Thailand has the largest Chinese population in Southeast Asia. Ethnic Chinese make up 10 to 14 percent of the population of Thailand (the range in numbers has to do with how mixed-blood Thai Chinese are counted). They are largely assimilated and many have intermarried with Thais. Many Chinese became Thai after a few generations. Many recognize their Chinese heritage but no longer identify with the Chinese ethnic group. An estimated 80 percent of Chinese Thais speak Thai at home. Thais intermarry with the Chinese more than the Malaysians do.

There are around 9.3 million Chinese in Thailand according to figures in 2015. This is the largest population of Chinese outside mainland China and Taiwan. These numbers do not always reflect the full extent of Chinese presence. Fully or partially assimilated Chinese are often not counted as Chinese. There are many levels and degrees of mixed blood. Around 6 million Chinese were counted in Thailand (14 percent of the population) in the 2000s. [Source: Wikipedia]

Most are second or third generation Hokkein (Hakka), Tae Liu (Chao Zhou. Chiu Chao), or Cantonese. In the north there is also a sigificant number of Hui—Chinese Muslims who emigrated to northern Thailand in the late 19th century to avoid persecution in China. Teochew, the Southern Min dialect of Chaozhou, has traditionally been the primary dialect of the overseas Chinese communities in Thailand whereas Hokkein, the Southern Min dialect of Fujian, has traditionally been the primary dialect of many Overseas Chinese communities in Malaysia, Singapore Indonesia, and the Philippines.

The Chinese in Thailand arguably get along better with the majority population than in any other country in Southeast Asia. This is due in part to historical reasons and partly to Thai tolerance of foreigners. In the old days wealthy Chinese offered their daughters to royal court as wives and consorts in an effort to establish royal connections.

Thaksin Shinawatra, the prime minister of Thailand from 2001 to 2006, is Thai Chinese. The son of a Chinese immigrant from a family of silk merchants, Thaksin was born in Chiang Mai in 1949. He worked in the family business—a silk business that grew to embrace a bus line and movie theaters—with his father, Boonlert. Yingluck Shinawatra, Thaksin’s sister and Prime Minister of Thailand from 2011 to 2014, is also Thai Chinese.

People interested in the lives of Chinese and Sino-Thai peoples in Thailand are referred to the work of Anne Maxwell Hill (1988) and William Skinner (1957).