• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

By Root 4260 0

and attracted 14 million people in 2007. At the start of 2008, the government hoped to increase the number to 15 million, but by early 2009 a more realistic figure was a contracted 10 million visitors. The closure of Bangkok’s airports is estimated to have cost US$3.8 billion in lost revenue and affected cargo shipping, import/export, and passenger services and tourism. The tourism industry is expected to experience a greater and more prolonged slump than it did following the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.

Economists are predicting troubled times for Thailand with an estimate of 2% of the workforce (or about one million people) filing as unemployed in 2009, still considerably less than the record high of 4.4% during the 1997 Asian financial crisis.

Return to beginning of chapter

POPULATION

* * *

Thailand is the world’s second-largest pick-up truck market after the US.

* * *

Estimated to have 63 million people, Thailand is the most populous of the mainland Southeast Asian countries. Over one-third of all Thais live in urban areas, mainly in the capital of Bangkok (6.3 million people) and its industrial suburbs of Samut Prakan (379,000) and Nonthaburi (292,000). Although known for its rural character, the northeast claims two of Thailand’s largest cities: Udon Thani (222,000) and Nakhon Ratchasima (205,000). The southern crossroads town of Hat Yai (188,000) and the coastal town of Chonburi (183,000) are other population centres. Meanwhile Chiang Mai (174,000), often considered a cultural capital, barely cracks the top 10 list.

Thailand is categorised as being a homogeneous country but the reality is more complex, especially in provinces that border neighbouring countries or areas that have an historical allegiance to other nations. Thailand’s immigrant population consists of mainly Chinese and more recently economic refugees from Myanmar.

* * *

Thailand has a penchant for Guinness World Records, including longest condom chain, most couples married underwater and most Mini Coopers in a convoy (444 cars parked to spell out ‘Long Live the King’).

* * *

Return to beginning of chapter

The Thai Majority

Some 75% of citizens are ethnic Thais, who can be divided into four groups: Central Thais (Siamese) of the Chao Phraya delta; Thai Lao of the northeast; Thai Pak Tai of the south; and northern Thais. Each group speaks its own dialect and to a certain extent practises customs unique to its region. Politically and economically the Central Thais are the dominant group.

Small minority groups who speak Thai dialects include the Lao Song (Phetchaburi and Ratchaburi); the Phuan (Chaiyaphum, Phetchaburi, Prachinburi); the Phu Thai (Sakon Nakhon, Nakhon Phanom, Mukdahan); the Shan (Mae Hong Son); the Thai Khorat or Suay (Khorat); the Thai Lü (Nan, Chiang Rai); the Thai-Malay (Satun, Trang, Krabi); and the Yaw (Nakhon Phanom, Sakon Nakhon).

The Chinese

People of Chinese ancestry – second- or third-generation Hakka, Teochew, Hainanese or Cantonese – make up 14% of the population. Bangkok and the nearby coastal areas have a large population of immigrants from China who came for economic opportunities in the early to mid-20th century. In northern Thailand there is also a substantial number of Hui-Chinese Muslims who emigrated from Yunnan in the late 19th century to avoid religious and ethnic persecution during the Qing dynasty.

Ethnic Chinese in Thailand probably enjoy better relations with the majority of the population than they do in any other country in Southeast Asia. Many families have intermarried with Thais and have interwoven traditional Chinese customs into the predominant Thai culture. Historically wealthy Chinese introduced their daughters to the royal court as consorts, developing royal connections and adding a Chinese bloodline that extends to the current king.

* * *

Letters from Thailand (1969), by Botan, is about a Chinese immigrant who came to Thailand after WWII. The hero tells his story of finding success in business and marriage through letters to his mother.

* * *

Other Minorities