinese in China speaks Mandarin created during later Ching era. The Malaysian Chinese speaks languages used during early Tang (Hokkien/Hakka) and Song (Cantonese) eras. And yeah, the Malaysian Chinese call themselves Tang people, or tongyan in Cantonese.
Another good video 👍🏴
educational vid ! thanks for sharing
There are many reasons why thai and chinese people blended very well in the community
1. The Chinese have come to Thailand for centuries through trade and labor, so both got familiar with each other.
2. Buddism, the Thai belief doesn't have the radical mindset of discrimination and also the Chinese have already adopted Buddhism for a long time.
3. Through the Chinese suppression in Thailand, in the late 19th century, many Chinese were forced to change their last name to Thai style name. So, it kind of assembles together.
4. Chinese and Thai look like each other, that's why there is less racial discrimination.
If you are interested in the Chinese community in Thailand, I recommend you to read the book 'Chinese society in Thailand: An analytical history' by William Skinner. It probably has everything you wanted to know.
Ps. I'm Thai-Chinese myself, that's why I'm also interested in my ancestor ^_^
The appeareance topic is i think more bcs anyways all of southeast asia is heavily asian mixed. So ppl wre mixing for quite some time now that obviously includes thais with chinese and so on, hence why several us (but not all of us) look similar to chinese. Some thais at least THINK they have zero chinese ethnicity in them at least look somewhat close to chinese ppl , speaking of facial features. SEA is so diverse its no surprise. We just arent as super homogenic as especially japan and korea are. China is also part diverse dpeneding on region, its anyways also a huge country so thats also not a surprise aswell.
Good to be back on tracking dude! Awesome for this content...I would to know what is the restaurant name? Thanks dude!
168 Gyoza
For traveling in a hot climate, I wear black. I know it is counter-intuitive, but dark colors hide sweat, dirt, and wrinkles much better, and they are easier to match with all the other colors. BTW, I'm in BKK now, so if you're up for a meet up, I'm game.
I like the words that you said in the end of the video. I really feel like that after I move back to stay in Thailand.
My extended family are Thai-Chinese and speak Teochew and Hokkien. Part of the ancestors immigrated from mainland China and others from Taiwan. We maintain strong Chinese traditions but consider ourselves Thai (referring to them asThai-Chinese is a bit impolite to use around most of them.) Those of family that were around in the 1960s remember the anti-Chinese racism that persecuted Chinese immigrants and their families.Your interview was with someone that lived in the Chinese community all her life so naturally she had not issues. I spent many years in the north east of Thailand and the attitude of locals toward Chinese is a little different.
So some immigrated from Taiwan to Thailand?
Central Thai people migrated to Bangkok area from Yunnan province long ago. Maybe 1200 years ago.
The north east actually not Thai. They are mostly Lao and Cambodian. Thailand merged them just a hundred year ago.
One of the reasons the Chinese aren't discriminated against is the fact that they are also Asian looking more or less similar. Unlike you living in the US full of Caucasians, it's not hard to differentiate Asian from the rest of the population.
I think it’s also because the Thai Chinese happily assimilate into the Thai culture - adopting Thai names, speaking Thai etc. I’ve met Thai Chinese who personally told me they felt Thai above anything else. And Thailand didn’t go through any “divide-and-rule” of ethnic groups by a colonial master, unlike Malaysia.
It is note worthy that prejudice or racial discrimination against Asian Americans does not solely come from Caucasians in America, but from other minorities as well.
And because the king encouraged Chinese immigration.
But East Asians and Southeast Asians don’t look the same or similar like a Chinese is to a Japanese or Korean. A Chinese and a Thai/Austronesian person don’t look similar at all
@@nathanchang7713 I think Thai people that live in the upper part of country tend to look like east asian especially Chinese more than SEA one, by the way, the people that live in lower part of country do look like a SEA
Its nice to see in Thailand these groups living in harmony. This is how things were intended i believe. In America politics plays a big role in the seperation of cultures. We judge others on who they are not what they look like. Won very nice Forrest.
Like it or not America’s not a melting pot but an awkward collage. Canada also loves to claim itself as a multicultural society but at its core it’s just as white Anglo-Saxon as the States. It’s an old white men’s country.
You nailed it for me on this topic! Big thumbs up! DM to share more stories on this
I can feel related to this topic. I'm a 100% Japanese descendent, born and grow up in Brazil. Like you, I felt some discrimination for being ethnically Asian.... In Brazil I was called Japanese... now I'm living in Japan, and here They call me Brazillian....
It could be worse. I guy sitting next to me in class, USA, was Chinese from Vietnam. He said the Vietnamese don’t trust me and the Chinese don’t trust me. I was like damn, it sucks to be you, just make a lot of money and they both will kiss your ass.
😂😃
Triste
@@Bhatmann you are right. Money can solve a lot of problems. Sometimes it’s impossible to make everyone love you.
One of my cousins , who is Thai, lives in europe since a long time now married to a Turkish ethnic man from germany. She also isnt considered thai anymore in her village where she was born and grew up in. Mind you, shes not mixed, yet they also now consider her as european…
Thai-Cantonese here! love your videos
i heard that a good way to tell if a thai person is of chinese descent is by how long thier last names were, if it is really long, chances are that they're thai chinese, if it is short, then the person is likely to be pure thai. The reason for this is because when they came over from china, they had to convert and fit their chinese names into their new thai name or something like that. Also to a thai person, a chinese last name wouldn't make sense in thai because it was converted from a chinese name.
Forrest, have you checked out the Thai-Chinese history museum in the Wat Traimit complex? If you haven't, I highly recommend it. Wat Traimit, AKA the Temple of the GoIden Buddha, is worth visiting for itself, of course. I also recommend the book A History of the Thai-Chinese by Jeffrey Sng and Pimpraphai Bisalputra.
I'm Korean living in Guangzhou since the late 90s. My wife's from Shantou, so I came to learn Teochew from her as well as the mostly spoken regional languge, which is Cantonese. Actually Teochew is hard to learn, much more harder than Canto but it's the most beautiful Chinese dialect I've ever learned.
From my understanding, I thought that the biggest overseas Chinese community was in the US, just as the biggest Korean overseas community is in LA.
Happy to learn something new from your vid.
Not at all haha, btw the most chinese ethnics in europe for example, is italy (with 6 million chinese ethnics) but yeah on a worldwide view its Thailand. 10mill now, but with thailand now letting mainland chinese come here without any visa (means they can come for however long they want) the population of chinese here will get higher.
I'm 100% Thai . Thai people don't hate Thai-Chinese. We are all Thai , we always compliment That Thai-Chinese is very smart , work very hard. We always think positive way to Thai-Chinese.
Ok this is the best vlog l have seen you make. More interesting to understand more about thai chinese in thailand.im from Vancouver Canada there is also a very big chinese population.but have lived in Bkk for a short time1 year and now pattaya for 15 years
Forrest,if you go to Malaysia,you will feel at home as there are many Chinese who speak Cantonese.In Kuala Lumpur,the capital, Cantonese is the medium of communication for the large Chinese population there.Despite the official discrimination,the Chinese flourish there and dominate the commercial life .
Yes, correct, I'm from KL!
I think the reason that the Chinese Thai are so blended in is because they have the same skin color, similar look with the majority of Thai, and probably more importantly religion. You can contrast this with what it is in Malaysia where the Chinese Malaysian maintain their race identity vigorously!
I found out about these overseas Chinese and Taiwanese people after studying in Taiwan. Since I don’t relate much to abc’s much since my background is a bit more traditional. Met overseas Chinese from everywhere you could imagine. Even Laos. Thailand def surprised me as the largest but when I went to Thailand it was evident. And a lot keep the language and culture
There are many cantonese immigrants in Thailand, but they in the past learnt to speak Teochew for works and trade.
Interesting. Great video. I was born in San Jose, California in a Mexican family. My last name is Davis. Family name changed many years back for work. I don't speak Spanish. None of the children do. All the adults in the family speak fluent Spanish. They wanted the kids to speak English. It was many difficult years of identity. Many embarrassing moments. I lived with and married a 2nd generation Chinese girl for 48 years and got to see there side of that same story. As you say. Your not one or the other. My ex wife never spoke English to her Mom, till the day she died. Now I'm trying to retire and live in Thailand and it's a double wammy. The only Thai I know is "up to you" Love your videos. Stay safe. Another beautiful Thai girl in your video. 555
I bet you have a lot of interesting stories. I’m Chinese American, live in the Bay Area, California
Binge watching your content, thank you for your efforts. I’m not sure if you’re interested but I’d love to chat about Asian American experiences next time I’m in Bangkok for your channel/mine/both if you’re interested.
I’m Indian/Japanese so not Chinese but still I think there is some overlap in life experience.
Most Chinese immigrants in Thailand comes from Taejew province. My grandfather from my my mom side was the one. My grandfather from my dad side came from Guangdong. When I went to pay respect to my ancestors on Qingming day, I saw that Taejew cemetery is much much larger than the Guangdong cemetery (in Korat province). Thai-chinese people feel comfortable living in thailand.
TEOCHEW/潮州//Chaozhou
Any nationality if you can speak Thai and has a good personality then no discrimination happened at all lol you will feel like home right away
My ancestors are Chinese, but I considered myself as Thai even though I look super Chinese😂
Love this content❤️
Being German growing up in Toronto, Canada, we fit in with the Anglos, even though there was a war which our grandparents fought against each other. Sounds similar. My German is weak in a similar way.
The Thai language is a gateway to Thainess. Regardless of your skin color/nationality, if you can speak near-perfect Thai, you are allowed to consider yourself Thai.
For me Even though there are many but not diverse Almost all in the country is just Chinese from Guangdong.
Bro why is your shirt so sweaty. What were ya’ll doing before you filmed this.
Shut uppppp
@@ForrestLee lmao i see you finally saw my comment.
Bro Bangkok has some of highest humidity and average temps on earth.
@@BTaesthetics Maybe that’s the reason they have over 1 billion people in china 😎😎😋😋
Even you seat underneath the shade. You'll get sweat that no need to do any thing. In Thailand.
Here in Malaysia as well 9.27, we are still call immigrants
That is a great info of Thai chinese never know that
I have a big family as well
6bro n 6sisters
Stay safe always
Alot of the most successful and Wealthiest Families in Thailand are Thai Chinese, and CP Group, Central Group, Red Bull, Thai Beverage, King Power, and Boon Rawd Brewery to name a few....
You did miss a lot of points.
1. Thai Chinese and ethnic Tai are indistinguishable when it comes to the face and fair skin color. There are other ethnicities in Thailand with darker skin by they are not ethnic Tai but ethnic Khmer and ethnic Malay. Whenever I go to Thailand and speak Thai, they thought I was Thai.
2. Ethnic Tai came from China and are not the natives in Thailand. The ethnic Mon and Khmer are the real natives, they look different from ethnic Tai.
3. Thai Chinese and most Thai citizens are Buddhists so there is not conflict of religion except in southern Thailand where there's conflict from the Muslims.
4. In Malaysia and Indonesia, the Malays are different both in skin color and religion so there's obvious racial discrimination there.
5. In America, Canada, Australia, the difference is in the skin color even though many Chinese converted to Christianity.
No East Asians and southeast Asians do not look similar at all both skin color & facial features, East Asians are Mongoloid and Southeast Asians are Austronesian they’re darker and have very different facial features from East Asians, the only southeast Asian that looks similar to East Asians is the Vietnamese but that might be because they have a high degree of Chinese ancestry being the closest southeast Asian country to China and also being in the north they’re not living in as hot and humid climates and sun like other southeast Asian countries.
@@nathanchang7713 No dude. Shut up. All of what the person above you said are correct. And you still live in your bubble mind to believe Thai are Austronesian and keep raving about it in almost every video about Thai-Chinese.
@@nathanchang7713 go study again. Thai, Laos, Burmese and half of Vietnamese are not Austronesians
@@nathanchang7713 again, false. Ppl like you just want to see it, as you focus too much on thais who DONT look closer to chinese. Btw to your other comment about skintone and real east asian being pale. Its FALSE too , just in a recent docu it was mentioned that it is now scientifically proven that ALL HUMANS were brown up until 8000 years ago. Means, the north chinese , japan and korea were not pale either a long time ago this only changed due to changes of climate (which was highly different a very long time ago) and other reasons such as poor vs rich, those who avoided sun and those who couldnt and so on. Ofcourse cold climates were always there but it doesnt automatically mean pale skin since forever. To this day many mongolians are brown even tho being in cold weather most of the time especially in specific reagions. Oldest pics of koreans show how dark they were , old pics of chinese show the same. So no, the pale thing isnt the right answer to this.
Btw as i answered u somewhere else, coming to think about your comment saying “those who look at least somewhat close to chinese have at least some chinese roots” the only thing i can really agree on that WILL BE MOST LIKELY the case in the future, especially since many thais like to mix with east asians. More and more families i know from bkk and around bkk are thai/japanese fams mostly already having at least one half thai half japanese kids who will grow up as thai citizens. Looking at this fact thailand will not long later on be even more asian mixed as it already is, but instead of only chinese as the former main mix with thais its going to NOW and later on be also thai-japanese thai-korean mixes. But as said somewhere else, at that point theres no actual Thai anymore , it anyways mainly isnt (even tho many specifically village thais) arent aware of it. Im not including thais who are in reality ethnically khmer or malay. This is about anyone who wasnt always native to this land, which arent thais. Thais are said to be originated from southwest , south china no matter if it was not always part of china or not, that NOW region of china was never natively khmer nor malay etc. Ppl are closer to tibetan etc. in aouthern parts of china.
And agreeing to another comment here, thais ARE NOT AUSTRONESIAN. That is only correct for some filipinos , indonesians and few malays.
Thai Chinese are generally looked up upon in Thailand, some find it a privilege being one.
My grandparents migrated from mainland China years ago. They had lived very good lives in Thailand. I always describe myself Thai although I'm Chinese Thai which is different than Chinese American that always describe themselves as Chinese American not just American.
Very true. I’m Chinese -American.
Your friend is a keeper Forrest. Don't let her go. :o)
Her body language says she is uncomfortable with his jokes tho
@@ljason888😆
Drop her Forest, she ain't it man
My grandparents from both side came from China. And my mother’s mother who is 104 years old, still having good memories to tell, how it was back then when she came to Thailand.
For me when I was young. Sometimes I got some bullying from Thai friends. But it’s not that much violence and I don’t feel harmful or loosing my confidence at all. And even I’m close to my Thai friends. I understand there culture but there are some tiny things are different which mostly about family stuff. I feel that in Chinese family has more strict in the hierarchy among family, compared to that Thai. And that might make the Thai and Thai-Chinese different. So, to be honest we can say that we different but not that much. And those differences are more blended these days. One thing is, for the baby boomers generation, I think the Thai-Chinese is lounder than the Thai. I have to tell my friends all the times that this is my parents normal talking. They always thought my parents are fighting 😂
I have the husband who is european. So every time when he joins my family ceremony, I have to explain that this is not Thai. This is from Taechew Chinese root. And if he ask me how the Thai family doing. I can explain briefly but in detail. I’m not sure that I know well.
Greetings from Southern California Forest. It is so unfortunate about racism and this world. Me as a black man visiting the Philippines five times I never experienced any problems. Only that I was older and my wife has younger at that time. Unfortunately here in the Western World people are still idiotic about things like this. God bless, I enjoy your videos
That due to the liberal politics like to label people in group's. So they can keep the fears going. They been doing it for 50 years on the black community and nothing changes. But they keep voting for the same bullshit.
You’re a novelty when you visit the Philippines so you’re treated well (plus being an American you’re assumed to have money). If the demographics of the Philippines were 13% black then there would be a lot of racism there too because then your tribal racial identity would be seen as a demographic threat. This is human nature.
@@dr.winstonsmith yep. I've been there a few times. My wife is from Thailand so I travel there a lot
Forrest, the Caribbean has very many Chinese communities. Largest are in Trinidad and Dominican Republic.
Just love Thailand then my own country. Amazing food, people are just so friendly... And Buddhist temple..
pls come the door is always open up for you
“It’s always the ones who know the least about you who judge you the most.”
Mainland Chinese people are equal to any race and you shouldn’t let a few bad apples in any race or country typecast a whole population to stir up hate in this world. Unite and not divide.
I'm 3rd generation of Teochew should say that because our old king was Teochew even this dynasty also have more than 50% of teochew . you can check from family tree they support Teochew people for very long time.
I walked in a Chinese shop that has a lot of traditional old style decorations in Chinatown in Bangkok and tried to utilize my Cantonese skill to start a conversation, only to find out they only speak Hokkien and Teochew dialects.
Thailand has the biggest Chinese diaspora in the world! Update: ok I made this comment as your video started playing, I see you mention this a few times in your video. Greetings from a Malaysian Chinese person ;)
I’ve enjoyed reading about Thai history and how diverse it is. For example:
The central Thais relocated to Bangkok about a thousand years ago escaping war, famine and genocide. To me this makes sense because why would you leave a beautiful environment like Yunan province for the swamps of Bangkok unless you wanted to hide from the boys in Beijing coming to kill you. Swamps are perfect to hide from armies.
I’d love to learn more about that part of the world.
Nah Thailand as a country is 700+ years old. Older than that we thai are ignorant 😂
In South East Asia, technically only ethnic chinese in Malaysia and Singapore maintained their identities and culture with surnames as well. Many of us also still speak Chinese dialects be it Cantonese, Mandarin, Hokkien etc. Malaysia is the country with the 2nd largest ethnic chinese community outside China, close to 8mil people. KL/Klang Valley which is capital of Malaysia, I believe probably has the largest number of cantonese speakers in South East Asia.
Interesting video. My wife & here family are ethnic Thai, but she always seems to have a good opinion of the ethnic Chinese in Thailand.
Your comments at the end were spot on. In America, you stand out because of your looks. In America, it is worse than that. My family left Germany for America after World War One. The German economy was kaput! When I asked my mom about Germany and returning, she said forget about Germany, we are in America now. Grandma had a heavy German accent. Working at a hospital with a Polish woman boss during World War Two, granny was discriminated against, because Germany had invaded Poland, because the military dictatorship government of Poland would not negotiate over the Gdańsk corridor, and the confiscated East Prussian lands from the Treaty of Versailles had Germans being slaughtered by the Poles. My childhood friends were Irish, but as we grew older, they shunned me and were no longer my friends because of World War Two. Then, mom tried to integrate and not have us stand out but changing our names to English names. For example, Elisabeth became Elizabeth. There was much discrimination growing up in America, and I am a white person. So, yes, you experienced more immediate discrimination in America because of your Chinese physical appearance. Mom and granny suffered and said they did it for us, so that our generation would have a chance in America. But, now I want to stay in Thailand. Keep trying to learn Thai. I have been to many schools and flunk out. But, my reading of Thai is getting better and writing. Listening and speaking is most difficult. Keep trying. I know we go to school, get burnt out and stop for a while, then pick it up again.
My dad migrated fr China ,my mom, Chinese from S'pore..they met in Thailand...I was made in US...but borned in Thailand.
That makes you a US french fries with Chi-pore-thai flavour, Oops I mean Chipotle flavour.🤭
Nice video
Very nice topic to cover. In general Asian people feel more bounded with each other while they have some similarities in culture and they more look alike than compared with a western person.
A western person will probably feels less established in an Asian country than an Asian person in an other Asian country
I am not usually comment on YT Video but you seems to interest in Thai relationship with other expats or religion. If you still in Bangkok, I recommend you to visit Santa Cruz Church, a Catholic church. And along a river that Church located there are 2 Buddhist temple, 1 Chinese shrine and 1 mosque. This is how we live together in Thailand. And location of the church calls Kudeejeen mean Chinese monk’s house. One more thing, if someone comment about Thai monarchy pls dont believe all of it. Ppl who comment that kind of thing online usually listen to someone else story and no self research. And sorry for my english 😅
Hi forrest I just found you and I like your tell as it is attitude. However, I wish you travel outside BKK and explore different ethnic thais around the country
There are a lot of Teochew Chinese in Laos and Cambodia as well, but more so in Thailand, especially now because of the War, many Chinese from Laos and Cambodia has left, but more Chinese from China are moving in to Laos and Cambodia. I am Teochew Chinese born in Laos, but my family left there when I was around 6 which is 50 years ago and have never been back. We live in the U.S. now but still have family spread out in Thailand and around the World.
Cheers to your Dad 💪🤝🍻🍻
great value
This is like comparing a French or German person who moves to Australia or New Zealand with his family and then asking his children whether they feel discriminated against by the Aussies? Of course they wont be.
Can you clarify if the 10 million Thai Chinese you mentioned includes also the mixed Thai Chinese ?
If you include mixed blood, I won’t be surprised if the number exceeds 20m or 30-40% of the population.
I’m in 40%
Interesting presentation, I’m from Hawai’i and I think the Chinese experience is a bit similar to that of Thai-Chinese. Living in Thailand now and of mixed parentage, Japanese, Hawaiian and Portuguese, I kind of blend in and have never felt out of place or in a place I did not belong, as long as I didn’t talk lol. Growing up in Hawai’i also made it easier to assimilate into Thai society. Keep up the good work.
Haha! I’m Cantonese from Hawaii. I laughed when you made the comment about talking.
Wan is gorgeous 😻 !!!
Forest, I am also very pleased to know that Thai Chinese are treated very well in Thailand.
As you know, most Chinese else where are considered second class citizen. Good to know that you have a Chinese name. How about their birth cert, is it written as Thai or Thai Chinese? Curious to know how Thai Chinese learn Mandarin. Tq for the video, is so enlightening. Take care.🙏
It is written as Thai.
@@wit5426 tq. Good to know that
Most Chinese else where are considered second class citizens?? Bro, let go of the victim mentality. If you choose to feel that way than you are.
Preach Forrest preach Forrest about racism, it's time to educate those Westerners how abusive they are toward another human being which they are sooo ignorant of...
When are you coming to Malaysia? Second largest Chinese communities outside China?
If I were you I would study Chinese. I studied Manderin at the University (belive me I am not Chinese) and its a super cool language. Not that hard (French is harder). Beautiful characters. Very worthwhile and interesting. Expands your brain.
Basically Thailand have the largest group of Chinese Community outside of China, but sadly they don't really the "pure Chinese" anymore....recent days you can try to look for Malaysia/Singapore for the "pure Chinese" and Malaysia Chinese still keeping a lot of traditions/heritages/consuetude, worth to explore guys
Thank you and WELLCOME to 🇹🇭Thailand🤝southeast china🇨🇳 🙏🏻
Your companion is really gorgeous ❤️
My ancestors left China to Siam (Thailand) at the begining of 1900s because of the poverty in Southern China.
As a Chinese person that was born and lives in America, I totally agree with your assessment of Chinese people from mainland China.
LOL, the man is drenched in sweat ... "is this sexy?" 😂😂
One more reason for me to retire in Thailand as I am a American citizen Chinese . Thailand is heaven for retirement destination for us. Affordable and can blend in easily. Very good work in explain the Asian Thai racist facts. Thank very much for your videos.
2:08
Subtitle
King toxin i'm dead LOL
You’re right that a lot of Thai Chinese don’t speak English. It’s interesting that a place where they try to put English learning as very important, Chinese in Thailand don’t try to learn English. My Thai Chinese schoolmates only spoke Chinese to me and have pretty below average English
Bro! You should look into Chinese Mauritius history!!! And probably a visit there soon after 😜👌
Forrest, you facial attributes especially your nose will pass as a 100% Thai guy. Serious no joke.