Who are The Chong?

Chong is one of the Ethnic groups called Tai who now live in Eastern part of Thailand. Losing the battle with Burma in AD 1767, King Taksin mobilized 5, 000 Chong warriors and 100 warships to fight against Burma. Eventually, then Siam (today’s Thailand) won the war. Without help from Chong, Siam might not have won that battle. Queen Kavi was known as Chong’s legend.

Chong language is still being used verbally for basic communication in their villages. However, some of them cannot speak the language. In the conversation, Chong people always finish their sentence with “ Hi “ for which contemporary Thai people make fun of Chong. The best poet of Thailand is known as Sun-Ton-Poo who is famous for his poem called “ Poem of Klang City “ in AD 1807, describing his Chong relatives.

Chong people believe in “Animism“, where they culturally and traditionally worship spirits and perform various rituals according to their belief to get rid of devils and to protect people and villages from those bad spirits.

Chong people make their living from planting spices called “Ka-Van” on the Soy-Daw hill. They also export Ka-Van and other spices like “Rell-Hom” and “Look-Sum-Rong” from Paneit City.

Since they live in the forests, Chong has tremendous experience in traditional physical healing by combining the use of herbs and massage skills. The blending of these skills are still seen being practiced in Thailand. This invaluable local knowledge has been passed down from one generation to another of Chong ethnic groups. Chong Massage has conducted numerous researches to collect and preserve Chong’s treatment knowledge and skills and has successfully applied them in basic body treatment.