Asian Geographic - April 2018

(singke) #1

making bowls again despite years of retirement


due to bad health and failing strength. Having


been in the business for 63 years, she can’t bear


to give up her Chinese heritage.


Since arriving on Thai shores in the 17th


century, Chinese immigrants have assimilated


with local Thai in a remarkably smooth


manner, resulting in years of intermarriages


between the two ethnicities. Yet the Chinese


aspect of this mixed cultural identity is


beginning to fade in the city’s capital:


Practices like baat-making and worship rituals


face extinction, thanks to infrastructural


redevelopment and a lack of successors to


continue the trade.


Like Ban Baat, another of Bangkok’s oldest
Chinese communities – Charoen Chai – may
soon go, as plans to develop the railway line
across the Chao Phraya river and Charoen
Krung Road wipes out the historic Chinatown
district, where the older generation of Thai
Chinese buy joss papers and other items for
traditional celebrations and rituals. During
the New Year, the area’s temples, like Wat
Mangkon Kamalawat and Wat Leng Noei Yi,
are filled with worshippers intent on dispelling
bad luck. And Charoen Chai specialises in
Chinese food: streets upon streets of bakeries,
dessert shops, and roadside stalls hawking
the popular Jubkang noodles – a favourite for
Chinese labourers in the olden days thanks to
the massive portions and tiny price.
But all this may become a thing of the past
once the railway plans for Bangkok begin in
the coming years, and landlords start raising
prices or making plans for redevelopment of
the land. Facing insufficient support from the
government, these communities and their
uniquely Thai-Chinese practices have already
begun to disappear from the places they’ve
resided in for centuries – and once they go,
there may be no return. ag

Baat-Making 101

These ancient alms
bowls take up to three
days to make in a
traditional process
dictated by Buddhist
teachings

Artisans determine
the size of the bowl
by selecting the right
size of sheet metal

The edges are
serrated in order
to fit together,
like a jigsaw

The pieces are lined
up, and then welded
together

The bowl is
hammered out
from the inside

After polishing and
varnishing, the
baat is complete

For more about the photos in this article, see our
contributor’s review of the Sony α7R Mark III on page 1.

9.6
MILLION
(14% of total)


ภาษาไทย


Thai


汉语


Chinese dialects


Buddhism


POPULATION


LANGUAGE


RELIGION


thai chinese:
the world’s
largest overseas
chinese community


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SONY α7R MARK III, f/2.8, 1/12s, ISO 100

SONY α7R MARK III, f/2.2, 1/1600s, ISO 800
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