Gatherings of bookish people where high brow topics are discussed can be scary for lay people, but not when there are celebrities to lighten up the atmosphere, reports Tai Touch, who recently returned from the International Symposium on Dai-Thai Studies in Xixuangbanna (Sibsawngpanna) Tai autonomous prefecture just across the border from Shan State's Kengtung held between October 5 to 8.
Gatherings of bookish people where high brow topics are discussed can be scary for lay people, but not when there are celebrities to lighten up the atmosphere, reports Tai Touch, who recently returned from the International Symposium on Dai-Thai Studies in Xixuangbanna (Sibsawngpanna) Tai autonomous prefecture just across the border from Shan State's Kengtung held between October 5 to 8.
The first was Ladawan Wongsriwong,(50) a Tai Lue from Phayao, Thailand, who shot to fame in 1991 during the caretaker government of Anand Panyarachun, working as his spokesperson. She later became Deputy Minister for Labour and Social Welfare.
Her three-point proposal, a new slant to family planning, appeared to have gained much support from the 150 participants at the seminar held at Cai Xin Hotel, Jinghong, the capital of Xixuangbanna.
At least one of the children in each family must learn how to speak Tai, to cherish Tai culture and customs and to understand the history of Tais, to promote local Tai cuisine and to promote Tai traditional attire.
The second was a group of Tai Zhuang from Guangsi province, who had never before participated in the series of similar seminars held in Yunnan province since 2003." Beijing had classified them as a separate entity," explained a Chinese participant of Shan descent to S.H.A.N. "While their cousins in Dehong and Xixuangbanna prefectures are called Dai, they have been set apart as Zhuang."
The Zhuang constitutes the biggest Dai-Tai branch outside Thailand with a population of 14 million. They are also different from other Dais in that, while others have only proverbs to look up as their guidelines to life, they can boast their own brand of philosophy, according to a Chinese scholar at the seminar.
Speaking to them, S.H.A.N. discovered that they understood Thai better than Shan. Thai in fact became the lingua franca of the gathering: presentations in Chinese and English were spontaneously translated into Thai.
Which appeared to be just as well, as only a few Shans from Burma were able to join the event. Unlike previous seminars that were held across Muse, the main Sino-Burma crossing point in the north, the latest one was convened across Mongla down south, where people coming and going across the border are closely monitored.
Other participants from Thailand in the seminar included Professor Prakong Nimanhaeminda who suggested that the Third Waxing Day of the Third Lunar Month (usually February), the date of the death of Khun Hsarm Law, the hero of one of the Dai-Tai classics, who chose to die together with his deceased wife Nang Oh Piem instead of marrying someone chosen for him by his parents, be named the Dai-Tai equivalent of the West's St Valentine's Day, which also takes place in February.
The seminar closed with a slogan proposed by Ladawan: Dai culture for peace.
Dai-Tai is the 11th most spoken language in the world, according to World Almanac 2004. Tai is the common name for Dais in China , Shans in Burma , Laos in Laos , Thais in Thailand, and Tais in Vietnam and India .
The first was Ladawan Wongsriwong,(50) a Tai Lue from Phayao, Thailand, who shot to fame in 1991 during the caretaker government of Anand Panyarachun, working as his spokesperson. She later became Deputy Minister for Labour and Social Welfare.
Her three-point proposal, a new slant to family planning, appeared to have gained much support from the 150 participants at the seminar held at Cai Xin Hotel, Jinghong, the capital of Xixuangbanna.
At least one of the children in each family must learn how to speak Tai, to cherish Tai culture and customs and to understand the history of Tais, to promote local Tai cuisine and to promote Tai traditional attire.
The second was a group of Tai Zhuang from Guangsi province, who had never before participated in the series of similar seminars held in Yunnan province since 2003." Beijing had classified them as a separate entity," explained a Chinese participant of Shan descent to S.H.A.N. "While their cousins in Dehong and Xixuangbanna prefectures are called Dai, they have been set apart as Zhuang."
The Zhuang constitutes the biggest Dai-Tai branch outside Thailand with a population of 14 million. They are also different from other Dais in that, while others have only proverbs to look up as their guidelines to life, they can boast their own brand of philosophy, according to a Chinese scholar at the seminar.
Speaking to them, S.H.A.N. discovered that they understood Thai better than Shan. Thai in fact became the lingua franca of the gathering: presentations in Chinese and English were spontaneously translated into Thai.
Which appeared to be just as well, as only a few Shans from Burma were able to join the event. Unlike previous seminars that were held across Muse, the main Sino-Burma crossing point in the north, the latest one was convened across Mongla down south, where people coming and going across the border are closely monitored.
Other participants from Thailand in the seminar included Professor Prakong Nimanhaeminda who suggested that the Third Waxing Day of the Third Lunar Month (usually February), the date of the death of Khun Hsarm Law, the hero of one of the Dai-Tai classics, who chose to die together with his deceased wife Nang Oh Piem instead of marrying someone chosen for him by his parents, be named the Dai-Tai equivalent of the West's St Valentine's Day, which also takes place in February.
The seminar closed with a slogan proposed by Ladawan: Dai culture for peace.
Dai-Tai is the 11th most spoken language in the world, according to World Almanac 2004. Tai is the common name for Dais in China , Shans in Burma , Laos in Laos , Thais in Thailand, and Tais in Vietnam and India .
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