Michael C. Howard wrote in Countries and Their Cultures: In the early twentieth century, the Chinese established their own educational institutions, resulting in antipathy toward them under the nationalistic Phibun regime, which blamed the Chinese for the country’s economic problems. In 1938, the Phibun government taxed the Chinese, limited the use of their language in schools, and closed most Chinese-language newspapers. Chinese immigration came to a virtual halt. While anti-Chinese sentiment remained strong, by the 1970s virtually all the Chinese had Thai citizenship. With the growth of a more open and democratic society in the 1990s, the Chinese began to express their culture openly. [Source: Michael C. Howard, Countries and Their Cultures, Gale Group Inc., 2001]

After Imperial China collapsed in the early 20th century, Chinese in Thailand were discriminated against. Their schools were closed down and they were barred from certain jobs and business. The Thai King wrote a tract called the Chinese the “Jews of the East.” Some of this was based on prejudice and ignorance. Some was based on worries that Chinese revolutionary politics might spill into Thailand.

Thai nationalist attitudes at all levels of society under Rama VI were colored by anti-Chinese sentiment. For centuries members of the Chinese community had dominated domestic commerce and had been employed as agents for the royal trade monopoly. With the rise of European economic influence many Chinese entrepreneurs had shifted to opium traffic and tax collecting, both despised occupations. In addition, Chinese millers and middlemen in the rice trade were blamed for the economic recession that gripped Siam for nearly a decade after 1905. Accusations of bribery of high officials, wars between the Chinese secret societies, and use of oppressive practices to extract taxes also served to inflame Thai opinion against the Chinese community at a time when it was expanding rapidly as a result of increased immigration from China.

Many Chinese changed their name and took other measures to try and hide the fact they were Chinese. They government made it easy for them to become Thai citizens. Many intermarried with Thais. Over the years many Chinese became more assimilated to Thai culture and lost their bonds to China. Some though continued to speak Chinese at home, quietly practiced Chinese customs and religion and retained their Chinese names.