Toward The Golden Age (1851 - 1957)

During the period of more than a century ever since the introduction of steamship, the rapid growth of the Chinese community in Sampheng was proportional to the number of those newly arrived. It eventually saw a new main road, Yaowarat, which soon became the heart of a vast business area as well as Bangkok's most modern entertainment outlets for the period around 1957. Thus, The name 'Yaowarat' came to mean the entire Chinatown of Bangkok. The thriving business around Yaowarat Road could be principally attributed to two factors: the government's policy of accelerated city development under western influence and the Chinese capability to adjust to the modern form of economy, namely the free trade scheme, which coincided with the introduction of steamship by westerners. Chinese merchants were fast getting familiar with the new opportunities opening up as they relied on their intrinsic element called perseverance in order to attain success in operating commercial enterprises starting with rice trade - Thailand's No. 1 export being rice - before diversifying into an array of other businesses, thereby securing strength and solid foundation to the Thai modern economy centered at Yaowarat.

Yaowarat Road taken from Kao Chan Building,circa 1930 looking east, Chet Chan Building, the second - tallest Building is on the right while Hok Chan Building, seen on the left, was still under construction.



Posh hotels on Yaowarat Road during the reign of King Rama V



Yaowarat Road in its early days.










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