Re‐encountering the familiar other: Contesting ‘re‐Sinicization’ in Thailand

Abstract

Annually, around 10 million Chinese tourists, constituting almost a quarter of Thailand's total foreign visitors (before COVID-19), have started to make a strong imprint on Thailand's tourist landscape. At the same time, a new wave of Chinese migrants to Thailand are seeking business and work opportunities. This paper focuses on these new encounters between local Thais and the incoming mainland Chinese in terms of how cultural boundaries are created, contested and renegotiated, specifically within the context of Thailand's long history of Chinese migration, which dates back several generations. The paper investigates the phenomenon of 're-Sinicization' in Thailand, and its contested nature within the broader Thai political and cultural milieu. It draws upon recent controversies regarding online battles between Thai and Chinese netizens to argue that the controversies are indicative of the unease from the increasing Chinese presence within Thai society and the increasing embroilment of Thailand within the political contestation of the wider Sinosphere.

Diasporic Chinese voluntary associations engage China's rise

“…These new patterns can expand our understanding of China's presence that is not merely in economic sectors but also in the socio‐cultural fields such as tourism and education. Han (2022) explores how the substantial inflow of Chinese tourists generates new Chinese cultural and linguistic presence in Thailand. He further examines the online battles between Thai and Chinese netizens regarding the phenomenon of ‘resinicisation’ arising from the inflow of Chinese tourists, which highlights the unease from the increasing China's presence within Thai society.…”

Guest Editorial: Crossing the river by feeling the stones – Alternative imaginaries of China and Southeast Asia in contemporary contexts

“…By focusing on a wider range of stakeholders in different sites of spatial scale, it allows an uncovering of more alternative interpretations to China's influence for a more informed study of China and Southeast Asia relations. We provide a brief summary of papers in this special section as follows: Cheng and Koh (2022) explore in the context of education institutions, Han (2022) in tourist spaces, whilst Rippa (2022) at the borderlands. The other three papers examine diverse stakeholders in different spatial configurations such as Cold War migrants (Zhou, 2022), ethnic minorities (Sims, 2022) and indigenous communities (Cai, 2022).…”

“…Collectively, this set of papers indicates that the alternative imaginaries of China and Southeast Asia are diverse and continually changing based on spatial and temporal factors. For example, Han's (2022) focus on new Chinese migrants in Thailand's tourism industry reflects future cautionary tales in other parts of Southeast Asia as reactions to the change may not be readily welcomed. As such, to understand the dynamics of these interactions (particularly in the future), we echo Koch's (2016: 811) urge to sustain commitment to grounded, empirical research in particular places to ‘hear’ beyond traditional cognitive and interpretative frames and to avoid lapsing into reproducing hegemonic discourses about regions and places.…”

“…This special section also reinforces earlier calls that mainland Southeast Asia's engagement with China should feature more for Southeast Asia and its political ambit, ASEAN where perhaps it would be more apt to refer this area as Mekong Southeast Asia ( South China Morning Post , 2020; Lin, 2021). The dominant regional focus has been on the South China Sea and maritime Southeast Asia given China's ‘aggressive’ actions out at sea at times, but as highlighted in the papers of Han (2022), Rippa (2022) and Sims (2022) in this special section and elsewhere, mainland Southeast Asia faces a litany of pressing economic and environmental issues that are intertwined with the Chinese presence in the Mekong. This is particularly witnessed in the Mekong River Basin where climate and food security concern the livelihoods of millions.…”

“…Such focus provides an alternative lens to look at how China's increased influences are experienced and understood in their daily lives that are beyond the scope of the top-down vision of infrastructure development, and more importantly reveal how the involvement of local elites may create socio-economic frictions. Whilst the predominant discourse on China's presence in Southeast Asian countries lies in the economic implications of the Chinese capital's inflow to the region, Han (2022) and Rippa (2022) address the alternative imaginaries of China by looking at individual and local community encounters with China on the ground. Rather than only equating China to the Chinese government, these two papers consider other actors such as Chinese tourists who are seen as manifestations of China in Southeast Asia.…”