Reposted from the web

Summary: Northern Thailand has Yunnanese Hui Muslim communities whose mosque neighborhoods still show the memory of migration, trade, and borderland life. This first part of Day 3 records the mosques, settlements, and local community details in clear English while keeping the source facts and images.

During the May Day holiday in 2023, I visited the mosque communities (fang) of the Yunnan Hui Muslims in Northern Thailand. On the first day, led by Master Ma Ruqi, a third-generation Thai Yunnan Hui Muslim, we visited four mosque communities in the Chiang Mai city area: Chang Khlan, Wang He, Jing Zhen, and Nurul. I posted about this in 'A Pilgrimage to Northern Thai Yunnan Mosque Communities (Day 1)'. On the second day, Master Ma drove us north to visit several mosque communities in the refugee villages of the former Northern Thai isolated army. We went to Mae Salong, the main base of the isolated army, and finally reached Mae Sai, the second-largest settlement of Yunnan Hui Muslims in Northern Thailand. I posted about this in 'A Pilgrimage to Northern Thai Yunnan Mosque Communities (Day 2)'. On the third day, we left Mae Sai and headed south back to Chiang Mai, visiting several mosque communities in Chiang Rai to wrap up this pilgrimage to the Yunnan mosque communities of Northern Thailand.

Mae Sai

The third day of our journey began in Mae Sai, the northernmost town in Thailand. Early in the morning, we went to see the Mae Sai border crossing to Myanmar. It was closed for over two years and only reopened this February, so it is busy again now. Not far to the west of the border, you can see the Myanmar town of Tachileik across the Mae Sai River. Development there is clearly a bit behind Thailand. Many Yunnan Hui Muslims also live in Tachileik, and there is a Yunnan mosque there. I hope to have the chance to visit it in the future.













Next, we went to visit the Mae Sai Yunnan Mosque. Although Mae Sai has been a necessary stop for Yunnan horse caravans heading south to Chiang Mai since the late Qing Dynasty, it was not until 1952 that Yunnan Hui Muslims Ma Xianglin and Ma Enshou initiated the construction of a mosque. The original mosque was just a thatched hut. Later, with donations from Qian Yizhai and fellow Muslims in Chiang Mai, Ma Zixing oversaw its reconstruction into a wooden building. In 1975, because the number of Yunnan Hui Muslims in Mae Sai was growing, the old mosque could not hold everyone. Mu Chengfang, a Hui Muslim from Dazhuang, Kaiyuan, Yunnan, initiated a move to the current location next to the main road. Ma Weijing and Na Caikui oversaw the construction of the current steel and concrete building.





















The prayer hall of the Mae Sai Yunnan Mosque, with shops selling dried beef jerky (la niuganba) and dried duck (la ya) at the entrance.

















We had breakfast in an alley where Yunnan Hui Muslims live in Mae Sai. We could order in Mandarin, as the Yunnan Hui Muslims here speak both the Yunnan dialect and Mandarin fluently. We ate thick pea porridge (xi doufen) with rice noodles (migan) and braised beef noodles, which used minced meat (rou saozi) instead of chunks of meat. The owner's son is young but has already graduated as a hafiz. Hui Muslims here start systematic religious studies from a young age, which helps pass their faith down from generation to generation.



















Then we went to the old site of the Yunnan Mosque in Mae Sai to eat sweet buns (tangbao). After the Yunnan Mosque moved to its new location in 1975, the old site remained mosque property, and the storefronts along the street still sell snacks. We ate brown sugar and perilla seed-filled sweet buns (tangbao) at a Hui Muslim shop in the middle of the street, and we drank tea and chatted with everyone for a while. Also, the shop next door run by a South Asian friend (dosti) selling roti flatbread is doing very well.



















After breakfast, we arrived at Zhenguang School on the outskirts of Mae Sai. This is a school founded by Hui Muslims specifically to train hafiz. The students here include not only local Muslims but also many from other parts of Thailand and even China. It was summer break when we visited, so the students were away. Only the cows being prepared for Eid al-Adha and the chickens the students usually eat were wandering leisurely around the courtyard. The environment here is truly wonderful. Surrounded by endless rice fields and far from the noise of the city, it is a perfect place to focus on studies.



















Golden Triangle

Leaving Zhenguang School, we went to the border where Thailand, Laos, and Myanmar meet, which is the famous Golden Triangle. Standing on the banks of the Mekong River, you can see casinos in Myanmar and Laos on the opposite side. Since gambling is banned in Thailand, there is only a Golden Triangle Park here, where many tourists stop to take photos.



















Chiang Rai

Leaving the Golden Triangle, we headed toward Chiang Rai city. We first visited a South Asian Fatima Pakuk mosque near the Chiang Rai airport. Although it looks like a residential courtyard from the outside, it is decorated very beautifully once you step inside. It is very interesting that there is a large treehouse at the mosque entrance. This is my first time seeing a treehouse inside a mosque, a sight you only find in tropical regions.



















I visited two other South Asian mosques in Chiang Rai city; one is black and one is white, both clean and tidy. The black one was built by Pakistani descendants, and it is really rare to see a black mosque around here. Both mosques have lounge chairs on the front porch of the main hall. It feels so comfortable to lie there and catch the breeze.

















There are mango trees everywhere in Chiang Rai. Inside the Pakistani mosque, you can look up and see green mangoes filling the trees. We bought a bag of sliced green mangoes on the street. Dipping them in dry seasoning is delicious, crisp, and tasty.







We arrived in downtown Chiang Rai and found a halal stall specializing in various spicy sauces. The variety of spicy sauces in Thai food is amazing. They are mostly sweet and spicy, which I quite enjoy.













At noon, we had lunch at the largest Yunnan Hui Muslim restaurant in Chiang Rai city. The restaurant is called Yunnan Restaurant. The owner's surname is Na, and his ancestral home is Guanyi in Jianshui. The founder of the restaurant was surnamed Ma, who was owner Na's father-in-law. He spent 50 years preparing Yunnan halal banquets in Northern Thailand. Most Yunnan Hui Muslims in Northern Thailand, including our chartered driver Master Ma, have eaten at owner Ma's banquets and helped out in the kitchen. Owner Ma had two daughters who both married two brothers. Both sons-in-law inherited owner Ma's business, running two Yunnan restaurants in Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai respectively. The one we ate at in Chiang Rai is run by the younger brother.

The restaurant menu has Chinese, which makes ordering very convenient. We ordered stir-fried squid with red curry paste, stir-fried morning glory, fried fish with three kinds of sauces, and stir-fried beef with ginger strips. Hui Muslims here have kept traditional Yunnan halal food but added many Thai spices and cooking methods. They have developed a unique style of Northern Thai Yunnan halal cuisine that tastes different from the halal food we ate in Yunnan.



















We arrived at the Yunnan mosque (lishen) in Chiang Rai city, and the elders at the mosque greeted us warmly.

Although the total number of Hui Muslims in Chiang Rai city is much smaller than in Chiang Mai or Mae Sai, this was an important hub for the Yunnan Hui Muslim horse caravans trading in Northern Thailand. It is the oldest existing Yunnan mosque in Northern Thailand.

The Chiang Rai Yunnan mosque was built in 1910, seven years earlier than the Chiang Mai Wang He mosque built in 1917. The current building was rebuilt in 2009 and is the largest of all the Yunnan mosques in Northern Thailand. The dome in the center of the mosque is in Mughal style, and the tops of the minarets on both sides are Chinese-style pavilions. This represents the harmony between South Asian Muslims and Chinese Muslims in Northern Thailand. The entrance to the main hall has the words 'Gate of Ritual' and 'Path of Etiquette' written on it, along with a couplet that reads: 'Quiet mosque, quiet place, quiet thoughts, silently praise Allah; pure heart, pure origin, pure worship, purely follow the scriptures.' In front of the main hall door is a grandfather clock donated to the mosque by Mr. Mu Yufu, inscribed with the words 'Promote the Righteous Path'.

The first floor of the mosque is engraved with the names of those who donated to the reconstruction. Among them, 196 people are from Yunnan, many of whom are from Najiaying, Tonghai, and Menghai.



















The alley and snack stalls at the entrance of the Chiang Rai Yunnan mosque.









On the way from Chiang Rai to Chiang Mai, you will pass the Chiang Rai hot springs, where many people stop to take a break. The hot springs here are right by the side of the road, and you do not need to buy a ticket. There are springs of various temperatures. The hottest ones gush out like boiling water, and you can boil chicken eggs and quail eggs in them, which children really enjoy. You can soak your feet in the cooler springs. The water temperature drops as it flows from the source, so it is very comfortable to find a spot with the perfect temperature and soak for a while.













Back to Chiang Mai.

At noon, we returned to the Chiang Mai Wang He mosque (lishen) and then walked around the shops at the entrance. This shop is run by the daughter of Mustafa, the grand imam of the Nurul mosque in Chiang Mai. I bought CDs and hats here back in 2017. This time, Zainab bought a beautiful long dress made from local fabric that is very high quality. We took some lovely photos in it in Bangkok. view all

Reposted from the web

Summary: Northern Thailand has Yunnanese Hui Muslim communities whose mosque neighborhoods still show the memory of migration, trade, and borderland life. This second part of Day 3 follows the route through local mosques and village scenes with the original photos and sequence kept intact.



We went for a late lunch in Chiang Mai. We wanted to try the Yunnan-style food recommended by our driver, Mr. Ma, but the kitchen was closed for maintenance. Mr. Ma said the owner is from Shadian and runs the most authentic Yunnan Hui Muslim restaurant in Chiang Mai, with very little fusion with Thai food. I recommend that fellow Muslims (dost) visiting Chiang Mai give it a try.











We ended up at another Yunnan restaurant in Chiang Mai run by the brother of the owner of the place we ate at in Chiang Rai. We chatted with Mr. Na for a while, and his Mandarin was very fluent. They specialize in organic vegetables and pesticide-free wild greens. Their style is the unique blend of Yunnan halal food and Thai cuisine created by Hui Muslims in Northern Thailand. We ordered stir-fried chicken with basil (buhe chaoji), stir-fried tofu, spicy green papaya salad, and shrimp stir-fried with Thai red chili paste. Many restaurants we visited in Northern Thailand let you choose between small, medium, and large portions. Ordering four small dishes is perfect for two travelers. view all

Reposted from the web

Summary: Northern Thailand has old Yunnanese Hui Muslim communities whose mosque neighborhoods still carry the memory of migration, trade, and borderland life. This firsthand account follows the first half of the second day through mosques, settlements, and local Muslim community scenes while preserving the original photos and sequence.

During the May Day holiday in 2023, I visited the mosque communities (sifang) of Hui Muslims from Yunnan in Northern Thailand. On the first day, led by Master Ma Ruqi, a third-generation Thai Hui Muslim from Yunnan, we visited four mosque communities in the Chiang Mai city area: Chang Khlan, Wat Ket, Jingzhen, and Nurul. I posted about this in 'A Pilgrimage to Northern Thai Yunnan Mosque Communities (Day 1)'. On the second day, Master Ma drove us north to visit several mosque communities in the refugee villages of the former isolated army. We went to Mae Salong, the main base of the isolated army, and finally reached Mae Sai, the northernmost border crossing between Thailand and Myanmar, which is also the second-largest settlement for Hui Muslims from Yunnan in Northern Thailand.

Breakfast in Chiang Mai

On the second morning, we first had breakfast at a halal restaurant run by Hui Muslims from Yunnan in the southeast of Chiang Mai's old city. The owner's Yunnan dialect sounded very familiar, and we had no trouble ordering in Mandarin. I ate their chicken fat rice (ji you fan) back in 2017. This time, I had rice cakes (erkua), wontons (huntun), and steamed buns (baozi). The rice cakes were topped with braised beef, the wontons were in chicken soup, and the steamed buns were filled with pickled vegetables and meat. The standard side dishes here are limes, small shallots, and pickled vegetables. I found them very refreshing and appetizing.



















Date Palm Plantation

Driving north from Chiang Mai through a mountainous area, you will see a date palm plantation by the side of the road, not far from the Wang Pha National Park. Praise be to Allah, after constant efforts and attempts, Thai people have successfully grown date palms in Chiang Mai. Now Thai Muslims can eat locally grown dates. This was also my first time seeing a date palm orchard up close.

Although the dates in Chiang Mai do not ripen until July or August and I could not eat fresh ones this time, the orchard had a wide variety of date products. There were dried dates, date juice, date ice cream, canned dates, and more. We tried the date juice and date ice cream, and both were quite delicious! The dates in the canned dates were crunchy and had a light fragrance, which was a bit of a surprise.





















Wanyang Village

Heading north, I reached the first Hui mosque community on the Thai-Myanmar border: Wanyang Village in Fang District, founded by the descendants of refugees who followed the 93rd Division of the Lost Army in Northern Thailand. The Lost Army in Northern Thailand began in 1950 with the 237th and 93rd Divisions of the Nationalist Army, who retreated from Yunnan into Myanmar along with their families and many refugees.

After 1951, the number of families, merchants, horse caravans, and civilians arriving from Yunnan grew, but constant attacks by the Myanmar military forced them to retreat into the mountains along the Thai border, which is when Wanyang was established. These refugees first lived in bamboo and thatch huts, relying on primitive slash-and-burn farming to grow corn and rice. They were not allowed to enter or leave towns freely, making it very difficult to earn a living.



















Some Yunnan Hui Muslim mosques in Northern Thailand like to use pleasant two-character religious terms for their names, such as Jingzhen Mosque in Chiang Mai, Meide Mosque in Wanyang, Jiqing Mosque in Hefei, Chengxin Mosque in Fang District, and Ciai Mosque in Daduan, all of which sound very auspicious. Among these Yunnan mosques, I think Wanyang's Meide Mosque is the most beautiful; the environment is excellent, with lush greenery that makes it feel like a garden.



















At Wanyang Meide Mosque, I saw the Arabic school, the women's prayer hall, the funeral room (meiti fang), and the event hall; it was my first time seeing the word for funeral (maiti) written as meiti, and I think this translation is quite good.



















At noon, I went to a Yunnan Hui Muslim restaurant in Wanyang Village called Jianping Beef Noodle Shop and ate pan-fried dumplings (jianjiao), rice noodles (babasi), and beef noodles, served with the standard Northern Thai sides of pickled vegetables, onions, and lime. The rice noodles (babasi) are a type of flat rice noodle topped with traditional beef sauce, and you can choose between the traditional Yunnan Hui Muslim clear broth or the Northern Thai coconut milk broth. The pan-fried dumplings (jianjiao) were filled with chicken and chives, and I feel that pan-fried dumplings are also very common in Yunnan communities in Northern Thailand.

























The shop displays family photos of the owner.







Hefei Village

After leaving Wanyang Village, we arrived at the second Yunnan Hui mosque community on the Thai-Myanmar border, Hefei Village, to pray at the village's Jiqing Mosque. Like Wanyang Village, Hefei Village was established after the 1950s by refugees who fled here from Yunnan through Myanmar.



















Hefei Jiqing Mosque features Chinese calligraphy and traditional Chinese-style Arabic calligraphy, including a plaque that reads 'The Way Spans Past and Present' (Dao Guan Gu Jin), which was respectfully erected by Ma Junguo when the mosque was rebuilt in 1965.









I met a group of young Hafiz reciting the Quran in the mosque. Life has been hard in northern Myanmar recently, so some Burmese Muslims send their children to study at Jiqing Mosque. These children spend several years practicing constantly to become qualified Hafiz.











The back door of Hefei Jiqing Mosque leads to a cemetery. You can see that the ancestors of the local community came from places like Shadian, Jianshui, and Fengqing County in Lancang, Yunnan. The mosque's donation record book (nietiebu) shows that the main family names in this community are Ma, Na, Li, and Yang.



















Fang District town

After leaving Hefei, we went to the third Yunnan-style mosque on the Thai-Myanmar border, Chengxin Mosque in the town of Fang District, Chiang Mai Province. Chengxin Mosque was built in 1975 by Yunnan Hui Muslims living in Fang District town. It makes it easier for Yunnan Hui Muslims from nearby villages to attend to business in town. Chengxin Mosque has fewer ancestral records (gaomu) than the surrounding villages, and the mosque itself is quite small. It is currently led by an imam who moved from Myanmar, and his family lives right in the mosque. The imam's daughter speaks Mandarin. We chatted with her about daily life, which was very interesting.

Similar to Thailand, the origins of Muslims in Myanmar vary from north to south. In the far north live the Panthay people, descendants of Yunnan Hui Muslim caravans. In the far south live the Pashu people, who are of Malay descent. The central region is mainly home to Burmese Muslims, formed by intermarriage between South Asians and local Burmese people. In 1660, some Mughal soldiers followed the son of Emperor Shah Jahan to Arakan. They later became royal archers for the Mrauk U Kingdom of Arakan and ruled the area for decades between the late 17th and early 18th centuries. The descendants of these Mughal troops are known as the Kaman people, one of the ethnic groups officially recognized by Myanmar.



















Daduan Village

Leaving Fang District town, we arrived at the northernmost Yunnan-style mosque in Chiang Mai, Ciai Mosque in Daduan. We are now just a stone's throw from Myanmar. The newly built women's hall at Ciai Mosque is beautiful. The first floor is a prayer hall, and the second floor is a classroom.



















Inside the main hall of Daduan Ciai Mosque, there is a traditional Weishan-style Arabic calligraphy scroll gifted in 2017 by Donglianhua Village in Weishan, Dali. Thanks to the internet, many Hui Muslims from Yunnan living in Northern Thailand have reconnected with their relatives back home, and the two sides are now in closer contact. Among the Hui Muslims from Yunnan living along the Thai-Myanmar border, Weishan in Dali, Tonghai in Yuxi, and Shadian in Honghe are the main ancestral homes.

The mosque also has copies of scriptures translated into Chinese that were donated by Taiwan. In 1984, Thailand ordered the isolated army in Northern Thailand to disarm and placed them under military control. They banned Chinese-language education and replaced Chinese schools with Thai-language schools. However, the refugees insisted on learning Chinese. They sent their children to Thai schools during the day, but still had them secretly study Chinese in the early morning and at night. Over time, Thailand stopped strictly enforcing these restrictions.

Inside the mosque hangs a photo of Panghsang Mosque, which was gifted by the Panghsang Hui Muslim Association in Myanmar in 2014. Master Ma told me that in 2014, various Yunnan-style mosques in Northern Thailand were invited by Panghsang Mosque to attend their mosque renovation celebration. Panghsang is the capital of the Wa State in Myanmar. It connects to the Meng'a border crossing in Yunnan and is one of the places where Myanmar-based Hui Muslims from Yunnan live.













At the Thai-Myanmar border, the mountain on the other side is in Myanmar.



Mae Salong

Continuing north, we left Chiang Mai Province and entered Chiang Rai Province.

We drove deep into the jungle along the steep, winding roads of the Thai-Myanmar border. Along the way, I bought a huge bunch of super sweet bananas from a local grandmother for one yuan. We finally arrived at Mae Salong, the base camp of the isolated army in Northern Thailand. Master Ma said he has been driving this mountain road for 30 years. At first, it was all dirt, and you had to use tire chains in the winter. It is much easier to drive now that the road has been paved, but it still requires extreme caution if you are not used to it.

After the isolated army withdrew to Taiwan for the second time in 1961, the remaining 3rd and 5th Armies gave up their status as Nationalist soldiers and retreated from Myanmar into the border area of Northern Thailand near Myanmar. From then on, they were known as the isolated army in Northern Thailand.

At that time, the 3rd and 5th Armies did not command each other. Their supplies were cut off, and each had to find a place to live in the jungles of Northern Thailand. Unlike the 3rd Army commander Li Wenhuan, who had a background as a businessman, the 5th Army commander Duan Xiwen was a graduate of the Yunnan Military Academy and did not know how to do business. This caused the 5th Army to fall into a desperate situation for a time. In 1963, Myanmar confiscated the property of overseas Chinese. The Tachileik Special Goods Company at the Thai-Myanmar border crossing had a large amount of stock that they asked the 5th Army to transport. The 5th Army used this to collect escort fees and also bought and sold goods for profit, which temporarily solved their supply problem. After this, the 5th Army headquarters moved into Mae Salong, which guards the mountain pass. They built bamboo and grass huts there for the soldiers and their families to live in.

Because the soil in Mae Salong was not fertile, the terraced fields they cleared could not provide enough food for the soldiers, so life was very difficult in the early days. By the 1980s, most houses were built with bamboo and mud walls and topped with tin roofs. In 1981, the isolated army defeated the Thai Communist Party at Doi Khao Ya. They finally gained legal status, with the soldiers becoming Thai citizens and their families becoming legal resident immigrants. After that, the isolated army laid down their weapons, and Mae Salong changed from a military camp into a northern Thai Chinese village.

The people of Mae Salong put down their guns and started tea plantation businesses. The climate in the northern Thai mountains is perfect for growing tea, and there were already many wild Assam black tea trees there. Since some of the soldiers had been tea merchants back home in Yunnan and knew how to grow tea, they quickly started many tea plantations in Mae Salong. Besides the local wild tea trees, they introduced many varieties like Pu'er and Oolong. Today, Mae Salong has become a tourist destination filled with tea plantations. Every year between the Mid-Autumn Festival and the Spring Festival, many Thai people enjoy coming here to escape the heat and go on vacation. view all

Reposted from the web

Summary: Northern Thailand has old Yunnanese Hui Muslim communities whose mosque neighborhoods still carry the memory of migration, trade, and borderland life. This firsthand account follows the second day of the route through local mosques, village streets, and community history while preserving the original photos and sequence.







The Mae Salong Mosque was built in the 1960s by Hui Muslims from Yunnan who were part of the 5th Division of the Lost Army in Northern Thailand. The first imam, Yang Guoqing, worked in the 5th Division's intelligence department. He led the community through the toughest years from the 1960s to the 1980s, seeing the mosque evolve from a bamboo hut to a tin-roofed wooden structure, and finally to the current reinforced concrete building. Haji Majisi, who held the rank of Major General in the army, was one of the three founding elders of the Mae Salong Mosque. He worked tirelessly to raise funds for the mosque's reconstruction, contributing both his own money and effort selflessly. The first imam to lead prayers at the mosque was Haji Wang Zhenliang, who was originally a merchant from Yunnan.

Today, there are still over a dozen households of the mosque's community (gaomu) in Mae Salong, though many live in Taiwan during the tourism off-season. The current imam is a Hmong convert to Islam. He is very grateful that fellow believers (dost) have come to preach in the deep mountains of Northern Thailand, which has led some local Hmong people to return to the faith.

























Inside the mosque, there is a Ramadan donation record (nieti bu) posted on the wall. It shows that the community is primarily made up of people with the surname Ma, along with others named Yang, Dong, Yao, Mu, Wang, He, Jiang, and Zhang. The mosque also displays the wedding stage from earlier this year, where local community member Ma Zhenqiang married Ani, a Thai convert to Islam. It must have been a very lively event, and if Allah wills, I hope to attend a wedding of the Yunnanese Hui Muslims in Thailand one day.





Inside the main prayer hall of the Mae Salong Mosque, there is Arabic calligraphy gifted by a folk culture delegation of Yunnan Hui Muslims.

There is also a group photo of local youth taken in the old wooden prayer hall during a past Eid al-Fitr.









There are two Yunnanese Hui Muslim restaurants in Mae Salong, and we had dinner at one of them, the Shanlima Restaurant. Our driver, Mr. Ma, and the owner's son were classmates at the Jingzhen School in Chiang Mai. The owner was away when we visited, so we only met his wife and son-in-law, both of whom are Thai converts to Islam. The owner's wife can speak a little Yunnanese, so at first, we thought she was a Yunnanese Hui Muslim.

Dining in Mae Salong, deep in the mountains, is all about fresh ingredients. We ordered stir-fried black-bone chicken with ginger strips, braised beef offal (niuzapa hu), a cold salad of fresh tea leaves, and luffa tips. Many families in Mae Salong village raise black-bone chickens. You can usually only find this type of chicken in the mountains; the meat is very firm and tastes delicious. The cold salad of fresh tea leaves is a specialty of Mae Salong, and it was my first time trying it. The fresh tea leaves are crisp, and the light tea fragrance is very refreshing.

We also didn't expect to find fried milk curd (rushan) in Thailand. It was fried thin and crispy, not greasy at all, and even better than what I had eaten in Weishan, Dali before! Master Ma said this was likely brought over by Yunnan Hui Muslims from Myanmar, who still keep the craft of frying milk curd.





























Sharing the menu from Shanlima Restaurant in Mae Salong; wild bitter melon is also one of their specialties.









Besides Shanlima, Mae Salong has another Yunnan Hui Muslim restaurant called Mina Halal Restaurant. Since it is the off-season, the owner went to Taiwan. She will likely return after the Mid-Autumn Festival when the peak tourist season begins, so only the staff are running it now. If I have the chance to visit Mae Salong again, I will go and try their food.













Mae Sai

In the evening, we traveled from Mae Salong to Mae Sai, a border port city on the Thai-Myanmar border at the northernmost tip of Thailand. Mae Sai now has over 200 households of Yunnan Hui Muslims, making it the second-largest settlement of Yunnan Hui Muslims in Northern Thailand outside of Chiang Mai.

We drank tea and chatted with the elders at the Yunnan Mosque in Mae Sai, and we had no trouble communicating in Mandarin. Although Mae Sai has been a necessary stop for Yunnan horse caravans heading south to Chiang Mai since the late Qing Dynasty, the mosque was not initiated and built until 1952 by Yunnan Hui Muslims Ma Xianglin and Ma Enshou. The original mosque was just a thatched hut, but it was later rebuilt into a wooden structure under the supervision of Ma Zixing, thanks to donations from Qian Yizhai and fellow believers in Chiang Mai. In 1975, as the number of Yunnan Hui Muslims in Mae Sai grew, the old mosque could no longer accommodate everyone. Mu Chengfang initiated a move to the current location next to the main road, and Ma Weijing and Na Caikui oversaw the construction of the current steel and concrete building.













In the evening, we visited the South Asian Mosque in Mae Sai for namaz. According to Master Ma, there are currently 70 to 80 local South Asian Muslim households in Mae Sai, plus over 200 households of Myanmar-born Muslims who moved here from Myanmar to make a living due to poverty. There are about 50 poor students from Myanmar in this mosque. The mosque provides them with free food, housing, and education, which is very moving.













After coming down from Hufu Beach, we had spicy barbecue (shaokao) from a Yunnan Hui Muslim shop in Mae Sai for a late-night snack. We had no trouble communicating in Mandarin. They run the shop right at their own front door. You have to make several turns off the main road to find it, and we never would have spotted it without Master Ma leading the way. The barbecue doesn't have beef or lamb. It is mostly chicken gizzards, chicken hearts, and various types of sausages. They brush on plenty of Sichuan peppercorn water and chili sauce. We chose the mild spice level, and it was still very satisfying.













While walking around the streets of Mae Sai at night, we saw a Thai Muslim roast duck shop across from the Yunnan mosque. It was still busy at midnight. It turns out Thai people really love eating roast duck too. The Chinese community in Mae Sai is mainly made up of three groups: Yunnan Han people, Yunnan Hui Muslims, and Chaoshan people. Both the Yunnan and Chaoshan groups have their own Chinese-language schools. The Yunnan Hui Muslims here attend three types of schools: Thai schools, Chinese schools, and religious schools (jingxue). Because of this, they grow up knowing Thai, Chinese, and Arabic. view all

Reposted from the web

Summary: Northern Thailand — Yunnan-Style Mosques and Hui Muslims is presented here as a firsthand travel account in clear English, beginning with this scene: During the May Day holiday in 2023, I traveled to Thailand. A key part of my trip was visiting the mosques (si-fang) of the Yunnanese Hui Muslims in Northern Thailand. The account keeps its focus on Northern Thailand, Yunnan Mosques, Hui Muslims while preserving the names, places, food, and historical details from the Chinese source.

During the May Day holiday in 2023, I traveled to Thailand. A key part of my trip was visiting the mosques (si-fang) of the Yunnanese Hui Muslims in Northern Thailand. I visited Chiang Mai in 2017 and went to four mosques in the city, where I also caught the lively Friday market (Jumu'ah bazaar). I am very grateful that this time we connected with Ma Ruqi, a local Yunnanese Hui Muslim driver in Northern Thailand. He will drive us on a tour of the Yunnanese mosques in the region.

Master Ma is a third-generation Yunnanese Hui Muslim immigrant. His grandparents came from Yunnan to Northern Myanmar for business in the early 20th century and later settled there. After the military government took power in Myanmar in 1962, they closed the borders and the economy stalled. Master Ma's parents then moved from Northern Myanmar to settle in Santikhiri (Manxingdie) in Northern Thailand. Santikhiri is located on a transport route along the Thai-Myanmar border and was once the base for the drug lord Khun Sa. Master Ma was born there. Master Ma's family lived in Santikhiri until 1996, when they moved to the Thai-Myanmar border city of Mae Sai at the foot of the mountain. Master Ma lived in Taiwan for nearly twenty years, where he married and had children. However, he felt that life in Taiwan did not suit his habits as well as Thailand, so he eventually returned.



We arrived in Chiang Mai on the afternoon of April 30. Master Ma took us to a restaurant in the Chang Khlan mosque neighborhood to eat Northern Thai curry noodles (khao soi) and Thai-style chicken rice (khao mok gai). They also served tamarind juice and roselle juice.

Master Ma explained that the owner of this shop is of Pakistani descent and has lived in Chiang Mai for five generations. The grandmother in the picture is from the third generation. Her descendants have married local Thai people and are fully integrated into Thai society.











Northern Thai curry noodles are the most famous yellow egg noodles in Chiang Mai. Research suggests they were created when the Shan people from Northern Myanmar migrated to Chiang Mai and combined their food culture with that of the Yunnanese Hui Muslims. The dish contains both fried egg noodles and boiled egg noodles; the fried ones are sprinkled on top, while the boiled ones are in the soup. The soup is like a mild yellow curry. It uses turmeric, ginger, coconut milk, soy sauce, and palm sugar. When eating, you add pickled mustard greens, lime, and shallots.





Thai-style chicken rice (khao mok gai) was formed when South Asian Muslims brought the method of making South Asian biryani rice to Thailand and blended it with local spices, resulting in a lighter flavor. To make it, you marinate the chicken overnight in yogurt, turmeric, and various spices. Then, you fry the chicken until golden brown, add stewing spices, and cook it with the rice. It is served with cucumber, Thai sweet chili sauce, and a bowl of chicken soup.



Besides South Asian and Malay residents, a few Hui Muslim families from Yunnan also live in the Chang Khlan mosque neighborhood. The owner of the grocery store across from the mosque is a relative of Master Ma. It is fascinating to hear them chat, switching seamlessly between Thai, Yunnan dialect, and Mandarin.











Due to the unstable situation in Myanmar in recent years, some Burmese Muslims have also moved to the Chang Khlan mosque neighborhood to live. We happened to run into some young Burmese Muslim men buying drinks at the grocery store. On Chang Khlan Road next to the mosque, there is a row of halal snack shops mostly run by Burmese Muslims. They love to chew betel nut, and the women apply a paste made from ground yellow wood branches and water called thanaka to their faces to prevent mosquito bites and cool down.













We visited the center of the Chang Khlan mosque neighborhood in Chiang Mai, Thailand—the Chang Khlan Mosque. The Chang Khlan mosque neighborhood is mainly made up of South Asian and Malay Muslims. Between 1826 and 1885, Britain gradually incorporated Myanmar into British India. During this period, South Asian Muslims under British Indian rule continuously traveled to Myanmar to make a living, and they arrived in Chiang Mai to settle in the mid-19th century. From 1891 to 1895, the Pahang Uprising occurred on the Malay Peninsula. The rebel army eventually failed and retreated into Siam, and some Malay Muslims were exiled to Chiang Mai. They intermarried with the local South Asian Muslims, and their descendants speak Thai and have integrated into Thai society. After the 20th century, the Thai people's name for these Thai-speaking Muslims gradually changed from Khaek (foreigner) to Thai-Islam (Thai Muslim).

















In the afternoon, we went from Chang Khlan Mosque to Ban Ho Mosque. We first looked at the old house of Haji Zheng Chonglin across from Ban Ho Mosque, which is the most important historical site for Hui Muslims in Chiang Mai. Every Friday morning, a lively Jumu'ah bazaar is held in the courtyard of the old house, but it is quite quiet at other times.

During this visit, I discovered a new information board in the courtyard that introduces people of Yunnan descent and the Ho (Hò) people in Thai and English. People say when Yunnan horse caravans first communicated with locals in Northern Thailand, they often answered with 'hao, hao' (good, good). The locals used 'Ho' to refer to these Yunnan horse caravan merchants, and it later became the name for all people of Yunnan descent in Northern Thailand.

In the 19th century, Yunnan horse caravans controlled the trade route from Yunnan through Northern Myanmar to Northern Thailand. They transported tea, silk, hardware, and copperware to Northern Thailand and brought cotton and tobacco back to Yunnan. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, King Rama V of Thailand vigorously developed the economy, which led many Hui Muslim horse caravans to come to Chiang Mai. In 1904, Zheng Chonglin, a caravan merchant from Yuxi, Yunnan, and a descendant of Zheng He, established the Da Ma Dian (Big Horse Inn) east of Chiang Mai city, which became the main base for Yunnanese caravans in Chiang Mai. Many Yunnanese Hui Muslims from the caravans came to live near the inn, and the Wang He community began to form.

Zheng Chonglin was born in 1884 in Daying, Yuxi, Yunnan, and followed his elders in the caravan trade between Yunnan, Thailand, and Myanmar from a young age. He was once commissioned by King Rama VI of Thailand to organize a caravan team in northern Thailand, taking on the transport of all supplies for the railway construction from Bangkok to Lampang. In 1910, when the site for Chiang Mai Airport was chosen, it was the horse farm that the Yunnanese caravans had jointly purchased and used for many years. Zheng Chonglin donated the land on behalf of the Yunnanese caravans, and it is now Thailand's second-largest international airport. Because of his great contributions to Thailand, King Rama VI bestowed the first-rank title of Khun (Tang Kun) upon Zheng Chonglin in 1914, making him the leader of the Yunnanese community in northern Thailand. He married Nu, the daughter of a local chieftain in Tak Province, and they had five sons and five daughters. In 1967, Zheng Chonglin went on the Hajj and passed away peacefully in Mecca at the age of 83.



















At the Wang He Mosque (Wang He Si) in Chiang Mai, many of the elders here can speak Mandarin and the Yunnan dialect, and the mihrab features traditional Yunnan-style Arabic calligraphy.

In the early 20th century, Zheng Chonglin was rewarded by the Chiang Mai chieftain with a piece of land east of Chiang Mai city, where he built his residence, the Zheng Mansion (Zheng Fu). In 1907, Zheng Chonglin built a prayer room at the Zheng Mansion, and many Yunnanese Hui Muslims in Chiang Mai would come to the mansion for their worship. In 1917, led by Zheng Chonglin, everyone pooled their money to buy the land opposite the Zheng Mansion and built the Wang He Mosque.

During the 1950s and 1960s, many Yunnanese Hui Muslims arrived in Chiang Mai to settle, and the number of congregants at the Wang He Mosque increased significantly. In 1966, three Hajjis—Hu Ranmao, Ma Ruqi, and Ma Wanzhang—led the effort to rebuild the Wang He Mosque into the current reinforced concrete structure.

Ma Ruqi was the owner of the Ma Ruqi Courtyard in Donglianhua Village, Weishan, Dali. He settled in Chiang Mai after 1954, worked in the local specialty trade, was passionate about public welfare, and was appointed president of the Thai-Chinese Chamber of Commerce in 1974. Today, Ma Ruqi's descendants in Dali still live in the Ma Ruqi Courtyard and have opened a restaurant and guesthouse. I highly recommend visiting to experience it; you can refer to my record from earlier this year, 'The Three Hui Muslim Caravan Courtyards in Donglianhua Village, Weishan, Dali'.

Hu Ranmao was an important leader of the Wang He Mosque community after Zheng Chonglin. He was born in 1914 in Xiaoweigeng Village, Weishan, Dali, and served as the principal of his hometown's Muguang School in 1934. He worked in the horse caravan trade between Thailand and Myanmar in the 1940s and settled in Chiang Mai in 1953. In the 1970s, he helped found the Chiang Mai Islamic Committee and served two consecutive terms as its chairman. During his lifetime, Hu Ranmao was received by the King of Thailand many times and was honored with the royal title of Yong Fooanant.



















In the afternoon, I went to the night market at Tha Phae Gate in Chiang Mai. A cultural event was happening in front of Tha Phae Gate, where I saw a performance of the local Chiang Mai victory drum (desheng gu).











Then I went to Chiang Mai's second Yunnan-style mosque, Masjid Attaqwa, located in the San Pa Khoi area east of the Ping River. Many Yunnan Hui Muslims came to Chiang Mai via northern Myanmar in the 1950s and 1960s. As the original Wang He Mosque became crowded, Haji Hu Ranmao led the construction of Masjid Attaqwa to the east of Wang He in 1970. The mihrab inside Masjid Attaqwa features traditional Yunnan-style Arabic calligraphy, and the cartoons drawn by the children in the weekend class are very cute.

















There are several Yunnan snack shops at the mosque entrance. In 2017, I ate authentic Yunnan pea jelly (wandoufen) here. This time, I saw a new restaurant that says 'Yunnan Banlong Wanyang Muslim Home Cooking'. Banlong is located in the Wa Mountains of the Kokang region in northern Myanmar. It is a community formed in the 1870s after General Ma Linyu of Du Wenxiu's army led his troops there and were taken in by the Wa tribe. It was later renamed 'Bannong'. Wanyang is a village established in the 1950s after the 93rd Division of the Nationalist Army moved to northern Thailand.



Opposite Masjid Attaqwa is Attaqwa School, the most important Islamic school in Chiang Mai and northern Thailand. Our driver, Mr. Ma, is a graduate of this school. It was summer vacation in May, so most teachers and students were away. We met a teacher who stayed at the school and gave a donation (nietie) to the school. According to Mr. Ma, this teacher is a Malay from southern Thailand and a graduate of the Islamic University of Madinah, and he is a very skilled teacher.

Attaqwa School was initiated by Haji Hu Ranmao in the 1960s and opened in 1970. It teaches Arabic, the Quran and Hadith, and religious knowledge, while providing free food and housing. When Attaqwa School was first established, most students were local Yunnan Hui Muslims from Chiang Mai. Later, because of its high teaching standards and free food and housing, it attracted Muslims from all over northern Thailand, southern Thailand, and Myanmar to study there. For half a century, Jingzhen School has played a vital role in the development of the faith in Thailand. It is a major reason why young and middle-aged Hui Muslims in northern Thailand can still hold fast to their faith today.

















In the evening, we performed the evening prayer (namaz) at Nurul Mosque, located outside the White Elephant Gate (Chang Phuak Gate) in northern Chiang Mai. When I visited Chiang Mai in 2017, the mosque was being rebuilt, and now the new building is just finished. We met Grand Imam Mustafa here. He was the teacher of Master Ma when he attended Jingzhen School 30 years ago. He is highly respected throughout the entire Muslim community in Chiang Mai. Grand Imam Mustafa's daughter runs an Islamic bookstore at the entrance of Wang He Mosque. We visited it before we left, and I will share more about it later.

Like the Chang Khlan Mosque community, the Nurul Mosque community is a South Asian one. Many ancestors of the Haw Muslims (gaomu) came from Bangladesh. They arrived in Chiang Mai via Myanmar to trade during the British India period in the 19th century and later made a living by raising cattle. During the Partition of India and Pakistan in 1947, more Bengali Muslims moved here to escape the chaos. After the 1960s, Chiang Mai banned cattle from entering the city. Some Haw Muslims moved to the Chang Khlan Mosque community, which is further from the old city. Because of this, the number of Haw Muslims at Nurul Mosque is now the smallest among the four mosque communities in downtown Chiang Mai.



















We had dinner at a Yunnan-style restaurant next to Wang He Mosque. The restaurant is owned by Na Zhongwei, a board member of Wang He Mosque, and the building itself is property of the mosque. Although the Yunnan restaurant has been open for many years, it only moved to its current location recently. It is very convenient to eat there after visiting Wang He Mosque.

We ordered stir-fried holy basil beef (dapao niurou), steamed sea bass, pumpkin tips, and stir-fried tofu puffs. You can choose the portion size for dishes here, and some even come in small, medium, or large sizes, which is perfect for tourists. Hui Muslims from Yunnan have lived in Chiang Mai for over a hundred years, and their tastes have changed. For example, the sour and spicy levels are much stronger than what you would find in Yunnan. In Yunnan, a purely vegetarian dish like pumpkin tips usually wouldn't have chili, but in Thailand, they definitely add chili to it.

Besides being a bit spicy, I really love the food of the Yunnan Hui Muslims in Thailand. I especially love the stir-fried holy basil beef; it goes so well with rice. Holy basil (dapao) is also known as sacred basil. It is native to South Asia and widely grown in the tropical regions of Southeast Asia. Stir-frying meat with holy basil leaves is a famous Thai dish. This tofu stir-fried in a sour and spicy sauce is also delicious. The balance of sour, sweet, and spicy is just right.





























Then, on Chang Khlan Road, we found an Emirati restaurant. It had a sign in Chinese that read 'Arabic food, Indian food, Chinese food, Italian food.' It is the most 'Maritime Silk Road' restaurant I have ever seen, haha. view all