{{Short description|Patriarch of Shinawatra clan}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2024}} {{Infobox person | birth_name = Khu Chun Seng | birth_date = {{circa|1840s}} | birth_place = Fengshun County, Guangdong, Qing dynasty | death_date = {{circa|1911}} (aged 62–71) | death_place = San Kamphaeng, Chiang Mai, Siam | spouse = {{ubl|{{Marriage|Thongdi|1880s|1910|end=died}}|{{Marriage|Nocha|1910|}}}} | children = 9 | relatives = Shinawatra family }} {{Infobox Chinese | c = 丘春盛 | h = Hiu{{sup|1}} Cun{{sup|1}} Siin{{sup|5}} | p = Qiū Chūnshèng | poj = Khu Chhun-sēng | teo = Ku{{sup|1}} Cung{{sup|1}} Sêng{{sup|6}} | showflag = teo | tha = เส็ง แซ่คู | rtgs = Seng Saekhu }}
'''Seng Saekhu'''{{efn|{{langx|th|เส็ง แซ่คู}}; {{RTGS|''Seng Sae-khu''}}}} ({{circa|1840s}} – {{circa|1911}}) also known as '''Khu Chun Seng'''{{efn|{{lang-zh|c=丘春盛}}; Teochew {{Transliteration|nan|Pe̍h-ūe-jī}}: {{Transliteration|nan|Khu Tshung-sĕng}}; Hokkien {{lang-zh|poj=Khu Chhun-sēng}}; {{langx|th|ชุ่นเส็ง แซ่คู}}; {{RTGS|''Chunseng Sae-khu''}}}} or '''Nguanseng Saekhu'''{{efn|{{langx|th|ง่วนเส็ง แซ่คู}}; {{RTGS|''Ngwn seng sae khū''}}<ref name="ASTV">{{cite web |url= http://www.manager.co.th/Columnist/ViewNews.aspx?NewsID=9560000036318 |script-title= th:แกะรอย: ต้นตระกูลชินวัตรเป็นอั้งยี่จริงหรือ ? (1) [Trace : Shinawatra's ancestor was a Mafia ?] |author= ฺBannarot Bua-khli |date= 25 March 2013 |work= ASTV |language= th |accessdate= 21 June 2015 |archive-date= 16 July 2017 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20170716201024/http://www.manager.co.th/Columnist/ViewNews.aspx?NewsID=9560000036318 |url-status= dead }}</ref>}} was a Chinese–born Thai tax farmer and the patriarch of the Shinawatra family. He was the paternal grandfather of Loet Shinawatra, the patrilineal great-grandfather of former Thai prime ministers Thaksin Shinawatra and Yingluck Shinawatra, and the patrilineal great-great-grandfather of former prime minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra.
==Life== Seng was an ethnic Chinese of Hakka descent born around the 1840s in Taxia village,<ref>{{Cite web |date=2019-01-07 |title=Beijing treads carefully as Thai political dynasty arrives in China |url=https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/2181064/beijing-treads-carefully-when-scions-thai-political-dynasty |access-date= |website=South China Morning Post |language=en}}</ref> Fengshun County, Chaozhou Prefecture (now Fengshun, Meizhou, Guangdong) to Chao Saekhu ({{Lang-zh|c=丘志勤}}).<ref name="ASTV"/><ref>{{Cite web |date=24 August 2021 |title=英拉：從泰國總理到逃犯，流亡海外後成中國企業董事長，風光依舊 |url=https://kknews.cc/world/vnpnjo2.html |access-date= |website=每日頭條 |language=zh}}</ref>
Seng came to Siam in the 1860s together with his parents and second brother. However, as Seng's mother and second brother soon fell ill shortly arriving in Siam, his parents and brother returned to China, leaving Seng in the care of a local acquaintance.<ref>[http://news.sina.com.cn/c/2006-11-20/163010550437s.shtml 他信祖籍地：丰顺县塔下村] 2006年11月20日16:30 金羊网-羊城晚报, retrieved 10 December 2014</ref> Seng spent his early years in Chanthaburi where he met his wife, a native Thai by the name of Thongdi. Their eldest son, Chiang Saekhu ({{Lang-zh|c=丘阿昌}}),<ref>{{Cite news |date=November 2014 |title=西那瓦家族未完的传奇 |work=环球人物}}</ref> was born in 1890 around this time and Seng started his career as a tax farmer in this small town.<ref>Baker et al (2009), p. 26</ref> When the land lease expired in 1900, Seng and his family moved to Talat Noi in Bangkok around 1900 where worked as a commercial trader. Seng and his family relocated to Chiang Mai around 1908 to resume his career as a tax farmer under the patronage of Nikhon Jinkit.<ref>Baker et al (2009), p. 27-8</ref>
==Family==
Seng married two wives; the first to Thongdi with whom he had 6 children, including Chiang. Thongdi died of a heart attack in 1910 due to a robbery incident, and Seng remarried another lady, Nocha with whom he had 3 children. Chiang married another Thai lady, Saeng Samana with whom they have 12 children.<ref>Baker et al (2009), p. 30</ref> Chiang's second child and oldest son, Sak Shinawatra, adopted the Shinawatra surname in 1938, during Plaek Phibunsongkhram's anti-Chinese campaigns, and the rest of the clan followed suit.<ref>Baker et al (2009), p. 33</ref> Sak Shinawatra became an army general and has four sons who all served in the army for at least sometime. Sak's third son, Chaiyasit Shinawatra became the commander-in-chief of the Royal Thai Army.<ref>Baker et al (2009), p. 34</ref>
Chiang's fourth child and second son, Loet Shinawatra is the father of former prime ministers Thaksin and Yingluck Shinawatra. Loet served as an MP for Chiang Mai in 1969 and 1976 for the Thai Nation Party. Loet married Yindi Ramingwong, who is the daughter of a Hakka Chinese immigrant and his wife, a princess of the Lanna royalty.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://english.people.com.cn/200507/03/eng20050703_193730.html |title=Thai PM concludes China tour |newspaper=People's Daily Online; Xinhua |date=3 July 2005}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.hsm.com.cn/news/2005/0701/68/596.shtml |script-title=zh:泰国总理他信：我是华裔客家人 |trans-title=Thai Prime Minister: 'I am Hakka Chinese' |date=1 July 2005 |work=Overseas Chinese Network |publisher=中国侨网|language=zh}}</ref>
==Notes== {{notelist}}
==References== {{reflist}}
==Bibliography== * {{cite book|title=Thaksin: The Business of Politics in Thailand|author1=Baker, Chris |author2-link=Pasuk Phongpaichit |author2=Pasuk, Phongpaichit|year=2009|publisher=Silkworm Books|isbn=978-974-9575-55-0|author1-link=Chris Baker (writer) |edition=second expanded }}
==External links== * [http://asia.news.yahoo.com/060319/afp/060319053256asiapacificnews.html Thai PM reviled by protesters, but a hero in his home town] {{Dead link|date=July 2011}} * [http://rds.yahoo.com/_ylt=A0oGkjpuNQ1G4lsAfchXNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTE3c21qMGQxBGNvbG8DdwRsA1dTMQRwb3MDMTYEc2VjA3NyBHZ0aWQDRjkwNV84Ng--/SIG=12q17f3t0/EXP=1175357166/**http%3a//www.manager.co.th/asp-bin/PrintNews.aspx%3fNewsID=9490000037342 Thai PM reviled by protesters, but a hero in his home town] {{Dead link|date=July 2011}} * {{in lang|zh}} [http://news.163.com/06/1130/15/316FNNNU00011229.html 他信祖籍地：丰顺县塔下村(组图)]
{{Thaksin Shinawatra}} {{Yingluck Shinawatra}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saekhu, Seng}} Seng Saekhu Seng Saekhu Category:People from Fengshun County Seng Saekhu Seng Saekhu Category:Businesspeople from Meizhou Category:1840s births Category:Year of death missing Seng Saekhu Seng Saekhu