THAILAND

Crisis vs tradition

Life, Suwitcha Chaiyong, Published on 05/02/2019

» Like many other Thai-Chinese descendants living in Thailand, Pornthip Thongprasert is looking forward to Chinese New Year, when she can pay respect to Chinese gods and her ancestors. But this year she faces a tough decision. With the hazardous PM2.5 smog that has been wreaking havoc on the city for weeks, whether or not to keep alive the tradition of burning incense sticks, candles and joss papers that would increasingly pollute the air puts her in two minds.