People
The population of Thailand is approximately 62 million (January 2001). The most important ethic minority is Chinese. Though the great majority of Thailand’s 61 million people are ethnically Thai and Buddhist, the country has a substantial number of minority groups who have historically lived together in harmony. Of these, the Chinese are perhaps the most numerous (particularly in urban areas), though they have become so thoroughly assimilated it would be difficult to isolate them as a distinct group. Similarly, while there are Lao and Khmer groups in the Northeast and East, nearly all regard themselves as Thai, culturally as well as by nationality. More clearly defined as an ethnic group are the Muslims, who are mainly concentrated in the southern provinces, and assorted hill tribes who live in the far North; there are also sizeable communities of Hindus and Sikhs in large cities like Bangkok.
Some 80 percent of all Thais are connected in some way with agriculture, which, in varying degrees, influences and is influenced by the religious ceremonies and festivals that make Thailand such a distinctive country.
The culture of Thailand is midway between the two great cultural systems of Asia, China on the one side and India on the other. Chinese culture did not penetrate further west beyond Annam; nor did Indian culture go further north th an the Indo-Chinese Peninsula. They came to a halt at one another's bulwarks and did not penetrate further.
The Annamites, though ethnologically Indonesians, were domiciled in China far back in historical times as one tribe of the Yueh or Viet, and abso rbed much of Chinese culture. When they came down to the Indo-Chinese Peninsula, the met the Chams who were highly hinduized people, the Khmers or the Cambodians.
Naturally Chinese culture could not penetrate further for it met an opponent of equal force. Due to the nature of the country and to other facts peculiar to the north of the Peninsula, Chinese culture did not penetrate far for lack of easy communications. Whatever Chinese cultures the Thai brought from Southern China, they adapted to their needs suitable to their tropical surroundings, developing them independently by using the old materials. In their way of life the Thai and the Chinese can mix very well but not with the Indians, even thouyh they have imbibed Indian culture appreciably. The one drawback of the Thai is the climatic conditions of the country. Living in the tropics where food is in abundance and the weather fair, they have become lethargic. But a taste for the arts has been developed by the leisured and elite classes, hence the arts as developed by the Thai though mostly inspired directly or indirectly by India, are uniquely their own.
Buddhism suited their tastes and temperaments very well, so they readily a dopted it. Accustomed to living in isolated groups in their mountainous districts of the North their political conception and consciousness were confined to their village and city only. But when they became masters of Central Thailand where there was one vast plain, they adapted Indian culture. Being still virile race and with genius they evolved these cultures again as peculiar of their own.
Different from Thailand is Burma. Though Burma is a neighbour of India, she did not take much of India cultur e, especially Hinduism. They adopted only Buddhism tinged weakly with Hinduism. Judging by the physical features of the Thai or Siamese in Central Thailand they differ in stature and colour from their brothers in the north. They become shorter and dark er gradually south ward and there is no doubt that they mixed immensely with the Mon-Khmer and Austronesian families. They lost physically but gained intellectually through fusion of new blood. Thailand therefore formed the meeting place of the two great cultural systems which came to a halt and fused into a new one with double layers of culture.
In the Thai social system, the village is the unit. It was in former days, a self-contained one in its economy and needs. The people's habits and customs were based mainly o n agriculture and religion. Most villages had a Buddhist monastery and a shrine for a village deity. The monastery served their spiritual as well as the people's education. All arts, crafts and learning emanated from the monastery. From birth till death it centred round it. Its precincts were the meeting place for social g atherings on festive occasions. As to the village shrine it was used only occasionally in times of distress or on New Year's day when offerings were made. It had nothing to do with Buddhism.
No doubt Buddhism softened and tamed animism in many of its cults. The above is only a fundamental and comparative statement which a student has to bear in mind when dealing with mod ern cultural problems. The social system, habits and customs as seen in modern times are superficial modifications of the fundamentals and in a comparative degree only.
In some outlying districts where there are retarded developments of culture due to lack of intercommunication and new ideas, the people are still in their primitive state, quite in contrast to the progress in the capital, towns and cities. In these progressive parts "old times are changed, old manners gone" and a new type of cultures fills its place. This is a sign of progress but it must come gratdually. Adapt the old to the new but not in a revolutionary way. The new cultures have also their dangers with problems to be solved, because people take too much interest in politics. To adopt new cultures wholly unsuited to the needs which are peculiar to, and characteristic of each particular place is a danger. Culture ought to be varied with characteristics of its own in each locality and area, harmonizing, however, with the whole-a unity in diversity.
Thai Language
The official national language, spoken by almost 100 per cent of the population, is Thai, classified by linguists as belonging to a Chinese -Thai branch of the Sino -Tibetan family. It is a tonal language, uninflected, and predominantly monosyllabic. Most polysyllabic words in the vocabulary have been borrowed, mainly from Khmer, Pali, or Sanskrit. Dialects are spoken in rural areas. Principal other languages are Chinese and Malay. English, a mandatory subject in public schools, is widely spoken and understood, particularly in Bangkok and other major cities.
The Thai language is liberally sprinkled with words from Pali and Sanskrit (the classical languages, respectively, of Theravada Buddhism and Indian Hinduism). Written Thai employs an alphabet of 44 consonants and 32 vowels that combine to form syllabic sounds.
King Ramkhamhaeng the Great who ruled the Sukhothai Kingdom from 1279-1298 initiated the Thai inscription in 1292. The inscription is considered to be a seminal source of Sukhothai history as well as a masterpiece of Thai literature.
Thai is a tonal monosyllabic language. The same word can be said in five different ways - normal or middle tone, high, low, rising and falling.
Like English, it is read from left to right, but that is where the similarities end. Some English sounds like "th", "v" and "z" do not appear at all, while some Thai sounds are not commonly used in English either. Further, it should be noted that in transcribing Thai sounds into English phonetics some consonants (e.g., b, p, l, n, d, and t) can be used interchangeably.
There are no plurals in Thai, nor are there tenses as such. A word or two is usually added to determine the past, present or future.
In Thailand's major cities, the level of English can be quite good, but visitors will find that the Thais' ability to speak English diminishes as one moves further away from the population centers.
Thai Tribes
The Thai tribes in their early days some two thousand years ago or more had their home probably in the north-west, corner of China which is now the province of Shen-si. The word Shen-si in Chinese means "west" of the "Shen". The word "Shen" so far as I know cannot be translated as it is only the name of a province (one of my Chinese friends has told me that it means a "mountain pass"). The Chinese tribes had their old home her too. A few scholars, both European and Thai, have ventured to draw the conclusion that the word "Shan" which the Burmese have given to the Thai tribes in Northern Burma and else where, and the word "Siam" (now Thailand) are one and the same word. These two works no doubt derived their origin from Shen of Shen-si. I am inclined to agree with this view because of the fact that the name of the Kingdom of Nan-Chao of the Thai in Yunnan in an earlier period was called "Shan San" by the Chinese. However, I will not go further into this intricate and purely philological question, but will continue my story.
In view of the above fact, there was no doubt that the Thai mixed and blended freely, whether as friends or as foes, with the Chinese of those days. The fortunes of the Thai were bound up with the Chinese every now and then in the episodes of Chinese history throughout those times. Gradually the fortune of the Thai waned and by force of circumstances they had to emigrate further south until they finally established themselves as the Kingdom of Nan-Chao in Southern China. This Kingdom was subjugated by Kublai Khan, the first emperor of the Chinese Mongol dynasty some 700 years ago
