An outline for a history of emotion of the Chinese in Thailand

ABSTRACT

This article attempts to cast the history of the Chinese in Thailand into a new light by framing it within the realm of emotion. Through writing the history of the Chinese from this new perspective and utilizing media such as newspapers, films, novels, etc., loaded with Chinese emotional expression towards the Thai state, society, and self as evidence reflecting emotional lives of the Chinese, we provide a preliminary outline to a history of emotions of the Chinese in Thailand. We argue that, in pursuing the assimilation of the Chinese into Thai society, the Thai state constructed an emotional regime based on the feeling of shame to govern the Chinese. The Chinese, however, found emotional refuge and liberation from the regime in transnational Chinese media and Thai-ified Sinophone literature, which played a significant role in identity politics of Chinese self-identification as neither Thai nor Chinese, but Chinese of Thailand.

KEYWORDS:

• Sino-Thai
• Chinese-Thai
• ethnic Chinese
• assimilation
• regime of emotion

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. For instance, Skinner, Chinese Society; Murashima, Kanmueang Chin Sayam; and Suehiro, Akira. Capital Accumulation.

2. Tong and Chan, eds. Alternate Identities; and Tejapira, Lae lotlai mangkon.

3. Diner, “Ethnicity and Emotions in America,” 197–9.

4. See Reddy, The Navigation of Feeling.

5. Plamper, The History of Emotions, 68–69.

6. The emotional turn in the social sciences has not yet fully reached the area of transnational migration, and there are still limitless opportunities to broaden this analytical framework. Furthermore, studies on the history of emotion are usually confined by nation-centric perspectives. See Albrecht, “Emotions in motion,” 25–33; Stearns and Lewis, eds, An Emotional History of the United States; and Lean, Public Passions.

7. Callahan, “Beyond Cosmopolitanism and Nationalism,” 484.

8. Wongsurawat, “From Yaowaraj to Plabplachai,” 168–169.

9. Reddy, The Navigation of Feeling.

10. Tejapira, “The Misbehaving Jeks,” 266–7.

11. Chaiching, “Chakkhana ro.so. 130,” 80–99.

12. Wongsurawat, “The Crown & the Capitalists,” 6.

13. Sornsuwan, “Kanrapru rueang chao Chin,” 159–60.

14. Tejapira, “The Misbehaving Jeks,” 267.

15. Wongsurawat, “The Crown & the Capitalists,” 7.

16. Murashima, Kanmueang Chin Sayam.

17. Skinner, Chinese Society, 261–382.

18. Suwannathat-Pian, Thailand’s Durable Premier, 107–8.

19. Murashima, Kanmueang Chin Sayam, 213.

20. Ibid., 195–6.

21. Tejapira, Commodifying Marxism, 52–54.

22. “Telegram from the Ambassador.”

23. Phongpichit, Lukchin rak chat, 342.

24. Skinner, Chinese Society, 286.

25. Ibid., 286–287.

26. “Yingxinsui Zuoxinren,” 1.

27. “Mantan Xianhua shehui,” 2.

28. Skinner, Chinese Society in Thailand, 308.

29. Tungkeunkunt, “The Urban Culture,” 81–84.

30. Song, The Fragile Scholar, 20; and McMahon, Causality and Containment, 131–2.

31. Tungkeunkunt, “The Urban Culture,” 84.

32. Ibid., 96.

33. Teo, Hong Kong Cinema, 74; and Fu, China Forever, 12.

34. Tejapira, “De-Othering Jek,” 248–9.

35. Frevert, Emotions in History, 210.

36. National Security Council No. 6/2508, “Sarup ekkasan.”

37. Nhangseu Samnakngan Palat Samnak Nayokrattamontri No. SR. 0101/416; and Nhangseu Samnakngan Borihan khong Nayokrattamontri No. 5469/2506.

38. Nian, “Senthang wannakam,” 7–8.

39. Laotang, “Wiwatthanakan naewkhamkhit,” and Fang, “Kankamnoet khong Yaowarat,” 283–4.

40. Hong, “Manutsayatham klang dong kluea,” 47–64. This story was originally published in Chinese in Xizhouyang in 1959.

41. Botan, Chotmai chak mueang Thai.

42. Yok Burapha, Yu kap kong.

43. Chaloemtiarana, “Are We Them?” 473–526; and Prasannam, “Yu kap kong khong Yok Burapha,” 95–118.

44. For the development of ‘China and Thailand are brothers’ discourse, see Tungkeunkunt and Phuphakdi, “Blood is Thicker Than Water,” 597–621; and Busbarat, “Family Making in Sino–Thai Relations.”

45. Figure deriving from a calculation based on the publication list appearing in Theeravit, Thatsana khong khon Thai, 110–26.

46. “Khamhaikan phayan chot”; and Chaothai, “Banchi pramuan khao lae hetkan samkan phuttasakkarat.”

47. Parisutthiwutphon, “Ong khwamru rueang Chin,” 17.

48. Thammasat University Student Union, Warasan O.Mo.Tho, 12–13; Translation used here from Kau, ed, The Writings of Mao Zedong, 10–11. https://digitalarchive.wilsoncenter.org/document/121557.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Thailand Research Fund [RTA6180009] (Changes of Thought, Value System, and Emotional Regime of the Thai Middle Class, 1957–2017).

Notes on contributors

Sittithep Eaksittipong

Sittithep Eaksittipong is a lecturer at the Department of History, Faculty of Humanities, Chiang Mai University. Sittithep received his BA in Political Science (International Relations) from Chulalongkorn University, MA in History from Chiang Mai University, and PhD in History from the National University of Singapore with the support from Harvard–Yenching Institute – National University of Singapore Joint Doctoral Scholarship. He was a research fellow at Harvard–Yenching Institute during the 2016–17 academic year. Sittithep’s research interests lie in Chinese Overseas and transnational and cross-cultural contacts between China and Southeast Asia, particularly between China and Thailand.

Saichol Sattayanurak

Saichol Sattayanurak is a professor emeritus at the Department of History, Faculty of Humanities, Chiang Mai University. Most of her published works are about the history of ideas, ideologies, discourses on the Thai nation and Thainess. Saichol was named TRF Senior Research Scholar by the Thailand Research Fund and is currently supervising a project entitled ‘Changes of Thought, Value System, and Emotional Regime of the Thai Middle Class, 1957–2017’ supported by the TRF grant.