The Tea Industry And Village Order Of Ban Wawee

Ban Wawee is located in Mae Sui District,Chiang Rai Province,northern Thailand.There are a large number of wild Assam tea leaves in the surrounding area.It is the first place in Thailand to start making dry tea,and it is also one of the important tea production areas in Thailand today.The tea industry development and growth of Ban Wawee is a multi-ethnic participation process,especially closely related to Yunnanese Chinese who moved into Ban Wawee on a large scale after the 1960 s.This study takes the development process of tea industry in Ban Wawee as the basic clue and framework,to find out how does the tea industry developed with the participation of different ethnic groups,and how does the tea industry shape the ethnic power structure and village order of Ban Wawee.Tea plays an important role in the construction and development history of Ban Wawee.The development process of tea industry is characterized by ethnic groups,and Chinese people’s possession of tea culture and tea knowledge has changed the path of tea industry in Ban Wawee.The tea industry provides jobs for villagers who moved into Ban Wawee at different times,integrating them into an orderly community.At the same time,after the formation of the industrial production structure and industrial division system,the tea industry enables the villagers to form a stable cooperative contractual relationship.During the migration of Yunnanese Chinese and the development of tea industry,the ability of Yunnanese Chinese and mountain ethnic groups to obtain and utilize tea resources is different due to cultural differences among ethnic groups.Yunnanese Chinese gradually mastered a large amount of tea resources and led the development of the tea industry with the roles of tea landlords and tea factory owners,and most of the tea pickers in the village were mountain ethnic groups.The villagers’ possession and dominance of tea resources showed the characteristics of ethnic stratification.And this stratification of tea resource possession makes different ethnic groups at different class in possession of wealth and social prestige.Therefore,the ethnic division of industrial system and the ethnic stratification of occupying tea resources gradually evolved into the ethnic stratification of power.The ethnic power structure of Yunnanese Chinese Tea Factory Owners,Yunnanese Chinese Tea landlords,and mountain ethnic groups tea pickers.However,this ethnic power stratification did not cause social conflicts in Ban Wawee.Tea pickers meet their basic needs through tea industry and get integration opportunities;The existence of a large number of tea landlords as middle classes avoids social polarization;As the village authorities and village elites,the upper-class groups actively participate in village public activities,they are not only the beneficiaries under the industrial division of labor system,but also the degenders of social order.Therefore,the existing ethnic industrial stratification and ethnic stratification of power of Ban Wawee is a positive complementary relationship.The social stratification of Ban Wawee is more the foundation of social order and the manifestation of social stability.