Phuket: The Area of Creating a Chinese Identity

Abstract

This article is part of research on Chinese art and culture in Phuket. It is a part of the study of the Phuket provincial area on the physical areas and their meanings to the first group of pioneers as well as the social space that is meaningful to the Chinese and various ethnic groups and the imaginary area of creating Chinese identity in Phuket. This is qualitative research using using studying amount of information, documents and various evidence, participation and non-participation observation as well as in-depth interviews with Chinese sages, including those involved in performing rituals in the Chinese shrines analyzed and presented in terms of descriptive research results.

The result of the research revealed that Phuket is rich in natural resources, located on the old shipping route in the Indian Ocean, known to sailors, attracting people to come to benefit and settle down until the original group somewhat retreated away. With the demand for tin ore various overseas Chinese people migrated and became laborers in the production process until it has become a city and society occupied by Hokkien Chinese people. Consequently, Chinese groups of people brought cultural traditions and rituals with their identity greatly expressed in the Chinese shrines, established their communities and passed on the beliefs to their Thai-Chinese descendants who greatly influenced subsequent generations. They developed and built additional shrines, continued traditions and the rituals that are common in the shrines today through the great making of Phuket as an imaginary area, showing such a Chinese identity that it has become a cultural capital of tourism well-known to the world over.