Thailand: 19th century mural showing a merchant of supposed Yunnanese origin (Chin Haw), Viharn Lai Kam, Wat Phra Singh, Chiang Mai, Northern Thailand

Wat Phra Singh or to give it its full name, Wat Phra Singh Woramahaviharn, was first constructed around 1345 by King Phayu, 5th king of the Mangrai Dynasty.

King Mengrai founded the city of Chiang Mai (meaning 'new city') in 1296, and it succeeded Chiang Rai as capital of the Lanna kingdom. Chiang Mai sometimes written as 'Chiengmai' or 'Chiangmai', is the largest and most culturally significant city in northern Thailand.

The rugged, indomitable Chinese muleteers known to the Burmese as Panthay, and to the Thai and Lao as Haw or Chin Haw, were—and to some extent still are—the masters of the Golden Triangle. Certainly they were the traders par excellence, penetrating into the remotest reaches of forbidden territory such as the Wa States, whilst at the same time their mule caravans, laden with everything from precious stones and jade to opium and copper pans, traded as far as Luang Prabang in Laos, Moulmein in Burma, Dali and Kunming in Yunnan, and Chiang Mai in northern Thailand.

Copyright:

CPA Media Co. Ltd.

Photographer:

David Henley

Credit:

Pictures From Asia