Chin Haw

A Chin Haw mosque at Doi Mae Salong, Chiang Rai

Chin Haw, Chin Ho (Chinese: 秦霍; pinyin: Qín huò; Thai: จีนฮ่อ, RTGS: Chin Ho) or Yunnanese in Thailand (Thai: จีนยูนนาน) are Chinese people who migrated to Thailand via Myanmar or Laos. Most of them were originally from Yunnan, the southern province of China. They speak Southwestern Mandarin.

Migration

Generally, the Chin Haw can be divided into three groups according to the time of their migration.

1. In the nineteenth century, the Qing army sent troops to suppress the rebellion in Yunnan, known as the Panthay Rebellion, which caused up to 1,000,000 lives lost - both civilians and soldiers. During this time, many people fled to the Shan state in Burma, then to the North of Thailand.
2. The Panthay Chinese merchants who traded between Yunnan, Burma and Lanna from their base in the Wa States. Some of them decided to settle down along this trade route.
3. After the Chinese revolution in 1949 AD, the 93rd Corps, which supported the Kuomintang party, fled to Burma and to the north of Thailand.

Religion

The majority are Han Chinese and follow Chinese folk religion or Buddhism. Approximately one-third are Muslim, also known as Hui people or Hui Muslim.

Activities

They have engaged in the heroin trade. Ma Hseuh-fu, from Yunnan province, was one of the most prominent Chin Haw heroin drug lords, his other professions included trading in tea and a hotelier.

The Muslim Chin Haw are the same ethnic group as the Panthay in Burma who are also descendants of Hui Muslims from Yunnan province, China.

See also

• Baan Haw Mosque
• Attaqwa Mosque
• Kokang people
• Kuomintang in Burma and spillover into Thailand