Rama III and the Chinese Taste: The Origins of the Sino-Thai Style in Bangkok
Under the reign of Rama III, commonly placed between 1824 and 1851, several of Bangkok's royal temples were clad in ceramics and filled with stone…
Understand 12 min read
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'Thainess': the history of a national identity constructed, imposed and contested
In official speeches, at school and in public debate, *khwam pen thai*, 'Thainess', literally 'the fact of being Thai', is taken as self-evident. Yet…
Understand 14 min read
Kudi Chin, on the Thonburi bank: the descendants of the Portuguese and the memory of a plural neighbourhood
On the west bank of the Chao Phraya River, facing old Bangkok, the neighbourhood of Kudi Chin brings together a Catholic church, a Buddhist temple, a…
Understand 13 min read
Thailand's Festivals and Celebrations: The Year's Calendar, Month by Month
In Thailand, the year is not divided into months alone. It also follows the moon, the rice harvest, the rainy season and the rhythm of the…
Discover 26 min read
Yaowarat, from Sampheng market to the ‘dragon road’: how Bangkok’s Chinatown took shape
Some one and a half kilometres long, Yaowarat Road has become the emblem of Bangkok’s Chinatown, with its shop signs, its gold shops and its…
Understand 13 min read
Patpong, between spy legends, the Vietnam War and nightlife: what do we really know?
In 1946, a family of Hainanese origin bought an outlying plot of land between Silom and Surawong. Within a few decades, Patpong had become Bangkok's…
Understand 9 min read