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Registration: South African Bureau of Heraldry on 8
February 2002. Certificates nos. 3299 (arms), 3300 (badge), 3301
(standard) dated 29 November 2002.
Further Private Registration: Collegium
Heraldicum Russiae, registered 19 February 2003 (arms). American
College of Heraldry, registered 22 March 2003, no. 2315 (arms, badge
and standard). Heraldische Gemeinschaft Westfalen, registered 10
December 2004, no. DEV0204 (arms, supporters and compartment). United
States Heraldic Registry, registered 14 January 2006, no. 20060114G
(arms).
Further Certification: Don
Alfonso de Ceballos-Escalera y Gila, Marqués de la Floresta, Crónista
de Armas de Castilla y León, certified 13 May 2005 (arms, supporters,
compartment, two badges and standard).
The armiger works
primarily as a corporate and commercial attorney in Thailand having
co-founded the Ployprathip International Law Office (PILO) in 2007.
He was born in 1970 in Cincinnati, Ohio (USA) to a professional family
of predominantly Sino-Siamese origins. He graduated from the
University of Wisconsin-Madison (Bachelor of Science), Cornell
University (Master of Regional Planning), Washington University in St.
Louis (Juris Doctor), and the Sasin Graduate Institute of Business
Administration of Chulalongkorn University (Executive Master of
Business Administration). He is a Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society
of Great Britain and Ireland (UK), and a Member of the Chartered
Institute of Arbitrators (UK).
The armiger holds licenses to practice law in New York and before the
US Court of International Trade, US Court of Federal Claims, US Court
of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, US Tax Court, US Court of Appeals
for the Armed Forces, US Court of Appeals for Veteran Affairs, and the
US Supreme Court. He is a Knight Commander of the Order of the Eagle
of Georgia and the Seamless Tunic of Our Lord Jesus Christ, and a
Serving Member of the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St. John
of Jerusalem.
The armiger is married with children, including a heraldic heir, and
is a member of the RBSC Polo Club in Thailand. He has long enjoyed
Western-style heraldry. Sadly, there is no heraldic tradition in China
save for export porcelain and only a short-lived one in Thailand. In
2001, he decided to obtain an authentic coat of arms. The design is
both canting and allusive.
The lion refers to the armiger on three levels. First, in Thailand,
the lion is called “singh”. So it represents both a pun on his surname
and an allusion to his Thai identity. Second, the lion as the king of
beasts refers to his undergraduate studies in zoology and his interest
in the natural world. Lastly, the lion alludes to his profession as a
lawyer since lions are seen in many Asian cultures as enforcers of the
law.
The red embattled wall refers to the armiger’s paternal clan, “Zhu”,
which means “bright red”, and his graduate studies in city and
regional planning at Cornell University, red being one of the school’s
colours. The gold embattled chief refers to his clan’s alleged
ancestor, the legendary Yellow Emperor of China. The three drops of
water and crest together allude to the ancestral designation of a more
recent ancestor.
The armiger’s motto alludes to his Thai surname, which means “radiant
jewel”.
Since obtaining his heraldic devices, the armiger has been able to
trace an uninterrupted, male-line of descent from the Neo-Confucian
philosopher Zhu Xi (b. 1130 – d. 1200 AD). Unfortunately, his ideas
were attacked during his lifetime and he died out of favour with the
imperial court. Around 1208, Song Emperor Ningzong rehabilitated Zhu
Xi and gave him the posthumous, scholarly honorific “Wen Gong” meaning
“Venerable Gentleman of Culture”. Around 1228, Song Emperor Lizong
rehabilitated his school of thought and honored him with the
posthumous noble title, Duke of Hui. In 1241, a memorial tablet to Zhu
Xi was placed in the Temple of Confucius, elevating him to Confucian
sainthood. His philosophy would become state hegemony in China until
the end of the imperial period around 1912, as well as in Korea, Japan
and Vietnam. Even today, his philosophy still plays an important role
in these countries. America’s Life magazine once listed him as number
45 of the top 100 most influential people of the second millennium.
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