In the Footsteps of Wolfgang Franke Revisiting Chinese Temples in Bangkok
Article Sidebar
Main Article Content
Abstract
In the 19th and early 20th centuries, Chinese immigrants constituted up to 50% of the population in Bangkok. Beyond their religious role, Chinese temples served as community centers, fostering social connections, news exchange, and providing entertainment for newcomers in the Thai capital. With archival records scarce, the preserved epigraphy within these temples emerges as a crucial historical source. This article revisits Wolfgang Franke’s documented sites from the 1970s and 1980s, finding that the inscribed objects generally remain intact, and indicating stability in Bangkok’s Chinese temple culture over the last fifty years. Addressing the lack of a comprehensive listing of Chinese temples and their locations, the article presents a geo-referenced survey, significantly expanding previous lists. The survey data are available online as supplemental material, contributing to the documentation of Chinese religious sites in Southeast Asia. The article concludes by reflecting on the historical evolution of temple construction in Bangkok.
Article Details
References
Achirat Chaiyapotpanit (อชิรัชญ์ ไชยพจนืพานิช). 2565 BE (2022 CE). เทพเจ้าจีนในกรุงเทพฯ [Chinese Gods in Bangkok = CGB]. Bangkok: Matichon.
Baffie, Jean. 2001. Les Hainanais de Thaïlande : une minorité tournée vers Bangkok plus que vers Haikou. In Hainan – De la Chine à l’Asie du Sud-Est, ed. by Claudine Salmon & Roderich Ptak, 255–295. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.
Chia, Jack Meng-tat. 2017. Who is Tue Pek Kong? The Cult of Grand Uncle in Malaysia and Singapore. Archiv Orientální 85: 439–460.
City Planning Department, Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (สำนักผังเมือง กรุงเทพมหานคร). 2559 BE (2016 CE). ศาลเจ้า ศรัทธา สถาน แห่ง บางกอก [Chinese Shrines—The Faith of Bangkok = CSFB]. Bangkok: City Planning Department.
Coughlin, J. Richard. 1960. Double Identity – The Chinese in Modern Thailand. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press.
Courtine, Philippe. 2001. La restructuration d’un espace urbain du sud-est asiatique : la Chinatown de Bangkok-Thaïlande. Cahiers d’outre-mer 214: 137–156.
Damrong Rajanubhab (ดำรงราชานุภาพ). 2549 BE (2006 CE). ชีวิตและงานของสุนทรภู่ [The Life and Work of Sunthon Phu]. Bangkok: Vision Free Press.
Dean, Kenneth. 2019. Whose Orders? The Chinese Popular God Temple Networks in Southeast Asia and the Rise of Chinese Buddhist Mahayana Monasteries. In Buddhist and Islamic Orders in Southeast Asia: Comparative Perspectives, ed. by Anne Blackburn & Michael Feener, 99–124. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press.
Dean, Kenneth & Guan Thye Hue. 2017. Chinese Epigraphy in Singapore: 1819‒1911. Two Volumes. Singapore: NUS Press.
Department of Provincial Administration, Ministry of the Interior (กรมการปกครอง กระทรวงมหาดไทย), ed. 2542 BE (1999 CE). ทำเนียบทะเบียนศาลเจ้าทั่วราชอาณาจักร [Registry of Chinese Shrines in the Kingdom (of Thailand)]. Bangkok: The Siam Heritage.
Duan, Lisheng (段立生). 1996. 泰國的中式寺廟 [The Chinese Temples of Thailand]. Bangkok: Pin Yo Printing.
Faure, Bernard. 2015. Gods of Medieval Japan – Volume 1: The Fluid Pantheon. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press.
Formoso, Bernard. 2003. Marchands et philanthropes. Les associations de bienfaisance chinoises en Thaïlande. Annales. Histoire, Sciences Sociales 58(4): 833–856 [First published in English, 1996, Journal of Southeast Asian Studies 27(2): 245–260].
Franke, Wolfgang. 1998. Chinese Epigraphic Materials in Thailand (泰國華文銘刻匯編). Taipei: Hsinwenfeng.
———. 1988‒1997. Chinese Epigraphic Materials in Indonesia. Three Volumes. Singapore: Nanyang Xuehui.
Franke, Wolfgang & Hartmut Walravens. 2005. Reisen in Ost- und Südostasien 1937‒1990. Melle: Wagener Edition.
Franke, Wolfgang & Tieh-fan Chen, eds. 1982‒1987. Chinese Epigraphic Materials in Malaysia. Three Volumes. Kuala Lumpur: University of Malaysia Press.
Ho, Chuimei. 1995. Chinese Temples in Bangkok. Sources of Data for 19th Century Sino‒Thai Communities. Journal of the Siam Society 83: 25–43.
Jesada Nilsanguandecha (เจษฎา นิลสงวนเดชะ). 2561 BE (2018 BE). ศาลเจ้าจีน: ศรัทธาสถานในสังคมไทย [Chinese Shrines: Faith in Thai Society]. Journal of Language and Culture 37(1): 45‒70.
Kataoka, Tatsuki. 2015. タイ国における中国系善堂の宗教活動 [Religious Activities at Chinese Philanthropic Associations in Thailand]. Japanese Journal of Southeast Asian Studies 52–2: 172–207.
Kulsiri Arunapak (กุลศิริ อรุณภาคย์). 2553 BE (2010 CE). ศาลเจ้า ศาลเจ้า ในกรุงเทพฯ [Chinese Shrines in Bangkok]. Bangkok: Museum Press.
Landon, Kenneth P. 1941. The Chinese in Thailand. New York: Institute of Pacific Relations.
Li, Zhitian (黎志添), ed. 2023.香港廟宇碑刻志 歷史與圖錄; A Complete Collection of Stele Inscriptions in Hong Kong Temples Historical Records with Images. Three Volumes. Hong Kong: The Chinese University of Hong Kong Press.
Liu, Yaoping. 2020. The History of Jin Nikāya in Thailand: A Preliminary Study from a Socio-political Perspective. Journal of Chinese Buddhist Studies 33: 121–170.
Morita, Liang Chua. 2003. Language Shift in the Thai Chinese Community. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development 24(6): 485–495.
Pendleton, Robert L. 1962. Thailand–Aspects of Landscape and Life. New York: Duell, Sloan and Pearce.
Pornpan Juntaronanont (Liu Lifang 劉麗芳) & Lau-Fong Mak (Mai Liufang 麥留芳). 1994. 曼谷與新加坡華人廟宇及宗教習俗的調查 [Survey of the Temples and Religious Customs of the Chinese in Bangkok and Singapore]. Taipei: Academia Sinica.
Purcell, Victor. 1951. The Chinese in Southeast Asia. London: Oxford University Press.
Rewadee Ungpho. 2010. Chinese Ceremonial Music in Mahayana Buddhism in Southern Thailand. PhD Dissertation, Martin-Luther-Universität, Halle-Wittenberg.
Skinner, G. William, 1957. Chinese Society in Thailand: An Analytical History. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
———. 1958. Leadership and Power in the Chinese Community of Thailand. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
Sng, Jeffrey & Pimpraphai Bisalputra, 2015. A History of the Thai‒Chinese. Singapore: Editions Didier Millet.
Streiter, Oliver. 2017. ThakBong – the data – June 2017. DANS Data Station Social Sciences and Humanities, V2. Available Online: https://doi.org/10.17026/dans-zhd-zuvx.
Streiter, Oliver et al. 2019. First Steps towards Reviving Franke’s “Chinese Epigraphy in Southeast Asia”: Motivations, Approaches and Data Structures. In Proceedings DRGPA (Documenting and Researching Graveyards in Pacific Asia, ed. by Oliver Streiter, Mandy To, James Morris, 91–118.
Supakan Sucharit (ศุภกาญจน์ สุจริต). 2559 BE (2016 CE). คติความเชื่อและรูปแบบเทพเจ้า “ปุนเถ้ากง” ของชาวจีนในสมัยรัตนโกสินทร์: กรณีศึกษาในเขตกรุงเทพมหานคร [A Study of Religious Belief and Iconography of the Sacred images “Ben Tou Gong” in Bangkok]. MA thesis, Silpakorn University, Bangkok.
Tan, Chee-Beng. 2012. Shantang: Charitable Temples in China, Singapore, and Malaysia. Asian Ethnology 7(1): 75–107.
Tanabe, Shigeharu. 1977. Historical Geography of the Canal System in the Chao Phraya River Delta – From the Ayutthaya Period to the Fourth Reign of the Rattanakosin Dynasty. The Journal of the Siam Society 65(2): 23–72.
Wasana Wongsurawat. 2019. The Crown and the Capitalists: The Ethnic Chinese and the Founding of the Thai Nation. Seattle: University of Washington Press.
Yau, Chi-on. 2021. The Dao in the Southern Seas: The Diffusion of the Lüzu Cult from Meizhou to Bangkok. In Daoism in Modern China. Clerics and Temples in Urban Transformations, 1860–Present, ed. by Vincent Goossaert & Xun Liu. London: Routledge.
Yu, Dequan (余德泉).2000. 对联格律 对联谱 [Meter and Prosody of Chinese Hanging Couplets (duilian)]. Changsha: Yuelu Shushe.