{{Infobox settlement |official_name =Mae Chai |native_name = แม่ใจ |settlement_type = Subdistrict |image_skyline = |imagesize = |image_caption = |image_map = |mapsize = |map_caption = |pushpin_map=Thailand |subdivision_type = Country |subdivision_name = Thailand |subdivision_type2 = Province |subdivision_name2 = Phayao |subdivision_type3 = District |subdivision_name3 =Mae Chai |government_footnotes = |government_type = |leader_title = |leader_name = |established_title = |established_date = |area_total_km2 = |area_water_km2 = |population_as_of = 2005 |population_footnotes = |population_note = |population_total = 5,094 |population_density_km2 = |timezone = ICT |utc_offset = +7 |coordinates = {{coord|19|21|N|99|50|E|display=inline}} |elevation_footnotes = |elevation_m = |postal_code_type = |postal_code = |area_code = |blank_name = |blank_info = |website = |footnotes = }} '''Mae Chai''' ({{langx|th|แม่ใจ}}, {{IPA|th|mɛ̂ː t͡ɕāj|pron}}) is a small town and subdistrict (''tambon'') in Mae Chai District, in Phayao Province, Thailand. It is the principal town in the district. The town is split with ''tambon'' Si Thoi. As of 2005, it has a population of 5,094 people. It is in the northwestern part of the province not far from the border with Lampang Province. It lies along National Road 1 (Phahon Yothin Road),<ref name="Thai1999">{{cite book|author=Kānsư̄sān hǣng Prathēt Thai|title=Annual report|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QGkEAQAAIAAJ|accessdate=23 January 2012|year=1999|publisher=Communications Authority of Thailand|page=77}}</ref> and is connected by road to Phayao in the south.<ref name="GM">{{cite map|title= Maps|publisher=Google Maps}}{{nonspecific|date=August 2019}}</ref> To the north along the highway are Pa Faek and then Mae Yen across into Chiang Rai Province. The ''tambon'' has 10 villages under its jurisdiction. It lies partly within Mae Puem National Park. Mae Chai River is the river running through the area.
==Economy== In the 1950s, the area was reported to be heavily forested but it saw an extraordinary growth in rice production in the 1990s.<ref name="ForsythWalker2008">{{cite book|last1=Forsyth|first1=Tim|last2=Walker|first2=Andrew|title=Forest guardians, forest destroyers: the politics of environmental knowledge in northern Thailand|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7kqU1SauD2kC&pg=PA132|accessdate=23 January 2012|year=2008|publisher=University of Washington Press|isbn=978-0-295-98792-7|page=132}}</ref> The tambon also has great conditions with temperature and rainfall for highland wheat production, which has been exploited in villages such as Pha Daeng with improved technology.<ref name="Center1993">{{cite book|author=John E. Woolston, International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center|title=Wheat, barley, and triticale cultivars: a list of publications in which national cereal breeders have noted the cooperation of germplasm they received from CIMMYT|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gvRMKhPUhaMC&pg=PA60|accessdate=23 January 2012|year=1993|publisher=CIMMYT|isbn=978-968-6923-01-8|page=60}}</ref> Red kidney beans are also grown in the area.<ref name="McKinnon1989">{{cite book|last=McKinnon|first=John|title=Hill tribes today: problems in change|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DZluAAAAMAAJ|accessdate=23 January 2012|year=1989|publisher=White Lotus|isbn=978-974-8495-25-5|page=491}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
Category:Tambon of Phayao province Category:Populated places in Phayao province
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