BANGKOK — Sujit Wongthes, founder of Silpa Wattanatham magazine, argues in Matichon Weekly that ancient China had no people who called themselves Thai. According to Sujit, what existed were communities speaking Tai-Kadai (Tai-Tai) languages, which Chinese chroniclers referred to derogatorily as Yue or Baiyue, meaning “barbarian tribes.”
“These Tai-Kadai groups identified themselves by various tribal names such as Zhuang, Li, and Lue,” Sujit writes, “but never as Thai. Later, some Thai historians and scholars in the 19th–20th centuries mistakenly labeled these groups as ‘Thai,’ even though there is no evidence they called themselves that.”
Thai origins lie in the Chao Phraya basin
According to Sujit, Thai people did not originate in China. Their original homeland was the Chao Phraya River basin, supported by historical, archaeological, and anthropological evidence.
- Thai people came from the Siamese of the Chao Phraya basin, a mix of several indigenous ethnic groups. They used Thai as a common language and only began calling themselves Thai after adopting Theravada Buddhism (Lanka tradition) around 1200 CE.
- Outside the Chao Phraya basin, no communities called themselves Thai:
- North of Uttaradit: Lao Lanna
- Northeast of Saraburi: Khmer along the Mun River and Lao along the Chi and Mekong rivers
- South of Phetchaburi: Malay or foreign peoples
It was only in 1939 CE that these regions were unified as Thailand, and people of various ethnicities were officially labeled Thai.
- The 2015 edition of Thai National History, under a military government, states:
“The Thai people in today’s Thailand may have migrated in large waves into this region around the 12th century CE.”
Sujit notes that evidence shows no large-scale migration, only gradual movements along trade routes. Thai became a lingua franca for commerce, and its spread did not require mass migration.
By 1200 CE, Theravada Buddhism, Pali-Sanskrit culture, and the Ramakien epic had already shaped the Chao Phraya Siamese, who then began identifying as Thai.
The “Thai from China” theory
Sujit explains that Western scholars and colonialists were the first to suggest that Thai people originated in China. Later, Thai intellectuals and elites accepted these ideas, giving rise to the Altai–Nan Chao narrative, which appears in the work of Khun Wichitmatra, a historian and bureaucrat.
William Clifton Dodd, an American missionary in northern Thailand, Burma, and China, argued in The Tai Race: The Elder Brother of the Chinese (1928 CE) that Thai people descended from the Mongoloid Altai region, predating both the Hebrews and Chinese. He claimed they were original inhabitants of China over 2,200 years ago and migrated south to Indochina over centuries.
Khun Wichitmatra later adapted Dodd’s ideas in his book Lak Thai, which won royal recognition in 1928 CE. He traced the Thai origin to the Altai mountains, the creation of kingdoms in southern China, migration south to Yunnan, and the formation of Nan Chao and Yonok kingdoms in present-day northern Thailand.
Altai–Nan Chao migration according to Lak Thai
According to the narrative in Lak Thai: Thai ancestors initially settled between the Yellow and Yangtze rivers, forming the Ai Lao kingdoms with capitals such as Nakhon Lung, Nakhon Pa, and Nakhon Ngeow.
Around 243 BCE, Chinese invasions reportedly pushed these groups south, establishing the Nan Chao kingdom in Yunnan by 557 CE. Under King Pilogo, Nan Chao expanded into northern Thailand, including Sipsong Chutai and Luang Prabang, and founded the Yonok kingdom in Suvarnabhumi, once home to Lawa, Khmer, and Mon peoples.
By 757 CE, Chinese chronicles record Nan Chao splitting into multiple regions: Kosampi (Saenwi), Julani (Tangke), Paisali/Manipur (Assam), and Yonok Chiang Saen. In 1235 CE, Kublai Khan’s forces destroyed Nan Chao. Thai people from Nan Chao migrated south, merging with earlier inhabitants of Suvarnabhumi (Lak Thai, 1928 CE).
Problems with the Altai theory
Even high-level Thai historians, such as Prince Damrong Rachanuparb, raised doubts about the Altai hypothesis. While the Ministry of Education removed the Altai origin theory from school textbooks in B.E. 2521, many books continued to include it. The idea persisted in public consciousness for generations and influenced subsequent historical writings, including works by Prince Chulchakkrapong (B.E. 2502).
Sujit concludes in Matichon Weekly that Thai identity is firmly rooted in the Chao Phraya river basin, shaped by Theravada Buddhism, Pali culture, and regional trade networks—not ancient China.
