One of the protagonists in today's story is named Chao P'ya Chakri, the first king of the Bangkok Dynasty in Thailand, also known as Rama I, an authentic Thai, but he also has a Chinese name, named "Zheng Hua", strangely enough, the subsequent Thai kings have a Chinese name with the surname of "Zheng", what is the matter? Is it just a coincidence?
The story begins more than 200 years ago, when China was still under the rule of the Qianlong Emperor, Thailand was also particularly chaotic, Burma also took the opportunity to lead the army to kill outside the royal city, the people were not happy, a person named Darxin turned out to be born, led the army to fight against foreign enemies many times, and finally saved Thailand in danger.
A more well-known name is Zheng Xin, who was the head of the Five Emperors of Thailand, the king and founder of the Thonburi Dynasty in Thailand, and a native of Chaoshan, Guangdong, China, whose father was a native of Huafu Village, Chenghai County, Chaozhou Prefecture, Guangdong Province, China (now Huafu Neighborhood Committee, Guangyi Street, Chenghai District, Shantou City). So why would he run to Thailand to save them?
It turned out that the Qing Dynasty implemented the "ban on the sea", Zheng Xin's father, as an ordinary fisherman, relied on the sea to eat the sea, and once the ban on the sea came out, he had to choose to make a living overseas, and finally came to Thailand, and also met a beautiful Thai woman, the two fell in love, and soon entered the palace of marriage and gave birth to Zheng Xin.
However, there was an unexpected wind and rain, Zheng Yong died soon after, and the isolated and helpless mother could only pay her son Zheng Trust to her husband's good friend, Thailand's Finance Minister Chao Phraya Jieji, who was a good friend of integrity, and since then he has taken care of Zheng Xin wholeheartedly, better than his own son, giving him the best education and giving him the best life.
Zheng Xin was particularly angry, from an early age showed outstanding wisdom and talent, learned Thai, Chinese, Vietnamese and Pali, in his 20s became the imperial bodyguard, with excellent ability, Zheng Xin immediately became the adjutant of Dacheng, and later became the lord of Kamphaeng Bicheng (an important national city).
They thought that life would be safe and stable, but their neighbor Burma had long coveted Thailand, when Burma was arrogant and arrogant, bound to take Thailand, after 14 months, Burma trampled on Thailand's land, and in 1767 attacked the Thai city, and then showed the side of bandits, burning and looting Thailand, and even burning the ancient capital of Thailand for more than 400 years.
I believe that every Thai person will be angry, including Zheng Xin, there were many "kings" in various parts of Thailand, all hoping to compete with Burma, but the strength could not be achieved, at this time someone elected Zheng Xin, so in December 1767, Zheng Xin was crowned king.
He first found the most suitable Jiancheng as a base for the restoration of the country, and then led the team to build warships, gathered Tai and Zhongzhuang men, enlisted as soldiers; expelled the foreign Kou and recovered the lost land. In just 7 months, the Burmese army was defeated by the team led by Zheng Xin, who was only 34 years old and completed the great cause of recovering Thailand.
Zheng Xin has never forgotten that he has Chinese blood on his body, when restoring thai vitality, Zheng Xin devoted himself to the development of Thailand's relations with the Qing Dynasty, sent people to China many times, asked the Qing government to seal, in 1777, the Qianlong Emperor finally agreed to their request, allowing Siamese envoys to pay tribute to the Qing court, and many caravans came one after another in the later period.
However, all this is seen by a person, he is the first generation of Thailand Bangkok Dynasty mentioned at the beginning of the article, Chao Phraya Chori, he is a good brother that Zheng Xin grew up with, he has long coveted the throne of Zheng Xin, in 1782 (Qianlong forty-seven years) Zheng Xin was forced to abdicate due to a coup d'état launched by the Guards, and Chao Phraya Kerry immediately took the opportunity to ascend to the throne.
On the second day of his ascension to the throne, Chabhuye Chori ordered the execution of his "good brother" Zheng Xin, who was still a vassal state of the Qing Dynasty, so if Zhao Phraya Chori wanted to be emperor in his name, he had to obtain the canonization and approval of the Qianlong Emperor, but he was afraid that the Qing Emperor would punish him for what he did to Zheng Xin, so he thought of a "good idea".
In the Book of Kingdom, Zhao Phraya Chori claimed to be Zheng Xin's "son" Zheng Hua, "father" Zheng Xin died of illness, leaving a will for him to succeed to the throne, Qianlong did not think much at all, and with a big hand, he crowned Zhao Phraya Chori (Zheng Hua) as the new king.
This "custom" continued, and since then, successive kings of the Bangkok Dynasty have to give themselves a "Zheng" surname Chinese name before ascending the throne, even if the Qing Dynasty fell later, this habit has not been abolished and continues to this day. And Thailand has always maintained friendly relations with China, such as providing VIP channels for Chinese tourists, and the number of people studying Chinese in China is as high as 68%.