Tai People Research Articles

Representations of Women’s Power and Divinity in the Myths of Tai Peoples

This article examines female characters in the myths of the Tai peoples which represent power and divinity of women in the Tai’s societies. Twenty myths of the Tai peoples both in literary and oral traditions were the subjects of the study. The findings revealed the four main representations of women as 1) creator and the earliest human ancestor; 2) food producer and nurturer; 3) cultural leader; and 4) medium between the human world and the divine world. These representations reflect the Tai peoples’ society and culture. Women were represented as 1) the divines, having supernatural power, powerful beings; 2) abundance of food, creators of life, caretakers; and 3) supporters and followers of Buddhism. The female characters in the Tai myths symbolized faithful Buddhists and strong supporters of the religion. The findings also emphasize significance of the myths as a cultural tool for a better understanding of cultural women’s roles.

Radiomics nomogram for preoperative differentiation of pulmonary mucinous adenocarcinoma from tuberculoma in solitary pulmonary solid nodules

ObjectiveTo develop and validate predictive models using clinical parameters, radiomic features and a combination of both for preoperative differentiation of pulmonary nodular mucinous adenocarcinoma (PNMA) from pulmonary tuberculoma (PTB).MethodA total of 124 and 53 patients with PNMA and PTB, respectively, were retrospectively analyzed from January 2017 to November 2022 in The Fourth Affiliated Hospital of Hebei Medical University (Ligang et al., A machine learning model based on CT and clinical features to distinguish pulmonary nodular mucinous adenocarcinoma from tuberculoma, 2023). A total of 1037 radiomic features were extracted from contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CT). The patients were randomly divided into a training group and a test group at a ratio of 7:3. The least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) algorithm was used for radiomic feature selection. Three radiomics prediction models were applied: logistic regression (LR), support vector machine (SVM) and random forest (RF). The best performing model was adopted, and the radiomics score (Radscore) was then computed. The clinical model was developed using logistic regression. Finally, a combined model was established based on clinical factors and radiomics features. We externally validated the three models in a group of 68 patients (46 and 22 patients with PNMA and PTB, respectively) from Xing Tai People’s Hospital (30 and 14 patients with PNMA and PTB, respectively) and The First Hospital of Xing Tai (16 and 8 patients with PNMA and PTB, respectively). The area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve (AUC) value and decision curve analysis were used to evaluate the predictive value of the developed models.ResultsThe combined model established by the logistic regression method had the best performance. The ROC-AUC (also a decision curve analysis) of the combined model was 0.940, 0.990 and 0.960 in the training group, test group and external validation group, respectively, and the combined model showed good predictive performance for the differentiation of PNMA from PTB. The Brier scores of the combined model were 0.132 and 0.068 in the training group and test group, respectively.ConclusionThe combined model incorporating radiomics features and clinical parameters may have potential value for the preoperative differentiation of PNMA from PTB.

The Forced Resettlement of Tai People During the Reign of the Qianlong Emperor (1735–1796)

The Forced Resettlement of Tai People During the Reign of the Qianlong Emperor (1735–1796)

The Tai Khamtis Of North-East India: A Socio Cultural Study

North-East India is a place of various tribal and ethnic groups and it is the place of about
 
 145 tribal groups. The Tai ethnic group of North-east India is one of the largest ethnic group of the region. It has six sub groups namely- Tai khamti, Tai Ahom, Tai Aiton, Tai Phake, tai Khamyang and Tai Turung. The Khamti is one of the smallest sub groups of Tai people. The Khamti people are mainly Buddhists and believer of the Hinyan sect of Buddhism. They are culturally and socially very rich. Here in this study it is trying to give a socio-cultural identity of the Tai khamtis.

TAIETHNICGROUPINCHINAANDTAIEPIC(basedonthematerialsofChineseresearches)

Abstract. This article introduces the Tai ethnic group in China, and then discusses the Tai epic in the context of dualistic beliefs. The Tai ethnic group is one of 55 minorities in China its several branches reside in different areas, but mainly in Yunnan Province. According to historical documents, Tai groups have been developing for hundreds of years separately and as a result, there are four Tai dialect areas: the Sipsong Panna (Xishuangbanna) Tai dialect groups, the Daikong (Dehong) Tai dialect groups, the HongJin Tai dialect groups, and Jinping Tai dialect groups. Most of them have adopted Theravada Buddhism from Thailand or Burma before the 14th century while maintaining primitive belief. However, some Tai groups kept only primitive belief without any influence of Buddhism all the time. As a result, Tai people practice a kind of dualistic beliefs, and this system influences the connotation and inheritance mode of Tai epics. This article is based on the data of Tai Origin Epic Study project funded by the Young Scholars Funding of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS). The study used theoretical material mainly from Chinese researchers. Throughliteraturestudyand several field expeditions in Tai villages Southwestern China, the author found that there are dualistic styles of Tai epic, existing both as oral tradition and as written manuscript. Although there are various forms of epics in different Tai branches and whether are oral songs or written texts, all Tai poetries share the same rhyme rule. For one thing, the most popular rhythm is the TailWaist rhyme which functions just like a chain of rings for another thing, the rhyme in oral tradition is more outstanding and beautiful than in written texts. Аннотация. Эта статья знакомит с этнической группой тайцев в Китае, а затем обсуждает эпос тайцев в контексте дуалистических верований. Этническая группа тай является одним из 55 меньшинств в Китае несколько его ветвей находятся в разных районах, но в основном в провинции Юннань. Согласно историческим документам, группы тайцев развивались в течение сотен лет отдельно и, как следствие, есть четыре группы тайских диалекта: Сипсонг Панна (Сишуанбанна), Дайконг (Дэхонг), ХонгДжин и Джинпин. Большинство из них приняли тхеравадский буддизм из Таиланда или Бирмы до 14 в., сохранив при этом примитивную веру. Однако некоторые тайские группы все время придерживались только примитивной веры без какоголибо влияния буддизма. В результате этнические тайцы Китая практикуют своего рода дуалистические верования, и эта система влияет на способ обозначения и наследования тайских эпосов. Эта статья основана на данных проекта Исследование происхождения тайского эпоса , финансируемого Фондом молодых ученых Китайской академии общественных наук (CASS). В исследовании использовался теоретический материал в основном китайских исследователей. Посредством изучения литературы и в результате нескольких полевых экспедиций в тайские деревни на югозападе Китая, автор обнаружил, что существуют тайские эпические стили как в устной традиции, так и в письменной рукописи. Хотя существуют разные формы эпосов в разных тайских ветвях, будь то устные песни или письменные тексты, все тайские поэзии имеют одно и то же правило рифмы. С одной стороны, самый популярный ритм рифма хвостталия , которая действует как цепочка колец с другой стороны, рифма в устной традиции более выдающаяся и красивая, чем в письменных текстах.

REVITALIZATION OF HERITAGE - THE ORIGINAL AND VARIANT TRADITIONAL INTEGRATION OF THE HET CHA FESTIVAL IN ANG VILLAGE IN MOC CHAU, VIETNAM (STUDY IN ANG VILLAGE, MOC CHAU, SON LA)

Het Cha festival organised by Tai people (in Ang village, Dong Sang, Moc Chau, Son La) is celebrated each year during Ban flower season. Ban flowers are unique flowers found in the North of Vietnam and they bloom annually at the end of March. This is a thanksgiving ceremony to send thankfulness to the shaman - the magician, the physician of the village, and for the shaman to send thankfulness to his gods. During festival time, in addition to the ritual of the worshipers expressing gratitude to the shaman for curing their diseases, there are entertaining performances around the sacred flowers (xang bok). After being suspended for nearly 40 years, Het Cha festival has been celebrated in recent years, and expanded in scale. It is now heavily promoted as a form of cultural tourism, which attracts hundreds of tourists and participants. Through the analysis of the process of re-establishing Het Cha festival, the article helps to point out the following arguments: 1. Het Cha festival - a hybrid folklore phenomenon in which the original traditional integration (first hand) and the variant traditional integration (second hand) have merged in many ways. 2. The negotiation between tradition and ethnic mentality as a solution for Het Cha festival - a folklorimus which solves the religious problems occuring during daily life of local people.

Uneven Humanitarianism: Abandoned Refugees along the Thai-Myanmar Border

This essay considers the case of uneven humanitarian aid distribution along the Thai-Myanmar border, where forcibly displaced migrants from Myanmar have been abandoned by the UNHCR and international humanitarian organizations. Based upon long-term ethnographic fieldwork along the Thai-Myanmar border amongst Tai migrants from the Shan State in Myanmar, I attend to the effects of the inequitable distribution of rights and privileges in an international humanitarian system that is predicated on the neoliberal logic of uneven development. After two centuries of British colonial occupation and later Burman authoritarian rule, the ethnic minority groups along the Thai-Myanmar border are now facing another crisis – that of abandonment as NGOs search for new and more pressing humanitarian disasters elsewhere. The essay addresses a concept I call uneven humanitarianism as a neocolonial condition for peoples living in the Thai-Myanmar borderlands by specifically focusing on Tai peoples who are living in unofficial refugee camps that lost foreign funding in 2017. I argue that the ad hoc treatment and eventual abandonment of these vulnerable groups – that are currently in the midst of the world’s most protracted civil war and displacement situation – constitutes a failure of the “responsibility to protect” humanitarian project.

Parallelism in the Hanvueng: A Zhuang Verse Epic from West-Central Guangxi in Southern China

Parallelism in the Hanvueng:A Zhuang Verse Epic from West-Central Guangxi in Southern China David Holm (bio) Introduction1 Parallelism is ubiquitous in Zhuang poetry and song and hence also occurs in ritual texts and a range of oral genres. Curiously, this salient fact has generally escaped the notice of scholars writing on the subject of Zhuang poetics. Discussion has generally been concentrated on line length, rhyming patterns, and stanzaic structures as found in Zhuang traditional song genres.2 This essay looks specifically at the phenomenon of parallelism in one particular ritual text from west-central Guangxi. The Hanvueng is a long verse narrative that is recited at rituals intended to deal with cases of unnatural death and serious family quarrels, especially fraternal feuds. The plot involves an old king and his son by his first wife, Hanvueng. After his wife dies, the king remarries a widow from a commoner family, who brings a son with her. She and her son, Covueng, then set out to disenfranchise Hanvueng and drive him out. Hanvueng goes into exile, but the old king becomes ill and has him recalled. The struggle continues when Covueng attempts to kill Hanvueng while the two are hunting. He finally succeeds in having Hanvueng sent down a well to search for water, and then murders him. After his death Hanvueng flies into the sky and establishes a realm there, from which he rains pestilence down upon his former domain. Covueng sends an eagle and a crow up to the sky to resolve his dispute with Hanvueng. In the end Covueng retains the earthly domain, but pays an annual rent to Hanvueng in the sky. Meng Yuanyao and I have recently published an annotated edition of a Hanvueng manuscript (Holm and Meng 2015). With a total length of 1,536 lines, this text is quite long for a Zhuang vernacular ritual text. In some ways it provides a reasonably close parallel in form and content to the forms of epic poetry discussed elsewhere in this volume. It also serves as a useful platform for analysis because the manuscript is undamaged (there are no missing lines), the plot line is clear, and any difficulties in interpretation have either been resolved or at least fully explored in an extensive set of textual and ethnographic notes accompanying the text in the published edition.3 In this essay I deal specifically with the question of parallelism. In the book parallelism is discussed from time to time as pertinent in particular contexts (see the Subject Index of Holm and Meng 2015 for details) but the present essay was written subsequently and uncovers newer aspects of the topic. The book, of course, presents much more cultural and linguistic background information. Owing to limitations of space, I give only an abbreviated presentation here. The Zhuang language examples in this essay are given in Zhuangwen, the official Chinese transcription system for Zhuang. Zhuangwen allows readers familiar with Chinese to access a wide range of dictionaries and reference materials on the Zhuang language.4 The present contribution has a primarily empirical focus, based on one particular ritual text from the Zhuang-speaking highlands of western Guangxi in southern China. My aim here is to present a typology of the various kinds of parallelistic patterning found in this text, to serve as a basis for wider comparative work in the future. Currently in international scholarship, parallelism in the oral cultures of the Tai people of southern China is almost completely unknown, with the exception, perhaps, of Catherine Ingram's work on the "big song" traditions among the Kam (Dong) in Guizhou and Hunan provinces (Ingram 2012). For the Zhuang, a much larger group, there is a more or less complete blank, so I begin with a description of the basic facts on Zhuang song culture. My discussion of parallelism here is based on a close philological analysis, but it is important to highlight the fact that in ritual context and in its continuing presence in Zhuang village society, this text is recited by vernacular priests and is performed orally in an actual ritual, with an audience that includes the priests themselves, family members, and other villagers. Without these...

Autosomal STR variations reveal genetic heterogeneity in the Mon-Khmer speaking group of Northern Thailand

Since prehistoric times, Mon-Khmer speaking people have been recognized as indigenous ethnic groups living in northern Thailand. After the period of Tai colonization in the thirteenth century CE, the Mon-Khmer inhabitants were fragmented; some were expelled to rural areas while some were integrated into the mainstream of Tai society. Autosomal STR variations revealed that the present-day Mon-Khmer people could be genetically divided into two clusters. This finding appears to be consistent with the level of historical contact with the Tai majority ethnic groups. The cluster consisting of the Khamu, Lua, Paluang and Htin people, indicate that they have lived in remote areas and have had little historical contact with the Tai people. In this way, they appeared to have maintained aspects of their Mon-Khmer ancestral genetic bloodline but have genetically diverged from the Tai people. The cluster comprised of the Mon and Lawa people had an exclusively close relationship with the Tai people during the establishment of the prosperous Lan Na Kingdom. A fraction of the Tai genetic component investigated among the Mon people and some Lawa populations reflected the evidence of genetic admixture. However, some Lawa people, who have lived in the mountainous area of Mae Hong Son Province have exhibited a unique gene pool, which might have been shaped by the founder effect that occurred during their historical fragmentation. The rise of the genetic assimilation of the hill-tribe Karen people into the Mon-Khmer and the Tai gene pools indicated that different languages, cultures, and geographical distances have lost their power as barriers of inter-ethnic marriages in the present day.

Mogong and chieftaincy in western Guangxi and Southeast Asia

This article is devoted to establishing, by means of textual and comparative evidence, a link between the religious practitioners called mogong (Zh. bouxmo) and chiefly houses. The mogong are male priests who recite texts in the ‘local’ language, in this case Zhuang or Bouyei. They are also found among other Tai peoples, including the Dai in Yunnan, the Tày and Nùng in Vietnam, and also among other ethnic groups in mainland Southeast Asia. Theirs is a very ancient tradition, dating back possibly 2000 years. Most of the studies on mogong in the PRC have treated the mogong either as an instance of ‘primitive religion’ or as ‘folk beliefs’, and some scholars have declared that the mogong had no connection with politics or government. My argument, based on new evidence from a survey of Zhuang vernacular texts, is that the Zhuang mogong only became village-level vernacular priests after the disbandment of the native chieftaincies, starting in the early eighteenth century, and that before that they were attached directly to chiefly lineages, as they still were in Yunnan and in Southeast Asia until the 1940s. The mogong were responsible for the most important triennial sacrifices to the guardian spirits of the domain.

Exploring the maternal history of the Tai people.

In the past decades, the Tai people are increasingly being focused by genetic studies. However, a systematic genetic study of the whole Tai people is still lacking, thus making the population structure as well as the demographic history of this group uninvestigated from genetic perspective. Here we extensively analyzed the variants of hypervariable segments I and II (HVS-I and HVS-II) of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) of 719 Tai samples from 19 populations, covering virtually all of the current Tai people's residences. We observed a general close genetic affinity of the Tai people, reflecting a common origin of this group. Taken into account the phylogeographic analyses of their shared components, including haplogroups F1a, M7b and B5a, our study supported a southern Yunnan origin of the Tai people, consistent with the historical records. In line with their diverse cultures and languages, substantial genetic divergences can be observed among different Tai populations that could be attributable to assimilation of maternal components from neighboring populations. Our study further implied the advent of rice agriculture in Mainland Southeast Asia at ∼5 kya (kilo years ago) had greatly promoted the population expansion of the Tai people.

Autosomal STRs Provide Genetic Evidence for the Hypothesis That Tai People Originate from Southern China

Tai people are widely distributed in Thailand, Laos and southwestern China and are a large population of Southeast Asia. Although most anthropologists and historians agree that modern Tai people are from southwestern China and northern Thailand, the place from which they historically migrated remains controversial. Three popular hypotheses have been proposed: northern origin hypothesis, southern origin hypothesis or an indigenous origin. We compared the genetic relationships between the Tai in China and their “siblings” to test different hypotheses by analyzing 10 autosomal microsatellites. The genetic data of 916 samples from 19 populations were analyzed in this survey. The autosomal STR data from 15 of the 19 populations came from our previous study (Lin et al., 2010). 194 samples from four additional populations were genotyped in this study: Han (Yunnan), Dai (Dehong), Dai (Yuxi) and Mongolian. The results of genetic distance comparisons, genetic structure analyses and admixture analyses all indicate that populations from northern origin hypothesis have large genetic distances and are clearly differentiated from the Tai. The simulation-based ABC analysis also indicates this. The posterior probability of the northern origin hypothesis is just 0.04 [95%CI: (0.01–0.06)]. Conversely, genetic relationships were very close between the Tai and populations from southern origin or an indigenous origin hypothesis. Simulation-based ABC analyses were also used to distinguish the southern origin hypothesis from the indigenous origin hypothesis. The results indicate that the posterior probability of the southern origin hypothesis [0.640, 95%CI: (0.524–0.757)] is greater than that of the indigenous origin hypothesis [0.324, 95%CI: (0.211–0.438)]. Therefore, we propose that the genetic evidence does not support the hypothesis of northern origin. Our genetic data indicate that the southern origin hypothesis has higher probability than the other two hypotheses statistically, suggesting that the Tai people most likely originated from southern China.

Cross-border journeys and minority monks: the making of Buddhist places in southwest China

This article investigates the practice and social meanings of cross-border journeys of Dai minority monks, in Xishuangbanna, Southwest China. These journeys play a vital part in Theravada revivalism in this border region. In the early 1990s, the Dai monks left Xishuangbanna to pursue their Buddhist studies in Thailand, thereby experiencing Thai culture and society. I will show not only that transnational networks among the Tai peoples in the upper Mekong region have played a crucial role in this religious movement, but also that the transnational Theravada networks enable and are partly constituted by the cross-border journeys of Dai exiles and minority monks, which strengthen and enhance the Dai ability to persist, revive, and maintain their locality and cultural identity. It is these cultural practices which contribute to and formulate the making of Dai places within the power contexts of state displacement, regional trade and development in Southwest China.

Pu Khwan Khao worship of Dehong Tai in Yunnan: fertility and Buddhist felicity

This paper is a study of Lik Lu Pu Khwan Khao, a chant used in the worship ceremony to the god of rice Pu Khwan Khao of Dehong Tai in Yunnan. The ceremony is performed after the harvest to express gratitude to Pu Khwan Khao. Related ceremonies are found among other groups of Tai peoples. The ceremony is related to the rice myth of Dehong Tai in which Pu Khwan Khao claimed that his merit was comparable with that of the Buddha since nobody could stay alive without him, including the Buddha who could attain awakening only after consuming rice. The Buddha accepted this claim and told people not forget to worship Pu Khwan Khao. The myth reflects a compromise between ancient Tai belief and Buddhism. However, the compromise between and combining of these two sets of belief are also expressed in the Lik Lu Pu Khwan Khao chant. People express their gratitude to Pu Khwan Khao for providing them with rice, not only for nourishment but also for giving alm to monks, one of the most significant practices in Buddhism. Moreover, when people present offerings to Pu Khwan Khao, they form the aspiration to be reborn in the time of the future Buddha, Maitreya, and to attain Nirvana after listening to him preach. This traditional aspiration shows how the ancient ritual of Pu Khwan Khao worship is now intrinsically associated with the Buddhist practice of generosity as a kind of gift giving. From this we may conclude that, for the Dehong Tai in Yunnan, the aim of Pu Khwan Khao worship is not only fertility but also the ultimate Buddhist felicity, Nirvana.

The Significance of Salahoen and Kaikaeo in Lilit Phra Lo

This paper examines the underlying meanings of salahoen, flying betel nut, and kaikaeo, the beautiful wild rooster, in “Lilit Phra Lo” or “The Tale of King Lo”. “Salahoen” and “kaikaeo” are usually considered magical items sent by Pu Chao Saming Phrai, the Green Mountain Guardian, to aid Princess Phuean and Princess Phaeng in fulfilling their desire of acquiring King Lo’s love. By using an anthropological approach, this study suggests that the “salahoen” might be an ordinary betel nut. It is a symbol of the princesses’ love for King Lo, their invitation and gestures of warm welcome. As soon as King Lo receives these messages from the two princesses, whom he also desires romantically, he decides without any hesitation to leave his city to pursue his love. The custom of sending a betel nut as a symbol of love, invitation, and warm welcome as found in this tale is practiced among Tai people including Thais and various other peoples in Southeast Asian countries. In a similar vein, this study also claims that the “kaikaeo” may be interpreted as an ordinary wild rooster whose significance lies in its roles in King Lo’s life and destiny. As this paper reveals, King Lo wants to have the “kaikaeo” to relieve his anxiety and despair after receiving a bad prediction from the guardian of the Kalong River. The belief that a fowl may be used to take away one’s misfortune and to foretell human fate exists in Thai and other Tai societies. Having unveiled the significance of the flying betel nut and the beautiful wild rooster in “the Tale of King Lo” from a cultural/anthropological perspective, this study then demonstrates that King Lo is fully aware of his actions–a factor that enables him to be a great tragic hero.

Mitochondrial diversity of native pigs in the mainland South and South‐east Asian countries and its relationships between local wild boars

ABSTRACTIn this study, we analyzed DNA sequence of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) control regions on the 130 native domestic pigs and eight wild boars in the mainland South and South‐east Asian countries including Bhutan, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and Vietnam. Forty‐four haplotypes were found in the 138 individuals, 41 were in the domestic and four were in wild boars. Only one haplotype was shared by domestic and wild population in Bhutan. In other cases, mtDNA of wild boars did not show close affinity to that of the domestic pigs in the same location, indicating that the native domestic pigs in these countries did not originate in the present habitat. Phylogenetic analyzes of mtDNA haplotypes recapitulated several major clusters identified in other studies, but 11 haplotypes were grouped in a new cluster we named MTSEA. In most cases, more than one lineage group were present in a sampling station, indicating that the present indigenous domestic pigs may have multiple origins. The MTSEA haplotypes were present in relatively high frequencies in domestic pigs in the mountainous area of mainland South‐east Asia (Cambodia and Laos), with a few found in Myanmar and Bhutan. The distributions of MTSEA haplotypes are in great conformity with the distribution of present‐day Mon‐Khmer language and indicated the existence of yet another independent domestication. The D2 haplotypes that distribute high frequency (almost 100%) throughout the Chinese breeds were dominant in Bhutan, Myanmar, and Vietnam. These results suggest an existence of human‐mediated dispersal of domestic pigs from north to the south during the historical expansion of Sino‐Tibetan and Tai peoples. The D3 haplotypes previously reported in north India were found in sympatric domestic and wild pigs in Bhutan. The D3 haplotype is an important proof of independent domestication event and/or great gene flow between wild and domestic pigs in the foot of Himalaya.

Water Lore: Thai-Tai Folk Beliefs and Literature

Water is essential in the Thai-Tai way of life. Thai people in Thailand as well as Tai peoples outside Thailand depend on water for agriculture, domestic daily uses, transportation and recreation. This paper is a result of an in-depth study of the relationship between water, beliefs and literary traditions of the Thai and some ethnic Tai groups. The findings reveal that the Thais and the Tais have religious beliefs involving water concerning four important water beings: first, the water spirit, known as sua nam (เสื้อน้ำ); second, the water serpent known as nguek (เงือก); third, the great serpent or naga (นาค); and fourth; the river of the dead.

The Myths of the Buddha’s Relics of the Tai People: Reflections on the Relationship Between Buddhism and Indigenous Beliefs

This article intends to analyze the relationship between Buddhism and the indigenous beliefs that are evident in the Tai myths of the Buddha’s relics. From the analysis of the characters and their symbolic behaviour, we can see that the religious beliefs of the Tai people were very complex. The relationship between religious beliefs shown in the myths of the Tai people shows various characteristics and can be categorized into three groups: first, the conflict between Buddhism and indigenous beliefs; second, the integration of indigenous beliefs into Buddhism; and third, the integration of Buddhism into indigenous beliefs. The kind of relationship that occurs in each group is due to the variety of aspects of these beliefs that co- exist. The conflict between Buddhism and indigenous beliefs is reflected in the myth’s plot, motif and character behaviour, which is due to the conflicting behaviour of the two completely opposite belief systems in the myths. The acceptance of each offer between the two belief systems is reflected in certain sets of motifs and character behaviour. The study of the integration of the two belief systems shows the development of the mythical characters and their behaviour, thus reflecting the religious thoughts and beliefs of the Tai people.

The Culture of the Huayao Dai and its Prospects - Comparative Research on the Cultural Characteristics of the Dai Peoples Living in the Upper Reaches of the Red River

Tai people, formally known as of Dai nationality in China, number 1.1 million. One of the greatest concentrated region of Dai people in China is the reaches of the Red River, called the Yuan Jiang River. Here their ethnic culture is particularly to be found. The Dai people of the Red River number about 150,000 which is 13% of the total Dai population of China. Furthermore about half of those 150,000 live in Xin Ping and Yuan Jiang counties, on the upper reaches of the river. Traditionally, the Dai people of the upper Red River were called Huayao Dai, or "Flower Waist" Dai, because of the long and colourful waistband which is an ethnic symbol of the women. The Huayao Dai comprise various sub-ethnic groups, such as Dai Ya, Dai Ka and Dai Saai in Xin Ping county, and Dai Ya, Dai Zhong, Dai Zhang and Dai De in Yuan Jiang county. The Huayao Dai have various cultural features which distinguish them from other Dai. 1) Ethnic fmery, such as the women's waistband, which has a varied cultural significance. 2) Adobe houses, quite different from those of the Dai people outside this region. 3) Festivals, many of which are shared with the Han, but have their own features. The Flower Fair Festival is Huayao Dai. 4) An Animist religion, similar to that of other Dai, but with certain distinguishing features.

Le rôle de l'esprit môt (phi môt) chez les Taï Noirs du Viêt-nam et quelques techniques de guérison élémentaires

When healing illness, the Black Tai people of Vietnam use a wide range of treatments. In some cases they resort to shamanistic practices based on their beliefs about the môt spirit helpers which the author summarizes briefly before presenting the two kinds of healers who resort to them - the mo môt ritual masters and the male môt lao or female mot nhinh (mae môt) shamans - and describing their performances. Two other healing techniques have nothing to do with shamanism. The first one, phytotherapy, is the prerogative of women, and the secret magic formulae pronounced at the time of treatment are exclusively transmitted from mother to daughter. The second one, called "healing by hand" (au mu 'yd) is practiced only by men. This kind of treatment requires a high degree of concentration and makes use of the eyes, hands and feet of the healer to treat the patient. It is based on the knowledge of the four main networks of energy (si sai) at work in the human body, according to this Tai massage tradition.