Title: Reinterpretation of King Chao Anouvong (1804-1828) of Viengchan and
Lao Historical Perception of Thailand
Speaker:Professor Hungguk Cho, Professor of Southeast Asian History in the Graduate School of International Studies, Pusan National University, South Korea.
Date:July 31 (Wed), 2013, 12:00-13:30
Place:Tonantei (Room 201), Inamori Foundation Memorial Building, Kyoto University

Abstract:

Recently a statue of King Chao Anouvong was erected on the bank of the Mekong River in Viangchan or Vientiane, Laos. Chao Anouvong was a king of Viangchan (r. 1804-1828), one of the Lan Xang kingdoms of Laos, when it was under the rule of Thailand. He undertook a liberation war against Thailand in the late 1820s. However, this enterprise failed, with Chao Anouvong himself together with his family being captured and brought to Bangkok, where he died. Viangchan was totally destroyed, and the Lan Xang kingdom was incorporated into Siam as Siamese provinces.
Lao and Thai authorities and scholars, dealing with the relations between both countries in this period, equivocate, on the one hand, in narrating the history because of the “explosive” character of the subject and attempt, on the other hand, to defend or justify the standpoint of their own country in explaining crucial events or situations of the liberation war of Chao Anouvong. Their narratives which provide different interpretations on them seem, however, to be underlain by a nationalist sentiment in any case, though some differences in extent.

Bio note:

Hungguk Cho is Professor of Southeast Asian History in the Graduate School of International Studies, Pusan National University, South Korea. His main interests lie in Thai and Lao history and historiography. His recent research has been on historical relations between Southeast Asia and Korea. His publications include among others Die politische Geschichte Thailands unter der Herrschaft König Narais (1994), Formation and Change of Ethnic Chinese Society in Southeast Asia (co-author, 2000, in Korean), “The Trade between China, Japan, Korea and Southeast Asia in the 14th Century through the 17th Century Period” (2000), “Siamese-Korean Relations in the late Fourteenth Century” (2006), Thailand: A Country of Buddhism and Kingship (2007, in Korean), History of Relations between Korea and Southeast Asia (2009, in Korean), and Southeast Asian Historiography Unravelling the Myths: Essays in honour of Barend Jan Terwiel (co-author, 2011).

Moderator: Junko KOIZUMI, CSEAS, Kyoto University