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preface
According to authoritative statistics, the number of overseas Chinese has reached more than 60 million, distributed in 198 countries and regions in the world.
Most of them chose to leave their homeland and live in other countries because of the war at that time.
Today, we are talking about a Chinese "Chinese village" called Meisler in northern Thailand.
Such a village far away in the mountains of northern Thailand is famous for being home to more than 3,000 descendants of abandoned remnants of the national army, most of whose ancestral homes are Kunming and Baoshan, Yunnan.
With the passage of time, that sad history has been precipitated into a heavy memory, which has become a story told by Meisler to tourists today.
The life of the Chinese at Meisler
The Chinese in Meisler have not been in Thailand for a long time, that is, more than 70 years of history, so culturally it can be said that Chinese customs and culture are well preserved.
Most of the local Chinese in Meisloh wear Chinese-style clothes, and only a few women wear Thai skirts.
Here they still eat rice and rice noodles as their main food, such as Yunnan rice noodles, Yunnan three-flavor fish, etc.
Most of their houses are made of cement and masonry, unlike Thai-style stilt houses.
Although they have lived in Thailand for more than 70 years, they still remember traditional Chinese festivals such as the Mid-Autumn Festival, Qingming Festival, Spring Festival and Dragon Boat Festival.
They also take holidays like Singaporeans, reunite with their families for Chinese New Year's Eve meals, set off fireworks, and then greet their elders on the first day of the new year.
The characters "Fu" and "Chun" posted on the doors and walls of local villagers' homes are also pasted upside down as is common in China.
The shops with Chinese signs on the small streets of the village are hung with red lanterns, and the lights are everywhere, so it is not lively.
During the Qingming Festival, Chinese living in Meisle would bow down in front of their home tablets to worship their ancestors or burn paper in cemeteries.
In addition, the annual Refugee Village Games in northern Thailand is also the most important festival for the Meislo Chinese.
Until now, this land has belonged to the Thai forestry department and is under the jurisdiction of the Thai military.
More than half a century later, the smoke of gunfire has filled the air, so that the more than 3,000 remnants of the Kuomintang and their families who originally came to Thailand have now grown to 200,000, and there are 60,000 Chinese descendants in Mae Si Loh village.
Some of them are business-minded people who are opening hotels, restaurants, and doing trade.
Others went to Bangkok or Chiang Mai to work, while the rest made a living by growing tea, fruits and vegetables.
History of the Meislo Chinese people
Why did more than 3,000 remnants of the Kuomintang come to live in this small town in Thailand?
On October 1, 1949, the People's Republic of China was founded, and the whole country was jubilant.
But the fighting in the south is not yet over, as remote Yunnan and Tibetan areas have not yet been fully liberated.
Lu Han, the chairman of Yunnan at the time, after learning that Chiang Kai-shek's general trend had passed, decided to give up resistance and declared an uprising.
Luhan
But there was a small episode at that time, and Yu Chengwan and Li Mi were unwilling to surrender.
On December 9, 1949, Lu Han led an uprising, and the Yunnan region was peacefully liberated, and the 8th Army and 26th Army under Li Mi were also annihilated by the People's Liberation Army.
Li Mi left behind more than 600 people who fled with him, and under the arrangement of Kuomintang agents, fled alone to Taiwan to meet Chiang Kai-shek.
The more than 600 people left behind by Li Mi retreated to Myanmar under the leadership of Li Guohui.
After more than two months, the scattered Kuomintang troops also arrived one after another, which also increased the number of Kuomintang remnants to more than 3,500.
On this side, Li Mi also went to Burma in September 1950 to take over Li Guohui's team and expand the army.
Li Mi
After integration, the strength of the remnants of the Kuomintang army was also greatly improved, so Li Mi also tried to resist.
But in the end, the gap in strength with the People's Liberation Army was too large, and he did not make much waves, and he retreated to Myanmar in ashes.
After returning to Myanmar, Li Mi did not give up, and planned to accumulate strength in Myanmar to prepare for the next counterattack. An alliance was established with a small number of local guerrillas.
However, as the remnants of Li Mi expanded, they soon attracted the attention of the Burmese government.
Myanmar joined the Lao and Thai governments in filing a complaint with the United Nations, hoping that they would help withdraw the remnants of the Kuomintang army from Myanmar.
Duan Xiwen
Under pressure from the United Nations, Chiang Kai-shek withdrew thousands of remnants, including Li Mi, but he still sent a telegram ordering Duan Xiwen to take some remnants who volunteered to stay and continue to fight.
As a result, some of the remnants of the army, led by Duan Xiwen, remained in Thailand, and they were not accepted by Burma, Laos, and Thailand.
In 1970, the Thai government sent someone to contact Duan Xiwen, saying that the government was willing to provide an area for these people to live in, but only if those who remained were used as mercenaries to help the Thai government fight the guerrillas.
In this way, the remnants of the army led by Duan Xiwen took root in Meisle.
The difficult survival of the ancestors of the Meislo Chinese people
When Duan Xiwen and the remaining remnants of the army first went to Meisle, there was still a small village with only about twenty villagers, no electricity, dense forests everywhere, and a very bad environment.
But they did not complain, felling trees to build houses, cultivating farmland, growing food, and ensuring their basic survival.
At that time, there were many guerrillas in Thailand, and Duan Xiwen led this part of the remnants of the army to help the Thai government eliminate most of them.
After Duan Xiwen's death, Lei Yutian became the commander-in-chief of the "Northern Thailand Mountain People's Self-Defense Army" in June 1980.
The Thai army also ordered Lei Yutian to send troops to participate in the encirclement and suppression of the only remaining guerrilla force in Thailand at that time.
The guerrilla force is located in Khao Na Hill, on the border between Bangkok and Chiang Mai, and has more than 800 people.
Because of their large numbers, the Thai government has promised that once they take Khao Ya Hill, they and their children and grandchildren will become legal citizens of Thailand and can work freely in places like Chiang Mai and Bangkok.
This is an irresistible temptation, and for the sake of his own descendants, Lei Yutian attacked Khao Ya Mountain without hesitation.
On February 16, 1981, two regiments of the Thai army began to attack Khao Na Hill.
Just when the Thai army was about to achieve victory, the Khao Yashan guerrillas secretly attacked the Thai army, causing huge casualties.
Therefore, the commander of the Thai army, which could not be attacked for a long time, had to order the remnants of the army to attack the main peak of Khao Ya Mountain.
Chen Maoxiu led a commando of five hundred people around behind the main peak of Kao Ya Mountain and launched an onslaught.
In this way, after three days of bloody battle, Chen Maoxu led the remnants of the army to finally take the main peak of Kaoya Mountain, and they captured more than 200 prisoners in this battle.
Of the remnants of the commando army of more than 500 people, 260 people were killed.
The hardest part of this battle was fought by the remnants of the Kuomintang army of more than 500 people, who completely annihilated two-thirds of the guerrillas.
Such a record made the Thai government very moved and admired, so they fulfilled their promise.
Because there were no more guerrillas in Thailand, from 1981 to 1984, the "Northern Thailand Mountain People's Self-Defense Army" was gradually disbanded.
The remaining nearly 3,000 or so Kuomintang remnants handed over their weapons, retired to become farmers, and have been breeding in Meisle ever since.
Meisler's tea economy
Located on a mountain more than 1,300 meters above sea level, Meisler is beautiful, densely forested and warm throughout the year.
It is precisely these superior geographical locations that provide natural favorable conditions for the development of Meisler tea industry.
In the 70s of the 20th century, Taiwanese oolong tea was also introduced to Thailand.
Due to the unique climate and soil, oolong tea is successfully cultivated in Meisler, so that Meisler's main cash crop becomes tea.
On the rolling red earth, you can see terraced tea plantations and large and small tea houses.
At present, Meisler has 12,500 acres of tea plantations, more than 40 large and small tea factories, and an annual production of 500-600 tons of tea.
In addition to tea production, Meisler has three large tea processing plants and four small tea processing enterprises for tea processing.
"Meisler Tea" is already a well-known brand in Thailand, and many people come to Meisler to cool off and drink tea.
The wholesale price of ordinary tea is 700 yuan, and the price of high-quality tea ranges from 1000-2000, and the quality of life in the 13 ethnic minority villages in Mae Pha Luang Township is the best among them.
When tourists arrive at Meisle, they can see that the gate of the village is conspicuous, four long pillars support the main eaves of the village, and two short pillars on both sides support the side eaves of the village, and the "Chinese red" on the pillars gives people a festive feeling.
The eaves are from the Qing Dynasty, and two lanterns hang on them, the color of the cages is somewhat dull, and it seems to tell various historical changes.
Nearly ninety percent of the people in Meisler are Chinese, and they are not afraid to tell people about their past.
The attachment and love for my hometown have not changed because of the years and suffering.
Meisler Village, which preserves Chinese culture
Meisler has established a local "Schmidt Secondary School" to provide Chinese courses for local residents.
Later, due to the special situation of the village of Meisle, it was widely reported and attracted a lot of attention internationally.
During this period, the main task of the Chinese village was to learn and use Chinese.
However, due to the "Private School Ordinance" issued by the Thai government, two all-Thai education schools have also been established in Mae Si Lok Village.
As of 2015, Meisler has one formal Chinese school (Schmidt Secondary School) and one remedial secondary school dedicated to Chinese teaching.
Meisler currently has two Thai language schools, including the Nursery class, for a total of nine classes.
The school runs from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday to Friday, with an average of 6 hours of lessons per day.
Therefore, after class, some students will go to tutoring Chinese, while others will choose to learn painting, music, etc.
From here, we can also see that Meisler's Chinese teaching has become an important carrier of local ethnic inheritance.
After 1992, Meisler gradually opened its doors to the world and developed tourism under the name of the "Golden Triangle".
In addition, the Thai government has given great support to Meisroh's agriculture and tourism in recent years, making it an emerging tourist destination in northern Thailand.
Tourists from all over the country, especially Chinese, spend their holidays in Meisroh.
When Chinese tourists walk into Meisler, they will feel very familiar with the Chinese-style buildings and furnishings that can be found everywhere.
Step into a local store and you'll see shelves filled with items written in eye-catching Chinese, as well as halls filled with incense sticks and gods of wealth.
Coupled with local tea and coffee, it is favored by tourists, and the enthusiasm of consumers has made local products in short supply, and now the lives of Meisler's 60,000 Chinese descendants are becoming increasingly wealthy.
epilogue
Any nation living abroad and their descendants must overcome language barriers and adapt to a new culture in order to gain a foothold in a strange land.
At the same time, it is also a process of mutual transmission and mutual influence between local and foreign cultures.
However, more than 70 years after the establishment of the village, the local Chinese culture has been relatively well preserved, which means that the 60,000 Chinese descendants of Meisle still love the motherland and the culture of the motherland.