Wong Pak Nung
Department of Applied Social Studies, City University of Hong Kong
This paper aims to contextualize the Thai rice business against the backdrop of the larger Thai state formation. By conceiving of the Thai rice business as a “political business” which has economic, political and security implications for post-WWII Thai national development, this paper argues that the Thai rice business has been central in Thai society since the Ayutthaya Kingdom.
The presentation will first address how and why the Teochew-speaking Sino-Thais emerged to dominate the rice-trading system since the Ayutthaya Kingdom. Second, the presentation will discuss how and why Sino-Thais followed a certain geopolitical pattern in the making of the Thai state since WWII. Third, based on fieldwork in rice-producing regions in northern and central Thailand, how and why the Thai rice business still matters to Thailand up to the present time will be addressed.
(Presented in the 2012 Asian Food Heritage Forum: Harmonizing Culture , Technology and Industry, 20-21 August 2012, Imperial Queen’s Park Hotel, Bangkok, organized by Institute of Thai Studies, Institute of Asian Studies, Faculty of Fine and Applied Arts, Chulalongkorn University, Chinese Dietary Culture Institute, Zhejiang Gongshang University, and Ministry of Culture, Thailand)