Abstract:
The purpose of this thesis is to study the history and the expansion of trade of the Chinese in Bangkok from the 1855 Bowring Treaty with great Britain until the 1932 Revolution. The study is divided into 4 parts : Part 1 concerns the Chinese immigrations into Siam before and after the Bowring Treaty. The patterns, methods, locations and expansion of their trade in Bangkok are also discussed. Part 2 concerns the factors that encouraged their trade expansion.Part 3 concerns the major economic, social and political roles assumed by Chinese merchants during 1855 to 1932. Part 4 concerns the effects of the Chinese trade expansion in Bangkok during that period. The results show the Chinese first came to settle down and ran their business in Bangkok at Sampheng, which later became one of the important trading centers beginning before the treaty. They also did their business on rafts. After the implementation of the treaty, many roads were cut, resulting in a less important role for river trade. The trade was expanded along both sides of the roads instead. In addition the Chinese trade expansion in Bangkok affected the economy and society of Siam. On the economic side, it was found that there was competition between the Chinese and the Western merchants. The Chinese merchants had fewer advantages than the Westermers because they lacked capital and because the limitation of help given to them by the Siamese government hindered their high-level trading. These factors prevented their businesses from overcoming the Western trading monopolies. However, Chinese trading provided a lot of revenue for the government, for example from building tacation, especially in Sampheng and also in places around Bangkok where the Chinese did their business. The comptroller of Royal Treasury also gained some benefits from them because he owned most of the land where the Chinese lived and he built shop-houses which mostly Chinese rented to do their business. What the comptroller did helped encourage the expansion of shop-house trading. On the social side, it was found that there was an expansion of communities. Since the shop-houses were built along both sides of the roads, the Chinese went to do their business there, so these communities became trading areas. Besides, city limits of Bangkok were expanded because of the congestion caused by the Chinese community and the tearing down of the city wall in order to enlarge the city area for the trade needs.