The story of Ah Sheng, a tour guide in Phuket, a heavy history of Chinese in Thailand

Four hours later, my flight took off from Phuket and headed for the motherland that Ah Sheng's ancestors and parents could never return to. Ah Sheng was the Tour guide of our tour group, a Chinese Thai with a heavy history behind him, which is the focus of this story.
  


Phuket

A Sheng took off his backpack from the seat, sat down next to me, exhaled, and said in Chinese with a Yunnan accent: "All done!" All along the way, I was guessing where in China A Sheng's accent came from. Later, he said that his grandfather took him back to Yunnan, so that should be the accent of a place in Yunnan.

After sitting down, perhaps because he felt that it would be awkward not to talk to his neighbor, A Sheng chatted with me with a hoarse voice. I said, "Brother Sheng, you take a break, you don't have to talk to me all the time." A Sheng raised his hand and looked at the watch. It was 11:40 pm Thai time, and said, "It's okay, we will be at the airport in a while." But after saying this, he didn't say anything else.

After a few minutes, I said, "Brother Sheng, let's talk about the 93rd Division." A Sheng said, "Okay."

Four hours later, my flight took off from Phuket and flew to the motherland that A Sheng's ancestors and parents could not return to.

Ah Sheng

"Come here, put the suitcase here." The plane landed in Phuket at around 4 a.m. local time. The tour guide Ah Sheng, wearing a white Polo shirt with prints and carrying a backpack, stood in front of a bus in the airport parking lot and waved.

"Now take everyone back to the hotel, departure tomorrow morning at 11 o'clock, listen carefully, it's 11 o'clock, don't call me to urge me, I want to sleep." In the car, Ah Sheng spoke with a microphone, and smiled when he said this: "I will arrange the itinerary for everyone, don't rush." ​​Then he talked about some precautions and arrangements for the next day. After a while, it seemed that he made a new decision after thinking it over again and again: "Let's change the departure time to 10:30. You are tourists from China, and you will definitely think 11 o'clock is too late."

The bus was driving in the night of Phuket. The car was very quiet. Almost no one responded to Ah Sheng's words. Ah Sheng, holding the microphone, seemed to be talking to himself all the way.

During the five-day Trip, at least in the first three days, few people responded to Ah Sheng, who was speaking with a microphone.

"I don't know why, but domestic tourists always think I'm cheating them." A few days later, the tour bus drove to a Thai state-owned store selling rubber mattresses. Ah Sheng lay on a rubber mattress, propped up his head with his hands, and looked at his group members and guests in the distance.

Ah Sheng said that for a period of time, he told the tourists in the tour group not to go out after dark, but the tourists didn't listen, and were robbed and stabbed 5 times by foreign tourists; he told tourists not to spend money on parachuting at the door of the hotel, which was very expensive, but the tourists didn't listen and were charged 1,000 baht more; he told tourists which store had better quality and lower prices for the same thing, but they didn't believe him.

Ah Sheng's tone sounded a little aggrieved: "We won't be unhappy because tourists don't buy things. As long as everyone has fun, domestic tourists are always afraid of me. I don't know why."

He used "domestic tourists" instead of "Chinese tourists" throughout the whole process.

Ah Sheng is a Chinese Thai, and there is a heavy history behind him, which is the key point of this story.

Lonely Army

"Have you noticed these days that you can see this person's photo everywhere?" On the windshield of the bus, there are two family photos of the recently deceased King Bhumibol of Thailand, one on the left and one on the right. "He is King Bhumibol of Thailand. Thai people respect this king very much, and we Chinese in Thailand are also very grateful to him."

On the shaking bus, Ah Sheng began to tell a piece of history intermittently on the way between the hotel and the scenic spot, and between the scenic spots. Even if he did not feel the timely feedback.

Ah Sheng was born in Chiang Mai in northern Thailand and had never eaten rice before the age of 7.

"Do you have the impression that the Chinese in Thailand are 'rich'? In coastal areas like Phuket, most of the immigrants are Chaozhou and Fujian people. They are good at doing business and are indeed very rich. However, in the north of Thailand, the Chinese settlement is called the refugee village, and I was born there. My grandfather was a soldier of the 93rd Division of the Kuomintang."

The 93rd Division, which belonged to the Eighth Army of the former Kuomintang in Yunnan, entered the current Golden Triangle area under the leadership of Lieutenant General Li Guohui after the defeat in 1949, and merged with the remnants of the former Kuomintang Anti-Japanese Expeditionary Army stranded in the area to form the 93rd Division. Unable to retreat to Taiwan Island, they were ordered by Chiang Kai-shek to shrink in the Golden Triangle area and wait for the opportunity of the so-called "recovery of the mainland" to make a comeback.

Ah Sheng said that for a long time, this unit was "forgotten" and became an "isolated army" forgotten in a foreign country, "probably a few thousand people."

"The 93rd Division was originally in Myanmar. The Myanmar government used armed forces to drive this unit into Thailand, and these people settled in northern Thailand." Ah Sheng said that Thailand did not use armed forces to drive these Chinese away, but did not recognize them as "legal residents". Later, Thailand reached an agreement with the 93rd Division. The 93rd Division helped Thailand to quell the armed resistance forces in the country, and Thailand recognized these people as "legal residents".

So, these Chinese who were forgotten in a foreign country began to help other countries fight for survival, and they fought in the jungle. "When I was a child, I was also specially trained on how to use a gun, and I practiced for a whole year." Ah Sheng said.

"I have been fighting for other countries for decades, helping the Thai government to fight the armed resistance forces, and helping the Thai government to fight Khun Sa." Ah Sheng said that fortunately, the Thai government and its King Bhumibol kept their promises, "It was not until 2002 that the war was finally over, and Thailand gave us Thai ID cards."

But the ID cards of Chinese in Thailand are different from those of ordinary Thais. "Our names start with 8, while Thai names start with 1. However, starting from my next generation, they will start with 1, and they are 'pure' Thais." Ah Sheng said.

Identity

"You have all seen Operation Mekong, right? The real Golden Triangle is much more cruel than in the movie." Ah Sheng said that in order to survive, this large group of "foreigners" had to grow poppies and participate in drug production and trafficking.

Why not grow crops? "Northern Thailand is very poor. Where we live, next to Myanmar, it is even poorer. Who will buy what we grow? We can't sell it at all."

Ah Sheng said that the Chinese in Thailand are grateful to King Bhumibol, not only because he gave this group of "foreigners" legal status, but also because he rescued them from the "sea of ​​drugs". "We changed to grow crops, and Thailand's 'guaranteed harvest', everyone knows that drugs are a bad thing, and everyone will stop growing poppies."

When Ah Sheng was very young, Ah Sheng's grandfather took his family back to Yunnan to apply for Chinese ID cards for Ah Sheng and one of his cousins. "My cousin and I were born in Thailand. Grandpa's household registration certificate did not include us. We were told that if we wanted to apply for it, we would have to pay a large sum of money, so Grandpa took us back to Thailand."

Ah Sheng said that in recent years, Taiwan has opened a channel for people from the 93rd Division to apply for Taiwan ID cards, but one of the conditions is that they must have lived in Taiwan for more than one year.

Ah Sheng said that many of his friends have obtained Taiwan ID cards, but he has not: "I don't like living in Taiwan and I can't get used to it. I lived in Taipei for a week, and every day I saw everyone rushing around, and life was boring."

On the bus to Phuket Airport, Ah Sheng talked to me about "China": "China's reform and opening up is really good, there are opportunities everywhere, and China will definitely be amazing in 20 years."

"Then why don't you go to China?"

"The threshold in China is so high, you need college students and graduate students, my academic qualifications are not enough, and I am not competitive."

Freedom

"Brother Sheng, why do you want to be a tour guide?"

"Because of freedom."