My ten years | Thai civilian Cai Liqian: becoming an "iron fan" of Chinese culture

My family is more than half of Chinese descent, my mother is Thai, my father is Chinese, and my husband is also Chinese. There are many families in Thailand that are "Thai-Chinese" like us, and even if they are pure Thai families, there will be many Chinese or Chinese around. Therefore, the Chinese culture in all parts of Thailand is rich, and the cultural exchange between Thailand and China is already inseparable from you and me, and I have you.

Our family loves Chinese culture, so I have a very "Chinese" name - Cai Liqian. Our family often visits the Chinese Cultural Centre in Bangkok for events. I like experiential activities, such as sculpture exhibitions, calligraphy exhibitions, various intangible cultural heritage exhibitions, etc. On the spot, you can learn calligraphy with Chinese teachers, learn to make various handicrafts such as paper-cutting and other projects, take home the calligraphy you wrote and the paper-cutting you made, which is very fulfilling!

The Chinese Cultural Centre in Bangkok has a variety of activities

Now the Chinese Cultural Center in Bangkok has accumulated a lot of "hardcore fans" of Chinese culture. Every holiday, many people call the center to inquire about the organization of the event. The performance program is particularly popular, with the 318 seats in the central theater, which often has to be added to the seats - we Thais like to be lively! Such performances are often hard to come by.

Now, we have many channels to contact Chinese culture. Chinese TV dramas and cultural programs are very popular with young people in Thailand, and the center once invited popular artists to perform in Thailand, which was even more enthusiastic. In the past two years, because of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, there have been fewer offline activities, and many friends have called the center from time to time to inquire, hoping that there are activities to participate in. During the Spring Festival last year, the Sino-Thai Spring Festival Gala was broadcast online and on our local TV station, and the effect was also very good.

During the 2018 Chinese New Year, I saw a scene at the Chinese Cultural Center in Bangkok that is still unforgettable. There was a family of four, who heard that the center would hold a "Happy Spring Festival" activity during the Chinese Spring Festival, and there were very wonderful performances, so they drove more than 5 hours to see the performance. When you arrive in Bangkok, you will encounter traffic jams in the evening rush hour, and you may be half an hour late. The performance tickets at the Chinese Cultural Center in Bangkok are very tight, often a ticket is difficult to find, they are worried about missing the performance after arriving late without a seat, during the traffic jam, they have been contacting the staff, 4 consecutive phone calls to explain the situation, hoping to leave tickets for them. The staff was also touched by this, saying that they would be reassured and reserved a seat for them. After the performance, the family was connected to the center for a long time, happily taking photos, and solemnly thanking the center staff.

I heard them say, "Thank you for bringing such a wonderful performance from China, you have been reserved for us, when we go back, we will tell more friends, let them all come to see, there are still many surprises in the live performance!" How hard this trip was, and it was worth it..."

Many Elderly Thais are regular visitors to the Centre, staggering and arm in arm. Especially during the Spring Festival, they will invariably wear festive red costumes. These elderly people often bring their grandchildren and granddaughters to the center, and under the influence of the elderly, they also began to contact Chinese culture. I often see such old people explaining Chinese culture to their families and friends, as if they are the "spokesmen" of Chinese culture.

In recent years, with the deepening of exchanges between Thailand and China in various aspects, the penetration rate of Chinese in various schools in Thailand has reached nearly 100%. 2022 coincides with the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the Chinese Cultural Center in Thailand. My family and I watched it grow and witnessed many Thais become "iron fans" of Chinese culture like us. The activities of the center are becoming more and more abundant, diverse, and more and more subdivided, including the culture and art of many parts of China, which we can see and hear. In the past two years, the stage layout and exhibition methods have become more and more scientific and technological, and the integration of special new media and scientific and technological elements has made us feel refreshed. I think this also represents China's progress.

(Image from respondents)

Editor-in-charge: Yang Xiaojun