In The Shadow of Great History: A Research of The Lost Villages in Northern Thailand

Abstract

This historical essay depicts the origins and current status of a northern Thai region known as Lost Villages. After the Chinese Civil War in the twentieth century, a remnant unit of the Kuomintang (KMT) rolled over from mainland China to Thailand and flourished here. However, caught between the competing political parties, their legal identity has always been in question. At the same time, they are in dire need of economic, educational, and policy support. After a literature review and field research, the author attempts to unravel the mystery of their identity and to make them more fully known by the outside world in order to establish sustained international assistance.