Charoen Chai

The Charoen Chai Community (Thai: เจริญไชย) is a historic neighborhood between Charoen Krung and Phlappha Chai Roads in Pom Prap Sattru Phai district, within Bangkok's Chinatown.^[1][2] The community is known for being the center of the joss paper trade in Bangkok.^[3][4]

History

Located off the northern section of Charoen Krung Road in sois Charoen Chai 1 and 2, the first colonial style shophouses were built in 1898, during the reign of King Chulalongkorn (Rama V).^[5] Shophouses in Soi Charoen Chai 1 were assigned as residential buildings, and those in Charoen Chai Soi 2 were designated to be businesses, including liquor shops, Chinese medicine dispensaries, and clinics.^[5]

The area is also known among the Chinese community as Tong Heng Gouy, "long bamboo stick".^[5]

The community was settled by Chinese immigrants, with the first group being Cantonese and later waves of Teochew becoming businesspeople and laborers.^[5]

In 2011, the Baan Kao Lao Rueng Museum, or Charoen Chai Community Museum, was established by the Charoen Chai Conservation and Rehabilitation Group.^[6][7][8]

In 2015, the community comprised 60 shophouses and 80 households.^[5] The neighborhood is now a hub for Thai-Chinese to purchase traditional goofs for Chinese rituals, religious ceremonies, and festivals.^[9][10]