Annually, around 10 million Chinese tourists, constituting almost a quarter of Thailand's total foreign visitors (before COVID-19), have started to make a strong imprint on Thailand's tourist landscape. At the same time, a new wave of Chinese migrants to Thailand are seeking business and work opportunities. This paper focuses on these new encounters between local Thais and the incoming mainland Chinese in terms of how cultural boundaries are created, contested and renegotiated, specifically within the context of Thailand's long history of Chinese migration, which dates back several generations. The paper investigates the phenomenon of ‘re-Sinicization’ in Thailand, and its contested nature within the broader Thai political and cultural milieu. It draws upon recent controversies regarding online battles between Thai and Chinese netizens to argue that the controversies are indicative of the unease from the increasing Chinese presence within Thai society and the increasing embroilment of Thailand within the political contestation of the wider Sinosphere. © 2022 Department of Geography, National University of Singapore and John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.
Re-encountering the familiar other: Contesting ‘re-Sinicization’ in Thailand