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The International Journal of the Royal Society of Thailand

Volume XVI-2024 (Special Issue)

The main sources of domestic revenue included taxes on alcohol, gambling houses,

fruit plants and trees, gardens, and farmland. Public utility projects for the common good primarily
relied on conscripted labor and materials from the populace, minimizing financial expenditure

in this area. The primary expense was the annual stipends for nobles and officials. Although in
some years the annual allowance could not be paid in full, this did not overly burden them,

as the nobles and officials benefited from bonded laborers who worked for their lords without
remuneration.

Foreign trade was a crucial source of revenue in the early Rattanakosin period,
broadly categorized into trade with the Eastern countries and trade with the Western countries.

During the reign of King Rama I, most trade with the East primarily revolved around China.
This was conducted under a tributary system, similar to the practices in the Sukhothai,

Ayutthaya, and Thonburi periods. Envoys were sent to present tribute, known as “Zheng Gong,”
to the Chinese emperor. Alongside the tribute missions, Thai envoys brought goods to sell,

which were exempt from import taxes in China, except for expenses for the diplomatic
mission. On the return trip, they purchased goods from China without having to pay export taxes

and transported the goods back on junks to sell. In addition, the envoys received tributes from
China in return, such as silk, which was valuable and highly sought after in the Thai royal court.

This tributary trade was a major economic benefit but was exclusively conducted by the royal
government.

As for such neighboring countries as Southern Vietnam and Cambodia, annually there
were 20-30 small junks from Thailand trading goods in these territories. This trade involved

intermediary commerce, where Chinese goods were sold to purchase local products such as silk,
animal hides, ivory, and agarwood, which were then resold in China. In addition, in such

island groups as Java, Thai ships brought food products, for instance, rice and dried fish to sell,
and then returned with goods from Europe. Key southern trading hubs included ports in the

Malay Peninsula and Singapore, where annually 30-40 Thai merchant ships traded in these trading
centers.

The royal junk trade, a crucial revenue stream for Thailand, received assistance
from Chinese immigrants who played various roles as shipbuilders, sailors, navigators, pilots,

captains and crews. These Chinese immigrants had experience in sailing through various ports,
knew how to trade, knew the prices of goods, and had extensive experience in trading. The goods

transported by royal junks to sell abroad in the early period were derived from tributes collected
from the populace and stored in the royal warehouse. These were primarily unprocessed, natural

products such as pepper, tin, ivory, wood and Sappan wood. Later, with the flourishing of trade

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