A Study On Pun Tao Kong Worship Among Overseas Chinese And Chinese Thai In Thailand

Chinese divinity worship arrived, along with overseas Chinese in Thailand. Up to now, this home custom has become part of their life as well as Thailand culture. Overseas Chinese in Thailand believe in a wide range of gods, among them, Pun Tao Kong being their common worship. As a result, widespread Pun Tao Kong temples emerged an extension from this worship in Thailand.Pun Tao Kong worship is ancestrally native to overseas Chinese of Chaoshan area. It is also equally worshipped among other groups of Chinese such as Fujian,Hainan. The author discovered, after field trips to China’s southeast coastal areas,that there was no sign of any association with Pun Tao Kong worship.Nevertheless,it remains one of the most popular beliefs in the overseas Chinese community in Thailand. Questions concerning the nature and origin of Pun Tao Kong worship are one of the key issues in the study of overseas Chinese,but so far there is no scholarly agreement.On the basis of relevant literature records and the information obtained in the field investigation of a number of Pun Tao Kong temples in some parts of Thailand,the author makes a comprehensive observation and exploration,and concludes that Pun Tao Kong worship is based on the deeply rooted belief system in the southeast coastal area of China,and that it has taken root and flourished in Thailand.Later,Pun Tao Kong is becoming an indigenous part of Thailand,with a distinctive godly nature.In addition to this,the author also covers comprehensive aspects of the worship, in the hope that through this paper more people can know about this worship so closely attached to Chinese Thai and overseas Thai in Thailand.To provide a basic description, this dissertation also explored the development of Pun Tao Kong worship in Thailand, and analysed the function, characteristics of Pun Tao Kong statues and the rituals, the organization and management of Pun Tao Kong temples, the festival and relief activities arranged by the temples, as well as the architecture and its artistic features.This paper combines literature and investigation data, and describes the basics of Pun Tao Kong worship in Thailand, in the hope that readers have a better understanding about it.