Two Thai monarchs, Rama III and Rama IV made successive attempts to conquer Keng Tung that ended in failure. The first Siamese invasion took place in 1804. The second and third Siamese invasions were in 1852 and 1854, a full generation before Younghusband’s mission. A full account of the misadventures of Rama IV appears in
ศึกเชียงตุง:การเปิดแนวรบเหนือสุดแดนสยามในรัชสมัยพระบาทสมเด็จพระจอมเกล้าเจ้าอยู่หัว
A record of the travels of a team from Rajaphahat Chiangrai University appeared in the following venues.
1. Arunrat Wichiankhio and Narimol Reungrangsi (Eds.), 1994.
เรื่องเมืองเชียงตุง (Ruang Muang Chiang Tung, “About ChiangTung”)เชียงใหม่: ๑๙๙๔.
This is the second edition. The first edition appeared in 1980. That was the first time that the team from Thailand could explore Chiang Tung. This book was compiled to present to Princess Siridhorn before she visited Chiang Tung a year later. This volume contains an article by Ratanaporn Sethakul.
ประวัติศาสตร์เมืองเชียงตุง (“A History of Chiang Tung”).
2. คณะกรรมการจัดทำหนังสือและของที่ระลึกงาน ๒๐๐ ปี พระเจ้าบรมวงศ์เธอกรมหลวงวงษาธิราชสนิท, 2009.
ศึกเชียงตุง (The Chiang Tung War). กรุงเทพ: ประชาชน, ๒๕๕๒.
A seminar and a trip in 2009 were arranged by the members of the Snidwong family whose founder was the Chief Commander of the Thai army to Keng Tung, Krommaluang Wongsathiratsnid, brother of King Mongkut, Rama IV. The map in this book is revised from the first one.
Two articles published in English are
- K.Melchers, “The Thai Invasion of Kengtung During the Reign of King Rama III,” in Ronald D. Renard. Anusorn for Walter Vella. Honolulu: Center for Asian and Pacific Studies, 1986.
- Ratanaporn Sethakul, “Political Relations between Chiang Mai and Kengtung in the Nineteenth Century” in Changes in Northern Thailand and the Shan States,1886-1940, Singapore: Southeast Asian Studies Program, 1988.
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One of the earliest books on the area, The Tai Race, considered by some a classic, is that of the American Missionary, Clifton Dodd, who arrived in Chiang Mai in 1886, two years before G. Younghusband passed through on his way to Chiang Tung. Dodd set up a mission in Chiang Tung in 1904, but shut it down in 1907 and returned to Chiang Rai. His biography is available at http://www.bdcconline.net/en/stories/d/dodd-william-clifton.php