ABSTRACT
Thailand’s relationship with China, and its memories of China, are deeply enmeshed with the place that Sino-Thais inhabit in Thai society. China is closer geographically and culturally, and there is a sense of a long shared history driven by this cultural and geographic proximity. Overall, these factors make the China site of memory richer and more complex than that associated with the United States. This chapter discusses the site of memory associated with China. It considers the recollections, and their construction, of China in Thai history. It argues that the China site of memory can be divided into parts: homeland; protector; adversary and proximate giant. Finally, although China is remembered and respected as a proximate power, China’s presence in Thailand and in Thailand’s near north has become much more palpable, firstly through a massive inflow of Chinese tourists, and secondly through the growing connectivity of northern Thailand with southern China.
