Seng Sae Khu

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Seng Sae Khu is the great-grandfather of former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

Seng Sae Khu (also known as Khu Chun Seng; (Chinese: 丘春盛)) was a Hakka Chinese immigrant from Meizhou, Guangdong who arrived in Siam in the 1860s. In 1908 he settled in Chiang Mai. He married a Thai woman called Sangdi. His eldest son, Chiang Sae Khu, was born in Chanthaburi in 1890, and also married a Thai woman, called Saeng Somna. Chiang's eldest son, Sak, adopted the Thai surname Shinawatra ("does good routinely") in 1938 during the Phibun regime's anti-Chinese campaigns, and the rest of the family also adopted it, including Loet, Thaksin's father, born in Chiang Mai in 1919. Loet married Yindi Ramingwong, who is also of Hakka Chinese descent.[1][2]

Seng Sae Khu made his fortune through tax farming. The Khu/Shinawatra later founded Shinawatra Silks and then by moving into finance, construction and property development.

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