6 - Thailand and the Xinhai Revolution: Expectation, Reality and Inspiration

Summary

Introduction

Up through the earliest decades of the twentieth century, the Thai public generally was rarely concerned with the domestic political affairs of any foreign country beyond peninsular Southeast Asia. Events in China, however, proved a major exception. The Xinhai Revolution of 1911 was, by all accounts, among the best documented and best publicized political upheavals in the history of Thai journalism. This was, of course, partly due to the very large ethnic Chinese population in Thailand at that time. Chinese and Japanese official sources agree that, at least up to the end of the Second World War, Thailand hosted the largest Overseas Chinese community in the world. The last major influx of Chinese migrant workers was a major driving force behind King Chulalongkorn's (Rama V, 1868–1910) modernization projects in the latter half of the nineteenth century. It was the values and aspirations of these resident aliens that resulted in the momentous proliferation of Chinese newspapers and Chinese educational institutions of various sorts in Thailand.

Another significant factor contributing to the unusually high profile of the 1911 Xinhai Revolution in the eyes of many Thai people was the overt concern and obvious anxiety of the Thai ruling class about the possibility that such an anti-monarchic upheaval could break out in the Kingdom as well. In fact, the Thai court had been well aware, long before the outburst of that revolution, of the dangers of allowing the general public to be exposed to foreign political systems and ideas. Consequently, only a limited circle of high-ranking members of the royal family and young nobles destined to serve the court had been allowed to obtain higher education in Europe and America during Chulalongkorn's reign. Exposure to different political ideas and developments from the West was jealously guarded and carefully restricted in the local educational system.