What’s really behind Thailand’s hostility to Chinese tourists?
While tales of crass behaviour abound, the true roots of popular revulsion reach into the economics of Chinese tourism and Thailand’s history of immigration
On Chiang Mai’s Nimmanhaemin Road, a fashionable tourist hub packed with visitors from China, a group of four women, all high school teachers and in their mid-20s, hesitantly accepts the request for an interview. Hesitant, as they are aware of the undertone of negativity to any discussion on Chinese tourists and Thailand’s – and much of the world media’s – often unattractive portrayal of them.
It’s their first time in Thailand. They are here mostly because of Thailand’s affordability and its accessibility from Guangdong province in southern China, where they are from.
They also happen to be following in the footsteps of their Teochew ancestors who moved to Thailand in the early 20th century, when waves of immigrants fled a then impoverished China to seek fortune and happiness in the Land of Smiles.
“We have heard a lot about our ancestors migrating to Thailand, the lore of Chinese migration that are part of our childhood memories,” says Lin Ju.
Lin says she is proud of the “hardworking Chinese in Thailand” who contributed so much to the economy back home at a time when China was yet to arrive as an economic powerhouse.
The Thais, says her friend Lin Miaofang, are friendly, hospitable and thankful for the tourism dollar the Chinese bring. “The media exaggerates Chinese behaviour – a few cases don’t reflect the behaviour of an entire nation.”