Only in Chiang Rai Province can all of Thailand's major hill-tribes can be foun, it has almost a quarter of Thailand's total tribal population. Once nomadic, the 'hill-tribes' have been forced by modern pressures into settling. The major groups have distinct costume patterns and styles, for which they're well known. Most also have distinctive artistry styles. Village locations are easily found on many local maps. Ethnic delineation is sometimes problematic, though, as individuals and communities sometimes change their preferred identification. Not only is there inter-marriage, but category recognition differs among different ethnicities and polities, and names are often confused. A group name used here may be meaningless, or insulting, there. Different members of a group may refer to the group differently, because of their (perhaps only slightly) varied circumstance.

Silver ornamentation of the Hilltribes has become famous, since the last days of opium cultivation here. Young women now wear native costume only rarely; young Hmong and Lisu still prefer traditional garb more than their contemporaries in other tribes, for whom the expense of traditional dress is reserved for special occasions and eliciting money from tourists. Cash from food farming is spent differently than that from opium was: roads necessary for getting crops to market having been improved crucial to the difference. The number of homes of cement and lumber-yard materials continues to increase, though what is built now for local tribes-people can't rival what the prosperous few were able to build 20 years ago. Consumer goods have become more common, and more ordinary. Hill-tribes long drew no attention from the government in Bangkok, but in response to destabilization in the Golden Triangle area, a National Committee for Hill Tribes was formed in 1959. One clear result was hill-tribe men changing their costume to "moh hom" blue-cotton farmer clothes. Assimilation has become the order of the day, hastened also by tourists come to gawk at the exotic.

Lisu (Lisaw, Yawyen) - wear bright silks and black velvet jackets with silver ornamentation. They favor applique over cross-stitch, stitching row upon row of multi-colored strips of cloth together. Their headdresses are extremely elaborate and colorful, of great variety, with tassels and hanging strings, worn mostly for ceremonial and festive occasions. Like Lahu and Akha, they speak a Yi/Lolo language, from the Tibeto-Burman linguistic group (supplemented with some Yunnanese words). Thai Lisu dialects are all mutually intelligible; there are only two major ones. Their dress styles vary considerably, though, from place to place. The Lisu originated in eastern Tibet at the headwaters of the Salween, and have migrated south along its course. They're ancestor-worshipers, some say Bramanistic, with strong preference for settling near the tops of mountains, near streams with waterfalls. In the mid-80s there were over half a million in China, a thousand or two in northeast India, a quarter million in Burma, and 20,000 in Thailand, mostly in Chiang Mai Province. A quarter of these in Thailand live in Chiang Rai Province, 20% in MaeHongSon, and 10% are scattered through Phayao, Tak, Kampaeng Phet, Petchabun and Sukhothai. The first record of a Lisu settlement in Thailand was made in 1921, but Lisu were in the area at least 60 years before that. 33,365 were officially registered in 1997, 38,299 in 2002 (10,132 in Chiang Rai). Though coming here from Burma, not China, they've intermarried with Yunnanese here, often think of themselves as Chinese-Lisu, and are quite distinct from Lisu in northern Burma.

Their preferred occupation is high altitude farming; they also raise pigs and hunt. They choose to live where there's a kind of ragweed called lu-khwa, which they use in ceremonies, and where they have independence. They buy rice from valley people (T'ais) and regularly hire Karen and Lahu laborers. Each village has a guardian spirit shrine above it, under a big tree, for "Old Grandfather," who keeps out bad spirits, disease, drought and bandits. In this shrine's fenced off area, off-limits to females, are other shrines, to the Lord of the Land and other spirits. Their houses have only one door, and a small shrine to the spirits of ancestors on the uphill side, "above the people." Houses at higher elevations are usually on the ground (for warmth); others are built on stilts. At puberty, girls get a bedroom of their own. Guests are expected to stay out of bedrooms, and not touch the ancestral altar. Most villages have a picturesque large bamboo pipe, sometimes split in half, which carries water like a small aqueduct.

Lisu believe in an all-powerful Creator called Wu Sa, the 'High God,' and another God called Ida Ma, the 'Great One,' who takes care of villagers' health. Other spirits include those of the forest, tree spirits, sun and moon spirits, and "bad death" spirits who haven't yet gone off to the land of the dead. These are dealt with by the village priest, representing the Village Guardian, and a Shaman reputedly chosen by spirits (and made known by various manifestations) who becomes possessed. There are no formal chiefs or leaders, only headmen who act as arbitrators, mostly with lowland officials. Their light skin has earned them a reputation as the prettiest of the hill-tribes; they're elegant but reserved, and don't much cultivate tourists. They're also considered hard working, patient, polite, honest and friendly when appropriate. Lisu have been reported as outgoing, pushy and flirtatious, but this is contrary to my experience except in Pai (Mae Hong Son Province). It's easy to see how Chiang Mai based writers experiencing little more distant than Pai might jump to such that conclusion, though. Tribal craft sellers adapt to the demands of their work; around Pai Lisu craftsellers exhibit personalities opposite to those of Lisu unaccustomed to dealing with Farang and uninterested in tourism! There are Lisu craftsellers in Chiang Rai, but not many, and boisterous, aggressive hard-sell is generally left to older Akha women.

Lisu travel in animated groups, and are often vociferous bargainers. They're hard workers with great appreciation of skill, and try to excel at whatever they do, be it farming, craftwork or making music. That they always want to be best is another exaggeration.

Lahu (Musur) - Musur comes from a Burmese word for hunter; their traditional weapon is a powerful crossbow, sometimes used with poisoned arrows. Traditionally, they were quite skillful at hunting and trapping, and also with herbal medicine. The Lahu are an independent people, physically larger than other hill-tribe peoples, but they rarely use this aggressively, preferring fun and the easy life. The Lahu tribes originated in southwest China, then migrated into northern Laos and Shan State of Burma, where about 150,000 remain (with a small army of maybe 450 soldiers). In Thailand, they are the most populous of the real hill-tribes; but live mostly close to the Burmese border, in Chiang Rai, northern Chiang Mai, and Mae Hong Son province. Their population in Thailand doubled in the final 20 years of the last century, to 102,876 registered in 2002 (49,427 in Chiang Rai). They speak dialects of the Yi/Lolo branch of the Tibetan-Burmese linguistic group, closely related to Lisu.

Distant ancestors may have come from the upper Irrawaddy, near Tibet, where they once had a confederation comprised of 36 chiefs. Lahu written language, related to Burmese, is used mostly for religious purposes. Early mentions of Lahus locate them in south-western China, and they believe they once had a fortified city in central-west China. Lahu generally choose altitudes above 1200m to build their villages, often build their houses on stilts, and give equal importance to both paternal and maternal lineages. They're amazingly non-sexist, about which is a nice legend: "Long ago when the Lahu lived in China, they had a fortified city. Chinese disguised as traders came while the men were working the fields. They played lovely tunes on Jew's harps, and the Lahu women asked to buy them. The Chinese said they would only accept the triggers of their Lahu crossbows as payment. The women wanted the harps so badly that they agreed. Soon after, the Chinese attacked the city, and the Lahu men couldn't defend it! They had to flee, leaving their wives and children, but sneaked back in the night. They asked their wives to come away with them, but they were hesitant, as the Chinese were wealthy, and had not abused them. Eventually the Lahu men had to make binding promises to care for them and share equally in housework, in order to win their wives back."

Lahus link health with purity, prayers and a great spirit with some control over other spirits. They hunted until lack of game (from shortage of primary forest) forced them into agriculture. They haven't long experience of farming, so often work for other farmers. Thus their language became familiar neighboring peoples, enough so that non-Lahu tribes-people started using rudimentary Lahu Na (Black Lahu) to communicate when no common language was available! The soft and tonal Lahu Na became a lingua franca, not only among Lahu, but among several other hill-tribe groups also. Lahu are usually quite reserved initially, though a regular visitor becomes quite welcome; Lahu Na are the most reserved of Lahus, but wear the most distinctive costumes. Women wear colorful turbans and beautiful earrings, commonly silver, and a black cloak with white or cream-color stripes. The top of the sleeve is sometimes decorated in red and yellow.

In all, there 5 or more kinds of Lahu. The main branches are Lahu Na and Lahu Shi (Yellow Lahu). Lahu Nyi (Red) are the most common in Thailand; Lahu Na most populous elsewhere. Lahu Nyi women wear black trousers with white edging and sleeves of broad red and blue stripes. Lahu Sheh-leh (also Black, confusingly) were the first Lahu group to migrate to Thailand, arriving in Chiang Rai around 1875. As they prefer isolation, their five main village clusters, in Tak and Mae Hong Son Provinces, WiangPaPao District of Chiang Rai, and Fang and Om Koi Districts of Chiang Mai, are remote. The Lahu She-leh woman's outfit is black trimmed with white, the Lahu Nyi add red, blue and green, with horizontal stripes. Women often wear turbans, to keep the sun off, and like beautiful silver earrings. Lahu Hpu (White) switch from the basic black Lahu style to white for festive occasions. The Lahu Shi (Yellow, a.k.a. Musur Kwi) were the last to come, and have the most distinct dialect. Lahu Shi (Yellow) make good baskets to store clothes and rice. The clothes boxes, which can be like hampers or trunks, and have rattan outer walls with bamboo linings, are popular with other tribal people.

Lahu Nyi (Red) villages have a temple (Haw Yeh); most other non-Christian Lahu don't. The Lahu Nyi also keep spirit altars, in the corner furthest from their front door. Lahu generally believe in a supreme being, G'ui Sha, who created the heavens, and Ai Ma, his wife the Great Mother who created Earth. Village priests teach religion and mediate with G'ui Sha. Their wives also help in religious life; the couple may serve in more than one village. Lesser gods include house spirits, spirits of mountains and valleys, and water spirits. As G'ui Sha brought the first man and woman out of a gourd, they please him with music from gourd pipes called naw, which they tune to the pentatonic scale. Many Lahu men play the naw (related to the Thai kaen), which they make by putting holes into a dried gourd and adding five bamboo pipes, setting them in with beeswax. They also use the naw to "talk to each other" during courting - especially at New Years.

Many Lahu have become Buddhist or Christian, but still also believe in animism. In Yunnan, they're said to worship a "Water Spirit" as Supreme Lord; there also, it's been claimed the Lahu originated irrigation rice cultivation. They're famous for their knowledge of magic and herbs, but also for loving entertainment and the easy life. A Lahu motto is "Cheh shah aw peht" - have happiness, eat good, live good, or, "Live easy be easy."

Lahu men wear a plain black shirt and baggy black trousers, or, more commonly now whatever other farmers in Thailand might wear. Individualists with gender equality to rival any, Lahu men do more housework than other Thai tribals, and share in carrying wood and water, and caring for children and the sick. When a Lahu man marries, he usually goes to work in his father-in-law's fields. A few take a minor wife after their household is well established, but these are mostly traders, and the second wife elsewhere.

Many were expelled from Yunnan in 1887, and went to Shan State, Burma. The very first ones in Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai came a little earlier, maybe 125 years ago, but the first big migration was in 1954. Some who made money (usually from drug trade) went on to the central plains, Bangkok and even Taiwan, abandoning tribal ways.

A Lahu child gets a name 3 days after birth. Then at one month there's a party to celebrate its existence. A pig and chicken are killed and prepared, and all the older neighbors invited to come eat. In event of accidental, or otherwise evil, death, food is set out for the deceased 3 times a day for one month. After a month, if there are problems in the family, a Maw Pi'i (spirit doctor) comes to invite the spirit to eat food specially prepared and set out with candles, incense and cigars (best before dawn, but evening is OK). A spirit can be expected to stay around for up to a year.

Another short Lahu-na fable: Long, long ago, people had wings but no hands, and ate only fruit. They could fly but had no fire. They slept in trees; in the rainy season they were cold; they couldn't stay warm! But a kind of jungle animal, a raccoon or nocturnal squirrel (in Lahu, fahsu) with 5-finger hands, did have fire, and wanted to be able to fly up to fruit in trees too. The squirrel used fire he made from hitting rocks together to keep warm, but envied wings, and finally arranged a trade. Mankind got fire, and flying squirrels got to eat fruit.

Akha - (Goh in Laos) from Yunnan, related to the Hani there, in the Yangtze valley area for 3,500 years. They may have migrated long ago, eastward down the Yangtze valley, from Eastern Tibetan plains. Shaministic, animist, ancestor-worshippers, their all-powerful creator spirit is Apoe Miyeh. The women's ornate headdresses, decorated with silver, get taller or heavier with increased status; they are said to wear their wealth. They wear leggings below their skirts, knees bare. Their jackets are embellished with applique, embroidery, silver, beads, tassels, cowry shells and various seeds. Most speak a common dialect of the Yi/Lolo branch of Tibetan-Burmese language group. While yet not using an alphabet, they did some excellent counterfeiting of money (coin and paper) and documents including passports. Many have phenomenal memories, especially for the names of their ancestors. Noted bushgrass broom makers, they also have good silversmiths. They carve primitive lightwood male and female effigies and incredibly large village gates (please don't touch!), and long ago made splendid shoulder-harness yokes, a plainer version of which is still used. Young Akhas love their festivals, and are great singers and dancers. Sometimes at night they light pine torches and beat drums and gongs to expel evil spirits and disease. Migration into Thailand began over 100 years ago, at a time when there were few people in the North. The U-lo Akha and Loimi Akha came down from Burma; the U-lo, who came first, favor a pointed headdress for women, the Loimi a flat one. More recently, the Pami Akha came from China, in the late 50's and in '66-'67. There are four other main branches. 56,616 were registered in Thailand in 1997, 47,779 in Chiang Rai, mostly west of Highway 1 in the northern part of the province (north of the capital). Many (perhaps over 50,000 more) remain unregistered. Their religion, the Akha Way (Akhazan), involves ancestor-worship and animistic pantheism, with animal sacrifice and other magical rites. Its oral traditions cover ceremonies, cultivation, hunting, sickness and appropriate behavior toward outsides. About a quarter of them have become Christian, seeing Christianity as a more modern version of their Way. They are the most widespread of Thai hill-tribe groups; widespread outside of Thailand also.

Hmong (incorrectly referred to colloquially by Thais as Miao or Meo) - originally from the Kweichow Province area of China, or possibly Mongolia, there are about eight million total. They've been in South China 4 thousand years, and reportedly fought the yellow Emperor, but are most famous as mountaineers in Laos who helped the CIA. Tea pickers (at 3500 meters and higher), they do incredibly fine cross-stitch embroidery and applique. They're Shamanistic, both Taoist and animist, and of the Sino-Tibetan linguistic group, Miao-Yao-Pateng family with diverse dialects. Immigrating noticeably into Thailand from Laos for over a century, there were 126,300 in Thailand in 1997, 153,955 in 2002 (30,517 in Chiang Rai). Blue (or in their language, green) Hmong live to the west and White Hmong more to the east (of the north). Blue Hmong women wear an indigo, pleated knee-length skirt, black cotton jacket and knee-to-ankle leggings. White Hmong women wear black trousers with a long blue and black apron front and back. Their black blouses have an embroidered rectangle hanging from the back of the collar. The Hmong share some close affinities with the Yao. Their shamanistic religion involves worship of spirits, demons and ancestral ghosts. The most successful farmers of the hill-tribes, they practice a strict male/female division of labor.

Mien (Eu-Mien or Yao) - The Austro-Tibetan language of the Miao-Yao-Pateng family, with about 70 dialects, is spoken by 6 to 10 million people total. The men are usually bi-lingual, speaking, and sometimes writing, Yunnan Chinese (closely related to Mandarin). Chinese characters are used to write Yao, with an archaic form from liturgical texts. Women have begun to use Chinese too, and have begun sometimes learn to write it. The Mien are jewelry makers and wood-carvers of note. They come from southern China, and started arriving in Thailand possibly a century and a half ago. Most arrived after W.W.II. They now number over 50,000 in Thailand (45,571 registered in 2002, 16,027 were registered in Chiang Rai in 1997 and 15,225 in 2002; most of the others live in Phayao and Nan near the Lao border). The women wear black turbans, not showing any hair, and loose trousers covered with beautiful applique and embroidery, and a prominent, large red ruff on their blouses.

They prefer to live among low hills near dense forest, at lower elevations than the Lisu or Hmong. Their unique religion fuses animism, ancestor worship and medieval Chinese religious Taoism. Some are now Buddhist, some Christian. They excel at making farm implements such as axes and ploughs, and also make high quality jewelry and paper (at least in China; paper is also made in Laos). Typical Yao carvings include signature chops for wax seals and dark-wood demons, sometimes on horseback, decorated with horsehair (for mustaches, etc).

These first 5 groups, and the Karen, are the most recognized. The Karen have been in the area many centuries; the other 5 began coming when the Lanna area was only sparsely populated, and now constitute about half of the tribal population of Thailand (over 2% of the total population).

Also designated as Hilltribes, but living in lowlands too are:

Karen (Kariang) - in northern Thailand called Kariang or Nyang, there are three or four main groups, the best known being the Sgaw and Pwo ('male' and 'female'). They live more to the south than the Bghai or Bwe and Padaung (longneck). The Kayah are sometimes considered among the northern Karen, but there is little general consensus. Tibeto-Burman language patterns; the various dialects are not mutually intelligible. Prince Kavila was able to amalgamate some into Chiang Mai when he re-populated it, but most Karen did not submit to Tai authority. They may have been pushed from western China by the T'ai as the T'ai were pushed west and south by the Han. They have their own state in Myanmar, where they have borne the brunt of a long tradition of repression. In Thailand they live mostly in Mae Hong Son, Chiang Mai and Lampang but are also found in Phrae, Chiang Rai, Lampang, Tak and all along the western border. Traditionally ancestor worshipers, many have become Christian or Buddhist; others remain animist. Physically often quite attractive, and usually convivial, traditional ones are known for their jungle skills. Renowned as foresters and for their ability with elephants (they're the only hill-tribe mahouts), many are excellent trekking guides. The most numerous minority group in Thailand, they're half the hill-tribe population (about 500,000 estimated in 1990, 438,131 registered in 2002. 6,721 were registered in Chiang Rai in 1995, 6,456 in 2002). The British 1901 Burma census counted 727,235. These have grown to 2 to 4 million, many of whom are presently in refugee camps in Ratchburi and Tak. In Chiang Rai, they are found mostly in Wiang PaPao and Mae Suai. The Taung-su subgroup has very distinctive language, costume and culture, and can be found in Mae Hong Son (257 people) and Mae Suai District of Chiang Rai (68 people).

Palong (or Kunloi in Tai Yai, Palaung in Burmese and Ta-ang in their own language) - entering Thailand only since 1983, coming to Fang to escape Burmese persecution, they are the most recent of legally accepted immigrant groups. Mostly animist, with traditional beliefs, many seem but poor, mysterious jungle folk, but others are pious Buddhists and surely almost all fine with being who they are. There may be 5000 (1,937 registered in 1995, 1,626 in 1997 and 2,324 in 2002), mostly day laborers for Thai farmers in north Chiang Mai. 17,000 in Yunnan are called De'ang. Red skirts, broad, heavy silver belts with black lacquered bamboo and/or rattan waist hoops, with some applique. Quiet and peaceful vegetarian subsistence farmers, they speak a Mon-Khmer language related to Wa. When ones from different groups meet, they tend to use Shan language, but in the 19th century they had their own kingdom, Tawnpeng, in northern Shan State, which was recognized by Britain. Several very small groups, the Blang, Samtao, Parauk and Lamet, speak Palaungic dialects, and as with the Palong are called tame Wa (Lawa) by the Thai.

The Padong (Long-neck Tribe) - A small group of little more than 500, but given an inordinate amount of coverage, the Padong have adjusted themselves to living in a kind of human zoo, one of Mae Hong Son Province's top tourist attractions. Their traditional life-style is no longer possible, and although only a very small percentage wore the neck-rings before, now almost all five year-old girls are fitted with the rings. These rings push the ribs down, to give the appearance of a swan-like neck.

They call themselves the Gay Gong Du, meaning people who live on top of a hill. Some speak a Karen dialect, but they may be a kind of Tai Yai or Mon-Khmer. They've legends, which associate them with the Khmer, but their language, similar to Pa-O, is considered Tibeto-Burman. Perhaps 30,000 or more live in Kayah State of Myanmar (Burma), mostly west of the Salaween River. Those trade in livestock, rice, cotton, fruit and vegetables, weavings and basketry; few still have the long necks.

The rings make for a whispery voice; those who wear them cannot yell. They wear rings on the arms and legs, too - often 20 or 25 kilos of weight altogether! Yet they still carry loads, like jars of water atop their heads, and gather firewood. They are hardly fastidious, owning little, and don't bathe often, as they must polish their rings each time.

The Padong are friendly, and love visitors (especially well-mannered ones), but they also love quiet. They are usually Buddhist, but believe in their animistic shamans too. Their small houses, built on short poles with a small porch in front, have a hearth in the middle of the floor. Nowadays the Padong organize their lives to please tourists, their only source of cash income. This is why a few can be found in Chiang Rai.

Pa-O (Taungthu, Black Karen) - once Thaton, lower Burma (near Pegu) was the capital of their Suvarna Bhumi kingdom. Recently they still had a small army. Buddhist-animist spirit worshippers and relatively aboriginal, their civilization was destroyed in 1057AD by King Anoratha of Pagan. They're the second largest ethnic group in Shan State (or were, anyway, until a population boom among the Wa, who have recently welcomed cousins from China). 160,436 were counted in the 1901 census. About a thousand have fled Burmese persecution into Thailand, since 1975. They've 4 villages in Mae Hong Son, where they cultivate rice in irrigated terrace fields.

Bisu - about 1000 individuals in Chiang Rai, mostly in the southwest, and 1500 in Phrae and Nan. They speak a Southern Loloish language, weave bamboo baskets and make brooms; women wear white turbans. About 200 years ago, ancestors of this group were brought as war captives from Sipsongpanna.

Lawa - Lua, Tamila, ancient aboriginal people of north Thailand. Most Lawa villages are now indistinguishable from Thai, but west of Hot and Mae Sariang, mostly in southern Mae Hong Son, about 14,000 Lawa live traditionally, on subsistence agriculture with rice grown on sophisticated terraces. Unmarried girls there wear loose white blouses edged with pink, and necklaces of orange and yellow beads. After marriage women wear a long fawn dress. Most Lawa are animists, with ancient traditional beliefs, but many have adopted Buddhism. They're Austro-Asiatic, with Mon-Khmer language, Palaung-Wa group (or, perhaps, as with the Mlabri, their language is more ancient, absorbing Mon-Khmer characteristics only relatively recently). They had a powerful state in the Chiang Mai region in the 8th century AD, and mined iron. Lawa peoples paid tribute of agricultural and forest products to Tai rulers, but most Lanna royal ceremonies required Lawa participants, analogous to Brahaministic practitioners leading royal ceremonies at Sanam Luang, Krungthep (Bangkok). 22,260 registered in 2002, 4,696 in Chiang Rai, in Mae Chan, Mae Sai and Mae Fah Luang Districts.

Smaller groups, the Blang (Lo, Hkun Loi or Bulang), Samtao (recent arrivals at Ban Hin Taek), Parauk, and Lamet, speak Palaungic dialects, and are generally known in Thailand as tame Wa (Lawa). In Yunnan, they are the Siao Wa, civilized Wa.

Wa (Wa Daeng) - probably about as aboriginal as it gets, they were headhunters, then communists, and now have become illegal drug providers. Perhaps 2 million in Burma and Yunnan, there are only a few thousand in Thailand, mostly arriving after 1973. The Wild Wa, Wa Hai or Ta Wa, are unacculturated pagans for whom worship of skulls remains prominent in their traditional religion. Some say Wa is just a generic Shan term for aborigines, but the Myanmar government recognizes them as a tribe. At the time Mengrai founded Wieng Kum Kam, there were large groups of them in the present day Suthep mountain range; he is said to have chased them north. Some still hunted heads into the 1950s. They preferred those of strangers so that the spirit would remain, too unfamiliar with the territory to wander off. Drug producers for over a hundred years, they now depend largely on amphetamine manufacture and trade, perhaps because of severely limited alternate avenues to obtaining not only modern goods, but cash for taxes. This drug trade has caused them to be seen as Thailand's greatest national security threat, although clearly the trade is the activity of individuals while certainly not involving nearly every Wa person.

Kamu (Khmu) - mostly in Chiang Kam, Nan Province (Huai Klaep to Huai Sa Taeng), with a few elsewhere in the north and Utai Thani, there were 13,674 registered in 1997, but only 10,573 in 2002 (2,329 in Chiang Rai, in Wiang Kaen and Chiang Khong Districts, often assimilated). Hundreds of thousands live in Laos, 43,000 in northern Vietnam. Mon-Khmer branch of the Austro-Asiatic linguistic family). Indigenous, related to the Mrabri, Lawa and Wa. Here at least 180 years, many came from Laos for the teak-logging boom. Dark-skinned, with deep, down-sloping eyes, they supply sorcerers important to many Lao ritual ceremonies. A tiny sub-group, the 'Kha Hoh' or Huay, "Flying Slaves," were long used as messengers because of their swiftness.

Htin (Thin, Chao Doi, Luah) - Maal and Ka Pai sub-groups. Mon-Khmer branch of Austro-Asiatic, on the Lao border of northeast Nan province, at Thung Chang, Pua and Chiang Kam, they also live in Sayaburi, Laos. 42,657 were registered in 2002, although 48,025 in 1997; 37,559 were registered in Nan (where there may be 50,000). 2,372 registered in Chiang Rai and the rest are in Loei, Payao and Petchabun. Many fled from Sayaburi Laos in 1975. Close cousins of the Kamu, they're non-literate but speak the Nan dialect of Thai. Short, stocky, hairy and dark, with longish noses, they are the poorest of Thailand's minority groups (except perhaps the Mrabri, who receive more attention and charity). They make and sell salt, and are skilled with bamboo. No particular costume or strong tribal identity, a few are Buddhist, most are animistic.

Other Common Ethnic Groups:

Haw (Ho, Jeen Haw) - perhaps several separate groups: to the Thai they are Yunnanese, descendents of Chinese Muslim traders, and/or remnants of Chiang Kai Shek's Kuomintang (KMT) army. To the Chinese, they are Hui, Hu or Panthay, originally a Yunnan Muslim minority or caravan traders. Large communities of Haw reside at Santi Khiri and Huay Khrai; there are quite a few in the Muang District (Chiang Rai city), and many in Fang, Chiang Mai Province. 1997 statistics gave 10,938 in Chiang Rai, 20,068 in Thailand, 2002 stats give 15,797 in ChiangMai and 10,528 in ChiangRai.

Chinese - other than the Haw, the most common group of Chinese are Tae Chieu (Teo Chiu or Chao Zhou), from Shantou (Swatow), Guandong Province. They began working as Chao Praya rivermen in the Ayudhaya period. 80% of Chinese businessmen are Teh Chieu. Others are Hai Lam (from Hainan), Hokkien, Hakka and Yue (Cantonese).

Burmese - artistically famous for their Nat statues, fantastic carvings of animistic and historical spirits. Despite intense historic interactivity and possible similar origins in the area from the mouth of the Yangtze to the Red and Black Rivers (Hong and De or Da) of northern Vietnam, the distinction from T'ai is clear. The Burmese are darker, autocratic and more influenced by India. Violent rivalry, and buffer areas inhabited by other peoples, has limited intermingling with T'ai in historic times. The origin of the Burmese race remains as vague as that of the Tai, or, for that matter, of any racial group. Genetic influence seems to have come from both directions, but the Burmese received more from the Indian sub-continent than did the T'ai.

The Shan (Tai Yai), traditional rulers of Shan State, are often partially Chinese. They're a tenth of the population of Myanmar (its largest minority group) and the majority population of Mae Hong Son Province (although only 21,411 are registered as such in all Thailand, 2002). Their traditional society involved loose confederations which eventually coalesced into 33 "Shan States" (which had no borders, and involved residency of unassimilated tribal peoples in close proximity). They became important in the second half of the 19th century due to the teak trade. Total population is over 4 million, but as their culture and population is actively suppressed by the military government of Myanmar, exact current knowledge is unavailable. Theravada Buddhists who live in valleys and plains of the mountainous Shan Plateau, the Shan are irrigation rice farmers with a (semi-divine) hereditary nobility (saopa or sawbwa). They dominated much of Myanmar from the 13th to 16th centuries. Most of their Muang joined the Federated Shan State of Burma in 1922, but lost autonomy in 1974. They maintain armed resistance financed largely by narcotics business. The language is even more monosyllabic than Thai or Lao, and uses many Burmese words.

Tai are valley and lowland dwelling Therravada Buddhist/animist rice cultivators who most likely originated in the Yangtze Valley 2000+ years ago. Shan and Khun in Myanmar, Tai, Nua and Lue in Yunnan, Chuang (Zhuang) in Kwangsi, Pu-i in Kweichow, Laotians (lowland people of Laos), tribal Tai of northern Vietnam (White, Black and Red, Tay and Nung), and Ahom (a mostly culture of Assam, India with a tiny resistance army) are all Tai. Altogether there are over 90 million Tai speakers, but of the 60 plus million in Thailand, only about 3/4 are ethnically Tai. 21 million in China, 4 million in Myanmar, 3 million plus in Laos, 2.8 million in Vietnam and a few thousand in India. Outside of Bangkok, T'ais have no real caste system. The closest relatives to T'ai language are from south China: Kam-sui of Kweichow, 'Be' and others of Hainan Island, and Lakkia of Kwangsi. The language may be a mixture of Sino-Tibetan and Austronesian, or only partially related to either.

Thai - Siamese - The dominant modern majority race of the ChaoPhraya River Valley and immediately surrounding areas. Wetlands dwellers who traditionally used small sampans for transportation, they are perhaps an admixture of T'ai, Lawa, Proto-Malay, Mon and Khom (rulers of the Khmer, who most likely intermarried there). Many Thai/Siamese in the ChaoPraya River delta and especially the Bangkok area have Chinese blood, which is more recognized and accepted than most of the aforementioned genetic influence. Numerically far fewer than the T'ai or Lao, there are about 12,000 said to live similarly to the hill-tribes (distinct from 21,411 Tai Yai registered in 2002, 12,988 in Chiangrai, or 3,780 Tai Lue, 2,193 in Chiangrai). The modern language is a derivative of Pali, Sanskrit, Malay and Chinese, which also even uses over 100 words from English. Thai/Siamese show a preference for fragrant rice (khao suai) over the sticky rice (khao ngieo) preferred by those Thais call Lao.

Mon (Talaing in Burmese) - in the mid-1900's, some foreign anthropologists thought the Mon extinct, but about 4.5 million remain, largely around Yangon (Rangoon), and south and east of there. Now often bi-lingual and assimilated into the larger, surrounding societies, they remain proud of their cultural identity. Noted boatmen.

Farang - light-skin people who don't need rice to eat, usually of European ancestry. Sometimes have an obsessive inexplicable interest in distant history of South East Asia.

- Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, Sihks, Brahman and other Indians, Vietnamese, Malays, Koreans and Japanese now are also often encountered in the area which once was Lanna...