ABSTRACT
This chapter briefly illustrates different forms and the processes of ethnic categorisation and the positionality of ‘ethnic minorities’ of three nation states, China, Burma and Thailand. It factors in the historical background of the manifestation of ‘Chinese identity’ among the borderland minority. The chapter explores the contemporary narratives of ‘Chinese’ identity among migrants from China and Burma into Thailand, and among Thai migrant workers (including those who are Chinese speaking) in Taiwan. In addition to former relations with ‘Cin Ho’ in China, in Burma, and in Thailand, some elite ‘hill tribes’ have now established connections with overseas Chinese in Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan and Hong Kong — their common language being Chinese. With the liberalisation of the Chinese economy and, much later, the loosening of the state control over the Burmese and Laotian economy, as well as an improving infrastructure, border trade in the Mekong basin intensified. Chinese traders began arriving via Burma and Laos, and some settled in northern Thailand.
