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Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on
“Business Management and Social Sciences: Toward
ASEAN Integration 2015”
International College, Khon Kaen University
Khon Kaen, Thailand
5th
-6th
November 2015, Pullman Khon Kaen Raja Orchid
Editors
La-orsri Sanoamuang
International College, Khon Kaen University, Thailand; and
Nobuhiro Tanaka
Graduate School of International Cooperate Studies, Faculty of Social Science, Kyorin
University, Japan
First Published in 2015.
Table of Contents
1. About these Conference proceedings
2. Editorial board
3. Acknowledgements
4. Peer-reviewed KKUIC 2015 Conference papers
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1. About these Conference proceedings
The 1st International Conferences on “Business Management and Social Sciences: Toward
ASEAN Integration 2015" was hosted by Khon Kaen University International College
through a strong partnership with Prince of Songkla University and Naresuan University. In
this, the main purpose of the conference is to bring together the upcoming and established
international researchers including students, professionals, managers, decision makers,
industry personnel and stakeholders operating within various areas of businesses and social
sciences, providing a stage to present, discuss and share their works to international
audiences.
In order to make the information and ideas presented at the conference promptly and widely
available, participants in the conference were invited to submit written papers based on their
presentations for inclusion in refereed conference proceedings to be published on the web.
Each paper submitted for consideration was peer-reviewed according to the requirements of
the Khon Kaen University International College Conference Committee. That is, each paper
submitted was sent to two scholars who were asked to provide a scholarly judgment on the
paper's suitability for publication. Owing to the fact that published conference papers should
be a direct reflection of the presentation and subsequent discussion at the conference, papers
were either accepted or rejected in the form in which they were submitted; there was no
process of revision in response to comments by the referees. In cases of conflicting or
ambiguous referees' reports, the paper was referred to a further referee and the editor made
the final judgment on suitability for publication.
The editors of the Conference proceedings would like to especially thank the following
sponsors for their support: Khon Kaen University, Prince of Songkla University, Naresuan
University, AIA Insurance, Siam Commercial Bank, Government Savings Bank, Panasonic,
Lake Nakara, SCG and Songsamai Suits.
2. Editorial Board
Papers presented in this volume have been accepted for publication by an editorial board. We
are very grateful to the following academics who acted as referees for the KKUIC 2015
Conference papers:
Prof. Dr. Nobuhiro Tanaka (Kyorin University, Japan)
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Yuri Kimura (Kyorin University, Japan)
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Prof. Dr. Thomas Diefenbach (Ritsumeikan Asi Pacific University, Japan)
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Surachet Kanprachar (Naresuan University International College, Thailand)
Asst. Prof. Dr. Sontaya Anakasiri (Faculty of International Studies, Prince of Songkla
University, Thailand)
Prof. Dr. La-orsri Sanoamuang (Khon Kaen University International College, Thailand)
Asst. Prof. Kwankate Kanistanon (Khon Kaen University International College, Thailand)
Dr. Michael Hudson (Khon Kaen University International College, Thailand)
Dr. Harit Intakanok (Khon Kaen University International College, Thailand)
Dr. Timothy Colin Hawes (Khon Kaen University International College, Thailand)
3. Acknowledgments
The editors would like to thank many anonymous scholars who responded promptly and
efficiently to his/her request to referee papers for these proceedings, and to thank his/her
fellow members of the editorial board for their support.
4. Peer-reviewed KKUIC 2015 Conference papers
Responsibility for the content of each paper lies with its author(s). The author(s) also retain
copyright over the text. Papers appear on the Conference proceedings website by permission
of the authors. Any paper may be downloaded for fair use under the Copyright of the Khon
Kaen University International College.
Access to the papers on the web is free of charge: http://www.ic.kku.ac.th/confer/
Quick link to the conference website: http://www.ic.kku.ac.th/confer/
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Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on
“Business Management and Social Sciences: Toward
ASEAN Integration 2015”
Chinese Social Media for Thai Tourism
Demographic change, Old Age Allowance and Fiscal Sustainability
Identity of the Fujian Chinese tradition in Phuket through the Chinese God Worship
Day
Impact of “The Belt and Road Initiative” on ASEAN Integration: From a Perspective
of Structural Realism
Spirit Mediumship and Performance Approach: Dramatism of Human Behavior in the
Theatrical World
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Chinese Social Media for Thai Tourism
Dr. Chaiyapon Tundhiphurinidtr1,a)
and Mr. Thanachai Wang2,b)
1Lecturer, Faculty of International Studies, Chinese
80 Moo 1 Vichitsongkram Road, Kathu subsidtrict, Kathu district, Phuket 83120
Tel: +6676.276.6223 Mobile No. +6681.936.5454
2M.A. student in Chinese studies, Faculty of International Studies,
Prince of Songkla University, Phuket Campus
Mobile No +6683 031 8576
a) E-mail: [email protected] or [email protected]
b) Email: [email protected]
ABSTRACT This paper is about Chinese Social media in Thai tourism. Chinese tourist is biggest market share of
Thailand. It is absolutely must be studied both Chinese tourist data and their behavior. From my research, I found
out some of the factors that attracted more Chinese tourists in Thailand. Firstly, since Chinese economy and rapid
technological development grew up. Social media has used a lot in term of tourism marketing, it provides both in
mobile and desktop platforms. There were many benefits for both Chinese entrepreneurs and tourists. For instance,
“Wechat”, “Tudou”, “Taobao”, “Mafengwo” etc. Moreover, the factors led to Chinese tourist behavior in term of
form. In the past, they usually travelled in Group Inclusive Tourist (GIT) but it now changed to Foreign Individual
Tourist (FIT). Finally, social media platforms are extremely important for both Thai and Chinese tourism so Thai
tourism has to pay more attention to Chinese social media in order to attract more Chinese tourists and enhance its
quality.
Keyword: Chinese tourist, Chinese social media
INTRODUCTION
Thai Tourism Authority plan is to drive the tourism industry with the major trade partners
like China because there are a large amount of Chinese tourists travel to Thailand every year
and it seems to be increasing every years. With higher purchasing power, it brought huge
revenue to Thai tourism industry, the main industry that boots Thai economic today.
However, because Chinese tourist’s behavior has changed, we can see more tourists
travelling individual or lesser in group. Therefore it is important for to study about the reason
and how Chinese tourist travelling behavior changed.
At present, the Internet is a part of our life especially in China. There are a massive
Chinese using Social media now. It plays an important role for Chinese tourist plan their trips
such as book tickets, where to go, what to eat.
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Tourism
Tourism is to travel from normal place to somewhere temporarily with their own purpose
but it is not to earn money or career. Tourism is related to host and guest. It could be
domestic or International tourist. It is a source of income for people who live in that country.
Tourist
There might be categorized the tourist by country or in form of amount people
Foreign tourist is who temporarily lived in the country where is not theirs usually more
than 24 hours or stay overnight. Tourist with travel by all of transportation even travel by
boat along the water.
Domestic tourist is who travel within their own country. The route is not used on a daily
basis or outside their province1
Group Inclusive Tourist: (GIT) is tourist who more than five persons, they follow a travel
program that arranged by tour operator.
Free independent Tourist: (FIT) is tourist who usually fewer than five persons. They take
tour by their own choice, avoid large amount of other tourists and packaged from tour
operators.
Chinese tourist situation in Thailand
At the present, when we go to somewhere in Thailand, you will see all over Chinese
tourists. First of all, it is significant to know all about Thai tourism situation and focus on
Chinese tourist in term of their behavior or how they travel. According to the China National
Tourism Administration, there are Ninety-Seven million Chinese traveled abroad in 2013.
Furthermore, the number will be able to increase surely.
An estimated the number of tourist arrivals in Thailand, there were about 24,809,683
people in 2014, by the end of 2013, there were 26,546725 people. From 2014, it decreased by
6.54 % at the end of December. Moreover, Chinese began to be a top one for Thai
International arrivals since 2012 and broke the record as well. The total number was
4,637,335, following by 4,636,298 people during 2013 to 2014 respectively.
It has been found that Chinese Foreign Individual Tourism (FIT) has grown up sharply. In
2014, it was 2,846,213 people and followed by Group Inclusive Tourist (GIT) 1,785,718
people. Obviously, the first group is bigger and bigger with a share of 58 percent. Their
expenditure was about 5,180 baht per person per day. (Department of Tourism 2014).2
1
[online].http://siamprotuguesestudy.blogspot.com/2010/07/1.html 2 [online].http://newdot2.samartmultimedia.com/home/listcontent/11/221/276
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The factors that influencing Chinese tourists travelled to Thailand
In this part, I would like to find out about what were some of the factors that Chinese
tourists travelled to Thailand. First of all, it was the Chinese people income has increased.
Secondly, The Chinese currency (Yuan) increased vs. Baht. Third, more direct flights from
China increased. Following, More Chinese celebrate Chinese holidays in Thailand. Later,
more movies in China show Thailand, The last three factors were social media marketing is
more popular, union pay credit cards and Confucius Institute teaching Chinese language.
(Kongpob 2014, 4-6).
In this paper, we would like to find out what can Thai tourism do to attract more Chinese
tourist travelling to Thailand.
What is Social Media?
Social Media is an instrument on communication. It basically has two ways of
communication.
One is one way street (Web 1.0) where you can read a newspaper or listen to a report on
television, but you cannot reply back to those media.
The other is two way street (Web 2.0) that gives us the chance to communicate, it usually
relates between sender and receiver such as Blogging, Twitter, Social Networking, Media
Sharing etc. (Kanda 2010, 15).
Social Media can be classified into 4 types. (Phichit 2554, 99-100).
1. (Blogging)
Blog is short for Web + Log Content Management System that bring convenience to the
author. Publish and share your own blog posts
2. Twitter and micro-blogging (Twitter and Micro-blogging)
Micro-blogging is a form of a block with the Limited. Twitter is a micro-blogging. The
Limited post each print no more than 140 characters. It's easy and takes time and it is popular
for organizations and business.
3. Online social networking (Social Networking).
Communicate with friends, both known before or after online (Profiles - to show the account
holder) connection. (Connecting - to make friends with people they know and do not know
the way), (Messaging- to send message to each other).
4. Sharing your media online (Media Sharing).
The site allows users to chat making uploading (Upload) mixed media files and share
information to end users. Photo slideshow or video is available for users as well.
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In China, social media can categorize in many platforms under both desktop and
mobile user (Nanjing Media Group)3. In tourism marketing, social media can categorize in
different ways. These just are some examples social media platform that I will focus on
about.
Mobile only network
“Wechat” (微信) is a well-known social media mobile platform for business both
foreigners and locals, with over 500 million users. It now provides in form of business
marketing, promoting business profiles, in-app payment and for sharing pictures or contact
with friends as well. It is now easier for foreigner business to reaches Chinese customers.
“YiXin” （易信）is launched by China mobile and Chinese internet company, which is
different from “Wechat”, users can send free text and voice messages to any mobile phone
users even is not “YiXin” users.
Videos and music
“Tudou”（土豆）is a platform for users upload video, music and stream. It is available
for both desktop and mobile, which the same as “Youtube”. It is such a biggest market share
in China.
“Youku” (优酷) is the same as “Tudou” platform but not as popular as “Tudou”.
Microblogging
“Sina Weibo” (新浪微博) is known as “China Twitter”. People can share their thought,
opinion, place to see, good food pictures. It is limited characters. Since “Wechat” is launched
“Sina Weibo” is less popular.
E-commerce platform
“Taobao” (淘宝网) is a part of Alibaba group. It is a biggest for online shopping
platform C2C (customer to customer) business model. It is almost the same as eBay. This
platform is very popular for Chinese shopping and tourism which people can book tickets as
well.
3 [online].http://www.nanjingmarketinggroup.com/blog/complete-guide-china-social-media
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Tourism networks
This kind of platform is bringing more comfortable to Chinese people who like to travel
in small group or Free Independent Tourist (FIT). They can plan their trip, book their tickets,
know the places, what to eat where to buy. It is very similar to www.agoda.com,
www.tripadviser, www.booking.com Online Travel Agents (OTAs) websites etc. These kinds
of people don’t like to travel with tour operator.
“Mafengwo” （蚂蜂窝）is a platform that suggests Chinese tourist information and
recommendations on flights, visas, insurance and everything related to travelling abroad.
Almost users are very young with about 100 million users.
Qunar” （去哪儿）is a kind of other platform that tourist can book tickets and to
compare with other services.
“alitrip” (阿里旅行) is a part of “Taobao” that is a new platform to help Chinese tourists
with many services.
From the year 2012 to 2014, Chinese online tourism industry both transaction and
commission were increased steadily. They are a part tool Chinese tourist to access
information, it makes tourists to get more convenient and easier for booking tickets and
arrange their trip.4
Chinese consumer behavior Changed by social media
Consumer buying behavior can be influenced by several factors. Reisinger. (2009).In the
past, we can rarely see Chinese tourist travelling in a small group or individual. They usually
come in form of a group or large number of people or family. This could be the effect from
political issues from the past as we know that Republic of China is closed for many years to
rebuild nation and therefore this could be limited source of media. But since they open the
country, people start travelling aboard more. However, since they opened the country,
Chinese economics grew rapidly, Internet Users increase, social media marketing was
increased. These caused Chinese Consumer behavior changed and tourism is new thing for
them, that why Chinese people mostly travelling in form of free Individual Tourist (FIT)5.
But today, due to technology updates and we have to agree that we cannot live without
technology. The research from Statistical Report on 2010, China was the largest number of
Internet users in the world. It was about 485 million which 36.3% of the total population.
During, 2000 to 2010 data showed that men account for 55.8% of all Internet users and
women account for 44.2%6. Since Internet went up dramatically, social media was come up
later then. Because of various social media can be divided into many social media landscape
both mobile and laptop China. They are now can use social media to find information about
4 [online].http://www.tnooz.com/article/China-OTA-transactions-touch-usd-10-billion-Ctrip-
still-leads-in-marketshare/ 5 [online].http://travel.163.com/13/1202/12/9F3D482400063JSA.html
6 [online].http://www.wikinvest.com/concept/China%27s_Internet_Growth
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destination that they are travelling to, or they can search for furthers information such as what
is the best restaurant or hotel or souvenir. For this reason it is no longer for Chinese people to
travel in big groups because it is convenient and you can make your own plans. This
indicated that Chinese tourist behavior has changed.
The advantages of social media for business tourism
1. It is a tool to get feedback from tourists and it is a key point to bring good service to
tourist’s demand.
2. It is very benefit for you to keep an eye out to your competitors.
3. To hear feedback from tourists is challenging, it helps entrepreneurs to develop its quality
in order to attract more tourists.
4. To build brand awareness and more and more people go on to say.7
CONCLUSION
Chinese tourist was the top tourist arrivals in Thailand since 2012. Since China opened the
country, Chinese economy has taken a leap growth. China Internet users went up every year
and then social media became popular after that social media was used in term of marketing
as many types many platforms including both mobile and desktop. In addition, social media
became a tool for Chinese people to access information or plan their trip and book tickets on
internet. As a result, there was the factor that changed Chinese tourists travelling in term of
form. In the past, Chinese usually travelled in Group Inclusive Tourist (GIT) but it is getting
less popular. Foreign Individual Tourist (FIT) group go up significantly. However, Thai
tourism has to pay more attention to Chinese social media. It is very helpful to attract Chinese
tourists. Now it plays an important role in Thai and Chinese tourism. Social media became a
part of people.
REFERENCES
Department of Tourism, 2011. Tourist Arrival Statistics. Available from:
<http://newdot2.samartmultimedia.com/home/listcontent/11/221/276> [25 October 2015].
How can the Tourism Benefit from Social Media. Available from: <http://www.socialmedia-
trainingcourses.com/blog/2014/01/how-can-tourism-marketing-benefit-from-using-social-
media-category-tourism/#.Vj3lE02hdEA> [26 October 2015].
iResearch China, 2014. OTA Transactions Touch $10 Billion, Ctrip Still Leads in Market
Share. Available from: <http://www.tnooz.com/article/China-OTA-transactions-touch-
usd-10-billion-Ctrip-still-leads-in-marketshare/>[20 October 2015].
7 [online].http://www.socialmedia-trainingcourses.com/blog/2014/01/how-can-tourism-
marketing-benefit-from-using-social-media-category-tourism/#.Vj3lE02hdEA
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Kanda, R., 2010. Social Media. KhonKaen University. Available from:
<http://gear.kku.ac.th/~krunapon/talks/socialmedia/kku-socialmedia.pdf>[25 October
2015].
Kongpob, P., 2014. The Push and Pull Factors Affecting to the Decisions of Chinese
Tourists, Bank of Thailand. Available from:
<https://www.bot.or.th/Thai/MonetaryPolicy/ArticleAndResearch/FAQ/FAQ_89.pdf> [25
October 2015].
Phichit, V., 2554. Social Media: Future Media. Bangkok University. Available from:
<http://www.bu.ac.th/knowledgecenter/executive_journal/oct_dec_11/pdf/aw016.pdf>.[25
October 2015].
Nanjingmarketinggroup, 2014.The Complete Guide to China’s Major Social Media
Networks. Available from: http://www.nanjingmarketinggroup.com/blog/complete-guide-
china-social-media.[2 November 2015].
Reisinger, Y., 2009. International Tourism: Cultures and Behavior. Oxford: UK.
Tourism Industry, 2553. Defination of Tourism. Available from:
<http://siamprotuguesestudy.blogspot.com/2010/07/1.html>.[28 October 2015].
Wikinevst, 2010. Internet Growth. Available from:
<http://www.wikinvest.com/concept/China%27s_Internet_Growth>.[19 October 2015].
Xinxiribao, 2013. Chinese Free Independent Tourist: (FIT) increased 30% ever year.
Available from: <http://travel.163.com/13/1202/12/9F3D482400063JSA.html>.[19
October 2015].
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Demographic change, Old Age Allowance and Fiscal
Sustainability
Teerapong Wijaranayarn
Faculty of Economics , Chulalongkorn University
[email protected]
Abstract. This paper examines the effects of the demographic change, old age allowance and fiscal sustainability,
particularly by setting economic model, where a computational overlapping generations model is used within a
general equilibrium context. The fiscal policy that is used in this model is paying old age allowance. The old age
allowance expense is determined that pays step by step following the present in Thailand. The reason that uses
overlapping generation model is that the overlapping generation model has the dimension of the difference in the
behavior and productivity of the population in each age. This model can show the dimension of transition from
young society to old aged society. This model has agents that live in the finite time and the length of time overlaps at
least the one period of the other agents
One of the main results of this paper is if the households have more wealth, there are less the burden of public debt
per GDP. Because if the households have more wealth, they can more consume. As a result, GDP will grow up if the
total consumption increases. The factor that increases the household wealth is increasing development of technology
because if technology is developed, the private sector can produce more product. When they produce more product,
the can get more profit. When they get more profit, they can pay more return to the labor causing the more wealth.
Increasing of public debt in this case will increase up continuously but this increasing is within the framework of
fiscal policy. The framework of fiscal policy is the ratio of public debt per GDP is not over 60 percent. So in the
simulation this case, this fiscal policy in the topic of old age allowance is sustainable.
1. INTRODUCTION
Presently, the population structure of Thailand is changing. In the past, the people like to
have many children because of a lack of planning in family. More children bring a lot of expenditure
to each family. In many years ago, the people like to have less children or have no children because of
the higher cost of living and the more expenditure. One of causes occurs the demographic change is
the decreasing of Thai birth rate.
Figure 1 : The life expectancy of Thailand
Source : Office of the National Economic and Social Development Board
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The figure 1 shows that life expectation of Thai people is increasing so there are a lot of old people
in the future.
The demographic change affects to the allocation of fiscal policy especially in government
expenditure. It is known that the demographic change in Thailand occurs. The government must
invest in the various field to support this effect such that education, public health and social welfare.
These investments also importantly affect on Thai economy. The private sector must adapt to keep
pace with changing. When the government expenditure increases, the government must collect the
more revenue to balance the revenue collection and the government expenditure. If the government
expenditure is more than the revenue collection for a long time, it will affect on public debt.
Figure 2 : The revenue collection and the expenditure of the government
Source : Bereau of the budget
Importantly the revenue collection of the government and the government expenditure affect on
fiscal sustainability because if they are asymmetric, the fiscal stability will not be unstable. The
increasing of public debt has an interest expense. If there are a lot of public debts, the interest expense
will increase a lot and the revenue collection may not be enough for paying the government
expenditure.
In the economic activities of the government, sometimes there are some problems in the subject
that the government expenditure is more than the revenue collection. The public debt will occur if this
case happens. The framework for fiscal sustainability is the ratio of public debt per GDP below 60
percent in the long run.
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Figure 3 : the ratio of public debt per GDP
Source : Public debt management office
Old age allowance and the problem of fiscal policy in the long run
Old age allowance is the guarantee that the government gives to their people when the people are
old. Now in Thailand, the rule of paying old age allowance is the people who are 60-69 years old will
get 600 baht per month, the people who are 70-79 years old will get 700 baht per month, the people
who are 80-89 years will get 800 baht per month and the people who are over 90 years old will get
1000 baht per month.
Old age allowance is the expenditure of the government that it is hard to cancel. If Thai society
changes from youth society to old society, there will be more the expenditure of old age allowance.
This point is important that the government must consider that how the government will allocate the
budget to support the demographic change. Importantly adapting old age allowance expenditure
should consider public debt too. If the government cannot collect the revenue enough, the public debt
will increase in the long run and will happen again and again.
1.1 The purpose
1. To study about the effect of demographic change, old age allowance and fiscal
sustainability.
2. To study about the adapting in old age allowance expense to respond the framework of
fiscal sustainability.
1.2 The advantages of this paper
1. Make the household sector and the private sector know the trend of changing fiscal policy.
2. Make the household sector and the private sector can adapt to respond changing of fiscal
policy.
3. Make the household sector and the private sector know the sustainability of fiscal policy
within demographic change.
1.3 The framework of studying
This paper studies the closed economy; there are no international trade, investment between country
and immigration between country. Assigned the person has two-periods in the life cycle that are
workforce age and old age. After that they die and leave from the economy.
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1.4 The framework of fiscal sustainability
1. The ratio of public debt per GDP is not over 60 percent
2. The ratio of public debt per government expenditure is not over 15 percent
3. Balancing budget
2. Literature Reviews
Demographic change in Thailand
The data of the office of the National Economic and Social Development Board show that the
people who have over 60 years old trend to increase. Considering the ratio of the elders per total
population, in 2553 B.E. the ratio of the elders per total population is 11.9 percent and it is about
25.12 percent in 2573 B.E. ( said by Worawet Suwanrada and Worawan Charnduaywit,2553 ). This
information has the same direction with the data of UNPFA. The data of UNPFA said that
1. The growth of population in Thailand slows down and the population of Thailand finally
decreases.
2. The down trend of birth rate brings the hospital’s decreasing midwife.
3. The decreasing of workforce presses the country to develop the efficiency of labor.
The paper of Supasi Suwankesorn shows that the labor supply is the production factor that differs
from the others because the roles of labor supply are the production factor and the consumer at the
same time. If the country can manage the labor supply in the country effectively, he will build the
growth of the economy. His result shows that the growth of population is the important factor to the
growth of the economy in the ASEAN countries.
Demographic change and the economy
In the economic activities in each country, the market is the important part of the economy; labor
market, capital market and goods market. The members in each market consist of households, private
sector and government. The three parts are concerned with the economy directly. When there are
changing in some parts, the others will be affected too. The demographic change effects on all of
markets; labor market, capital market and goods market, it effects on labor supply of the economy too.
The decreasing of workforce brings the private sector to adapt themselves by increasing the more
capital to compensate the decreasing of workforce. Meanwhile the households must adapt their
consumption and leisure according to increasing the elders in each family. The government must
adapt the management of expenditure on aging society. All of these show that demographic change
effects on the economy.
Demographic change and consumption
The changing of the population effects on the economic growth because if there are a lot of people
in the country, there will be a lot of economic activities. Demographic change effects on household
sector. Somprawin Manprasert (2553) studied about the impact of demographic change on the
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patterns of consumption of Thai household. The result shows that the growth of the income’s elders in
the first phase is high so it makes more increment of consumption some goods; furniture, vehicles,
etc. .
Demographic change and private sector
The demographic change effects on private sector. The down trend of fertility rate makes the
decreasing of workforce in the future. Tanapong Pothipiti and Kiriya Kulkolkarn (2553) studied about
the impact of demographic change on production. The result shows that decreasing of the workforce
in aging society make the total production and production per head decrease in 40 years in the future.
To solve this problem, the country should import the workforce from the other countries.
Demographic change and economic growth
When the demographic change effects on household sector, private sector and government sector,
it will effect on economic growth because the three sectors are the economic activities. Nonnarit
Pitsayabut and Jirawat Punpiamrat studied about old age society and economic growth of Thailand.
They showed that in the time of transition to old age society, the aggregate labor supply and aggregate
capital cause the increasing of total output. The development of technology progress will affect in the
efficiency of labor supply that can compensate a lack of labor in the workforce age. If there are not
develop technology, the aggregate labor supply and total capital will decrease in the transition to old
age society. Furthermore the development of technology can relieve the minus economic impact in the
transition to old age society.
Demographic change and Fiscal sustainability
The demographic change of Thailand affects on economic activities. One point that is important is
the management of public debt. It is important for the revenue collection and the government
expenditure. Nick Davis and Richard Fabling ( 2002 ) studied about the efficient of public policy on
demographic change in New Zealand. They found that the tax smoothing is more important to the
efficiency of the policy than balancing budget because the asset within tax smoothing can give the
average return more than the government borrowing.
The measures of the fiscal sustainability of Thailand are 1. The ratio of public debt per GDP is not
over 60 percent, 2. The burden of the public debt to government expenditure is not over 15 percent, 3.
Balancing budget and 4. The proportion of investment budget per government expenditure is not
below 25 percent. Ryuta Ray Kato(2002) studied about the impact of budget deficit of the
government, public investment, public finance and public pension on aging society in Japan. The
result shows that if the government income is highest, the economy will be the highest growth. The
highest of government income is made by the high budget deficit in the future but it cannot be made
to the government policy. This implies to budget deficit of the government in the future. Yoshibumi
Aso ( 2013 ) studied about the sustainability of budget deficit, he found that if the people in the future
cannot repay the public debt, the budget deficit will not be sustainable.
When the demographic change occurs, the elders will increase so the burden of welfare increases.
Toshihiro Ihori, Ryuta Ray Kato, Masumi Kawade and Shun-ichiro Bessho ( 2007 ) studied about the
impact of demographic change and public debt in Japan. They found that the old age society affect on
increasing the expenditure of public pension including public health insurance.
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The government budget that allocate for paying old aged allowance may build the fiscal
sustainability problem. The old aged allowance expenditure is the long-term expenditure. To
determine the old aged allowance, the government must consider the cost of living and the fiscal
burden in the long-term. Worawet Suwanrada studied about the reform public pension. One point in
his paper show that the allocation of old age allowance too much cause the problem of fiscal in the
long run. If Thai economic grows slow down, the high old age allowance expenditure will increase
steadily more than revenue collection of many ministries.
3. Model
This paper uses the Overlapping Generation model for studying because this model has the dimension
of the difference in the behavior and productivity of the population in each age. This model can show
the dimension of transition from young society to old aged society. This model has agents that live in
the finite time and the length of time overlaps at least the one period of the other agents. This model
consists of 3 parts; household sector, private sector and government sector. These 3 sectors live
together in the closed economy. There are not international trade, international investment and
international immigration. So changing some parts can effect to the others.
3.1 Household
The people started at 20 years old. They have duty to make decision between consumption and leisure
along their life. For the decision, it must give the most utility for them within budget constraint. There
is uncertainty of dealth along their life. But everyone will die at 80 years old and everyone will retire
at 60 years old so the people has the time for work between 20-60 years old.
The survival equation is
Qi,s = the amount of people that survive since age i to s
j = age of people start at 0 years
s = the last of age of people
q = the amount of people in each age
Each people is assumed to maximize its expected life time utility with respect to its own
consumption. The household’s expected life time utility of generation i is given by
ui = the utility throughout the people’s life
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u [ cit , l-lit ] = the utility that obtains from consumption and relaxation
cit = consumption
lit = the proportion of working
1-lit = the proportion of relaxation
= the elasticity of substitution during the periods
= the discount rate of complacency
Determining the utility equation at time t has constant elasticity of substitution ( consumption and
leisure ) that
is the elasticity of substitution between consumption and leisure
is parameters that reflect the intensity of satisfaction with the rest compared with
consumption
The people in each generation will make decision by getting the maximum utility within the
budget constraint. The budget constraint of generation i at time t is
Ait = the wealth of generation I at time t
yit = the real income after tax
cit = consumption
VAT = value-added tax
Allowanceit = the allowance that pay for the elder at age 60
The condition of paying old age allowance is
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The real income after tax of generation I at time t can write into the equation that
(w/p)t = the real wage per effective unit of labor
taxt = the income tax that collect from the people age 20-60
hit = the effective units of labor of generation i
The effective units of labor of generation i is
f(age) = age-specific productivity
Techt = the technology that affect to the effective unit of labor
Make the first order necessary condition yield the Euler Equation
3.2 Private Sector
The firm is assumed to maximize its profit, taking the wage rate and the interest rate as given. The
aggregate private production function is assumed to be Cobb-Douglas such that
Yt = the aggregate output
Kt = the aggregate capital
Lt = the aggregate labor
a = is technology of production of firm
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Assuming that in the competitive market the real return of capital and labor is equal to the marginal
output of each production factors.
The real return of capital is
The real return of labor is
At the equilibrium, the total capital of the economy is equal to total wealth of the economy minus the
total public debt in the economy. That is equal to the total wealth of the household plus old age
allowance at period t minus the amount of public debt at period t. The relationship of the equation is
= the total wealth of generation i at period t
Ait = the wealth of generation i at period t
Popit = the ratio of generation i per total population at period t
Bt = the total public debt at period t
At the equilibrium, the total supply labor is at period t is
= the total supply labor of generation i at period t
Popit = the ratio of generation i per total population at period t
3.3 Government sector
The government sector is assumed to collect the income tax and the value-added tax from the
household in order to pay the old age allowance to the elders. If the revenue is not enough to pay for
allowance, the government will borrow and pays the interest rate.
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The revenue that is gotten from income tax and value-added tax adding the government bond is
equal to the government expenditure focused on old age allowance at period t adding the repayment
including interest rate expense. The equation is
= the old age allowance expenditure of the government
= the interest rate of public debt at constant price at period t
Bt = the public debt at period t
3.4 Market Equilibrium
The equilibrium condition in the capital market at period t is total wealth of the household is equal to
total capital plus public debt.
At = Kt + Bt
The equilibrium condition in the goods market at period t is the aggregate output is equal to the sum
of household’s consumption, private investment and the government expenditure.
Yt = Ct + Kt + Gt
3.5 The parameters
1. the elasticity of substitution during the periods = 0.75
2. the discount rate of complacency = 0.015
3. the elasticity of substitution between consumption and leisure = 0.8
4. the intensity of satisfaction with the rest compared with consumption = 0.33
5. the ratio of the return of capital per income of the country = 0.5
4. The Result and Simulation Analyst
To estimate the overlapping generation model from Part III, the researcher estimates the situation by
transition from youth society to old age society to see how to impact the economy. For the old age
allowance, the researcher uses the paying old age allowance step by step following the present of
Thailand. Furthermore, the researcher determines the rate of death by year on year by 1 – rate of death
per year equal to survival rate. After that take it to average and bring to use in model by multiply the
population. For the time to make simulation, the researcher takes 100 years to simulate the situation.
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For the population growth, the researcher uses data from World population prospects, the 2006
Revision.
Figure 4 Growth of the population
Source : World Population Prospects, the 2006 Revision ( UN 2007 )
In transition to old age society, the government is assumed to collects the revenue from
workforce’s income tax and the value-added tax from the household. After that the government takes
the money to pay old age allowance to the elders. The old age allowance is paid step by step; the
people who are 60-69 years old will get 600 baht per month, the people who are 70-79 years old will
get 700 baht per month, the people who are 80-89 years will get 800 baht per month and the people
who are over 90 years old will get 1000 baht per month.
Figure 5 : the old age allowance
From the figure 5, the characteristic of old age allowance paying has the overlap of
population. In this picture, the old age allowance is computed on year. This paying affects on
aggregate household’s consumption and affects on economy.
B.E. Growth of population (%) Birth rate (per 1000 people) Death rate (per 1000 people)
2493-2498 2.88 43.6 14.9
2498-2503 2.99 43.8 13.9
2503-2508 3.05 42.9 12.5
2508-2513 2.88 39.6 10.8
2513-2518 2.55 34.2 9.1
2518-2523 2.25 28.9 7.6
2523-2528 2.12 24.6 6.2
2528-2533 1.51 20.8 5.9
2533-2538 1.19 18.8 6.8
2538-2543 0.72 16.5 7.8
2543-2548 1.12 15.3 8.5
2548-2553 0.65 14.6 8.9
2553-2558 0.52 14.1 9.1
2558-2563 0.43 13.3 9.4
2563-2568 0.33 12.7 9.7
2568-2573 0.23 12.2 10.2
2573-2578 0.12 11.9 10.9
2578-2583 0.03 11.7 11.7
2583-2588 -0.06 11.5 12.4
2588-2593 -0.12 11.4 12.8
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Figure 6 : the household’s consumption
The figure 6 shows that the aggregate household’s consumption. In the simulation of the
transition to old age society, when starting into the elder society, the aggregate household’s
consumption will tend to decrease compared with youth society. The decreasing of total population
causes the decreasing total consumption.
Figure 7 : Labor supply
The figure 7 shows that the labor supply in the economy tends to decrease because the
fertility rate decreases when starting into the elder society. In the future, the workforce of Thailand is
down trend because of the decreasing of fertility rate.
Figure 8 : the total capital
The figure 8 shows that the total capital in the economy grows up because when the labor
supply decreases, the private sector must compensate the outputs that come from the labor supply
with increasing the capital; inputting more machine etc. Regularly, the private sector must maximize
profit so compensating the lack of labor with increasing more capital is necessary.
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Figure 9 : total assets
Following the equation that At = Kt + Bt, when increasing the capital in the economy, the total
assets of the economy increase too. When the private sector can get the maximum profit, they can pay
the more return to the labor and make more investment
Figure 10 : GDP
Following the equation of GDP ( GDP = C + K + G ), when the private sector increases more
investment and the government pays the increasing old age allowance that increased by more the
elders, the GDP of Thailand increases too although the total consumption decreases. The effect of
increasing both investment and government expenditure affects on GDP more than decreasing total
consumption.
Figure 11: public debt
Transition to old age society brings more expenditure of the government. Especially the old
age allowance expense increases inescapably. When there are more the elders in the economy, the
government must collect the tax more but if the government cannot collect the tax enough the
expenditure, the government must establish debt. If the cycle that the government has no enough
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money continues, it will be a fiscal burden. The figure 11 shows the increasing of the public debt of
the government.
Figure 12 : the ratio of public debt per GDP
The framework of the public policy is the public debt per GDP is not over 60 percent in the
long run. The figure 12 shows that the present old age allowance policy is sustainable. This public
debt is established by only paying old age allowance.
Figure 13 : The numerical of simulation analysis
The figure 13 shows the numerical of simulation analysis. This figure show that the ratio of public
debt per GDP is not over 60 percent during 2493 – 2593 B.E. This allowance paying is sustainable
policy.
5. Conclusion
This paper examines the effects of the demographic change, old age allowance and fiscal
sustainability, particularly by setting economic model, where a computational overlapping generations
model is used within a general equilibrium context. The fiscal policy that is used in this model is
B.E. 2493 2494 2495 2496 2497 2498 2499 2500
Public Debt per GDP 2.072156 2.213438 2.293505 2.369841 2.447798 2.528951 2.613458 2.702284
B.E. 2501 2502 2503 2504 2505 2506 2507 2508 2509 2510
Public Debt per GDP 2.793641 2.888294 2.987477 3.090394 3.196451 3.304368 3.413858 3.52651 3.639615 3.752906
B.E. 2511 2512 2513 2514 2515 2516 2517 2518 2519 2520
Public Debt per GDP 3.866651 3.980642 4.095905 4.210929 4.325675 4.440046 4.553937 4.667833 4.780273 4.890566
B.E. 2521 2522 2523 2524 2525 2526 2527 2528 2529 2530
Public Debt per GDP 4.998762 5.105138 5.21027 5.3125 5.411455 5.507252 5.60032 5.690455 5.778048 5.863366
B.E. 2531 2532 2533 2534 2535 2536 2537 2538 2539 2540
Public Debt per GDP 5.946319 6.027944 6.10802 6.186826 6.264889 6.342122 6.41889 6.494644 6.569194 6.642613
B.E. 2541 2542 2543 2544 2545 2546 2547 2548 2549 2550
Public Debt per GDP 6.714855 6.786386 6.857249 6.92806 6.998982 7.070217 7.142476 7.215601 7.28952 7.363834
B.E. 2551 2552 2553 2554 2555 2556 2557 2558 2559 2560
Public Debt per GDP 7.438544 7.513801 7.58947 7.665722 7.742434 7.819638 7.897688 7.976775 8.057668 8.140609
B.E. 2561 2562 2563 2564 2565 2566 2567 2568 2569 2570
Public Debt per GDP 8.226121 8.314429 8.405003 8.497826 8.593042 8.691016 8.791735 8.894461 8.999409 9.106856
B.E. 2571 2572 2573 2574 2575 2576 2577 2578 2579 2580
Public Debt per GDP 9.216831 9.329055 9.442872 9.55831 9.675109 9.793078 9.911843 10.03095 10.15045 10.26995
B.E. 2581 2582 2583 2584 2585 2586 2587 2588 2589 2590
Public Debt per GDP 10.38909 10.50746 10.62503 10.74177 10.85722 10.97089 11.08232 11.19216 11.30043 11.40656
B.E. 2591 2592 2593
Public Debt per GDP 11.51009 11.61064 11.7096
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paying old age allowance. The old age allowance expense is determined that pays step by step
following the present in Thailand.
One of the main results of this paper is if the households have more wealth, there are less the burden
of public debt per GDP. Because if the households have more wealth, they can more consume. As a
result, GDP will grow up if the total consumption increases. The factor that increases the household
wealth is increasing development of technology because if technology is developed, the private sector
can produce more product. When they produce more product, the can get more profit. When they get
more profit, they can pay more return to the labor causing the more wealth.
Increasing of public debt in this case will increase up continuously but this increasing is within the
framework of fiscal policy. The framework of fiscal policy is the ratio of public debt per GDP is not
over 60 percent. So in the simulation this case, this fiscal policy in the topic of old age allowance is
sustainable.
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Identity of the Fujian Chinese tradition in Phuket
through the Chinese God Worship Day
Dr.Supachai Jeangjai1 and Mr.Panuwat Chanasakun
2, a)
1 Lecturer, Ph.D., Faculty of International Study,
Prince of Songkla University, Phuket campus
2 M.A. student of Arts in Chinese Study, Faculty of International Study,
Prince of Songkla University, Phuket campus
a) [email protected]
Abstract. Southeast Asia is the region of cultural diversity. There are several ethnic groups. The Fujian
Chinese is one of the overseas Chinese in ASEAN. The Fujian Chinese or Hokkien people immigrated to
many countries in this region. They have adapted their behavioral, social, and lifestyle to the local. However,
they can well maintain their own cultural identity and blend to local culture seamlessly at the same time. In
Thailand, most of Hokkien immigrated to the Southern of the country, such as Songkhla, Pattani, Trang,
Phang-Nga, and Phuket. These provinces are remarkable and unique places of Hokkein people. Every year on
the Ninth night of Chinese New Year‘s celebration, the Chinese will pay respect to the Jade Emperor and
Fujian people call the day as the God Worship Day. Phuket is the most vulnerable province in term of tradition
of The Chinese God Worship Day. The Chinese God Worship Day is the most important tradition of the
Hokkien Chinese, which has been continually handed down for a long time until today. In addition, this
identity is the same as Fujian Chinese who live in Malaysia and Singapore. Overseas Chinese immigrated to
many countries around the world; however they can maintain their cultural identity everywhere.
Keyword: Fujian, Hokkien people, Overseas Chinese, God Worship, Identity
Introduction
China has had for more than four thousand years of its national history and had
continued over centuries of imperial dynastic system. The Chinese people knew how to trade
and do business with foreigners. They had prosperous relationships with other countries.
However, Since A.D. 1644-1911, China was ruled by the Qing Dynasty. The business was
expanded and got more prosperous but as the result, more problems invaded and created
adverse effects on the society. In the late Qing Dynasty, the government was usurpation of
power and had many corruption problems. These turmoil led China to the civil war and
hardship across the country. People needed to evacuate from their homeland to seek a better
place and new opportunity for their families.
The Chinese immigrated to territories worldwide. The majority moved into South
East Asia and settled down Chinese communities. The historical migration of Chinese to
Southeast Asia had yielded a wondrous array of adaptive, acculturative, and assimilative
phenomena (G.William Skinner 1996, p.51). There were around twelve to thirteen million
Chinese migrated from China. . However, it could not be confirmed with the exact number.
The Chinese also migrated to other countries, such as the USA. There were approximately
one hundred and twenty thousand Chinese moving to the USA. and about a few thousand
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moving to Caribbean, Peru, England and Australia. Most of Chinese immigrants immigrated
to the Southeast Asia: about two million people in the Malay Peninsula and more than nine
hundred thousand people in Singapore (Chaiyut Pinpradad 1997, p. 28). The most of Chinese
immigrants in this region during the nineteenth century came from the Southern Chinese. The
Number of immigrants from this region was higher than the other sectors, because they lived
in east coast of China. They were relatively easy to evacuate by sea. In early time, they
immigrated to Philippines, Java, Malaysia (Malacca and Penang) before entering to the south
of Thailand. They blended Chinese culture with the local culture. Many culture and tradition
in the south of Thailand was influenced by Chinese, for example the words in daily life, a
religious belief and food culture.
Chinese Hokkien people in Thailand and Phuket
Hokkien (福建) or Min Nan (闽南) is a dialect that mainly used in Fujian Province of
China. Therefore, the Chinese Hokkien people are the group of people who came from Fujian
Province and speak Hokkien dialect. Hokkien people call themselves as “Hokkein Lang” or
“Fujian Ren” (福建人) which means Hokkien people in Mandarin Chinese.
The early group of Chinese immigrants in Thailand consisted of five major languages
including Cantonese, Hainanese, Hokkien, Hakka and Taechew8. There was evidence that in
Ayutthaya period some Hokkien settled in Thailand, but some of them navigated to buy rice
and other products sold in Thailand (Kwanjit Sasiwongsaroj 1999, p. 5). Since A.D. 1645, the
Fujian Chinese visited the South of Thailand in order to seek a better life. They came to live
in the south of Songkhla town. The Chinese immigrants are in this version of progressive
concept. Both knowledge and ambition as the medical knowledge of the artisan actor
merchants including agriculture, such as growing vegetables, raising pigs, gardening, etc
(Sutiwong Pongpaiboon 2001, p.47). During A.D. 1824 to 1851, the reign of King Rama III,
since the discovery of using tin to protect the iron from rust, tin was used for the industry in
the world market. The great number of Hokkien people immigrated to Thailand because the
South West Coast of Thailand had a lot of tin. Hokkien people from Penang immigrated to
the region to be a labor force or do their own businesses. When the mining operation
expanded, demand for labor force in the city increased. Fujian residents were persuaded by
Hokkien in the area to work together, this reason made a large number of imported workers
from Fujian province (Kwanjit Sasiwongsaroj 1999, p.5-6). Hokkien Chinese settled in
various provinces of Thailand such as Songkhla, Pattani, Phuket, Trang, Ranong, but the
most of them were in Phuket because Phuket was a province located in the south west coast
of Thailand where had abundant resources of tin and tin mining operations were more
prosperous. The majority of tin mining occupations such as coolie labors, the mine owners
were done by Hokkien Chinese immigrants who migranted from Singapore and Penang by
motorboat and spread to neighbor provinces, and from Malaysia to the South Thailand
(Kwanjit Sasiwongsaroj1999, p.7). It can be noted that Phuket has a unique architectural
and cultural heritage. Both reports cite the ancient identity blended into the local culture.
8
Encyclopedia Thailand for the youth: The extra learning books 19.2556;133
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Phuket is the best mirror to reflect t he old Hokkien culture that has mixed with local
culture but can be conserved its own traditional culture until present. Currently, Phuket is the
most important province in the field of tourism. Cultural tourism is a significant feature of
Phuket rhythm as it can be seen in publicity and media. Examples of cultural tourism are
Chinese New Year tradition, Por Tor tradition, Mid-Autumn, Vegetarian Festival, etc. The
Chinese God Worship is part of the important tradition in Phuket as well.
The Belief in God of Hokkien Chinese
The Chinese people, deeply believe in their Gods since they sailed from their
mainland to trade, contact with the association, or explore new lands around the world until
the period of the refugees evacuated from the homeland to seek a new life. They had brought
various cultures with them. The ancient Chinese respected nature, ancestral spirits, or ghosts,
and believed in Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism. When Chinese people migrated to
somewhere, they took these beliefs with them. This can be seen from a shrine or presenting
through a festival. The majority of the Chinese people believe in Mahayana and Theravada
Buddhism and Taoism. Worship of gods and ancestral spirits is fundamental beliefs that
persist until the present. Chinese people have very strong faith in Gods. Their daily life is
bound to gods. Overseas Chinese people also believe in gods, but there are similarities and
differences in the details. In China, their customary rites and beliefs as well as the traditional
practice are less seen than in Thailand. After the Cultural Revolution, many traditions were
destroyed and less important. Political conflict caused civil wars in the country several times.
The observation of historical evidence and media, we can understand the cruelty of that era.
However, the Chinese immigrate out their mainland during the time. They can hold and bring
with them the practice of old traditions as well.
Hokkien Chinese apparently tie with many gods, like the belief in the Goddess of the
sea or Ma-Zhu (妈祖), the God who protected life or Bao Sheng Da Di (保生大帝), the
Goddess of mercy or Guanyin (观音), etc. “On Hokkien Chinese’s faith, they are always
believed in God. In particular, the God of Heaven or Thi Gong or Jade Emperor, who is the
highness god in Chinese heaven, The Hokkien will build a small ledge on the left side of the
home. It is believed that Thi Gong will protect the family peace (Kwanjit Sasiwongsaroj1999,
p.5-6).” On the altar written in the Chinese characters are Tian Guan Shi Fu (天官赐福)
which means god bless you or to receive a blessing from the sky. Thus, among the Chinese
Hokkien besides faith is a practice. They also have the ancestor worship and celebration in
Spring Festival like other Chinese people but on 51 days of Spring Festival or Chinese New
Year’s celebration, the Hokkien adhere strictly to worship the God on 9th
day after Chinese
New Year in lunar calendar.
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Figure 1: Jade Emperor
Source: http://characters.cultural-china.com/73hz147.html
The Chinese God Worship Day
The Chinese New Year or the Spring Festival is the most important festival of
Chinese around the world. The Chinese people must celebrate their new year everywhere.
The overseas Chinese will pay respect to the god and worship their ancestors. The last day of
the year or 30th
of 12th
month is the day to worship the ancestors. At night of the New Year or
midnight of 30th
to the morning of 1st of New Year, they will pay respect to gods or go to a
shrine. However, during the Chinese New Year celebration, there is another ritual festival. It
is the Jade Emperor’s birthday or called “Thi Gong Sae” in Hokkien dialect. On the Jade
Emperor’s birthday, many Chinese people or overseas Chinese will pay homage to the Jade
Emperor. Most of them will go to the shrine. Nevertheless, most of Hokkein people will
prepare to pay homage to the Jade Emperor at their homes. The Fujian Chinese consider this
day is a very special day. For the Fujian Chinese, this traditional practice has been handed
down from generation to generation. For a long time, Fujian Chinese have greatly focused on
this season. It can be called the Hokkien people’s New Year. A Hokkien person recognizes
this day as The God Worship Day or “Bai Tian Gong” in Mandarin and “Bai Thi Gong” in
Hokkien dialects. It is a unique tradition of Hokkien Chinese.
Basically, Hokkien New Year is celebrated on the 9th day of Chinese New Year. It is
more grandeur comparing to the 1st day. The ritual starts at 11pm on the 8th
day. Hokkien
Chinese will set up the altar draped by a red tablecloth and sugarcane will be arranged at the
both sides of the altar. Then, they will prepare food, fruits, and traditional items that are uses
for praying to the Jade Emperor or Thi Gong (Thi Gong means “king of the heavens”). The
most important and must have items are a red tortoise buns or candy turtle (Angku kuih),
red-colored buns (Mee koo), cup cake (Huat Khe), pink miniature pagodas, and six dried
vegetables (Lak- Chai). After the ritual, they will have fireworks and firecrackers.
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There are many stories telling the origin of The God Worship. Most Hokkien Chinese
believes in these similar stories.
“The God Worship Day is mostly celebrated by the Hokkien Chinese and only
Hokkien Chinese prays to the Jade Emperor and pray with sugarcane. According to the
legend, in Hokkien Chinese community, the province was invaded and there was nowhere to
go. The people ran to a sugarcane plantation and prayed to heaven for their lives to be saved.
The enemy passed by without discovering them, on the 9th
day of the first lunar month.
Therefore, Hokkien Chinese wanted to thanks to the Jade Emperor and honored him on his
birthday (Suthi Wongmongkondate 2011, p.82).”
“Another story is, during the Ming Dynasty period, the coastlines of China were often
raided by Japanese pirates. There was one Chinese New Year when the pirates plundered the
coastal region of Fujian. As the villagers ran for their lives, they prayed to Tian Gong for
protection and came across a field of sugarcanes, where they hid. After the pirates left, the
villagers returned to their homes. This day was the 9th day of the lunar New Year and since
then, the Hokkiens offered prayers of thanks to Tian Gong on this day of the Chinese New
Year (Chen Jing Fen, 2012. 220).”
Though, there are several legends of the origin of Hokkein Chinese’s God Worship
day, all of them have the same main idea. It can be concluded that, One day in the Ming
Dynasty period on the Chinese New Year, the pirates plundered the coastal region of Fujian
or Hokkien. At that time, Hokkien people in the village ran to a sugarcane plantation and
prayed to heaven or Tian Gong (Thi Gong in Hokkein dialect) or the Jade Emperor to protect
their lives. After the pirates left, people returned to their village. It happened on the 9th
of the
lunar New Year. The Hokkien Chinese believes that the god protected them and saved their
lives. So, they offered prayer to thanks the god (Thi Gong) on this day. This is a reason why
the Hokkien people offer thanksgiving prayers to the god on this day.
The Chinese God Worship Day in Phuket
IN PHUKET, THERE IS A LOT OF HOKKIEN CHINESE. THEY ARE THE
MAJORITY AMONG CHINESE POPULATION IN PHUKET. THEY ARE STILL ABLE
TO PRESERVE AND MAINTAIN THEIR ANCESTOR’S TRADITION AND THE
RITUAL FIRMLY. THE CHINESE GOD WORSHIP DAY IS ONE OF THE MOST
IMPORTANT TRADITIONS IN PHUKET. THIS TRADITION HAS BECOME ONE OF
THE SIGNIFICANT ACTIVITIES IN PHUKET. ON THE 8TH
DAY OF THE LUNAR
MONTH DURING CHINESE NEW YEAR, HOKKIEN PEOPLE IN PHUKET PREPARE
SPECIAL TRADITIOANL ITEMS, FOOD, SWEET AND FRUIT. IN THE CENTER OF
PHUKET TOWN, THERE ARE SO MANY TYPES OF FOOD AND SWEET THAT USED
FOR PAYING HOMAGE TO THE GOD AT MIDNIGHT. PHUKET MUNICIPALITY
CONSIDERS THE CHINESE GOD WORSHIP DAY AS AN IMPORTANT
TRADITIONAL DAY EVERY YEAR. THE WORSHIP IS ORGANIZED AT THE GREAT
OCEAN DRAGON STATUE WITHIN QUEEN SIRIKIT PUBLIC PARK ON THALANG
ROAD IN PHUKET CITY. THE MUNICIPALITY DECORATES THE TABLE WITH
FOOD AND OFFERINGS TO WORSHIP THE GOD. LOCAL RESIDENTS JOIN THE
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EVENT TO PAY RESPECT TO THE GOD AND SEE THE TRADITIONAL PUPPET
SHOWS & PERFORMANCES TO BLESSING PARTICIPANTS AND WISHED
PROSPERITY FOR THE YEAR AHEAD. AT THE END OF THE CEREMONY, SILVER
AND GOLD PAPER BURNING TAKES PLACE WITH FIRECRACKERS SET OFF
(CHINESE GOD WORSHIP RITES FOR CHINESE NEW YEAR IN PHUKET 2009).
On the 9th
day of the lunar calendar during Chinese New Year Festival, Hokkien
Chinese in the Phuket old town prepares offerings to the Jade Emperor at many shrines and
their houses. Those celebrations set up with a three-level altar. The lowest level consists of
low stools that raise the second level from the ground, and a square red wooden table with
varied sumptuous offerings. The third and highest level is a small red altar (Suthi
Wongmongkondate 2011, p.80)
The Hokkien Chinese usually worships the God with meat, dried vegetables, fruits,
dried fruits, sweet, and tea or with a vegetarian food. Hokkien Chinese follow different ways
to worship the God, but the main ritual are the same things. As we can see, the traditional
ritual of Hokkien Chinese can be adapted and changed. It depends on a worshiper and on the
individual's ability to supply goods. If you are capable, you can offer in a full scope. If you
are not comfortable, just do what you can. These are the ways how Hokkien people
thinkingof setting up their altar and offerings. It depends on each person’s economical status.
They uphold the determination and belief to the God more important than other details.
The preparation to worship the God, Chaiyut Pinpradad (2002, 288-289) said that they
would prepare 4 chairs for second-level table, table cloth (To-Oui), two stalks of sugarcane
with yellow paper streamers (Ko-Ji), a red table cloth, a pot of censer, a pair of candle, a pot
of tea with 3-12 tea cups, and snacks or sweet such as Tae-Leaw or desserts made of food
crops. Everything is indispensable item in the tradition of China including Candy turtle
(Angku kuih), Steamed Cup Cake (Huat Khe) etc. Traditional fruits are apple, orange,
Figure 2: The altar was prepared at the front of people houses
(Yutphuket 2008)
Figure 3: The ceremony was provided by Phuket municipality
(Phuket municipality 2011)
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watermelon, banana, grape, and pineapple. Six dried vegetables (Lak- Chai) consist
ofmushrooms (Hiao-Goh), black mushroom (Bok-Ni), bubble tofu (Tek-Ka-Ki), vermicelli
(Tang-Hoon), Chinese noodle (Mee-Sua) and daylily (Kim-Jiam). On the Chiniese God
Worship Day, Hokkien Chinese will add special traditional items which are dried fruit called
Bid-Jian and pink miniature pagodas called Ngo-Xiu. The last one is savory dish included
pork, boiled eggs, boiled chicken, and boiled or dried squid. Some people add more special
foods to worship the God. In this case, Suthi Wongmongkondate (2011: 81) said that business
owners who prospered would offer their thanks with a whole roasted pig but those who
enjoyed a less successful year would offer the three sacrificial meats: a whole cooked
chicken, a whole cooked duck, and a strip of cooked pork.
About preparation of the ritual, there are so many sub details depending on individual
belief, but they have the same important things for the ceremony. These things can be listed
below:
1. The altar of the God Worship is very special and need more detail. The first one is
the altar. It must to high. It is usually set up in two or three level of table. If it is not
convenient to raise the table high, they can use the gold paper to wrap the four legs of table.
Hokkein Chinese believe the Jade Emperor is the emperor of heaven, he is the highness god,
so they will set up the alter high from ground.
Figure 5: The altar is raised high from the ground
(The Kathu Cultural Street Festival 2015)
Figure 4: The altar is raised high from the ground
(Bai Tian Gong - An Unignorable Tradition of The Hokkiens 2015)
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2. Sugarcane is considered as a symbol of the Chinese God worship festival. In this
day, at both sides of the altar, they will attach two tall, fresh stalk of sugarcane or “Kamchia”,
the name being pun with streamers of yellow paper, which they called “Thanksgiving
money” (Suthi Wongmongkondate 2011, p.81). Sugarcane is an integral part of the
thanksgiving prayers. This is because the Hokkiens hid out in sugarcane plantation, which
managed to prevent them from harm (Su Yin. 2010).
3. Worshipers cover the main altar with offerings including plates of fruit, a whole
chicken, thick slices of fatty pork, sweet ”raised” cakes representing a prayer for growth,
three “sweet” cakes, six “red tortoises”, and fourteen cups of tea: five for the Lord of the
Earth, three for the God of prosperity, and six for the Jade Emperor. Business owners who
have enjoyed a less successful year offer the three sacrificial meats a whole cooked chicken, a
whole cooked duck, and a strip of cooked pork (Suthi Wongmongkondate 2011, p.81).
4. Burning the paper offerings (“Thee kong kim”). It means “heaven’s gold”. This is
supposed to be the currency used in the heavens and this paper offering is the identity of the
Hokkien Chinese. Only the group of Hokkien Chinese will use this paper offering. If this
paper is seen, it is about the Hokkien Chinese’s belief.
Figure 6: The sugarcane with yellow paper streamers
(Yutphuket 2009)
Figure 7: The main altar with offerings
(Yutphuket 2009)
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The Chinese God Worship Day in other regions
Besides, the Fujian Chinese in Phuket, Fujian Chinese in Taiwan, Malaysia or
Singapore cerebrate on the God Worship Day as well. Like in Penang, on the 9th day of the
first month of the Lunar Calendar, they will organize a ritual activity of the city where around
1,860 Hokkein Chinese immigrated into and took with them this belief to the region with
them. They pay respect to the God and thank for the God that saved people (Chen Jing Fen,
2012). Hokkien Chinese in Malaysia worship to the God as well. According to Chee-Beng
Tan (1983), in daily worship, the worshippers first worship Tian Gong, or the God of
Heaven, by standing at the front porch, facing the sky, and raising burning joss sticks a few
times for supplication. This detail is supported by Chinese people in Malaysia, they also
believe in the God of Heaven. In Singapore, the celebration on the night of the 8th
day of the
first month of the Chinese lunar calendar is known to the Hokkiens as ‘Bai Tian Gong’, that
means paying homage to the Heaven God. The Hokkein Chinese offers the Tian Gong with
sugarcane, fruit and sweet but some people include roast pigs. According to the Association
of Confucianism Malaysia (2011), the ninth day of the first month of Chinese calendar is
the birthday of Thi Gong: The Jade Emperor birthday. Other groups of Chinese like
Guangdong or Chaozhou Chinese, on this day they will pay respect to the heaven and
the earth, because the Fujian Chinese saved the ancient ritual on the Chinese God
Worship Day. Many people thought it was the festival of Fujian Chinese. Fujian
Chinese will use sugarcane to offer the Jade Emperor. That is the identity of Fujian
Chinese people on this festival.
All details well represent the Chinese identity. The Chinese God Worship Day is one
of Fujian Chinese identity that has been maintained by Hokkien Chinese for a long time.
They immigrate and live in different countries but they have the same ceremony at the same
time, especially in Southeast Asia likes Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore. When observing
the important food or all offering in the Chinese God Worship Day or the process of the
ritual, they have the same meaning and use the same items, especially, the sugarcane with
yellow paper which must be there until the ritual completes the unique of the God Worship
altar, and special offerings in Hokkien tradition. This makes it as an important and prominent
unlike other traditions. The similarities and differences of this tradition reflect the cultural
dominant identity of Fujian Chinese and overseas Chinese. They can adapt and blend into the
local culture seamlessly. In addition, the Fujian Chinese in Phuket found that the Hokkien
Chinese in Malaysia and Singapore have this ceremony as well.
Conclusion
Phuket has an own unique culture and is the best place to learn about the Fujian
Chinese identity in term of culture of Overseas Chinese in Thailand. Many cultures are mixed
together and turn to be the unique of Phuket. Fujian Chinese or Hokkien in Phuket have very
long history in Thailand and they are the important group of people in the country. Fujian
(Hokkien) Chinese have a lot of own identities, The Chinese God Worship Day is the very
important ceremony for them because of the legend or history in the past that they believed
the God helped them from every un-fortune, danger, or natural disaster. Therefore, the
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Chinese God Worship Day can reflect the Fujian Chinese people belief and present the Fujian
Chinese thought and life. In their daily life, god and human are very close, like a parent or
senior relatives in family. When comparing between Fujian people in Phuket and in other
provinces of Thailand, there are the most number of Fujian population in Phuket and they can
well maintain their culture and tradition while other places in Thailand, there are some Fujian
Chinese families that can keep their ritual and belief from their ancestor. It may be because
there are a lot of Fujian Chinese live together in Phuket and the province supports them to
conserve their tradition. However, the Fujian Chinese can preserve their cultural identity
everywhere, in each country that they live. Finally, The Overseas Chinese immigrated to
many countries around the world and they were adapted their behavior, social, and lifestyle to
the local. On the other hand, they can maintain their own cultural identity. The Chinese God
Worship Day is only practiced by Hokkien Chinese people. It is the traditional ritual that is
maintained from the past of Fujian Chinese and becomes the identity of Fujian Chinese
today.
REFERENCES
[1] Bai Tian Gong - An Unignorable Tradition of The Hokkiens 2015, Available from:
http://undertheangsanatree.blogspot.com/2015/02/bai-tian-gong-hokkiens-new-
year.html [25 September 2015]
[2] Chaiyut Pinpradad 2002, Chinese and Chinese Thai in Phuket(ชาวจีนและคนไทยเชือ้สายจีน
ในภเูก็ต), pp. 288-289
[3] Chaiyut Pinpradad 1997, the History of Ungyee and Tog Yong Soo Shrine Phuket,
pp. 28
[4] Characters: Jade Emperor. Available from: http://characters.cultural-
china.com/73hz147.html [15 September 2015]
[5] Chee-Beng Tan 1983, ‘Chinese Religion in Malaysia: A General View’, Asian
Folklore Studies,Vol. 42, No.2, pp. 217-252.
[6] Chen Jing Fen 2012, Research on the traditional Malaysian Chinese New Year
customary legands: Based on the Local born Chinese of Penang Island, National
Chengchi University, pp.220
[7] Chinese God Worship Rites for Chinese New Year in Phuket, 2009 (video filed),
Available from <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svKwjGINKMs>.
[September, 2015]
[8] Encyclopedia Thailand for the youth: The extra learning books No.19. 2013,
pp.133
[9] G.William Skinner 1996, Chinese Society in Thailand: An Analytical History,
pp.51
[10] Kwanjit Sasiwongsaroj 1999, Encyclopedia of Ethnic Groups in Thailand:
Hokkien, pp. 5
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[11] Phuket municipality 2011, Available from:
<http://phuketcity.go.th/gallery/detail/47> [29 September 2015]
[12] Sutiwong Pongpaiboon 2001, Way and Dynamics was a study of the migration and
settlement of Chinese immigrants I the southern Thailand, pp.47
[13] Suthi Wongmongkondate 2011, Cultural Landscape Study of the Old Phuket Town,
Graduate School, Silpakorn University. pp. 80 – 82
[14] Su Yin 2010, Hokkien New Year. 15 March 2010. Bread et butter: Blog. Available
from: <https://breadetbutter.wordpress.com/2010/03/15/hokkien-new-year/>. [29
september 2015].
[15] The Association of Confucianism Malaysia 2011, 正名“農曆新年” Available from:
<http://www.confucianism.org.my/2011-04-07-08-27-15/2011-05-27-09-05-
10/250-2011-04-02-13-45-16.html> [29 September 2015]
[16] The Kathu Cultural Street Festival 2015, Available from:
https://www.facebook.com/culturlstreetkathu/posts/982173051813128 [15
October, 2015]
[17] YUTPHUKET 2008, THE CHINESE GOD WORSHIP DAY IN PHUKET.
AVAILABLE FROM: <HTTP://YUTPHUKET.COM/2008/02/15/PHUKET-
FESTIVAL/> [25 SEPTEMBER 2015]
[18] Yutphuket 2009, The Chinese God Worship day in Phuket. Available from:
http://phuketport.com/phuket-blog/2009/02/03/phuket-festival52/ [25 September
2015]
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Impact of “The Belt and Road Initiative” on ASEAN
Integration: From a Perspective of Structural Realism
He Ke a)
Faculty of International Studies，Prince of Songkla University, Phuket, Thailand
a) Corresponding author: [email protected]
Abstract. At the 12th ASEAN summit in January 2007, the leaders had agreed to hasten the establishment of ASEAN
Economic Community（AEC）by 2015. However, the slow and intermittent process of ASEAN integration results from the
marked differences in politics, economy, history and culture among the ten member countries. China, as an important trade
partner of ASEAN, had proposed the idea called “the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road”
since 2013 and is comprehensively promoting “The Belt and Road Initiative” (B&R) in order to join and boost the national
development among relevant countries. It is worth noting that ASEAN countries are in key positions of the maritime Silk
Road. Besides, updating China-ASEAN Free Trade Agreement is also in the common interests and a major task for both
parties. The work presented in this paper analyzes and interprets the history, process and prospects of B&R and ASEAN
integration. From a perspective of structural realism, the author intends to expound that the open and diversified cooperation
mechanisms advocated by B&R will be parallel with current regional integration arrangements and help ASEAN integration.
Qualitative analysis of literature is adopted as the major methodology along with case study, comparison and trend analysis,
the theories of political economy and sociology like “collective action”, “public goods” are also applied in this paper. The
analysis has led to the conclusion that the implementation of B&R is an issue closely related with ASEAN integration, and
the success of B&R would facilitate ASEAN integration because the development of ASEAN requires B&R to form a new
inter-regional public goods supply pattern.
INTRODUCTION
Peace and development have become the universal appeal in today’s world. In recent
years, the economic stagnation occurred in Europe and America also causes a global
economic slowdown. Restoring the global economy and making its growth remain stable
highly rely on stimulating the great potential of emerging markets, deepening economic
cooperation among emerging market countries and promoting cross-border investment and
trade.
Asian’s vital, dynamic development has been integral to driving the global economy.
However, although it has abundant natural and human resources, the economic development
in Asia is not very satisfying. Firstly, there are huge developmental divides among Asian
countries. Economic powers like Japan, Singapore and such undeveloped countries as
Myanmar, Cambodia are all in this area. Furthermore, the marked differences in politics,
economy, history and culture also affect the quality of inter-state cooperation and motivation
of economic integration. Finally, infrastructure and fund shortages, poor governance obstruct
Asia’s sustainable development.
ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) is Asia's most integrated free trade
area. At the 12th ASEAN Summit in January 2007, the Leaders affirmed their strong
commitment to accelerate the establishment of an ASEAN Community and in particular, the
Leaders agreed to hasten the establishment of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) by
2015 and to transform ASEAN into a region with free movement of goods, services,
investment, skilled labor, and freer flow of capital (ASEAN 2009, 21). But the process of
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ASEAN integration seems difficult. According to McKinsey Global Institute (2015), one of
the world's foremost strategic advisory body commented, a fully AEC integration could not
be achieved in the year 2015. This author also believes that Asia’s current development status
restricts the ASEAN integration process. Uneven economic development, political and
cultural differences, the weak infrastructure and inadequate provision of public goods have
become the biggest obstacles to ASEAN integration.
In Asia, China has become the world's largest political and economic variables with its
sustained and rapid development. China’s “The Belt and Road Initiative” aims to greatly
stimulate economic development potential of the countries along the belt and road by
introducing capital and technology to integrate with the countries’ cheap labor and rich
resources. The author thinks that “The Belt and Road Initiative” will lead a new model of
international relations, which can not only promote ASEAN integration, but the stability and
prosperity of Asia.
METHODOLOGY
Along with comparative analysis, trend analysis, case studies, this paper uses qualitative
analysis of the literature as the major method to demonstrate the hand-in-hand and mutually
reinforcing relationship between ASEAN integration and China’s “The Belt and Road
Initiative”. The author majored in International Politics, so such theories as structural realism,
new regionalism are applied in this paper. Some sociology theories like “public goods”and
“collective action dilemma” are also adopted as analysis tools in this paper.
THE BELT AND ROAD INITIATIVE
Concept
China’s “The Belt and Road Initiative” (B&R) is the abbreviated form of “The Silk Road
Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road”. When Chinese President Xi
Jinping visited Central Asia and Southeast Asia in September and October of 2013, he raised
the initiative of jointly building the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st-Century Maritime
Silk Road, which have attracted close attention from all over the world. In particular, the 21st
century Maritime Silk Road is closely related with ASEAN integration.
Historical Origins
The Silk Road used to be an ancient commercial trade route to connect Asia, Africa and
Europe. It started from ancient China and played the role of transporting in China’s products
like silk, porcelain at the very beginning. The road gradually became a main channel between
the East and the West to communicate in many aspects of economic, politics, and culture as
time went by. The German geographer Ferdinand von Richthofen is the first person to name
this road as “the Silk Road”（Feng 2014）. In 1877, in his book titled as China: The results
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of My Travels and the Studies Based Thereon, he used the "Silk Road" to describe the trade
route from western China to Europe and this name was soon accepted by the academic
community and the general public. Precisely, the Silk Road could be divided into the land
Silk Road and the maritime Silk Road in terms of transportation methods.
According to Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China (2015), the ancient Silk Road linked
the major civilizations of Asia, Europe and Africa, promoted the progress of human
civilization, and contributed greatly to the prosperity and development of the countries along
the Silk Road. Symbolizing communication and cooperation between the East and the West,
the Silk Road Spirit is a historic and cultural heritage shared by all countries around the
world. China used to be the starting point of the ancient Silk Road and this is the historical
logic for China to put forward B&R.
High-level guidance and facilitation
In recent years, during the official meetings with chiefs of foreign states, Chinese leaders
frequently mentioned B&R and took effort to interpret its profound and positive meaning in
the hope of reaching broad consensus on B&R.
On September 3rd
, 2013, at the 10th China-ASEAN Expo, China’s Premier Li Keqiang
emphasized the need to build the Maritime Silk Road oriented toward ASEAN, and to create
strategic propellers for hinterland development.
On September 7th
, 2013, Chinese President Xi Jinping proposed to build the "Silk Road
economic belt" when he was giving a speech at Nazarbayev University in Kazakhstan.
In August 2014, during his visit to Mongolia, Xi Jinping stated that China welcome the
neighboring countries to be "free rider."
In March 2015, the National Development and Reform Commission, Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, and Ministry of Commerce of the People's Republic of China jointly issued “Vision
and proposed actions outlined on jointly building Silk Road Economic Belt and 21st-Century
Maritime Silk Road” to promote the implementation of the Initiative, instill vigor and vitality
into the ancient Silk Road, connect Asian, European and African countries more closely and
promote mutually beneficial cooperation to a new high and in new forms.
In 2015, on the opening ceremony of the Boao forum for Asia, President Xi Jinping
delivered a keynote speech and indicated that B&R is a systematic project to integrate the
development strategies of the countries along the Belt and Road.
Objectives and Characteristics
The B&R initiative goes beyond the traditional scope of free trade zone and aims to
promote the connectivity of Asian, European and African continents and their adjacent seas,
establish and strengthen partnerships among the countries along the Belt and Road, set up all-
dimensional, composite connectivity networks, and realize diversified, independent, balanced
and sustainable development in these countries. Policy coordination, facilities connectivity,
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unimpeded trade, financial integration and people-to-people bonds are B&R’s five major
goals. Its ultimate objective is to build a community of shared interests, destiny and
responsibility featuring mutual political trust, economic integration and cultural
inclusiveness. In Southeast Asia, to update China-ASEAN FTA (Free Trade Agreement) is a
major task. Besides, as B&R’s important economic pillar, Asian Infrastructure Investment
Bank (AIIB) and Silk Road Fund will play an active role in the future cooperation.
Table 1 is a comparison between B&R initiative and two other trade agreements; they are
Trans -Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) and Regional Comprehensive Economic
Partnership (RECP). Compared with other regional trade agreements, important
characteristics of B&R initiative are its diversified cooperation mechanisms and openness to
all relevant countries and regions. Thus, B&R initiative are parallel with current regional
integration arrangements.
TABLE 1. Comparison among TPP, RRCP and B&R
Name Major Characteristics Countries Included
TPP high-level trade and
investment rules
12 countries, no China
RECP Low-level trade and
investment rules
16 countries ,no U.S.
B & R Diversified cooperation
and openness
All relevant countries and
regions are welcomed.
ASEAN INTEGRATION
In November 2007, The ASEAN Charter was adopted at the 13th ASEAN Summit in
Singapore.
On 15 December 2008, the members of ASEAN met in the Indonesian capital
of Jakarta to launch the charter, with the aim of moving closer to "an EU-style community".
ASEAN community consists of three pillars, namely the ASEAN Political-security
community (APSC) ， the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) and ASEAN Socio-
cultural Community （ASCC）. ASEAN will have one vision, one identity, one community
to cope with future challenges together.
In 2012, ASEAN leaders decided to set December 31, 2015 as the deadline for the
establishment of the ASEAN Community.
According to the current situation, the ASEAN Integration is still in trade and
investment integration stage, the degree of financial integration is still relatively low. The
work focuses on concluded and ratified inter-governmental agreements, the adoption of the
work plan, conducting relevant research, establishment of committees and so on. Work on
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reducing transaction costs, increasing intra-ASEAN flows, unifying legal system, improving
the information and communications infrastructure are slow and intermittent.
So the McKinsey Global Institute (MGI), one of the world's foremost strategic advisory
body commented that a fully AEC integration could not be achieved in the year 2015. MGI
explained that ASEAN has no institutional mechanisms and higher-level infrastructure like
European Union (EU) has, and has no seamless supply chain system to support large-scale
free trade zone trade like North American countries.
The author thinks the uneven economic development, political and cultural differences,
the weak infrastructure and inadequate provision of public goods become the biggest
obstacles to ASEAN integration. Fig.1 shows that among ASEAN countries, Singapore,
Brunei and Malaysia have rather higher GDP per capita which has exceeded $ 10,000, while
Burma, Cambodia, Lao are still trying to solve the problem of poverty reduction. Besides,
ASEAN cannot synchronize the integration process in all 10 countries without strong legal
binding and an overall governance policy.
FIGURE 1. ASEAN GDP PER CAPITA 2013
CHINA AND ASEAN
For thousands of years, Southeast Asia has been a necessary area and an important trade
hub on the ancient maritime Silk Road. China and ASEAN countries have a long history of
friendly exchanges. After 30 years of reform and opening up, China has become the world's
second largest economy. Nowadays, economic and trade exchanges between China and
ASEAN are getting more and more comprehensive and frequent. China has been the largest
trading partner of ASEAN for five consecutive years; ASEAN has been China's third largest
trading partner for four consecutive years.
On January 1st, 2010, China - ASEAN FTA, the world's largest free trade area of
developing countries were launched officially.
In October 2013, during his visit to Indonesia, China’s president Xi Jinping proposed that
the trade volume between China and ASEAN should reach 1 trillion US dollars by year 2020.
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In year 2014, the China-ASEAN bilateral trade volume was over 480 billion US dollars, the
cumulative investment was up to 120 billion US dollars.
In recent years, much pragmatic cooperation has been started between China and
ASEAN. For instance, China and Thailand have signed high-speed rail cooperation
agreement, China and Lao are going to start the China-Lao rail project. Besides, China is also
willing to actively participate in the bid for the high-speed rail from Singapore to Malaysia.
The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) governance structure policy-making
mechanism was signed on June 29, 2015, Beijing. The bank will boost Asia’s infrastructure
improvement, interconnectivity and regional cooperation.
It is worth noting that, ASEAN countries are in key positions on the 21st century Maritime
Silk Road. China’s dialogue and cooperation with ASEAN continues to expand and the
partnership characterized by good-neighborliness and mutual trust will be further developed.
A PERSPECTIVE OF STRUCTURAL REALISM
Structural realism
Structural Realism, also known as Neo-realism, is one of the main schools of
international relations theory, it rose in the late 1970s and the most important proponent of
Structural Realism was Kenneth Waltz. Karen (2007,69) describes that according to
Structural Realism, the most important unit to study should be the structure of international
system. And the interaction of sovereign states can be explained by the pressures exerted on
them by the anarchic structure of the international system, which limits and constrains their
choices.
Current international system
The current international system is facing a great transition from the United States
dominated or the Western-led international system to an East-West joint administration
system. Economic globalization and political multi-polarization is the most typical feature.
According to Su (2014), global governance falls into the category of multilateral diplomacy,
Asia, Africa, and Latin America has become the highlight of world economic growth, the
BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China) are playing increasingly important roles on
the global governance arena. As to China and ASEAN, China has become the world's second
largest economy; China- ASEAN FTA is the most populous FTA and a pivotal huge
economy in the world at present.
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Motivation analysis of B&R initiative
Objective causes
As to China, B&R initiative contributes to the industrial restructuring within China by
orderly transferring the overcapacity and uneconomic businesses to foreign developing
countries and changing the capacity into elements of economic development. Meanwhile,
China has huge foreign exchange reserves and abundant domestic savings, has established
independent global payment system, the RMB is getting popular as a trade settlement. By the
B&R initiative, China's foreign exchange reserves and domestic hot money could be a strong
dynamic mechanism to promote the economic development of other countries.
As to ASEAN, most member states are developing countries with the same goal of
developing industries to create job opportunities and improve peoples’ lives. And
infrastructure is a prerequisite for any country's industrialization, urbanization and economic
take-off. Within ASEAN, many countries are in urgent need of infrastructure upgrading and
greater investment will be needed particularly in the development of regional infrastructure.
With the establishment of AIIB, ASEAN expects to see more money flowing into the region
to shore up infrastructure capabilities. On the other hand, China's industrial sector has a huge
capacity and covers different types of infrastructure products. ASEAN can also structure
inter-regional transport infrastructure network with the help from China and then form an
effective regional and interregional economic space network.
As far as the whole Asia is concerned, as the world's most dynamic region, Asia also
needs to build diversified new cooperation mechanisms in addition to the existing framework
of regional economic cooperation to cope with the complex international and regional
situations.
Subjective causes
Both ASEAN integration and B&R initiative aim to promote inter-regional and regional
cooperation, which requires countries to provide public goods, in particular, infrastructure
products. According to Mancur Lloyd Olson’s “collective action” theory, when countries find
they cannot produce sufficient public goods or a single action cannot effectively produce the
desired products, they will consider collective action. But collective action is that each
member of a group wants other members to make necessary sacrifices while he or she 'free
rides', reaping the benefits of collective action without doing the work. Inevitably the end
result is that no one does the work and the common interest is not realized (Olson 1995,
3). Although cooperation would be the better outcome for both sides, mutual distrust leads to
the adoption of strategies that have negative outcomes for individual players and all players
combined. Olson named this problem as "collective action dilemma.
In a sense, the ASEAN integration process also met the dilemma of collective action. This
is because the outcome of collective action has a public nature, all members can benefit from
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the collective, including those members do not take the cost of collective action, so inevitably
there will be inactive members and free riders.
On March 23, 2015, in his speech on the China Development Forum luncheon, China’s
Foreign Minister Wang Yi indicated that B&R initiative aims to provide the world of Chinese
public goods, China welcome states, international organizations, multinational corporations,
financial institutions and non-governmental organizations to participate in the specific
cooperation.
According to John Locke, the English philosopher and physician, selfishness is the
essence of human nature. The Hobbes traps also explained the difficulties of inter-State
cooperation (Li, Nie 2008, 276). Why China's B&R initiative can promote the cooperation
between China and ASEAN, to solve the problem of collective action? From a perspective of
structural realism, this author gets following answer. First, according to Waltz, if there is big
gap between the most powerful country and other countries, the former is more likely to take
action for the benefit of the overall system. Compared with ASEAN countries, China is a
relatively large economy partner, and China also needs to set up all-dimensional and
composite connectivity networks with the countries along the Belt and Road. The theory of
"collective action" also shows that when a large group was unable to take collective action, it
will provide public goods voluntarily.
Impact of “The Belt and Road Initiative” on ASEAN Integration
On March 28, 2015, in his speech at the Boao Forum for Asia, China’s Foreign Minister
Wang Yi pointed out that Chinese economy has entered a "new normal state" and the
ASEAN countries are first choice for China's spare capacity to go out. China will work with
ASEAN to establish more industrial parks to assist the local industrial upgrading, translate
the development potential into advantages, and then outcomes. Wang believes that this will
facilitate the integration of the Asian economy, will be conducive to the democratization of
international relations. Wang Yi also announced that China supports the ASEAN
Community, ASEAN and China will deepen the dialogue and cooperation among countries in
the Lancang - Mekong basin area, and China will take concrete action to assist ASEAN to
narrow its internal gap and achieve overall development. Meanwhile, China will promote
ASEAN integration process through B&R initiative and the Greater Mekong Subregion
Economic Cooperation.
This author believes that B&R initiative is both actual and visionary, is able to promote
ASEAN integration, and even improve the relationship between China and several ASEAN
countries which have territorial disputes with China. Firstly, according to the concept of the
new regionalism, a big country will normally make interest transfer in economic sphere to
small countries because of some cost - benefit considerations in non-economic area which
give big countries an advantage to promote the regional integration process. This can be
verified from some Early Harvest Programs between China and ASEAN countries (Shang
2005, 2). Moreover, from a political point of view, public goods would not only promote
regional cooperation from an institutional level, but also make the relevant interests of all
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countries connected closely, helping to increase trust and reduce suspicion and friction. By
creating common interests to mitigate conflict, this may expand negotiation space for
addressing territorial disputes. Last but not least, from a global perspective, China has begun
bold attempts to provide regional public goods; China can fill the lack of infrastructure and
public works supply caused by economic stagnation in US, Japan and Europe. B&R initiative
can help rebalance the world economy, but also realize the rebalancing of Chinese economy
itself.
CONCLUSION
Complex and profound changes are taking place in the world. The world economy is
recovering slowly, and global development is uneven; the international trade and investment
landscape and rules for multilateral trade and investment are undergoing major adjustments;
and countries still face big challenges to their development. China is the largest developing
country in the world and it is China’s international responsibility to help developing
countries. According to Paul (2015), China is committed to shouldering more responsibilities
and obligations within its capabilities. China should play a role of engine power in global
economic governance as well as exploring the cooperation model of new-types of multilateral
mechanisms.
The B&R initiative is not just an economic project, but also a global governance
project. It is a systematic project, which should be jointly built through consultation to meet
the interests of all, and efforts should be made to integrate the development strategies of the
countries along the Belt and Road. Many transnational activities under this platform have
regional or inter-regional public goods properties. The "Maritime Silk Road" can promote
ASEAN integration process through the provision of public goods along the region. In
addition, B&R initiative is a new diversified cooperation mechanisms and in the interests of
the world community. Reflecting the common ideals and pursuit of human societies, it is a
positive endeavor to seek new models of international cooperation and global governance,
and will inject new positive energy into world peace and development.
ACKNOWLEGGMENT
The author would like to thank organizers of the 1st International Conference on “Business
Management and Social Sciences: Toward ASEAN Integration 2015” and Faculty of
International Studies of Prince of Songkla University for providing this wonderful
opportunity to study and communicate. The author also would like to thank Mr. Inderpal
Virdee for his helpful proofreading.
REFERENCE LIST
Association of Southeast Asian Nations. (2009). Roadmap for an ASEAN Community 2009-
2015. Jakarta, ASEAN Secretariat.
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Feng, Zongxian. (2014). Strategic transport arteries connecting transport arteries China to
Eurasia: details of the area, route and function of the Silk Road Economic Belt. People's
Forum and Academic Front, (4), p.79-85.
Karen, A. (2007). Essentials of International Relations. Shanghai, Shanghai People’s
Publishing House.
Li, Tingting. & Nie, Cunhu. (2008). Overview of Human Nature in Western Political
Philosophy. [Online] Available at: http://www.docin.com/p-688676071.html
Mancur, Olsen. (1995). The logic of Collective Action. Shanghai, Shanghai People’s
Publishing House.
Paul, Martin. (2015). Can China revive G20? [Online] Available at:
http://www.guancha.cn/PaulMartin/2015_11_01_339607.shtml
Shang, Guoji. (2005). Early Harvest Program between China and ASEAN. [Online]
Available at:
http://www.mofcom.gov.cn/article/Nocategory/200507/20050700180151.shtml
State Council of the People's Republic of China. (2015). Vision and proposed actions
outlined on jointly building Silk Road Economic Belt and 21st-Century Maritime Silk
Road. [Online] Available at: http://language.chinadaily.com.cn/2015-
03/30/content_19950951.htm
Su, Changhe. (2014). Chinese Wisdom in International System Reform. [Online]
Available at: http://www.jfdaily.com/pl/bw/201407/t20140719_568924.html
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Spirit Mediumship and Performance Approach:
Dramatism of Human Behavior in the Theatrical World
Dr. Rataporn de Jong
Department of Thai and ASEAN Studies
Faculty of International Studies
Prince of Songkla University
Phuket, Thailand
Corresponding author: [email protected]
Abstract. Human behavior in everyday life as in a great theater where everybody is an actor, they presenting various types
of performance following the traditions of various cultures. Some of these performances are not only for entertainment like
dramas which actors play a comedy or tragedy organized by the director of the presentation.
Through the eyes of the anthropologist, all the movement performers and their audiences have to be observed and discussed
both when they were performing on stage and also after the performance is over. Therefore here, besides the discussion
about the theories which help to explain the strategy of presentation through the body in social space, the theories which
support the analysis of the consequences of performance as an aspect of relation to social prestige, power, ethnicity, and
gender will also be presented. For more clear understanding in this article will illustrate the phenomena of spirit medium or
spirit possession
Keywords: Performance, Ethnicity, Gender, Spirit Mediumship
INTRODUCTION
The concepts of performance, which is the main issue of my article, and other
supporting theories, will be explained. Complete explanation and illustration will follow.
Therefore the theories are discussed, in this article, to elucidate the following chapters of
explanations. Furthermore this chapter comprises general arguments about spirit mediumship,
followed by general theoretical discussions to illustrate the previous speculations about spirit
mediumship from many research studies, which appear in general studies of various cultures.
Finally came a discussion about literature covering Thai possession studies. The studies of
spirit mediumship from many cultural settings lead to an understanding of the basic
circumstances of the possession ritual and it is useful to compare the latter with my research.
Yet the theories which support my research are based on the cultural setting in Thai society.
The discussion and elaboration of the meaning of the word “spirit medium” and the
illustrations will be important in order to understand particularly the character of spirit media.
Consequently the examination of the definition of the spirit medium from a culture approach
has been emphasized. While in modern medicine and psychology, a spirit medium is defined
as a person who has mental illness, hysteria or madness. Many cultures, even in non-literate
societies, have the words to identify spirit possession and spirit media, so that the people
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understand from this abnormal behaviour that a person is inhabited and controlled by a spirit.
Initially, in their studies of spirit possession, anthropologists interpreted the causes of this
abnormal behaviour and most studies concluded that spirit possession is the reflection of
unusual symptoms of human bodies and minds. In consideration of the word “spirit medium”
the behaviour relates to the term possession and trance, Walker (1972, 3-4) elucidated that
“trance” is the scientific description of a psychological and physiological state in western
terminology, whereas possession is the folk explanation for the same thing. Typical of the
state of possession is any native theory which explains any event of human behaviour as
being the result of the physical presence in a human body of an alien spirit which takes
control of the host’s executive functions, most frequently speech and control of the skeletal
musculature (Wallace 1959, 59).
Thus, the individual ’s state of dissociation or autohypnosis, or claim to illness, which
is society ’s explanation of what it recognizes as unusual behaviour is due to the control of an
outside agent who either inspires the individual to act in a particular manner, or displaces the
individual ’s personality and acts in its stead. Given this distinction, trance can exist without
being explained as possession, but in the societies being considered some degree of trance
usually does exist, barring faking, when the term possession is used, and most states of trance
and altered states of consciousness are explained as possession. Even some pathological
altered states of consciousness, recognized as insanity by the society in question, are looked
upon as possession by demons or spirits which are in some way evil or harmful. In many
societies, it is important that the agent of possession, in the terms of folk theory, caused by
the same mechanism, usually displacement of a soul and possession indicates communication
with the supernatural. The communication may be considered good or bad depending upon
the nature of the possessing agent and the content of the possession, and these factors
determine the response of the individual and of the community (Walker 1972, 4). The state of
possession is manifested by alterations in behaviour, speech, voice, facial expression and
motor behaviour as well as by changes in clothing and in the manner in which the individual
responds to others (Bourguignon 1965, 45).
Firth explains “Spirit Meiumship” as “the use of such behaviour by members of the
society as a means of communication with what they understand to be entities in the spirit
world” (Crapanzano 1977, 9). Furthermore, the behaviour of the person possessed by the
spirit must be intelligible or able to be interpreted; this implies that it must follow some fairly
regular, predictable pattern, usually of speech. Babb (1974b, 31) gave the definition of a spirit
medium, who is a person, acting as an agency of communication between the people of this
world and the denizens of another. For the role of the spirit medium that Babb referred to in
this recounts that the medium’s original encounter with the deity is often linked with what
may be termed a paradigmatic cure, a cure which provides a pattern for the hoped thing, for a
relationship between the spirit medium’s clients and his possessing deities. However he may
present himself to clients, the spirit medium’s practice must ultimately stand or fall on the
claim that through him his clients have uniquely direct access to supernatural beings. Elliott
(1955, 15), who studied Chinese spirit media in Singapore, stated; “The undefined power
possesses the body of a human medium and enables him to inflict injury upon himself
without feeling pain and to speak with divine wisdom, giving advice to worshippers and
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curing their illnesses.”
From the discussion about spirit mediumship, this phenomenon can be interpreted as
an altered state of consciousness or a state of unconsciousness in order to understand the
spirit possession of a human body and the influence on his behaviour. In many cultures this is
positively acknowledged by the population and becomes the significant ritual. However the
spirit media can be divided into two groups according to the frequency of possession; the first
group enters into possessed states on certain festival occasions. In Singapore many Indian
people become possessed by Hindu gods only in the context of the south Indian festival
calendar (see Babb 1974b). In northern Thailand it takes place in the Phi Meng ritual (see
Tanabe 1991), to sacrifice the ancestor spirits. In this ritual period, matrilineal spirits
possessed many women. Moreover in the Chinese Vegetarian Festival” in Puket Province in
Southern Thailand many spirit media are possessed by Chinese deities to perform miracles.
Almost all spirit media in this festival enter into possession merely during this festival. The
second group is the routine spirit medium. They will enter into the possession state and offer
services to their clients at any time.
In central of Thailand most of the spirit media were routine spirit media, only very
few of them entered into possession occasionally during important rituals such as the annual
ceremony or the Wai Khru ritual of their gods or of other spirit media. In these cases I found
that most of them were new spirit media and were not ready to offer a service to clients, as
they were still reticent to present themselves as gods. Furthermore from my experience in
Prachuap Khirikhan province, there is the ritual of Phi Kalok Phi Kala, an annual play during
the Songkran Festival, during which the people sing a song together and hit coconut shells or
Kala. The intensive rhythm of music motivates the spirit medium to possess the spirit of
Kala. After that the spirit medium chases the participants who run away. In this situation the
possession ritual provides entertainment in the community. Therefore, generally in every part
of Thailand, the routine spirit media are more widespread than occasional spirit media.
However these two groups of spirit media both have vital roles. If we compare their roles,
routine and occasional spirit media are agents who maintain and continue the belief system of
communities. Yet routine spirit media play a more intensive role in solving daily life
problems than occasional spirit media. Thus a routine spirit medium can make a living from
the performance of the possession ritual.
Nevertheless, for this study, it is proposed to give the definition of spirit medium as
below:
1. As an agent that mediates between humans and spirits, they perform as gods when
entering into an altered state of consciousness.
2. Performing rituals to fulfil the needs of their community.
The definitions given above did not include individuals who occasionally enter into
the possession state at certain festivals to perform miracles, such as fire walking, climbing
knife-blade ladders, piercing their cheeks and bodies with sharp objects. These individuals
take a vow so that they don’t need to be routinely possessed. They enter into a possession
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state only for a special occasion. Therefore they are not available to the public on a regular
basis. However when dissociation from their own personality occurs and the gods are
assigned the responsibility for their behaviour, the social significance of the behaviour is
changed. Thus, disguise may make the behaviour excusable, “possession” and its attendant
dissociation will give it prestige and authority. Since the actions were carried out by gods, by
entities not only other than the self but more powerful than the self, no fear or guilt or shame
or social censure attaches to them. Turner (1984, 8) wrote in his book entitled “The Body and
Society: Explorations in Social Theory” that there are also immaterial bodies which are
possessed by ghosts, spirits, demons and angels. In some cultures, such immaterial bodies
may play the major social roles and have important social locations within the system of
stratification. There are also persons with two bodies, such as mediaeval kings, who occupied
simultaneously their human body and their sovereign body. Then the spirit medium is a
precedent of the person, who has two bodies; one is the real body and another is the body
occupied by god. The second body involves the process of embodiment through the form of
performance. While, every society regulates and restrains bodies in space by laws, in this
theme, the body seems to be an object. However, the representation of the body in social
space can also fail. So, to respect the body as subjective, the movement of the body can be
used to understand how it inhabits social space. According to the topic of the self and
behavioural environment, the identity of god has significance in the social structure.
Therefore, spirit media as social actors continually display their identity through their
engagements with others and the world, constantly interfere and negotiate the distinction. As
well as fractured bodies and identities, the spirit medium involves many femininities and
masculinities that are tempered by ethnicity, class and histories.
Therefore describing spirit mediumship phenomena, it is necessary to elucidate and
discuss the concepts which are frames of explanation. The present study is a monograph
which conceptualizes the body that emphasizes the dimension of performance that has been
explored. Therefore here, besides the discussion about the theories which help to explain the
strategy of presentation through the body in social space, the theories which support the
analysis of the consequences of performance as an aspect of social prestige, power, ethnicity,
and gender will also be presented. Theories of performance as the main concept to explain the
performance of being a god and its ensuing consequences, moreover the gender of spirit
media have the significant of the differences between male and female in the possession
ritual. The changes occur to the individual after he or she possesses spirit medium status,
which obviously effects their relationship with the people around them. Thus gain more
comprehension concept of gender ethnicity are included to explicit analyze spirit medium
being.
PERFORMANCE THEORIES, BODY AND INTERACTION
The spirit medium carries the important role of spirit possession. Actually, when the
conception of body has been brought into the discussion, it can be said that obviously the
whole phenomenon of human society could also be explained by this approach. There are
various theories of the body to be considered. However the primary one is about the meaning
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of body and the correlation between body and social construction to explain how the human
body, is held as a social product. In social science, social Darwinism and Functionalism of
Talcott Parsons, the body is seen as a biological organism; each person or body has an
important role in the social system. In the doctrine of Marxism, the body is identified in the
theme of need and nature, the wealth of material proceeds to beatification, and thus
responding to material need is significant to this theory as well. Moreover, to Freud human
embodiment is seen as a field of energy in the form of desire. Anthropologists analyze
tradition and carry out research on body rituals.
To comprehend the issue of ritual performance which deals with the presentation of a
god through the human body who is the main actor. In cultural behaviour at any level,
performance has been offered as a metaphor for social interpretation for at least two decades.
Turner (1986, 77- 81) defined performance as social or cultural drama, in which he included
such mundane communicative phenomena as “speech behaviour” and “the presentation of
self in everyday life,” as well as the more grandiose “state drama or social drama”. Tambiah
(1985, 128) has suggested that ritual acts are performative, first “in the Austinian sense” by
analogy to speech acts, second as staged performances using multiple media, or third as
“indexical values” attached to and inferred by actors. Goffman (1959, 15-22) defined the
term “performance” as all the activity of a given participant on a given occasion which serves
to influence in any way any of the other participants. Therefore Goffman has been using the
term “performance” to refer to all the activity of an individual which occurs during a period
of observation and which has some influence on the observers. Schechner (1988, 257)claims:
(1) there is a unifiable realm of performance that includes ritual, theatre, dance, music, sport,
play, social drama, and various popular entertainments ; (2) certain patterns can be detected
among these examples; (3) from these patterns theorists can develop consistent broad-based
models that respect the immediacy, ephemerality, peculiarity and ever-changingness of
individual performances, runs, and genres. For Schechner (1985) the key queries in the
analysis of performances are namely who performers are, how they achieve their temporary
or permanent transformations, and what role the audience plays. Accordingly as
anthropologist and sociologist, Turner and Goffman are known for using a theatre or
performance paradigm to view social and individual actions, recognizing the dramatic and
staged performance quality in everyday as well as in special behaviour. Schechner came to
the subject of behaviour as performance from the perspective of a theatre director and actor.
Turner’s close associate Schechner (1985, 4-6) has called attention to the interplay between
ordinary consciousness as “the world of contingent existence as ordinary objects and
persons” and performance consciousness in “the world of transcendent existence as magical
implements, gods, demons, characters”; there is a parallel tension experienced by a performer
as simultaneously “himself” and “not himself”. The distinction between ordinary
consciousness and performance consciousness is actually a distinction between levels of
performance consciousness.
For Goffman, in performance doctrine it is explicit that the body formed an implicit
foundation of his theories of stigma, face-work, embarrassment and social self, although it
was characteristic of Goffman’s work as an ethnographer of social life that a specific theory
of embodiment was never produced. However, there is clearly a Goffman legacy in modern
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symbolic interactionism which has, more than most other theoretical traditions in sociology,
regularly produced a sociological awareness of the symbolic significance of the body to the
interactional order (Turner 1991, 11). In his work “The Presentation of Self in Everyday
Life” Goffman (1959) said the body appears as the presentational self in social space that
social relations constitute a stage, upon which the social actor presents a performance and
performance is embodied in the performing of everyday life, here body is held as a vehicle of
self. In regarding the spirit medium, the self clearly involves a continuity of the body and one
of the souls, but not a continuity of personal identity, memory or responsibility for actions
carried out by one’s body, when it becomes the temporary vehicle and residence of another,
more powerful spirit. It is even expected that there will be no continuity in the body’s
physiological response, since that response is an attribute of the possessing spirit, rather than
of its vehicle. In Goffman’s perspective of the theatrical performance, the principles derived
are dramaturgical that consider the way in which the individual presents himself and his
activity to others and the ways in which he guides and controls the impression they form of
him. The stage presents things that are make-believe; presumably life presents things that are
real and sometimes not well enumerated. Goffman (1959, 22-24) has offered and
distinguished the standard parts of performance on front stage in three parts namely (1) the
“setting,” involves furniture, décor, physical layout, and other background items which
supply the scenery and stage props for the spate of human action played out before, within, or
upon it. A setting tends to stay put, geographically speaking, so that those who would use a
particular setting as part of their performance cannot begin their act until they have brought
themselves to the appropriate place and must terminate their performance when they leave it;
(2) as part of “Appearance”, insignia of office or rank; clothing, sex, age, and racial
characteristics; size and looks, may be taken to refer to those stimuli which function at the
time to tell us of the performer’s social status. These stimuli also tell us of the individual’s
temporary ritual state, that is, whether he is engaging in formal social activity, work, or
informal recreation, whether or not he is celebrating a new phase in the season cycle or in his
life-cycle; (3) “Manner”, posture; speech patterns; facial expressions; bodily gesture; and the
like, may be taken to refer to those stimuli which function at the time to warn us of the
interaction role the performer will expect to play in the oncoming situation. Thus a haughty,
aggressive manner may give the impression that the performer expects to be the one who will
initiate the verbal interaction and direct its course. The performance criteria of Goffman give
the line to analyze possession ritual that contains the interaction between spirit medium and
participants.
For Schieffelin (1985, 721-722)’s view of performance, the reality evoked in the
performance does not derive directly from its following a coherent ritual structure, but from
the process of dialogic interaction between the medium and the participants. What renders the
performance compelling is not primarily the meanings embodied in symbolic materials
themselves but the way the symbolic material emerges in the interaction, starting with the
people’s expectations and anxieties over problems in everyday life. In the séance the
performance is gripping not because of the vivid display of symbolic materials but because
the symbolic material is incomplete. Reality and conviction reside not in the spirit’s message
but in the tension produced when some important communication seems at once clear and
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ambiguous. This experience of inconclusiveness and imbalance gives people little choice but
to make their own moves of creative imagination if they are to make sense of the
performance and arrive at a meaningful account of what is happening. In so doing however,
they complete the construction of its reality. In this way the people reach fundamental
symbolic understandings and arrive at solutions to their problems, not in a cognitive or
intellectual way so much as in a participant one whose cognitive shape may not be well
worked out for a given individual, but which is assumed to make sense because the realities it
represents are so vivid. Once this séance reality is constructed, it may spill over into everyday
life. The performance, in effect, becomes life, no less than life is reflected in the performance,
and the vehicle for constructing social reality and personal conviction appears more as drama
than as rational thought. It is evident that it is impossible to separate the dramatic aspects of
ritual symbols from their meanings if we want to know their significance or why they are
compelling. This is not just a matter of presentation: many things are cognitively accepted in
performance precisely because they are dramatic, impressive, or mysterious rather than
because their rational significance is understood, provided, of course, they do not stray too far
beyond the limits of cultural common sense. The socially emergent dimension of
performance constructed through the interaction of the performers and participants but not
reducible to them, constitutes the reality in which the actual work of the séance gets done.
This emergent dimension stands beyond the text or structure of the performance itself (while
at the same time embodying it) so that the séance confronts the participants as an event in
which they are involved and that can have consequences for them and their particular
situation. The approach work of a performance can never be discovered only by examining
the text, or the script, or the symbolic meanings embodied in the ritual alone. It must be
analyzed further in the emerging relation between the performer and the other participants
while the performance is in progress. Because ritual in performance is a reality apart from its
participants, the participants may not all experience the same significance or efficacy. Indeed,
unless there is some kind of exegetical supervision of both performance and interpretation by
members of community, the performance is bound to mean different things to different
people. The performance is objectively and socially validated by the participants when they
share its action and intensity no matter what each person may individually think about it. It
follows that the meaning of ritual performance is only partly resident in the symbols and
symbolic structures of which it is constructed. To a large degree the meanings of the symbols
and of the rite itself are created during the performance, evoked in the participants’
imagination in the negotiation between the principal performers and the participants. Here the
viewpoint of Schieffelin guides the line to comprehend the reality of performance that it
resides in the interaction between spirit medium and participants and the context of cultural,
expectation, interpretation and cognition of participants are contemplated.
In Kendall (1996)’s work “Initiating Performance: The Story of Chini, a Korean
Shaman”, is the illustration of her notion that emphasizes the performer’s knowledge and
skill of ritual performance. Kendall (1996, 20) remarked that it remained for avant-garde
theatre to insist the elemental drama was something more than the imitation of a reality that
existed elsewhere and to seek in ritual and in ritual dramas a revitalized knowledge of
compelling performance. Thus, rituals are viewed as more than the sum of their structure and
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symbols, as an enacted realization of personal and collective knowledge. Enactment implied a
broad range of knowledge and skill. If music, song, dance, drama, and mime are inextricable
from the texts of ritual, it follows that the skilled performances of shamans, media, and
accompanying musicians are also intrinsic to the efficacy of the event, however “efficacy”
might be emically rendered. Also Boddy (1989, 134) has alluded to skill in ritual
performance illustration of spirit possession that it must conform to prescribed patterns of
“spiritness,” trance performance requires skill and considerable control.
GENDER ISSUE AND THE GOD PRESENTATION
Taking into consideration performance and gender one can comprehend how people
in identifying with their role can change their gender when they perform as representatives of
gods. This changes the interactions between the persons now representing gods and the
people around them and additionally clarifies the inequality between male and female in the
possession ritual performance. For Thai society the main religion, Hinayan Buddhism or
Theravada, can determine the role of male and female. Keyes (1984, 223) states that in Thai
society, like other Theravada Buddhist societies (Sri Lanka, Burma, Laos, Cambodia),
fundamental understandings of the world have been constructed on the basis of Buddhist
dogmas communicated through ritual, instruction in the dhamma, the teachings of the
Buddha, and practice of the dhamma, most notably by members of the order of monks. In
Thai society the culture of gender has also been shaped by Buddhist assumptions regarding
the fundamental nature of reality. In other words the Buddhist worldview adopted by Thai
people shaped their orientation toward society. Fundamental to this order was the division
between the sexes. According to the rules of the main religion of Thai society only males can
become monks. In other words only males can assume the roles in which the teachings of the
Buddha are both practiced and perpetuated. The Buddhist culture of Thai society
differentiates males and females according to attributes that are fundamentally given and thus
natural within the terms of the Buddhist worldview. Therefore in the context of Buddhism
women’s roles are poorly developed and not highly regarded and women are incapable of
tearing themselves away from their worldly interests and responsibilities. Secondly, women
tend to specialize in “merit making” activities, because women need more merit than men
and therefore women engage in types of activity which might pose threats for men in their
merit accumulation, if women sin, it is only to be expected and the consequences are less.
According to this argument, in Buddhism in Thai society there is no equivalent role for
women to that of men. However, a connection was made between the secular role of woman
as mother and woman as nurturer for the religion. Regarding the roles of male and female in
the family Preecha Kuwinpant (2002, 6-7) explains that “expectations upon the roles of men
and women or boys and girls are also different. Actually, men occupy a higher status than
that of women in almost all activities. It is men who lead the family, the community and even
the country. Women are restricted by many rules and norms. Her life is centred on the house,
looking after her family along with her mother. Her husband is head of the family and the one
who makes decisions on important matters concerning the family. In general, however,
especially in rural areas a wife is still subordinate to her husband and women are still
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following the lead of men. But there is no longer a serious barrier against women in
participating in any kind of activities.” Concerning the significance of the possession ritual
performance and gender, becoming a spirit medium can be used as a strategy to alter a
person’s gender in the eyes of the family and in the context of Theravada Buddhism, which is
an advantage for an oppressed female. For spirit mediumship in Thailand, the spirits which
appear in the possession ritual might be the same sex or a different sex from the people
possessed.
The theory of performativity supports in understanding a system in which geniality
and gender are not only independent of each other, but shift constantly depending on the
performative, which is to say social and political, context of the body. The Transgender and
Transvestite are obviously presented in discussions of spirit possession. Several accounts
attempt to explain possession rituals as kinds of cross-dressing in which the assumption of
costume and new bodily postures signifies and effects the vehicle’s transformation from one
gender state to another. In many cases, possession rituals seem to permit women to take on
the attire and gestures as well as many of the privileges normally denied them in everyday
life. On the surface, this seems to entail the spirit medium’s transformation from female to
male and often from lower status female to higher status male, although movement is often
along the vector of class only, thus common women and men appear to assume the personae
of similar or different gender monarchs. In case of differences, possession is seen as evidence
of a disjuncture between body and subject and distinction between spirit medium and spirit.
The spirit which appears in possession may be of the same sex or of a different sex from the
person it possesses. In many ways the female spirit medium and her spirit are opposites. She
is frequently lower class and under-educated while her male spirit is usually a wealthy,
sophisticated royal or religious figure. Male spirits are masculine, authoritative, wise, capable
of violence but generally kind and helpful to humankind, as they have come to earth to make
more merit for themselves. A female spirit medium possessed by a warrior might behave
stridently, chewing tobacco, drinking alcohol and sometimes womanizing with audience
members.
For complete explanation, if we consider the underlying physical differences between
male and female spirit media, menstrual blood is held as the cause of inequality and
restriction of ritual practice. In a book “Blood Magic: The Anthropology of Menstruation”
Buckley and Gottlieb (1988, 3) referred to the conduct of menstruating women who have
placed menstruation in the foreground of anthropological studies of “taboo” and, more
recently, of symbolic “pollution.” Menstrual taboos have been seen in turn as evidence of
primitive irrationality and the supposed universal dominance of men over women in society.
The widespread occurrence of menstrual taboos and their cross-cultural similarities have
spurred a search for their universal origins, once identified with the very wellsprings of social
organization (Durkheim 1897, 50) and, more recently, of religious thought (Douglas 1966, 6).
The majority of ethnographic reports of menstrual customs and beliefs have been restricted to
terse statements on the meaning of menstrual blood that is seen always as symbolically
dangerous or otherwise defiling and to normative accounts of the practices instituted to
contain the perceived negative potency of the substance. These analyses have great
predictability, for again and again they centre on the concepts of taboo (supernaturally
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sanctioned law) and pollution (symbolic contamination). In the work of Young and
Bacdayam (1965) “Menstrual Taboos and Social Rigidity” some taboos restrict the behaviour
of menstruating women themselves, whereas others restrict the behaviour of other people in
relation to such women. The threats that are culturally attributed to menstruation must
likewise be analytically separated. Moreover, if the taboo is violated, will the menstruating
woman harm someone else or herself? Frazer pointed out long ago (1950-1963, 260) that
these two kinds of danger associated with taboos are quite separate, and we urge that they are
treated as such (Buckley and Gottlieb 1988, 10). Mary Douglas (1966) has written on the
topic of menstrual pollution. Her broader investigations of pollution and of body symbolism
place her foremost among theoretical contributors to the comparative cultural-anthropological
study of menstruation. She proposes that the cultural coding of a substance as a pollutant is
based in a shared perception of that substance as anomalous to general symbolic, or cultural,
order. Pollutants are coded as “dirt”, symbolic “matter out of place”. As such, pollutants are
at once a product of a specific symbolic order and a danger to it. As dangers to symbolic
order, pollutants are also perceived as dangers to social order given that for Douglas-
following-Durkheim-the symbolic system has functional goals in the maintenance of society.
Hence the acknowledgement of pollutants in cultural systems is accompanied by prohibitions
the intent of which is the protection of social order from disruptive forces symbolized by
culturally defined anomalous substances. Therefore in terms of Douglas’s concept, menstrual
blood is perceived as a dire pollutant whose effects must be contained through stringent
taboos. However, according to Douglas, anomalies are simply powerful, their power being
granted a negative or positive valence to be determined through specific cultural analysis.
In my cultural setting, menstrual blood is evaluated from a negative viewpoint as
pollution, hence the body of a female spirit medium who is in the period of monthly bleeding
is not pure enough if she possesses and will affect the power of god in ritual and may harm
herself. From this topic of pollution, the taboo of female possession is constructed to prohibit
female spirit media from performing possession rituals between during their monthly periods.
Beyond menstrual blood being harmful to female spirit media, for male spirit media,
menstruating women are dangerous for his possession ritual. Thus they are prohibited from
participating in the possession of male spirit media, also of female spirit media and other
females. Here, the inequality between male and female, in the possession ritual, is confirmed
by the idea of the female body being restricted and oppressed that is brought about by the
negative meaning of the symbol which is menstrual blood which indicates that the category
of woman is socially constructed in such a way that to be a woman is, by definition, to be in
an oppressed situation.
ETHNIC GROUPS AND CULTURAL MIXING, BORROWING AND ADOPTION
In Thai society, there are many ethnic groups that have lived together for a long time
under the domination of Thai culture. Nevertheless one sees the phenomena of mixing,
borrowing and adoption of culture among ethnic groups. One of the most disputed terms in
postcolonial studies, “Hybridity” commonly refers to “the creation of new transcultural forms
within the contact zone produced by colonization.” Hybridity refers in its most basic sense to
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mix, to the occurrence of mixture. Hybridisation is understood as the process by which
hybridity occurs and a hybrid is formed. The term originates from biology and was
subsequently employed in linguistics and in racial theory in the nineteenth century. Its
contemporary uses are scattered across numerous academic disciplines and is salient in
culture. A hybrid is something that is mixed, hybridity is simply mixture. Hybridity is not
confined to a cataloguing of difference. Its ‘unity’ is not found in the sum of its parts, but
emerges from the process of opening what Homi Bhabha has called, “a third space”, within
which other elements encounter and transform each other. Hybridity is both the assemblage
that occurs whenever two or more elements meet, and the initiation of a process of change
(Papastergiadis 2000, 170).
In regarding Thai society, its social context and political structure permit the
opportunity of cultural exchange; therefore hybridity clearly appears in the dimension of a
belief system, especially among Thai, Chinese and the Hindu religion. The Chinese
immigrated to settle in Thai society. Simultaneously they brought the Greater Vehicle or the
Mahayana Buddhism and worship ritual of gods into Thai society. On this theme, Landon
(1946, 149), in a book The Chinese in Thailand states that the religions of the Chinese in
Thailand are composed of many belief systems such as Taoism, Confucianism, Buddhism,
ancestor and spirit worship etc. The Chinese in Thai society or Sino-Thai have a belief
system and ritual practice that comes from various religions. However, they placed no
emphasis on believing in one religion at all. The Chinese have many more gods than other
ethnic groups and their gods originated from natural phenomena, Taoism and the Mahayana
Buddhism. Hinayana Buddhism is held as the main religion of Thailand, however the belief
in spirit phenomena is still buried deeply in Thai culture and it has an important role in the
Thai way of life. So, it can be seen that Thais still worship gods, spirits and souls of dead
people at the present time. There are not many differences between the beliefs in spirits of the
Thais or of the Chinese who immigrated into Thai society in the Ayutthaya period. Not
withstanding that, most rituals of the Chinese in Thailand try to follow Taoism, however,
they are sometimes called Buddhists as are Thai people. Therefore, at the same time the
Chinese accepted Buddhist rituals that Thai have always practiced, such as merit making on
major Buddhist Holy Days and ordination as Buddhist monks in Hinayana Buddhism.
Somboon Suksamran (1976, 23), who studied Chinese belief in Thai Society, states that there
is not much difference between the religious belief of Thais and Chinese. Both the Chinese
and Thai could weld harmoniously together. Most Thai people identify themselves as
Buddhists, nevertheless they believe in sacred things and spirit possession. Although most of
the Chinese in Thai Society performed Taoist rituals, sacrificing gods and sacred things,
however in common with Buddhism the sect of the Greater Vehicle (Mahayana) still
influences many rituals of the Chinese in Thai society.
Chatsumarn (1984, 13), in her research of “Religious Beliefs and practices of the Thai
People in Nakhon Pathom”, wrote about the belief of Chinese in Nakhon Pathom “Religious
practices as carried out by the Chinese lack the basic understanding of religious context
underlying it. Therefore, religious observances become only traditional practices lacking
inner vitality and understanding. The Chinese descendants are now at the transitional period
that they do not uphold Chinese culture seriously as they are born in Thailand, but at the same
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time they have neither accepted the Thai culture nor religious value. They are at a very
crucial situation for having neither Chinese nor Thai religious values to which they can base
themselves upon for their moral foundation.”
According to the belief in the ritual of spirit possession, the local people of both Thai
and Chinese backgrounds establish relationships with spirits through spirit media. In fact, this
is nothing new and it is found also in other countries. What is striking is that this belief
among the local people is becoming the most popular one in the present era. The majority of
the population in Nakhon Pathom, is Chinese with an outstanding characteristic of practical
synthesis. As observed, they usually follow the practices which yield good results. Hence, the
belief in spirits through spirit media is gaining popularity easily. They seek guidance from the
spirits for the problems which they have related to their businesses (Chatsumarn 1984, 4-5).
The section on the Hindu religion from the article “The remarks in the history about the
relation between Thai and Chinese since ancient until the end of 19th
century” Praprüt
Sakunrattanamatee (1989, 31-32) referred to the fact that the Thai or Siam Empire was
overwhelmingly influenced by the Indian subcontinent culture and identified this culture as
an essential feature of High Culture. Approximately in 11th
century, Thai accepted the idea of
the Hindu religion and Nakhon Pathom or the former Tavaravadee Empire was a centre of
Indian culture. Thus Indian culture influenced many items such as the ideas of cosmology,
language, animism, agricultural rituals such as the annual ploughing ceremony, even the
name of the capital city shows the influence of Indian culture, even if these are the names of
Hindu gods, God Indra and Vishnukarm, are part of the official full name of Bangkok.
Thai continued to believe in a personal vital essence (Khwan), spirits and gods (called
Devata in Hindu-Buddhist terms), as well as in fate or cosmic influence notions adapted from
Indian thought. These beliefs, however, related to proximate, not ultimate, causes of fortune
and misfortune. One’s karma ultimately determined whether one could be successful in
securing one’s wandering vital essence, in propitiating spirits, in worshiping the deities, or in
dispelling cosmic influences. In the history of Thailand, possession phenomena show a long
mixing, borrowing and adaptation of influences from a variety of belief systems. In other
words “Hybridity of culture” appears in ritual possession performances. The process of
mixing, borrowing and adaptation among the various systems of Thai, Chinese and Hindu
religion, in possession phenomena has been rather harmonious. Besides Hinayana Buddhism,
in the belief of Thai people there are many gods or spirits as there also are in the Chinese
Mahayana Buddhism and the Hindu religion. Consequently the types of god that appear in
the possession ritual are formed from all these belief systems. The hybridity of the belief
system in Thai society is influenced by the ethnic group that the spirit medium belongs to and
the type of god for which he or she is the medium. The hybridity also affects the flexibility of
the possession ritual performance The gods represented can be divided into three types,
namely Thai gods, Chinese gods or Hindu gods so it can be understood how significant the
hybridity in the performance is to the ethnic groups.
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CONCLUSION
From the above, the possession theories are fundamental to understanding the
significance of spirit mediumship to society and culture, particularly where it is evaluated
positively. Accordingly the body which recognizes the significance of movement and action
as the basis of engagement with the world and performance as a form of embodiment that
people use to encounter others. Therefore performance theories explain how to be a
successful spirit medium and the interaction between spirit medium and clients. While ritual
performance is proceeding simultaneously their interaction is also explicit. The question of
gender has been explored; what happens or what are the changes that occur to the gender role
of persons whose bodies are possessed by male or female gods in their social location and
what effect do the cultural influences have on their real bodies, thus the context of culture is
concerned. In ritual performances the inequality between male and female spirit media is
influenced by the viewpoint about menstrual blood and purity of the body that spirit media
possess. However, the performance through the body is the presentation of another identity of
a person and performance ability is held as the strategy for negotiating a person’s gender.
Furthermore because of the issue of ethnicity it is easy to understand the mixing, borrowing
and adoption of culture, which appear in the possession ritual performance. Consequently, the
embodiment of a spirit points to the significance of the body in the concepts of performance,
gender, ethnic group and subjectivity.
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