Fieldwork in 2023: Chinese Temples in Bangkok
Chinese temples in Thailand (and many other locations in South and Southeast Asia) give witness to the complex history of the spread of Chinese Buddhism, and the co-existence of various forms of Buddhism in that area. In the context of Thailand – although characterized by a dominance of Theravada Buddhism – there is a large number of Chinese temples especially in the Bangkok area, most of them clustering in and around Chinatown, but some also situated in the suburbs. The temples still play a significant role for the religious and cultural life, as well as the identity, of communities with Chinese ancestors. This contemporary function of these religious institutions will be one focus of the fieldtrip, and we aim to document as many temples as possible with photographic (including 3D survey images) and video materials.
In addition, we will focus on a specific aspect of material culture extant in many of these temples, concretely, inscriptional / epigraphic materials. Chinese immigration to Southeastern locations started several hundred years ago, and the earliest inscriptions date back to the 17th century. In our work, we will focus on historical inscriptions, as well as those being added in the 20th century. Here, we build on the monumental work of Wolfgang Franke who in 1998 published a survey of epigraphic materials in Thailand. In our fieldwork, we aim to both trace Franke’s documented materials in the contemporary temples, document them with high-resolution images, in addition to complementing and supplementing the records of Franke. This will also enable us to gain an impression of the current condition of these materials, and their significance for religious practices and for the heritage / touristic activities of the individual temples. We will not only document materials in Chinese but also in Thai (or other languages such as Pali). Already during the fieldtrip, we will work on the description of the photographic materials produced, and input them in an interface designed by Oliver Streiter. This work will continue after the event, with an emphasis on transcribing and occasionally translating the epigraphic documents (and compare them with those documented by Franke), and finally extract relevant data them from the fieldwork database and – after a process of postproduction – import them into the UBC situated Frogbear fieldwork depository.
Participants and collaborators
The field trip is organized by Christoph Anderl (Ghent University), in collaboration with Marcus Bingenheimer, Oliver Streiter, Yoann Goudin, Elsa Ngar-sze Lau, and Chiu (Melody) Tzu-Lung. Without the immense preparatory work of and their vast experience in documenting Chinese temples in Taiwan and South and Southeast Asia of Bingenheimer, Streiter and Goudin, this fieldwork would not be possible. In addition to these specialists, we will be accompanied by ca. fifteen graduate students and PhD researchers from various universities, working in five groups. Each group will also include one local translator.
We are also in the fortunate situation to be supported by the Bangkok based Thammasat University who will help with the logistics and provide expertise for the training sessions and the fieldwork. Thammasat representatives will also accompany some of the fieldwork groups. We are especially indebted to Thomas Bruce, Paul McBain, John Johnston, and Ornthicha Duangratana for their support.
Schedule (tentative!)
May 23
Arrival of the participants
May 24 (Thammasat)
10:00-10:20 Christoph Anderl: “Welcome and brief introduction” / Welcome by Thammasat representative
10:20-10:50 Marcus Bingenheimer: “Chinese temples Bangkok – a survey” (lecture)
10:50-11:30 Paul Mcbain: “Introduction to reality scan, reality capture, 360 cameras, matterport” (training)
14:00-14:40 Oliver Streiter: “Following the Traces of Wolfgang Franke in Thailand: Impressions, insights and questions from out fieldwork in 2019 and 2023” (lecture)
14:40-15:20 Elsa Ngar-sze Lau: “Doing ethnographic research at religious site: observation and interview” (lecture)
15:40-17:00 Marcus Bingenheimer / Oliver Streiter: “Introduction to temple documentation, data collection, data input” (training / discussions)
May 25
09:00-12:30 FIELD WORK 1 in five groups
14:30 Gathering at Thammasat
14:30-15:20 John Johnston: “Contemporary Developments in Thai Buddhist Material Culture.” (lecture)
15:20-16:00 Melody Tzu-Lung Chiu: “Fieldwork practices and experiences in transnational Buddhist temples: Taiwan, Mailand China, Myanmar and Thailand.” (lecture)
16:00-16:40 Oliver Streiter: “How to identify objects (e.g., deities and symbols) in Chinese temples?” (training)
16:40-ca.18:00 Questions and discussion: Our experiences during the first fieldwork day
May 26 / 27 / 28 / 30 / 31 / June 1
09:00-17:00 FIELD WORK in five groups / work on fieldwork data
June 01 18:30-20:00 Lectures at Siam Society Bangkok
June 02
10:00-11:00 Paul Mcbain: “From a Buddhist utopia to a secular paradise: tracing changing ideals of the city of Bangkok from 1800-the present.” (lecture)
11:00-16:00 Final gathering and group reports / discussion of fieldwork data / Q&A / socializing)
June 03
Departure of the participants
Links
https://frogbear.org/app/ FROGBEAR Database of Religious Sites in East Asia
https://thesiamsociety.org/th/activity/following-the-footsteps-of-wolfgang-franke/ (Lectures at the Siam Society Bangkok)
For registration, please contact pinthip@thesiamsociety.org
https://www.paulmcbain.com/bangkok-digital-temples-project/ (Paul McBain: “Bangkok Digital Temples Project“)
