Now, It's Hip to Be Chinese
Kitti Jinsiriwanich had little idea that heavyweight advertisers such as Nokia and BMW would come knocking at his door when he began selling a photocopied magazine bound together with ratty bits of string.
His magazine, Da Jia Hao -- "Hello Everybody" in Chinese -- recounts humdrum daily life in the crowded back streets around his family home in Bangkok. His neighborhood, however, happens to be the tight grid of streets that comprise this city's old Chinatown. In just a few months, Da Jia Hao has become a cult hit among Chinese-Thais from Bangkok's suburbs looking for a way to reconnect to their ancestry.
"It looks like being Chinese is cool," says Mr. Kitti, a 27-year-old ethnic Chinese, as he flips through mock-ups of his magazine's glossy new look.
Mr. Kitti's readers aren't the only Asians taking a fresh look at their roots. Ethnic Chinese who have lived quietly for centuries among the islands and peninsulas of Southeast Asia also are warming to a culture they had in many cases learned to suppress, as China has evolved into more of a trading partner than a military threat and assuaged neighboring populations' long-held resentments -- and fears.
In some instances, such as in predominantly Muslim Indonesia -- where ethnic Chinese were attacked in bloody riots in 1998 -- the assertion of Chinese origins takes a subtle form: relearning long-forbidden art forms such as dragon-dancing, for example. A more public transformation is evident in the Philippines, whose president recently welcomed a Taiwanese pop singer to tour the presidential palace -- an honor usually reserved for American film actors or Latin American soap-opera stars.
The newfound openness is testament to the profound influence trade is having on the balance of power in Asia. As U.S. dealings in the region increasingly are dominated by a military focus on terrorism and nuclear arms, China is enhancing its image through economic ties.
"China isn't interested in military expansion; it will seek tribute through trade, like it did before the Western powers came to Asia," says John Gokongwei, the patriarch of a Chinese-Filipino business clan with interests spanning petrochemicals and telecommunications to snack food and airlines.
China's neighbors are equally eager to trade. After pledging to create an Asian free-trade zone by 2010, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao received a standing ovation at a regional summit last fall.
The enthusiastic reception for Mr. Wen contrasts with the fallout from China's approach to Southeast Asia in the 1960s: Mao Zedong's regional aspirations prompted an anticommunist pogrom in Indonesia and laid the groundwork for dictatorship in the Philippines. For decades after, Chinese across the region were viewed with suspicion, and took care to keep a low profile in countries where they had lived for generations.
Now, with China embracing elements of capitalism, businesses such as Thailand's CP Group and the companies of Chinese-Filipino tycoon Lucio Tan have investments in China that rival the empires they have built in their home countries. As China increasingly serves as an economic engine for nearby countries, ethnic Chinese at the economic center of life across Southeast Asia are seen as less of a threat and are more willing to acknowledge old blood ties.
This is seen vividly in Thailand, where Chinese long have blended into the fabric of local life. "There are so many cultural and philosophical beliefs that the two countries share," says Vikrom Kromadit, leader of a Chinese-Thai business association. "I would say that today, no country in the world is as close to China as Thailand."
Other Thais agree. Bangkok's Kasikorn Research Center last year asked the city's residents whom they considered Thailand's closest ally. Three-quarters said China, while 9% said the U.S.
National borders already are being blurred in Chiang Saen, a port on the banks of the misty Mekong river near Thailand's northernmost point.
A few years ago, Chiang Saen was a tiny outpost best known for its crumbling Buddhist temples and proximity to the opium-growing region known as the Golden Triangle. "There wasn't much here," says Surapong Chaiyanit, head of the government's land office in the town. "But Chiang Saen has now become a very important place for Thailand: the gateway to China."
China is two-day's sailing upriver from Chiang Saen. River steamers bring cargoes of apples, electric goods and rubber sandals down the Mekong through Laos and Myanmar to Chiang Saen, where they are loaded on trucks and driven to Bangkok. Chinese restaurants and gold shops line the river banks, waiting for customers from the north.
Many of the boats plying the Mekong fly the Chinese flag; Ren Zhu captains one of them. He watches as porters load consumer goods such as electric rice cookers into the hold of his vessel.
"We have high hopes for Chiang Saen," says Mr. Ren, who has been sailing the Mekong route between China and Thailand for three years and has learned to speak rudimentary Thai. "It feels like home."
While older Chinese-Thais still are occasionally nervous about proclaiming their Chinese identity, their children show fewer qualms. Many are taking lessons in the Chinese-language schools that have sprung up in Bangkok in the past few years. Some wealthy Chinese-Thai parents have begun sending their children to study in China, after a century of the well-off being schooled in England and America. Others are turning to Mr. Kitti's magazine, Da Jia Hao.
Within its pages, readers can peruse cartoon strips depicting the rags-to-riches stories of some of Thailand's most famous businessmen or learn some basic Chinese phrases. Ethnic-Chinese rapper Joey-Boy regularly appears in Da Jia Hao, often robed in a variety of Chinese silk gowns.
The first issue of Da Jia Hao was little more than a few photocopied pages bound with string. Mr. Kitti's mother predicted it wouldn't sell.
But it did. The magazine struck such a chord with Chinese-Thais that it attracted the attention of Bangkok's Manager Media Group. With its help, Mr. Kitti launched a glossy version of his magazine in November.
Sales have been brisk, Mr. Kitti says, amounting to 50,000 per issue. International brands such as Samsung, Hutchison Whampoa, BMW and Nokia have begun buying full-page advertisements to tap the affluent ethnic Chinese market.
Mr. Kitti's older relatives are somewhat bemused by his overnight success, however. "They say they can't believe I'm selling all this old Chinese stuff to the youngsters," he grins.
贸易引导亚洲华裔寻根路
在Kitti Jinsiriwanich开始销售他那些用线绳串著的影印杂志时，他从来没有想到，有一天像诺基亚(Nokia)和宝马(BMW)这样的跨国公司会找上门来，要在他的杂志上登广告。
他的杂志名为Da Jia Hao（中文的意思是"大家好"）。它主要介绍曼谷拥挤的"后街"地区单调的日常生活，他的家族就生活在那样的地方。而正是他家附近纵横交错的狭窄街道构成了曼谷唐人街的脉络。创刊后仅仅几个月，Da Jia Hao就在曼谷郊区的泰国华人中声名鹊起，成了华人精神寻根的一扇窗口。
27岁的Kitti翻著光纸印刷的新杂志校样说，现在好像身为华人是件很酷的事。
在亚洲，像Kitti的读者们这样开始重新审视他们的"中国根"的华人还有很多。随著亚洲国家对华贸易的加速发展，几个世纪以来默默生活在东南亚一些半岛和岛屿上的其他许多有华夏民族血缘的人也开始对中华文化发生了浓厚兴趣，而在以前很长的时间里，很多情况下他们都在有意识地排斥和疏离这种文化。
比如在印度尼西亚，华人就以一种非常微妙的方式借以表明他们的身份：他们重新开始学习舞狮子等中国传统民间艺术，而这种民间活动在印尼一度是长期禁止的。在穆斯林人口占多数的印尼，华人曾在1998年的流血冲突中遭到洗劫。菲律宾的方式也很婉转。菲律宾总统前不久邀请台湾一位流行歌手参观总统府，而以前在娱乐界人士中，这种礼遇只有美国影星和拉美国家的肥皂剧明星才能享受。 东南亚华人的企业（如泰国的CP Group和菲律宾华人陈永裁(Lucio Tan)开办的企业）在中国的投资规模也逐渐可以和他们在当地创建的企业相媲美。上个世纪下南洋讨生活的华人最终可能还会回到故土。
在美国盯住中东地区不放并决意以武力将恐怖分子的巢穴连根铲除的同时，中国的现实却表明，在亚洲，贸易在平衡各种势力方面或许能产生更深远的影响。
菲律宾一家华人商业集团的创办人吴奕辉(John Gokongwei)说，中国无意于武力扩张，它会通过贸易扩大影响，早在西方人来到亚洲以前，中国人就是这么做的。吴奕辉的集团从石化、电信到快餐、航空，在诸多行业都有涉猎。
而中国的邻国也都同样希望扩大贸易。在去年秋天召开的一个亚洲国家领导人峰会上，当中国总理温家宝承诺在2010年之前创建亚洲自由贸易区时，与会人士起立为他鼓掌欢呼。
温家宝受到的热烈欢迎与上世纪六十年代中国受到的待遇形成了鲜明对比。当年，毛泽东在亚洲地区的"野心"在印尼激起了一股反共浪潮，并为菲律宾实施独裁统治提供了土壤。在此后的几十年，亚洲华裔小心翼翼地融入到他们生活了几代人的国家。 现在，随著实行市场经济，中国在一些方面也具备了资本主义的要素，在这种情况下，处于东南亚经济中心的华人似乎更愿意认同他们在中国的根。
这一点在冷战时期曾是美国最重要同盟之一的泰国表现得非常明显。一个中泰商业协会的负责人Vikrom Kromadit说，中国和泰国在文化和信仰方面有很多共同点，他认为，现在世界上没有任何国家像泰国这样与中国这么接近。
其他泰国人也有同感。曼谷Kasikorn研究中心去年对曼谷市民进行了一次调查，问题是他们认为哪个国家是泰国最亲密的支持者。
有四分之三的被调查者回答是中国，另外有9%的人说是美国。目前美国仍是泰国最大的出口市场。
在泰国最北端、湄公河岸的河港小城清盛，国境线已经不那么清晰了。
就在几年前，清盛最出名之处是该地佛教寺庙林立，且靠近种植鸦片的"金三角"地区。该地土地管理部门的官员Surapong Chaiyanit说，现在不同了，清盛在泰国已变得非常重要：它是泰国通往中国的门户。
从中国到清盛乘船只需两天行程。载著清香四溢的苹果、电子产品和橡胶凉鞋的蒸汽船从中国出发，沿著湄公河南下，途经老挝、缅甸，就到了清盛。货物在这里被装上卡车发往曼谷。湄公河畔中餐馆和首饰店鳞次栉比，迎接著从北方来的客人。
许多往来湄公河的船只都悬挂中国国旗。Ren Zhu船长的船就是其中之一。在清盛的晨雾里，Ren Zhu搓著双手，注视著搬运工将电饭煲等日用品装进船舱。
Ren Zhu说，人们对清盛的未来期待很高。Ren Zhu三年前开始在湄公河上跑船，往返于中国和泰国之间。现在，他已经会说基本的泰国话了。
尽管上了岁数的泰国华人有时还不太敢声明他们的中国血统，但他们的后代却很少有这方面的担心。许多年轻些的泰国华人都在中文学校里补习汉语，过去几年来，曼谷的中文学校如雨后春笋般冒了出来。一些比较富裕的华人开始将孩子们送到中国受教育，而在上个世纪，他们大多会到英国或美国求学。其他人则求诸于Kitti的Da Jia Hao等杂志了解中国。
读者在Da Jia Hao杂志里可以看到描写泰国一些最知名的华商当年白手起家故事的卡通漫画，还可以学到一些简单的中国话。杂志还定期刊登华裔说唱歌手Joey-Boy的图片，每次他都会穿著不同图案的中国丝绸长袍。
Da Jia Hao的第一期充其量只是用线头串起来的几张影印的纸片。当时Kitti的妈妈预言，他的杂志根本卖不出去。
但它们卖出去了，而且，它迎合了人们对中泰文化交流的需求，这一点使它吸引了曼谷媒体集团Manager Media Group的注意。在该集团的帮助下，Kitti的杂志11月期换成了光纸印刷。
Kitti说，Da Jia Hao的销售一直很不错，销量已经达到每期50,000份。三星(Samsung)、和黄(Hutchison Whampoa)和宝马、诺基亚等国际品牌都开始在杂志上刊登整版的广告，它们希望打进富有的华人消费市场。
不过，Kitti的那些上了年纪的亲戚们还是有点不敢相信他居然一夜成名。Kitti很得意地笑著说，他们不相信我能把这些中国的老旧故事卖给那些年轻人。
