The Social Reflect Of Thai Literature On The Overseas Chinese In Thailand

There are a lot of Chinese people who live in Thailand, consequently the role of Chinese people will relate to daily life of Thai people. According to the studies in the history, it is found that Chinese people play big roles in Thailand, since the Sukhothai period, in many ways including economically, socially and the living and lifestyle of Thai people.Additionally, since the Thai and Chinese people are mutually related in both economically and socially, and afterwards, it is followed by the exchange cultures and literatures. The obvious initiative was introduced by King Rama I, by translating the Chinese literature "Romance of the Three Kingdoms". It became well-known and famous among readers. Therefore, there were an increasing number of Chinese literatures translated to Thai language.Until the year1957, Chinese literature was becoming famous again after political incidence in which affected in the obstruction of literature to the people in a certain period of time. In this era, the famous category of literature is the Wuxia Novel, in which the story is based on the anecdotes and is focused on the conflict of people’s mind, divided by the good and the bad. Thai Novel industry was also affected by these Wuxia novel fiction, in which mostly focused on proverbs and aphorism, that subsequently being widely used.Thereafter, new type of novel was introduced which is the type that reflects the society of Chinese people in Thailand and the authors are Thai and the novels are written in Thai. Main character in the story is the Chinese who immigrates to Thailand. The first novel that was written using this plot is "Letter from Thailand" and the author is "Botan". It was first published in the year1968-1969. The content gives the expression of life and perspective of one Chinese man who immigrates and remains in Thailand. This type of novel gained a great deal of popularity because the content is new. The author wrote very realistically. Later, there were many authors who also wrote in this familiar content in which each story all have their main characters as the oversea Chinese who immigrates to Thailand with an empty-handed. However, each story presents different perspectives to readers. Regarding this Thesis, I took3works of this type of literature to analyze, which are:1. Letter from Thailand Author "Bothun" First published in1968-19692. With the Grandpa Author "Yok Burapha" First published in19763. Dragon Spirit Author "Prapatsorn Saewikul" First published in1990All of these three novels are Thai novels that reflect the society of Chinese people in Thailand and have acquired a Literary Award from The National Book Development Board.The content that I choose to analyze in this thesis will refer to the analysis of content structure, aspects of society and culture of the overseas Chinese in Thailand including the mutual perspectives between Thai and Chinese people that are presented in the works of these novels.It is interesting to point out that the lifestyle, beliefs and perspectives of the overseas Chinese in the former time has become a model for today’s generation. Many traditions that are mentioned in the novels can still be found in real life nowadays. In the meantime, many beliefs also vanish as the time gone by.I hope that the studies of the thesis will give valuable benefits to those who are interested in Chinese-Thai literature, including history, influence, and reflect of the society and cultures exchange along with the literary value that Thai society gained.