Change closes in on hidden Chinatown

Change closes in on hidden Chinatown

The Charoen Chai community has been frozen in time for decades, but the cultural stronghold is prime territory for land developers

Holy site: The new Wat Mangkorn MRT station is being built on the community’s doorstep, but the temple itself will be safe.
Holy site: The new Wat Mangkorn MRT station is being built on the community’s doorstep, but the temple itself will be safe.

For more than a century, four generations of Usanee Sae-gang’s family have lived on Soi Charoen Chai, off Charoen Krung Road in Bangkok’s Chinatown. For half that time, the 70-year-old has been living and working in the same rented shophouse, where she moved after getting married 50 years ago.

The family originally sold fisherman’s pants to Chinese rickshaw pullers stationed in the soi, but their home has been transformed into a salesroom for various items over the years — from clothing to Chinese lucky charms, golden paper and other items used in Chinese rituals.

Ms Usanee’s whole life has revolved around the Chinese community in Soi Charoen Chai. But plans to extend the MRT in the area and uncertainty about how long the community will be able to stay mean she is no longer sure about what the future holds.

“The landlord used to give us five-year rental contracts. Then the contracts went down to three years, then to one year, and now we have no contract at all,” Ms Usanee said.

Close quarters: The Charoen Chai community is also known as Tong Heng Gouy, meaning long bamboo stick, and has 60 shophouses in its narrow alleys.

INHERITED LAND

The Charoen Chai community is situated on Charoen Chai sois 1 and 2, on the northern section of Charoen Krung Road. Its history dates back to 1898, during the reign of King Rama V, when the first colonial-style shophouses were built there.
The area is known among the Chinese community as Tong Heng Gouy, meaning long bamboo stick, since there are approximately 60 shophouses in the narrow alleyways. Today, the whole community comprises 80 households occupying five rai of land.

In 1892, King Rama V gave the land along Charoen Krung Road to Prince Paribatra Sukhumbhand, the prince of Nakhon Sawan. The land was then passed down from one generation to another until MR Pantip Paribatra established the Chumbhot Pantip Foundation to carry out charitable works after the death of her husband. The Charoen Chai community then automatically fell under the ownership of the foundation.         

When MR Pantip died in 1987, MR Sukhumbhand Paribatra took over as the foundation’s president.

Its main focus is work to develop and preserve Thai heritage. It also supports students by giving out several annual scholarships.     

Old timer: The Charoen Chai community was established in 1898.

One stop shop: The community is known as a hub for ritual-related paraphernalia among descendants of Chinese families across Bangkok. Everything from decorations to dolls for the dead are on sale.

HERE COMES THE TRAIN

The Chumbhot Pantip Foundation owns a large portion of property along Charoen Krung Road, including the part where the Charoen Chai community is located.

The foundation traditionally gave long-term leases to tenants. That was the case at least, until the Bangkok Metro Public Company unveiled plans to extend the MRT and build its new Wat Mangkorn station on the community’s doorstep.

The foundation stopped giving Charoen Chai tenants long-term rental contracts in 2008, even though construction on the MRT extension did not start until September 2012. The residents are now paying their rent on a month-by-month basis, with no contract at all.

When a representative from Italian-Thai Development — the contractor for the blue line MRT project — came to talk to the locals, they were reassured their homes would not need to be demolished, since the station is not built directly on the land where they live.

But without rental contracts, those living in Charoen Chai fear they could be pushed out at any time.

“I wouldn’t know what to do if we were forced to move out from here,” Ms Usanee said. “All my memories are in this house and this community. I hope I can at least die in the house where I’ve spent my whole life. But I don’t know if that’s possible now.”

Family business: Usanee Sae-gang, 70, has been living and working in the same rented shophouse since she was married 50 years ago. (Photo by Kanyakrit Vongkiatkajorn)

FROM BIRTH TO DEATH

The Charoen Chai community is known as a shopping hub for ritual-related paraphernalia among descendants of Chinese families across Bangkok. The area has shops selling lucky charms, desserts for birth and wedding ceremonies, dolls for the dead, Chinese-style wooden coffins, paper houses and money, and ornaments of Chinese gods.

At times of the year when there are no important Chinese ceremonies, Charoen Chai’s rows of shops lay quiet. The community is cut off from the main street, so feels like a small town of its own.

Getting into the community is slightly inconvenient, since the construction of the MRT station has taken over the main entrance to the alley. From Charoen Krung Road, people must line up in single file to squeeze between tables set up by locals and the construction site.

Once through the main entrance to the community, a different world unfolds. Shophouses are packed along both sides of the tight alleyway, creating natural shade that keeps the bright sun off the area all day.

Some members of the Charoen Chai community claim to have seen a secret plan to turn the area around Wat Mangkorn station into a shopping complex, complete with 18-storey buildings.

The Chinatown Development Company is allegedly behind the proposals, but with no proof of the development plans, locals can do nothing but wait and see what happens. Spectrum contacted the company for comment, but received no response before going to press.

Burned out: A fire in June last year damaged eight houses in the Charoen Chai community. Locals suspected arson since the fire started at 4am in the morning in an ‘unusual’ location.

Like a prayer: Charoen Chai locals are committed to preserving Chinese heritage.

A WAY OF LIFE

Shop owners in the Charoen Chai alley are united by their concerns about the future.

“We wouldn’t be able to gather at another place in the way we do here,” said Wandee Tirasopee, the 62-year-old owner of Tang Kiew Min, which sells everything needed for a Chinese ceremony.

“If we have to move, there will no longer be a hub for all of the items available here, and all the culture we have carried from one generation to another will be gone,” she added.

On the other side of the community, Pimploy Puritongrat, the 73-year-old owner of a paper money shop, is also worrying about preserving her livelihood.

She feels she is getting too old to work, but the shop is the only source of income to feed her
family.

“I opened this business more than 50 years ago,” Ms Pimploy said. “My neighbours here are my only friends and this community is my whole world.”

Ms Usanee argues that Charoen Chai is not just another Chinese community, but full of life, with an unusually rich history.

If it makes way for modern developments, she warns the area will be dead and the story behind it will fade into the past.

With the whole community living in fear, some of the younger generation decided to show that Charoen Chai is worth preserving.

Having studied the history of the area, Sirinee Urunanont began the process of forming the Charoen Chai Conservation and Rehabilitation Group in 2010.

Its mission is to raise awareness of Charoen Chai’s unique heritage, inside and outside the community.

In 2011, Ms Sirinee unveiled an exhibition of local history and customs at house number 32 in Charoen Chai, also known as Ban Gao Lao Rueng, or the old house with a story to tell.

The work of the group gathered pace, and the community starting attracting interest from local and foreign journalists.

They caught the attention of Chinese media, including state broadcaster CCTV, which contacted Ms Sirinee to come and film tables set up for the Moon Festival, which are no longer a common sight in China.

Ms Sirinee’s efforts to educate locals about their heritage has worked well. Now everyone in the community understands how important it is to preserve their culture.

While researching the area as part of her work, Ms Sirinee started looking into the origins of the Chinatown Development Company. She found that it was founded by the Chumbhot Pantip Foundation and the Crown Property Bureau.

The group had tried to contact the foundation several times in the past, seeking reassurance their community would not be demolished. But efforts to get in touch always went unanswered. They had never met anyone from the foundation, apart from the employee who came to collect their rent each month.

However, once the community started generating media coverage, the foundation sent a representative to talk to the Charoen Chai Conservation and Rehabilitation Group. They told Ms Sirinee the foundation has no plans to develop any mega project, as locals fear.

“It was the first time that we had met a representative from the foundation,” Ms Sirinee explained.

Since MR Sukhumbhand, the Bangkok governor, is president of the foundation, Spectrum asked locals if they had ever met him in person. They said they had never seen him in the community, and that he did not visit as part of any campaign activities.

“I voted for him for the past two terms, but he didn’t come to see us, even though we live on his land,” Ms Wandee said. “I want to ask him not to demolish our community.”

Development threat: Locals are unhappy a new hotel has been built close to the community.

ARSON OR ACCIDENT

There are only three small access routes in and out of the community, so fire is the number one safety concern for many locals. All of the shophouses contain flammable items, from paper to wood and dried fruit.

Fire is Ms Pimploy’s worst nightmare, and she fears she could lose everything in just one tragic incident. She has been harbouring these worries since a large fire damaged a Chinese shrine in the area several years ago.

“We are all aware of the fire risks and we try to do our best to make sure we are safe,” Ms Pimploy said. “If one house catches on fire, there's a chance many others will also go up in flames because we are so close to each other.”

The community’s efforts to stay safe had paid off until just before Songkran festival last year.

At 4am in the morning a fire was discovered on Charoen Krung Soi 23, where one of the three main entrances to the Charoen Chai community is situated.

Residents said they felt the location of the blaze — a wall next to the washing area of a food stall — was unusual. A construction worker with Italian-Thai noticed the fire and put it out just before it spread to other buildings.

Paranoia reached the stage that residents discussed having CCTV installed in the community. Before they got around to setting up the cameras, another unexplained fire took place on June 1, close to the location of the first incident, and also at 4am.

The Charoen Chai community’s worst fears were realised. The fire spread to the first house on the corner of Charoen Chai Soi 2 and Charoen Krung Soi 23. It moved quickly, damaging eight houses in total.

Luckily, no one was injured in the incident and the cement foundations of the homes were unscathed. However, wooden parts of the buildings’ interiors and roofs were destroyed.

The event was a sobering reminder that fire could be the thing that ultimately evicts the entire community.

“I haven't had a good night's sleep since the fire,” Ms Wandee said. “I just hope nothing like this happens again.”

Photos by Kanyakrit Vongkiatkajorn

NO PROTECTION

One of the Charoen Chai Conservation and Rehabilitation Group's objectives has been to have the community recognised as a historical site worth preserving.

The organisation contacted the Fine Arts Department, inviting them to inspect the area to see if they could register Charoen Chai as an old community. This would give the community protection under the law, meaning that no one would be able to demolish it.

Spectrum contacted Sunisa Chitrbhandth, the deputy director-general of the Fine Arts Department, to ask about the Charoen Chai community's plight. She said she was unaware of their request for protected status, and said she had never heard anything about the case.

She said it was unlikely that the department would be able to offer the community much help, since it only protects places with distinct cultural value and a long history.

Ms Sunisa said the Charoen Chai community may not be eligible for protection from the Fine Arts Department, but suggested another government department could potentially intervene.

The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration has recently amended the law to allow large construction projects to be built along the mass transit system within a 500-square-metre zone of each station. This has added to fears that investors could swoop in and develop the Charoen Chai community.

Wanchai Thanomsak, director of the BMA’s City Planning Department, said the amendment of the law is meant to benefit developers who plan to construct properties along the mass transit line to help make the lives of city dwellers easier.

But he said the department has no intention of destroying people's local communities, such as cultural areas in Chinatown.

“Thailand has no law to protect these sorts of old buildings or areas. However, the BMA works closely with local communities to preserve their traditional lifestyle and make sure it remains that way,” Mr Wanchai said.

He said the planning department is officially protecting and preserving a number of old communities in Bangkok.

According to surveyors for the department, there are up to 200 old communities in the city, and efforts are ongoing to identify more.

Mr Wanchai cited the BMA's outstanding work to protect the rich and unique culture of the Kadeejeen-Klong San community, which is a riverfront community of Buddhist, Christian, Muslim and Chinese people living together.

“The communities have to show their strength and present us with their long history,” he said. “If they tell us that they want us to save them, then we will go in to help and make sure no one can develop anything without their permission.

“For the Charoen Chai community, I'm yet to be shown anything that marks them out as significant compared to other old communities in Bangkok. But I will review the area and see what I can do to help.”

UNSTOPPABLE 'PROGRESS'

Associate professor Chuwit Sudchaya, a retired academic from Silpakorn University who studied urban conservation, told Spectrum he is concerned about the speed of development across the country.

He warned there are no laws to control construction in old city areas, since the only legal measures that exist are targeted solely at protecting historic sites. 

“Modern cities are too often devoid of cultural life,” Mr Chuwit said. “Land owners and developers look at their land as assets, without seeing the cultural value to it.”

He said that inner-city and waterfront property development seems to be the current trend among developers in Bangkok.

“If we don’t change the law to protect old communities, they will all be gone soon, since Bangkok is growing very fast,” he said.

“If that happens, then our city will have no life and historical value left.” n

Ruled by the gods: When there are no important Chinese festivals, Charoen Chai’s shops lay quiet, but they spring into action as soon as it’s time for a religious ceremony of any sort. 


One hundred years of blood, sweat and tears

The Chinese started to migrate to Thailand during the reign of King Rama III, but dramatically increased in 1880.

The majority came from the port of Shantou, on a large ship that twice weekly carried between 1,000 and 3,000 Chinese immigrants bound for Bangkok.

When they docked, the place they arrived was Ratchawong Pier. Chinese immigrants started to form communities around the pier, in Sampheng, Yaowarat and the upper part of Charoen Krung Road.

The new migrants to Bangkok were mainly employed as Chinese rickshaw pullers, manual labourers, grocery shop or restaurant owners, and brothel workers.

In the old days, the Charoen Chai community was home to Chinese business owners and labourers.

The first group of Chinese to live there were of Cantonese descent. Later on, Teochew Chinese people started to move in the community.

Glimpse of the past: An exhibition of local history can be seen at house number 32 in Charoen Chai, also known as ‘Ban Gao Lao Rueng’, or the old house with a story to tell. (Photo by Kanyakrit Vongkiatkajorn)

All of the Chinese immigrants to Bangkok would send part of their wages back to their families in China.

This meant that the whole area, especially the Charoen Chai community, had many thriving businesses offering international money transfers, or pouy guay services. 

All the buildings in the Charoen Chai community were designed as shophouses. The architecture was influenced by Chinese labourers and the middle class community buildings popular in Singapore at the time.

This part of Chinatown was considered the first group of brick and cement buildings in the country.

The houses in Charoen Chai Soi 1 were originally designated as residential buildings, while those in Charoen Chai Soi 2 were assigned to be businesses, including Chinese medicine dispensaries and clinics, and liquor shops.

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