Family and State: The Formation of a Sino-Thai Tin-Mining Dynasty 1797-1932 (South-East Asian Historical Monographs)

This study presents a close examination of how a Sino-Thai lineage, founded by a Chinese immigrant, Khaw Soo Cheang, functioned as a business enterprise over nearly a century and a half, perpetuating itself not only by making key political and economic alliances, but also by securing its fortunes through a family trust. By working within the Thai political orbit and by drawing on ties to the Chinese community, the Khaw family created a tin-mining dynasty which, for a time, was one of the principal underpinnings of Thai sovereignty in the southern extremity of the kingdom during a period of British imperial pressure and rapid modernization and reform.