Chin Haw

Chin Haw or Chin Ho (Thai: จีนฮ่อ) are Chinese people who migrated to Thailand via Burma or Laos. Most of them were originally from Yunnan, the southern province of China. They speak Southwestern Mandarin.

Generally, the Chin Haw can be divided into three groups according to the time of their migration.

The majority are Han Chinese and follow Chinese folk religion or Buddhism. Approximately one-third are Muslim, also known as Hui people or Hui Muslim.

Some Muslim Chin Haw have links to triad secret societies in cooperating in the drug trade, working with other Chinese groups in Thailand like the Teo-Chiew and Hakka and the 14K Triad. They have engaged in the heroin trade. Ma Hseuh-fu, from Yunnan province, was one of the most prominent Chin Haw heroin drug lords, his other professions included trading in tea and a hotelier.

The Muslim Chin Haw are the same ethnic group as the Panthay in Burma who are also descendants of Hui Muslims from Yunnan province, China.

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