Pridi Banomyong NR PChW MPCh MWM GCMG KmstkVO |
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ปรีดี พนมยงค์ | |
7th Prime Minister of Thailand | |
In office 24 March 1946 – 23 August 1946 |
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Monarch |
Ananda Mahidol Bhumibol Adulyadej |
Preceded by | Khuang Abhaiwongse |
Succeeded by | Thawan Thamrongnawasawat |
Regent of Thailand | |
In office 16 December 1941 – 5 December 1945 |
|
Monarch | Ananda Mahidol |
Preceded by | Pun Sukhum |
Succeeded by | Rangsit Prayurasakdi |
Personal details | |
Born |
Ayutthaya, Ayutthaya, Siam |
11 May 1900
Died | 2 May 1983 Paris, France |
(aged 82)
Nationality | Thai |
Spouse(s) | Poonsuk Banomyong |
Religion | Theravada Buddhism |
Signature |
Pridi Banomyong (Thai: ปรีดี พนมยงค์; rtgs: Pridi Phanomyong; [priː.diː pʰa.nom.joŋ]; 11 May 1900 – 2 May 1983) was a Thai politician. He was a Prime Minister and senior statesman of Thailand, and the centenary of his birth was celebrated by UNESCO in 2000.
Pridi wrote that his great-great-great grandfather, Heng, was a native of Etang Village in the Chenghai County of Guangdong Province, southern China, who came to Siam during the reign of Boromaracha V (r. 1758–1767), leaving behind his wife, who was pregnant with their son, Seng. Heng lived in Siam among the Chinese relatives of King Taksin, who recruited some of the local Chinese, including Heng, to fight against the Burmese invaders in 1767. Heng died in the service of the half-Chinese king. Taksin compensated Heng's family, after they sent a letter inquiring about him. Seng chose to live his life in China as a rice farmer.
However, Seng's son, Tan Nai Kok (陳盛于/陈盛于; Chen Chengyu; Tan Sêng-u), emigrated to Siam in 1814, during the reign of King Rama II. Nai Kok settled in Ayutthaya and made his living by selling Chinese and Thai sweets; it is said he had made innovations by combining Chinese and Thai culinary skills. A devout Buddhist, Nai Kok married a Thai woman named Pin. Pin's sister, Boonma, would become an ancestor of Pridi's wife Poonsuk. Their son, Nai Koet, married Khum, daughter of a wealthy Chinese entrepreneur. When Nai Koet died, his wife directed that his remains were to be cremated and interred at the shrine at Phanomyong hill, which is the origin of their Thai surname. Their son, Nai Siang, who became a wealthy rice merchant, married Lukchan; they were the parents of Pridi. Nai Siang adopted the surname Phanomyong in 1866.