Thai School Uniforms as a Tool of Thailand’s Soft Power Promotion among Chinese Youth

Abstract

Currently, the word Soft power is gaining interest among Thai people. And this word is widely used in government agencies, the private sector, the educational and academic sectors or even the general public. Thai School uniforms is also one of the soft power of Thailand that can create additional economic value for Thailand as well as helping to stimulate the economy in another way. The trend for Thai school uniforms has been around for more than 10 years, since 2012, after the Thai movie “A Little Thing Called Love” was released in China and was liked by Chinese teenagers. The main actor dresses in school uniform throughout the film movie. However, the phenomenon of Thai school uniform fever among Chinese teenagers is the result of Ju Jingyi, a Chinese singer and actress who traveled to Thailand wearing a Thai school uniform, embroidered her name and identification codes and shared it through the Weibo application. It stimulated the trend of wearing Thai school uniforms to travel in Thailand and reinforcing the soft power of Thailand. It is about adding value and creating a Creative Economy for related industries. Thai school uniforms can be used as a tool to promote Thailand's soft power in spreading arts, culture, and way of life in order to build Thai popularity at the international level among Chinese people who are the target for promoting Thai tourism after the resurgence of the COVID-19 pandemic.