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Old story
Anthropologist looking at economic rise of Chinese refugees in Thailand
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As a high school student in Taiwan in the 1960s, Shu-min Huang read a
novel about a group of Nationalist Chinese soldiers who fled in the wake
of the Communist takeover of China.
The soldiers made their way to the Golden Triangle area that consists
of the borderline areas of Laos, Burma and Thailand.
"After I finished it (the novel), I put it aside and didn't give
it much thought," said the professor and chair of the Department
of Anthropology.
Huang's memory was refreshed many years later when he attended a conference
in China.
"I ran into a Chinese anthropologist and she told me that she and
her husband had been studying this group (the soldiers) for several years,"
he said. "Her husband had died and she didn't have any money to continue
with the research. But she had numerous connections and asked if I was
interested."
The more Huang read about the refugee soldiers and their communities'
evolution over the ensuing years, the more interested he became.
Now he's involved in a two-year study funded by the Wenner-Gren Foundation
to look at the communities and their rapid economic growth.
Huang's research indicates that for more than 10 years after fleeing China,
the Nationalist soldiers stayed in the Golden Triangle area. They financed
their lifestyles through the illegal drug trade. That came to an end in
1962, when Communist China and Burma jointly attacked the Nationalist
soldiers, driving many to the island of Taiwan.
Two small groups of 1,000 refugees each fled into the hill country of
Thailand. That's where Huang picks up his research.
"The groups started hill farming - mainly corn and potatoes initially,"
he said.
Unlike the tribes that previously inhabited the area, the Nationalist
soldiers became extremely successful, especially in the 1980s when they
developed and cultivated a tropical fruit called lychee nuts.
"For 20 years, these Chinese refugee communities dominate the lychee
nut industry in Southeast Asia," Huang. "Their success is in
direct contrast with the tribal units that also lived in that area. Those
groups practiced slash and burn farming. They would work the land for
two or three years and then move on to another area."
It's a huge economic success story in this part of Thailand. Huang says
the ethnic Chinese have moved on to a new crop - honey tangerines - and
again control the marketplace in Southeast Asia.
And where only 2000 people lived in 1960 - just a few villages - now more
than 40 villages are spread out among the northern Thailand hill country
with 300,000 residents. The particular village that Huang is studying
has increased from 600 residents in the 1960s to 12,000 in 2003.
Huang says the group's success can be attributed to any number of reasons
including the farming expertise that the group brought with them from
China.
"They also developed social networks that proved useful in the globalization
process," he said. "Very often you will see that these people
will use their connections with other ethnic Chinese and other Chinese
refugees to help raise capital and become commercially viable."
The Thailand government is particularly interested in the success of the
original Nationalist soldiers. Previously the area was one of the poorest
in Thailand and beset by poverty and drugs.
Huang is collaborating on the project with several individuals including
the female Chinese anthropologist from Yunnan University who originally
sparked his interest. She's continuing with her study of the women in
the village.
Other colleagues are filming the village's residents; another is looking
at the education level, while a geographer and soil scientist from Chiang
Mai University in Thailand are also involved with the project.
Huang will speak on his research at the first Institute of Science and
Society seminar on Wednesday, Jan. 28. He will focus his presentation
on the refugee communities' ecological adaptation, globalization and changing
ethnic identity. The presentation will be held in 302 Catt Hall at noon.
Around LAS
January 26 to February 8, 2004
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