Thailand is located in the Indochina Peninsula. It is neighbors with Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia and other countries. On some occasions, it can also be called the Kingdom of Thailand, because this country still has a king and is a constitutional monarchy country.
Map of Thailand
Thailand is currently in the Bangkok dynasty. The king is Rama X , the Thai name is Maha Vajiralongkorn, and the Chinese name is Zheng Mian. His father Rama IX is called Zheng Gu in Chinese, and his uncle Rama VIII is called Zheng Xi in Chinese.
Looking back, Rama I, the founding king of the Bangkok dynasty, also has a Chinese name- 郑华 .
Rama X
The king of Thailand is not a descendant of Chinese descent, but why did the kings of all dynasties take the Chinese name of Zheng? What kind of secret is there? This starts with Zheng Xin , the founder of the Thonburi dynasty .
1. The road to the rise of the Chinese emperor
In the 18th century, the Qing Dynasty no longer levied population taxes and introduced high-yield crops, which led to explosive population growth. As the population increased, the land that could be planted was not enough, so some people started doing business.
At that time, the southern coastal residents liked to go to Southeast Asia to do business. Zheng Xin's father, Zheng Yong, found business opportunities, and immigrated to Siam (the old name of Thailand) and began to discover the first pot of gold.
With his flexible mind and his own diligence, Zheng Yong eventually became a tycoon of the rich side. He also married a local aristocratic woman and gave birth to a son, named Zheng Xin.
Portrait of Zheng Xin
Although Siam is a Buddhist country,But also influenced by East Asian Confucian culture , merchants have no status in Siam. Zheng Yong first made the king trust him and granted him the title, and then became friends with the Chancellor of the Exchequer Chao Phraya Chokri, and finally let his son Zheng Xin recognize Chao Phraya Chokri as a foster father.
Through a series of operations, his son Zheng Xin finally had a better way out than a businessman. Soon after, Zheng Yong died.
Because of Zheng Xinchang's handsomeness, it happened that the Chancellor of the Exchequer Chao Phraya Chakri had no children under his knees, so Zheng Xin was very fond of Chao Phraya Chakri. After being adopted as a righteous son, Zheng Xin entered the temple to study with the children of the nobles. He mastered many languages such as Chinese, Burmese, , Vietnamese, etc., and Zheng Xin was diligent and studious. He was not only highly literary, but also proficient in military affairs. His knowledge is an outstanding young man with both civil and military skills.
Ruins of Ayutthaya City
With the help of the powerful official and foster father, Zheng Xin successfully entered the palace as the guard of the imperial court. Zheng Xin, who is a civil servant, also asked King Wu Longge to take care of him at a young age. He went to serve in Dafu, the trade center, and was awarded the title of "Phaya" shortly thereafter, and he was promoted to the military and political officer of Dacheng.
At the end of 1765, Siam was invaded by the powerful enemy Burma in the west. The new King of Siam, Ajada, blocked the enemy and the Burmese army encircled the capital city of Ayutthaya.
Zheng Xin can only lead his army back to the capital to rescue him. But the Siamese court at that time was chaotic, and treacherous officials were in power. The little people kept complaining to the king Zheng Xin for not observing orders or being rebellious, resulting in Agada no longer trusting Zheng Xin.
Myanmar vs. Siam
In early 1767, the King of Siam personally led six teams to fight in a decisive battle, hoping to complete the effort to drive the Burmese army out of Siam. Unexpectedly, he was defeated and fled into the city embarrassedly. After Zheng Xin was cut off because of his lack of trust, when he ran under the city wall, the general guarding the city closed the gate tightly.
So far, Zheng Xin was completely disappointed with the court, and could only retreat south with the remaining 500 soldiers. Along the way, he used his superb military ability to defeat Burmese pursuers several times and seized countless guns and ammunition.
Several victories have greatly boosted Zheng Xin’s reputation.Along the way, civilians and officials continued to join his team, and the army quickly grew. When it arrived in Rayong City in the south, the number had already reached tens of thousands.
Then Zheng Xin settled the city of Rayong, Chanthaburi, and Trat, and took the rich southeast coastal areas of Siam. While consolidating the base area, Zheng Xin contacted all forces to prepare for the Northern Expedition.
Zheng Xin’s southeast base area
And the atrocities committed by the Burmese army in Siam have aroused dissatisfaction among the people. All classes support Zheng Xin, and at the same time, Burma has also angered the Qing Dynasty. The main force can only respond to it. Qing army. Everything was ready, and in October 1767, Zheng Xin commanded the Northern Expedition.
The left-behind Burmese army was defeated by the revengeful Zheng Xin's subordinates. After two months, Zheng Xin successfully recovered the capital. After the restoration of Acheng, Zheng Xin took in the nobles and officials of the previous dynasty, and buried the prince according to the monarch’s etiquette and distributed them to the public. Money and food have gathered people's hearts.
On December 28, 1767, Zheng Xin ascended the throne as King of Siam with the support of all walks of life. Because the former capital, Acheng, was completely destroyed in the war, the capital was moved to Thonburi City in the south, known as the Thonburi Dynasty in history.
Thonburi's prosperous map
After the war, Siam was divided into large and small separatist forces. Zheng Xin fought a three-year unification war to unify Siam.
In November 1770, Siam was unified again in the hands of Zheng Xin, a descendant of Chinese descent.
2. The Siamese version of the "candle shadow and axe sound"
The Zheng family only managed two generations in Siam. Although they were kings, their family heritage was not as good as Siam’s veteran nobles. The Siamese nobles were only Under the force of Zheng Xin, he felt that the Zheng family was still a foreigner.
In order to consolidate the political power, Zheng Xin’s first choice was to seek help from his home country. He expressed several times that he wanted Emperor Qianlong to canonize him as King of Siam, so that he could obtain legal power and sit securely on this dragon chair. .
Emperor Cheng Xin printed on Thai coins
Emperor Qianlong expressed disgust at first,Zheng Xin could only persevere in paying tribute to the Qing Dynasty. Gradually, the name of Zheng Xin in Qing Dynasty documents changed from overseas barbarians to "Zheng Zhao", which was tantamount to acknowledging Zheng Xin's rule over Siam.
Under the leadership of Zheng Xin, Siam beat Myanmar, kicked Cambodia and Vietnam. After experiencing foreign wars, Siam once again gained the status of supremacy in Central and South China.
Success is a war, and failure is a war. Zheng Xin relied on force to win the throne of Siam, but in the end he also tied himself to a chariot. The continuous foreign wars dragged down Siam, the labor force was forced to join the army, the society was in a state of tension, and more and more reliance on military aristocrats weakened the power of the central government.
Rama I
In 1780, with the support of Annan, Cambodia launched a coup d'etat, abolished the king supported by Zheng Xin, and looted the cargo ships of Siam and Daqing. Zheng Xin was furious and decided to send troops to conquer the disobedient Cambodia.
The army on the expedition is commanded by the elder son, and the good brother Tongluan Chakri is the lieutenant. When Cambodia saw Siam's arrival this time aggressively, he immediately went to Annan for help, and Nguyen Yourui of Annan led his troops to come. What Zheng Xin never expected was that the deputy general Tongluan Chakri privately sent an envoy to negotiate with Ruan Yourui and form foreign aid.
It turns out that when Zheng Xin rebelled, many old aristocrats did not sincerely take refuge in him, and held a biased attitude towards his Chinese ancestry. The aristocrats were more inclined to Tongluan Chokri.
Siamese nobles
After Tongluan and Annan formed an alliance, they let the Annan army encircle Wang Shizi, and returned to the capital by water, and fought fiercely with the defenders. Zheng Xin couldn't bear to kill himself, so he agreed to the rebels' request that he be a monk. After the rebels entered the city, all officials loyal to Zheng Xin were executed.
On April 7, 1782, Zheng Xin and Tongluan met. Tongluan was a good brother of Zheng Xin's uprising, and also Zheng Xin's son-in-law. The king who had abdicated as a monk according to Siamese practice could be exempted from death, but Tongluan killed Zheng Xin, according to the Siamese tradition of executing kings. Put Zheng Xin into a sack and beat him to death with a sandalwood stick.
Then, Tongluan was crowned,Became the King of Siam, known as "Rama I", moved the capital from Thonburi to Bangkok on the other side of the Chao Phraya River, and was known as the Bangkok dynasty in history.
Bangkok
The reason why the successive kings of the Bangkok dynasty have the Chinese name of Zheng, we can get a glimpse from the book of Siam.
"Unfortunately, the little country is blessed, and his father died on February 23, Qianlong 47th year. He died of illness. At the end of his life, he asked China to be cautious and not reform the old system. Follow."
——Thailand credential in the Qing History Archives of the Forbidden City in Beijing
King Rama I claimed to be Zheng Xin’s son in his credential, called Zheng Hua. This is easy to understand. As Zheng Xin’s general, Rama I certainly knew the benefits of friendship with the Qing Dynasty. He also saw the difficulty Zheng Xin had in order to obtain the canonization of Qing emperor, so he could only pretend to be Zheng Xin’s son. So that the Tianchao will recognize him as soon as possible.
Since then, the successive kings of Siam have continued the tradition of surnamed Zheng in the submission of the Qing Dynasty credential, and have their own Chinese names.
3. Right and wrong turn around
Zheng Xin was treated unfairly after his death, and some truths were maliciously tampered with. For a long time, the Siamese government did not allow the people to discuss the cause of Zheng Xin's death. .
But heroes live in the hearts of the people. Zheng Xin expelled Burma and unified Siam, and he would naturally be admired by the Siamese people. I don’t know when, the Wat Arun appeared in Thonburi area, and the people spontaneously went to worship this hero who restored Siam’s independence.
Wat Arun
Although the Thonburi dynasty only existed for just 15 years, it was an important turning point in Thailand's history. Without the great unification of the Thonburi dynasty, Thailand will be ruled by Burma for a long time. Zheng Xin was born in a Chinese family and united the Chinese and Thai talents to drive away the Burmese invaders. The affirmation of Zheng Xin is the affirmation of the role of overseas Chinese in Thailand.
Regarding whether or not Rama I took the throne through a court coup, there is no need to pay special attention to it. In feudal society, it is commonplace to replace the throne through bloodshed. Today's people should not judge them by the standard of who is orthodox, mainly to see whether he makes contributions to the country and the people.
The coup launched by King Rama VII
In 1932, Siam under the rule of King Rama VII had a coup and established a constitutional monarchy system.
In 1939, Siam was renamed Thailand.
In the 1960s, Thailand officially erected a monument to Zheng Xin, praising him for restoring Thailand's independence and freedom.
Now that the King of Thailand is the tenth generation, people can't help but think of a curse. It is rumored that Zheng Xin once shouted "The one who took my throne will die for tenth." The situation in recent years is not optimistic.
Conflict between the Thai people and the army
King Rama IX worked hard when he was reigning, but his son King Rama X was suave, and there were more than 20 concubines in Germany, breaking the rule of 1935. The monogamous system of the country. Regardless of the royal family's government affairs, the two princesses took care of him completely, and the Thai people also opposed the king's behavior.
Famous scenes of King Rama X's visit to foreign countries
Many of King Rama X's children were expelled from Thailand because of his mother and concubine. Only the prince of Tibanggong who suffered from learning disabilities was left in the palace. Tibanggong was raised in a deep palace. Because of his mother's death, he was mentally damaged. He quarreled with others at the funeral of King Rama IX, and on many occasions showed imperial courtesy.
The little prince did not have his mother's discipline, and his father blindly spoiled him. The Thai people and even some large families doubted whether he could bear the responsibility. As for whether Emperor Zheng’s curse will work, it depends on how the Thai royal family makes a decision. More importantly, whether the king can win the hearts of the people like the ancestors. This is the key to whether the royal family can continue.
Prince Tibanggong
No matter how many winds and rains the Thai royal family goes through,Having a Chinese name has never changed. The funny thing is that it was just to deceive the emperor of the Qing dynasty, and it has become a tradition.
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