Editing Plaek Phibunsongkhram (section)

==== Thai Cultural Revolution ====
{{Main|Thai cultural mandates}}
[[File:Thai Cultural Mandate Dress Code c1940 Phibunsongkhram.png|150px|thumb|left|Thai poster from the Phibunsongkhram era, showing prohibited "uncivilised" dress on the left and proper Western-style dress on the right.]]

Phibun immediately promoted [[Thaification|Thai nationalism]] (to the point of [[ultranationalism]]), and to support this policy, he launched a series of major reforms, known as the '''Thai Cultural Revolution''', to increase the pace of modernisation in Thailand. His goal aimed to uplift the national spirit and moral code of the nation and instil progressive tendencies and a newness into Thai life. A series of [[Thai cultural mandates|cultural mandates]] were issued by the government, which encouraged all Thais to salute the flag in public places, learn the [[Phleng Chat Thai|new national anthem]] and use the standardised [[Thai language]] (not regional [[dialect]]s or languages). People were encouraged to adopt Western-style attire as opposed to traditional clothing styles, and eat with Western-style utensils, such as [[fork]]s and [[spoon]]s, rather than with their hands as was customary in Thai culture at the time. Phibun saw these policies as necessary, in the interest of [[progressivism]], to change  Thailand's international image from that of an undeveloped country into a civilized and modern nation.<ref name=Numnonda-1978>{{cite journal |last1=Numnonda |first1=Thamsook |title=Pibulsongkram's Thai Nation-Building Programme during the Japanese Military Presence, 1941–1945 |journal=Journal of Southeast Asian Studies |date=September 1978 |volume=9 |issue=2 |pages=234–247 |jstor=20062726 |doi=10.1017/S0022463400009760 |s2cid=162373204 }}</ref>

Phibun's administration encouraged [[economic nationalism]] and espoused staunch [[anti-Chinese sentiment|anti-Teochew sentiment]]. Sinophobic policies were imposed by the government to reduce the economic power of Siam's [[Thai Chinese|Teochew-Hoklo population]] and encouraged the [[Thai people|Central Thai people]] to purchase as many Thai products as possible. In a speech in 1938, Luang Wichitwathakan, himself of one-quarter Chinese ancestry, followed [[Rama VI]]'s book ''Jews of the East'' in comparing the Teochew in Siam to the Jews in Germany, who at the time were harshly repressed.

On 24 June 1939, Phibun changed the country's official English name from "Siam" to "Thailand"<ref name="brit">{{cite web |title=Luang Phibunsongkhram |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Luang-Phibunsongkhram |website=Britannica |access-date=30 August 2024}}</ref><ref name="parmu">{{cite web |last1=Komnpelin |first1=Chetiya |title=การเปลี่ยนชื่อประเทศจาก "สยาม" เป็น "ไทย" |url=https://parliamentmuseum.go.th/2564/ar64-siam-thai.html |website=Parliament Museum |access-date=30 August 2024}}</ref> at Wichitwathakan's urging. {{citation needed|date=August 2024}} The name "Siam" was an [[exonym]] of unknown and probably foreign origin, which conflicted with Phibun's nationalist policies.{{citation needed|date=April 2024}} 

In 1941, in the midst of [[World War II]], Phibun [[Thai solar calendar#New year|decreed 1 January]] as the official start of the new year instead of the traditional ''[[Songkran (Thailand)|Songkran]]'' date on 13 April.{{citation needed|date=April 2024}}