News Forum - Exploring the Chinese New Year traditions in Thailand

[Thaiger]

Chinese New Year, also known as Lunar New Year or Spring Festival, has been celebrated in Thailand for centuries by the country’s Chinese-Thai community. The festival typically takes place in January or February and is a time for families to come together, clean their homes, and decorate with red lanterns and other symbols of good …

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[Poolie]

Xin nian kuai le to everybody concerned.

[palooka]

  On 1/13/2023 at 10:07 AM, Poolie said:

Xin nian kuai le to everybody concerned.

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Happy New Year to you also.

In the new year try to bear with those that love and respect the Chinese culture.

We just cannot stand the politics of the CCP.

[Poolie]

Some cant, some are just anti-Chinese. Can't change a bigot, pointless trying but for those people : bei sai man!

[HolyCowCm]

Oh God. Chinese New Year and the onslaught of them coming here. Gung Hay Fat Choy. Only San Fracisco. Cantonese! Very old generations here, they are Americans. 

[cowslip]

Around 30% of the Thai population has Chinese ancestors who moved here in the 19th century. Many Thai families speak Chinese at home and almost every town has a Chinese temple and cemetery. So it's hardly a surprise to see the Chinese New Year celebrated here. In fact there are other Chinese festivals also that are celebrated.

On top of that there are many Chinese people working in industry and education in Thailand. I was privileged to share an office for 2 years with over a dozen Chinese professionals and frankly they were much more fun than my English colleagues. The Thai staff and Chinese staff were the life blood of the social life there.

As for the tourists, I don't see them as a problem either - I disapprove of the naivety of the groups who support wildlife abuse etc but it isn't the sole domain of Chinese tourists.

I remember someone talking about a hotel on Samui that was "full of Chinese" - the people I was working with politely pointed out that they were Korean.

I think most of the vitriol and aggression showed by westerners to the Chinese on holiday is not based on anything the Chinese it's just prejudice or bigotry on behalf of the Westerners themselves.

[Marc26]

  On 1/13/2023 at 5:23 PM, cowslip said:

Around 30% of the Thai population has Chinese ancestors who moved here in the 19th century. Many Thai families speak Chinese at home and almost every town has a Chinese temple and cemetery. So it's hardly a surprise to see the Chinese New Year celebrated here. In fact there are other Chinese festivals also that are celebrated.

On top of that there are many Chinese people working in industry and education in Thailand. I was privileged to share an office for 2 years with over a dozen Chinese professionals and frankly they were much more fun than my English colleagues. The Thai staff and Chinese staff were the life blood of the social life there.

As for the tourists, I don't see them as a problem either - I disapprove of the naivety of the groups who support wildlife abuse etc but it isn't the sole domain of Chinese tourists.

I remember someone talking about a hotel on Samui that was "full of Chinese" - the people I was working with politely pointed out that they were Korean.

I think most of the vitriol and aggression showed by westerners to the Chinese on holiday is not based on anything the Chinese it's just prejudice or bigotry on behalf of the Westerners themselves.

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I disagree 1000%

And it's not bigotry when you constantly have 1st hand experience with it

Now some can say that is part of their culture, in so many of the ignorant and rude things they do

But how much are we stressed that we should know and respect Asian culture when we travel to Asia

Well they need to respect how things are done outside China and a huge % of them don't 

We had a small Chinese embassy ofcoe in my office building for work

They literally caught kicked out of the building because how egregious the people coming to the building would act

I fly through Taiwan and Hong Konh a lot to Vancouver 

And they act like uncivilized menaces

I used to enjoy going to the horse track my whole life and I won't go in Vancouver 

It's filled with Chinese pushing into 

So many of them hacking up and spitting on the floor

Of course there are good mannered Chinese but so many are inconsiderate with nasty habits

Ask anyone who lives in Chiang Mai and had to deal with them doing all sorts of disgusting acts

Having those experiences isn't bigotry 

[Vigo]

  On 1/13/2023 at 12:20 PM, Poolie said:

Some cant, some are just anti-Chinese. Can't change a bigot, pointless trying but for those people : bei sai man!

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That's a generalization. "Chinese" is a big family and includes people we like such as Singapore, Malaysian, Hong Kong, and even Taiwan. And it is probable that we all grew up with a friend or more of Chinese ethnicity in Australia, Canada, USA, EU or UK. Please don't describe those who hold reasonable concern against mainland PRC Han thugs as a bias against anyone or  everyone of Chinese origin, because it just is not so. Some of us have our views of the mainland PRC because of the way it treats our friends and loved ones such as the bullying of Taiwan, the wholsesale theft of freedom from our Hong Kong heroes and the constant belittlement of Chinese ethnic westerners as if they are somehow less than human for embracing freedoms and liberties not allowed in mainland PRC.

[cowslip]

  On 1/13/2023 at 6:15 PM, Marc26 said:

it's not bigotry when you constantly have 1st hand experience with it

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sounds like that's exactly what it is......

[Marc26]

  On 1/13/2023 at 7:23 PM, cowslip said:

sounds like that's exactly what it is......

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Then the Chinese Govt are bigots 

Because they felt the need to put out a package telling their citizens to act civilized when traveling

https://www.theatlantic.com/china/archive/2013/10/chinese-government-publishes-guide-on-how-to-avoid-being-a-terrible-tourist/280332/

[cowslip]

  On 1/13/2023 at 10:26 PM, Marc26 said:

https://www.theatlantic.com/china/archive/2013/10/chinese-government-publishes-guide-on-how-to-avoid-being-a-terrible-tourist/280332/

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you seem to be moving the goalposts, perhaps you should look up the meaning of bigot?

Wouldn't it be nice if other governments like the UK set out guidelines for their own tourists.

[HiuMak]

That is the kind of Chinese tourist you get in Thailand. High quality Chinese go elsewhere.

[Marc26]

  On 1/13/2023 at 11:32 PM, cowslip said:

you seem to be moving the goalposts, perhaps you should look up the meaning of bigot?

Wouldn't it be nice if other governments like the UK set out guidelines for their own tourists.

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How is that moving the goal posts

People are called bigots because we have explained our experiences with Chinese and Chinese

And somehow pointing out their rude and disgusting behavior makes us bigots

When their own government is putting out packets telling them to act civilized

How many of these videos would you like me to post?

I could go all night......

https://youtu.be/wMVjskBB4w0

[HolyCowCm]

  On 1/13/2023 at 6:15 PM, Marc26 said:

I disagree 1000%

And it's not bigotry when you constantly have 1st hand experience with it

Now some can say that is part of their culture, in so many of the ignorant and rude things they do

But how much are we stressed that we should know and respect Asian culture when we travel to Asia

Well they need to respect how things are done outside China and a huge % of them don't 

We had a small Chinese embassy ofcoe in my office building for work

They literally caught kicked out of the building because how egregious the people coming to the building would act

I fly through Taiwan and Hong Konh a lot to Vancouver 

And they act like uncivilized menaces

I used to enjoy going to the horse track my whole life and I won't go in Vancouver 

It's filled with Chinese pushing into 

So many of them hacking up and spitting on the floor

Of course there are good mannered Chinese but so many are inconsiderate with nasty habits

Ask anyone who lives in Chiang Mai and had to deal with them doing all sorts of disgusting acts

Having those experiences isn't bigotry 

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Before they really came to Chiang Mai and Thailand (because I constantly travel here) I really did not care either way. Then they started to come after the movie Lost In Thailand and I still did not care so much until, after as then they realy came in masses and groups. The sheer huge numbers of the grotesque proliferation of their groups being literally everywhere in CM began to wear thin and that just kept on rising and never ending having these people in every corner and nook and gutter. Atrocious rude behavior, obnoxiously loud, pushy, que cutting and they overall plainly ruined the beauty of Chiang Mai for everyone. I have spoken to amn many of Thai who live here in CM and they just don't care for them or like them at all.

There are 2 things, behavior, but the one is the huge overkill numbers of come one come all of them and all is literally sickening. Sheer numbers of these people in groups large and small got way way way out of hand. Someone wants to argue the point that Thai have Chinese ancestry in them, well the fact of the matter is even these Thai do not like them and ancestry can only go so far as some heritage points and then the ball stops there. As I do travel in Thailand a lot it was no better in some other places from the sheer numbers of them. I could literally be blind, pick up a rock, throw it and 80% guarantee it would hit a Chinese tourist.

So besides the ugly grotesque obnoxoious loud rude behavior, this is compounded by the sheer numbers of them all. Rminds me of stories I read about them in huge numbers in the Korean war running one after the other in offenses against the US and allied forces. sort of no different how they are in CM except being tourists and not soliders, but not so different from being overrun. 

I do say yesterday while excercising there was that looked like a nice Chinese couple in their 30's walking where me and my wife exercise, but just wait and add 100 of them where we exercise and that place will be ruined. So yest there ares osme nice ones, but for CM they had their chance and they blew it making where they go ugly. Same thing happened in my home city in the Bay Area. the came in and bought a lot of homes and buildings and turned it upside down, but that is stupid USA for letting that happen same as Thailand. Nothing good comes from the Chinese, you let one in and then you have a million of them overunning the area nose picking, spitting, pushy and generally always way too overally loud. Gross!

[Poolie]

  On 1/14/2023 at 1:34 AM, Marc26 said:

How is that moving the goal posts

People are called bigots because we have explained our experiences with Chinese and Chinese

And somehow pointing out their rude and disgusting behavior makes us bigots

When their own government is putting out packets telling them to act civilized

How many of these videos would you like me to post?

I could go all night......

https://youtu.be/wMVjskBB4w0

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How many 'rude American' videos would you like me to post? There's plenty on every nation out there, Jesus H, have you seen the Brits in Spain? Most embassies post guidelines on how to behave on foreign soil.

As pointed out above most Yanks couldn't tell a Korean, Japanese, Thai, Vietnamese, Chinese apart being totally untravelled and experienced. This where the bigotry surfaces. China bad - because the media tells us so.

[Marble-eye]

  On 1/14/2023 at 7:43 AM, Poolie said:

As pointed out above most Yanks couldn't tell a Korean, Japanese, Thai, Vietnamese, Chinese apart being totally untravelled and experienced. This where the bigotry surfaces. China bad - because the media tells us so.

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Yes but the Koreans, Japanese, Thai, Vietnamese also think that the Chinese are rude. Even the Chinese Government think that their citizens are rude, it's a done deal. 

The Chinese government has recognized this problem themselves. In a bold move to crack down on rude China tourists, the officials have begun adding the names of the above offenders to a new blacklist which may affect their freedom to travel. 

https://www.jeraldinephneah.com/5-reasons-why-chinese-tourists-are-so-rude/

[HolyCowCm]

  On 1/14/2023 at 7:58 AM, Marble-eye said:

Yes but the Koreans, Japanese, Thai, Vietnamese also think that the Chinese are rude. Even the Chinese Government think that their citizens are rude, it's a done deal. 

The Chinese government has recognized this problem themselves. In a bold move to crack down on rude China tourists, the officials have begun adding the names of the above offenders to a new blacklist which may affect their freedom to travel. 

https://www.jeraldinephneah.com/5-reasons-why-chinese-tourists-are-so-rude/

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CCP calling their own people rude is like them calling the kettle black. CCP most hated liars intruding where they should not go as it not theirs and taking it calling it theirs, and then always saying they are misunderstood. The people just take the cake on rude travellors, but the icing on that cake are the sheer numbers of them that inundate and saturate areas. You will never just find one, just the contrary being hundreds to thousands.

[cowslip]

  On 1/14/2023 at 1:34 AM, Marc26 said:

could go all night......

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I bet you could!

[Rookiescot]

  On 1/13/2023 at 12:20 PM, Poolie said:

Some cant, some are just anti-Chinese. Can't change a bigot, pointless trying but for those people : bei sai man!

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Now I can admit there are highly offensive tourists from my own country you simply cannot admit there are any from yours.

So who is the bigot?

[Faraday]

                   *A baiting comment has been removed.*

                                      Moderator

[Poolie]

  On 1/14/2023 at 7:58 AM, Marble-eye said:

Yes but the Koreans, Japanese, Thai, Vietnamese also think that the Chinese are rude. Even the Chinese Government think that their citizens are rude, it's a done deal. 

The Chinese government has recognized this problem themselves. In a bold move to crack down on rude China tourists, the officials have begun adding the names of the above offenders to a new blacklist which may affect their freedom to travel. 

https://www.jeraldinephneah.com/5-reasons-why-chinese-tourists-are-so-rude/

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I'm afraid one woman's opinion doesn't carry the day. Every, that's EVERY nation has a minority of travellers we all wish would stay at home. Remember that we're all in someone elses backyard and quite frankly I cringe sometimes when expats start on their 'what they should do here.................' No, pipe down and be thankful you're allowed here. You dont add a thing.

[Marble-eye]

  On 1/14/2023 at 2:59 PM, Poolie said:

I'm afraid one woman's opinion doesn't carry the day. Every, that's EVERY nation has a minority of travellers we all wish would stay at home. Remember that we're all in someone elses backyard and quite frankly I cringe sometimes when expats start on their 'what they should do here.................' No, pipe down and be thankful you're allowed here. You dont add a thing.

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But poolie my dear comrade, it is not just one woman's opinion, it is the Chinese Governments opinion too (did you miss that bit), just Google 'why are the Chinese so rude' and you will be presented with a plethora of information on why the Chinese are very rude, it is inbuilt into their culture, probably not their fault, but the rest of us have to put up with their arrogant behaviour.

And as for you saying that I don't add a thing, I add truth whilst you add disruption.

[Marc26]

  On 1/14/2023 at 7:43 AM, Poolie said:

How many 'rude American' videos would you like me to post? There's plenty on every nation out there, Jesus H, have you seen the Brits in Spain? Most embassies post guidelines on how to behave on foreign soil.

As pointed out above most Yanks couldn't tell a Korean, Japanese, Thai, Vietnamese, Chinese apart being totally untravelled and experienced. This where the bigotry surfaces. China bad - because the media tells us so.

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You guys keep saying "the media told us" when there are numerous people on here pointing out their many 1st hand experiences

I am from Boston but live on the West Coast

I used to look forward to going to sporting events when a Boston team played out here in Seattle or Los Angeles

But I stopped going because most of the Boston fans that go to away games are low class

You can put out bad behavior that you experience, especially when it happens on a very consistent basis

[Marc26]

  On 1/14/2023 at 12:43 PM, Rookiescot said:

Now I can admit there are highly offensive tourists from my own country you simply cannot admit there are any from yours.

So who is the bigot?

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There are rude tourists from every country

But not in the sheer numbers and not invading personal space and doing disgusting acts like spitting like the Chinese

[Faraday]

                        Foreign language post removed.

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                        Moderator