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The Samphanthawong Museum
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The Samphanthawong Museum on Tramit Road is located at the entrance to Yaowarat, Chinatown Bangkok. It's within the same compound as Wat Tramit where the Golden Buddha is housed.
These museums are a series of local museums preserving the history of the community in the surrounding district. In the case of Samphanthawong, it traces the history of the early Chinese immigrants to Bangkok and the growth of the Chinese community in Bangkok.
A series of pictures and text in Thai and English give the visitor an overview of the waves of immigrants from the early days. As with the rest of South East Asia, most of the immigrants were Fuchien, Cantonese or Tae Chew from Southern China fleeing the famine brought on by natural disasters.
Located near the Odean Gate that leads to Yaowarat Road, this museum is a good place to start your tour of Chinatown. The museum gives a quick review of the immigrants, their lives and contributions as traders and labourers in the Thai economy.
By the early 20th century, the Chinese in Thailand had reached
almost 30% of the population and controlled most of the trade
in the city. Yaowarat, Bangkok Chinatown today is a legacy of
these early immigrants.
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Y! MyWebTo visit this museum, please see map to the Samphanthawong Museum.
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Latest news
On a visit to the Samphanthawong Museum on 17 December 2006, I was shocked to find that the museum has been demolished! The entire site of the former museum has been completely leveled.
A guard at the site said that the museum has been relocated to Wat Samphanthawong nearby. However, nobody at Wat Samphanthawong knew anything about this.
We're checking with the Bangkok Tourism Division for more information on the museum. It's such a pity that this museum in Chinatown on the history of Chinese immigration to Thailand is now gone.
For the rest of Chinatown Bangkok.
