The Tai Bueng (, ) are an

ethnic group An ethnicity or ethnic group is a group of people with shared attributes, which they collectively believe to have, and long-term endogamy. Ethnicities share attributes like language, culture, common sets of ancestry, traditions, society, re ...

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

. They are also referred to as Lao Bueng (, ).

Geographic distribution

The Tai Bueng reside in two villages of Amphoe Phatthana Nikhom (อำเภอพัฒนานิคม) in Lopburi Province.

Culture

The Tai Bueng have maintained their unique culture despite being located in the heart of Thailand and in spite of onerous Thaification policies. Their distinctive dress consists of ''chong kaben'' (a type of pantaloon) with a silver belt. In other ways, they are very similar to surrounding Thai people and the Lao from which they descend. The Tai Bueng language and culture has been comparatively little studied.

History

The Tai Bueng believe they are descendants of ethnic Lao from the Lao city of Mueang Uthen (เมืองอุเทน), now located in Nakhon Phanom Province along the

Mekong River The Mekong or Mekong River ( , ) is a transboundary river in East Asia and Southeast Asia. It is the world's List of rivers by length, twelfth-longest river and List of longest rivers of Asia, the third-longest in Asia with an estimated l ...

and modern-day Lao border. Although the details of their arrival in central Thailand is a mystery, it is possible that like other Lao-speaking tribal Tai groups, the Tai Bueng were enslaved or forced into

corvée Corvée () is a form of unpaid forced labour that is intermittent in nature, lasting for limited periods of time, typically only a certain number of days' work each year. Statute labour is a corvée imposed by a state (polity), state for the ...

labour and forcibly moved to where they are now.

Religion

The Tai Bueng practise

Therevada Buddhism ''Theravāda'' (; 'School of the Elders'; ) is Buddhism's oldest existing school. The school's adherents, termed ''Theravādins'' (anglicized from Pali ''theravādī''), have preserved their version of the Buddha's teaching or ''Dhamma'' in th ...

References

*Hattaway, Paul. (2004). ''Peoples of the Buddhist World: A Christian Prayer Guide.'' Pasadena: William Carey Library. {{Ethnic groups in Thailand Ethnic groups in Thailand Tai peoples