Bangkok's Chinatown has a history all its own. And now this history has been brought to life in a new museum.
Walking down memory lane
A new museum tells the story of a people who have made a huge contribution to Bangkok.
By: Sirikul Bunnag
Published: 28/01/2009 at 12:00 AM
Newspaper section: News
Bangkok's Chinatown has a history all its own. It's a history of a people who left behind their families and familiar surroundings to forge a new life. It's also a history paralleled among members of the Chinese diaspora the world over. And now this history has been brought to life in a new museum.
People wait in a long queue to visit the Yaowarat Chinatown Heritage Centre at Wat Trai Mit Witthayaram on Yaowarat road. Photos by JETJARAS NA RANONG
Thousands of visitors queued up yesterday to await their turn to reach the second floor grand stupa at Wat Trai Mit Witthayaram, where the memories of old Chinatown are unravelled at the Yaowarat Chinatown Heritage Centre.
Many visitors decked out in red spent their Chinese New Year holiday becoming re-acquainted with their roots. Visitors were handed cards limiting groups of 40 people to a 15-minute viewing of the exhibits.
Admission to the centre is free until Feb 8, when it will be closed for the inauguration of the Maha Mondop stupa.
All free admission cards till then have been snapped up.
Said to be one of the country's most comprehensive museums depicting the birth and development of the Chinatown community, the museum is divided into different periods which trace the Yaowarat area's evolution from its beginnings to the present day.
Migrants share a meal.
The foyer contains an exhibition honouring Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn and her close bond with China and its people, which is portrayed in a rich collection of photographs taken by the princess during her many visits to that country, including during the opening of the Beijing Olympic Games which she attended last year.
The foyer opens to a zone showcasing the prosperity of the Chinese community under His Majesty the King.
The zone also employs three-dimensional Magic Vision technology to give depth to the story being narrated on the trade around Yaowarat in the early days and the Chinese community's reverence for the royal institution.
The narration is by an elderly man, a self-made Yaowarat tycoon, walking his grandson down memory lane.
A gold shop is recreated as one of the displays at the heritage museum.
The next zone traces the birth of Yaowarat by the early Chinese settlers who landed on Siam's shores during the Rattanakosin era and then goes on through the growth of the community from 1782-1851.
A display shows the settlers crammed into a ship making the treacherous journey to Siam. The hardships and the struggle for a better life are reflected in their meagre possessions: a pillow to sleep on, a jar each of personal items, and just melons to fend off their hunger.
The third zone covers the Golden Age from 1957, when Yaowarat boasted the country's tallest building, a nine-storey highrise with the nation's first elevator.
A large model of the old Yaowarat, bursting as it was with rows of commercial buildings and streets crisscrossed by tram lines, is compared with the area today, still busy and bustling with energy.
The fourth zone celebrates Chinatown's "pillars of strength", both living and deceased. The important figures honoured include the late Luang Pakdi Pattharakorn, a highly successful rice trader during the reign of King Rama V, and tycoons such as Chin Sophonpanich, founder of Bangkok Bank, the country's largest bank, and Thiem Chokewattana who founded the Sahapathanapibul business empire.
A store sells Chinese sweets.
The other zones feature royal activities and a touch-screen directory of restaurants and eateries found in Chinatown.
Caretaker Thaksit Sitthisakon said the museum took two years to build using donations and the efforts of the Yaowarat community. The information presented is the result of extensive research and interviews among mostly elderly Yaowarat residents.
The museum is open from 9am to 4pm, Monday to Friday, and from 9am to 6pm at the weekend until Feb 8.
The visitors yesterday were full of praise for the venture. Sathaporn Panla, 68, from Nong Bua Lampu, said she was impressed with the museum and inspired by the Chinese people's perseverance in the face of hardship.
Labourers toil to make ends meet in their new home.
A shop sells utensils and Chinaware.
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