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Mae Salong, China of the North
by Benjamin Malcolm
There are precious few remnants of the conflict that gave
birth to the town of Mae Salong. Some can be found on the
walls of the Mae Salong Villa Restaurant - black and white
framed photographs. Neatly arranged in two rows, near a staircase
leading to the family quarters upstairs, are black and white
still-frame after still-frame of soldiers marching off to
battle; generals exhorting troops and Chinese warriors celebrating
their freedom.
It is the muffled and yet steady heartbeat of this small
town. Mae Salong is the biggest Chinese-Thai village of northern
Thailand, an expansive tea-growing community sprawled on a
ridgeline about an hour northeast of the main city of Chiang
Rai. As with all Chinese villages, it is perched on the border,
a mere mountain pass away from Myanmar; one of the old battlegrounds
where some of these photographs were taken.
Beyond these pictures collecting dust on the wall, there is
little obvious sign of this once turbulent history. Walking
along the main street that winds through town, one is instantly
transported to a Yunnanese village going about its daily business.
The sights and sounds are a mixture of cultures, with a heavy
leaning toward the Chinese. Myriad teashops offer free tastings
amid countless gold and red bags of Oolong and green tea,
radishes and cabbage. An occasional Chinese shirt dries in
the sun and Chinese lettering is neatly arrayed under Thai
script.
Tastings are in the traditional style served from ornate
carved tea stands and in tiny porcelain cups. The taster is
given two cups, fused temporarily together by the pressure
of the liquid. The long oblong teacup is lifted, splashing
the tea into the smaller cup, setting off a chain reaction
of aroma and creating a perfect cup of tea.
Mae Salong is also known for its fresh mushrooms and herbs
and many visitors,
Thai and foreign alike, depart with large amounts of these
delights. The village is renowned as a starting point for
treks and is next door to a number of hill tribe villages.
The villagers, especially the Akha tribe, travel in and out
of the town and there is a Muslim influence to be seen. The
daily call to prayer issues forth from the mosque directly
below the mountaintop Buddhist temple. A mix of culture is
not only seen in the people, but in the animal kingdom as
well. Both pack mules and horses are common in the area, a
rare sight for Thailand.
There are a number of comfortable places to stay for a night
or two in Mae Salong. The aforementioned Mae Salong Villa
stands out like a luxurious Chinese temple along the main
road into town and there are also resorts catering to an upscale
clientele.
The weather is almost always cooler up in the mountains and
there is a constant interplay of mist, fog and cloud with
bright sunshine during the cold season. Blankets and warmer
clothes are a necessity during the chilly nights in Mae Salong,
especially around the end of the year.
The history of these Chinese villages is a living, breathing
lesson in Southeast Asian history and speaks to the major
movement of populations over decades and of freedom hard fought
for - in this case freedom won from the People's Republic
of China. Like the rogue island of Taiwan, Mae Salong and
these other villages exist as a testament to the struggles
of the years just after World War II.
Many of the people are descendants of the Kuomintang (Chinese
Nationalist Party), which fled China in 1949, following the
Communist takeover. The KMT, specifically the 93rd regiment,
first travelled to Myanmar, fought for many years against
the Burmese army before finally moving into Thailand, in the
early 1960's. Isolated and helpless, these refugees built
up their second homeland on this foreign soil. The King of
Thailand offered the refugees assistance and pictures of his
visits to Mae Salong are given a prominent position by the
Villa's restaurant door.
Today, 40-odd refugee villages are found in Chiang Rai, Chiang
Mai and Mae Hong Son, bordering Burma and Laos. These villages
vary in population, ranging from several hundred people to
3,000. According to one estimate, Chinese refugees in Thailand
total about 60,000. Another famous Chinese village, in Mae
Hong Son, is known as Ban Rak Thai (literally the Thai-loving
village). Ban Rak Thai shares the mountain aspect of Mae Salong,
but surrounds a mountain reservoir and is smaller and quieter,
a hushed community wrapped in pine forest.
Mae Salong is the Chinese name for this biggest town and
is the most commonly used, but it has an official Thai name
- Santikhiri. This is just one of the myriad efforts to incorporate
the refugees into mainstream Thai society, along with Thai
language schools, and seems to have had mixed results. Many
people speak Thai, but there is no doubt about the cultural
influence, which is trumpeted loud and clear through symbols,
language and decoration. Looking east over the mountains from
town, one can see two giant, almost garish, Chinese teapot
sculptures; a recent addition to the landscape by a tea plantation
owner.
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There is much rumoured movement back and forth across the
border, although official figures are hard to come by and
are probably not known. The Shan United Army operates drug
factories in Myanmar and there are often stories in the newspaper
about methamphetamine pills being transited through certain
border villages. Khun Sa, the opium warlord, once called nearby
Ban Theuat Thai home.
This all lends a rogue image to Mae Salong, which seems oddly
incongruous with the impression one receives walking about
the streets and teashops. There are no guns to be seen. The
war, for the most part, seems over for the residents, who
go about their daily affairs, leaving that desperate time
and other historical events to collect on the wall incorporated
within the ubiquitous black and white photographs.
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