Siamese Nation

Siam (disambiguation)

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For other Tai ethnic groups, which Thais are part of, see Tai peoples. For the population of Thailand in general, see Demographics of Thailand. Tai languages and Thai language. Tai peoples and Peopling of Thailand. Includes Northern Thai and Southern Thai. Retrieved February 14, Retrieved 26 December Retrieved April 6, Retrieved July 14, They are part of our society".

Archived from the original on 8 January Retrieved 10 January Ministry of Foreign Affairs Japan in Japanese. Year - ". Retrieved 4 March Retrieved 5 July Retrieved February 21, Popolazione residente per sesso e cittadinanza al 31 dicembre ". Retrieved 14 July A history of Laos. Historical Dictionary of Laos 3rd ed. Institute of Southeast Asian Studies. The word 'Thai' is today generally used for citizens of the Kingdom of Thailand, and more specifically for the 'Siamese'. Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand , Springer, pp.

Formation of Ethnonyms in Southeast Asia. An Introduction to Thai Ethnonymy: Examples from Shan and Northern Thai. Journal of the American Oriental Society Vol. Retrieved May 28, By integrating linguistic information and physical geographic features in a GIS environment, this paper maps the spatial variation of terms connected with wet-rice farming of Tai minority groups in southern China and shows that the primary candidate of origin for proto-Tai is in the region of Guangxi-Guizhou, not Yunnan or the middle Yangtze River region as others have proposed Journal of the Siam Society.

Retrieved March 17, The Thai people in the north as well as in the south did not in any sense "migrate en masse to the south" after Kublai Khan 's conquest of the Dali Kingdom. Journal of Humanities, Special Issue No Retrieved 12 December A History of Thailand.

Cambridge University Press , p. Cornell Southeast Asia Program, pp. Business Networks in Asia: Promises, Doubts, and Perspectives. Satun and Pattani Provinces were given to Thailand. Most victims since the uprisings have been Buddhist and Muslim bystanders. Thailand participates fully in international and regional organisations. Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Brunei, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, and Vietnam, whose foreign and economic ministers hold annual meetings. Regional co-operation is progressing in economic, trade, banking, political, and cultural matters.

In Thailand attended the inaugural East Asia Summit. In recent years, Thailand has taken an increasingly active role on the international stage. When East Timor gained independence from Indonesia, Thailand, for the first time in its history, contributed troops to the international peacekeeping effort. Its troops remain there today as part of a UN peacekeeping force. Thailand has contributed troops to reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan and Iraq. The latter especially was criticised, with claims that uncompetitive Thai industries could be wiped out.

Thaksin also announced that Thailand would forsake foreign aid, and work with donor countries to assist in the development of neighbours in the Greater Mekong Sub-region. More controversially, he established close, friendly ties with the Burmese dictatorship. Thailand joined the US-led invasion of Iraq, sending a strong humanitarian contingent.

Two Thai soldiers died in Iraq in an insurgent attack. In April , fighting broke out between Thai and Cambodian troops on territory immediately adjacent to the year-old ruins of Cambodia's Preah Vihear Hindu temple near the border. The Cambodian government claimed its army had killed at least four Thais and captured 10 more, although the Thai government denied that any Thai soldiers were killed or injured.

Two Cambodian and three Thai soldiers were killed. Both armies blamed the other for firing first and denied entering the other's territory. Kong Thap Thai constitute the military of the Kingdom of Thailand. It also incorporates various paramilitary forces. The Thai Armed Forces have a combined manpower of , active duty personnel and another , active reserve personnel. The armed forces are managed by the Ministry of Defence of Thailand , which is headed by the Minister of Defence a member of the cabinet of Thailand and commanded by the Royal Thai Armed Forces Headquarters , which in turn is headed by the Chief of Defence Forces of Thailand.

According to the constitution, serving in the armed forces is a duty of all Thai citizens. The candidates are subjected to varying lengths of training, from six months to two years of full-time service, depending on their education, whether they have partially completed the reserve training course, and whether they volunteered prior to the draft date usually 1 April every year. A person who completed one year out of three will only have to serve full-time for one year.

Those who completed two years of reserve training will only have to do six months of full-time training, while those who complete three years or more of reserve training will be exempted entirely. Royal Thai Armed Forces Day is celebrated on 18 January, commemorating the victory of Naresuan of the Ayutthaya Kingdom in battle against the crown prince of the Taungoo Dynasty in In the literacy rate was The private sector of education is well developed and significantly contributes to the overall provision of education which the government would not be able to meet with public establishments.

Education is compulsory up to and including age 14, with the government providing free education through to age Teaching relies heavily on rote learning rather than on student-centred methodology. The establishment of reliable and coherent curricula for its primary and secondary schools is subject to such rapid changes that schools and their teachers are not always sure what they are supposed to be teaching, and authors and publishers of textbooks are unable to write and print new editions quickly enough to keep up with the volatility.

Issues concerning university entrance has been in constant upheaval for a number of years. Nevertheless, Thai education has seen its greatest progress in the years since Most of the present generation of students are computer literate. Thailand was ranked 54th out of 56 countries globally for English proficiency, the second-lowest in Asia. Students in ethnic minority areas score consistently lower in standardised national and international tests.

Extensive nationwide IQ tests were administered to 72, Thai students from December to January The average IQ was found to be IQ levels were found to be inconsistent throughout the country, with the lowest average of The Ministry of Public Health blames the discrepancies on iodine deficiency and steps are being taken to require that iodine be added to table salt, a practice common in many Western countries.

In , the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology announced that 27, schools would receive classroom-level access to high-speed internet. The National Science and Technology Development Agency is an agency of the government of Thailand which supports research in science and technology and its application in the Thai economy. It provides users with regularly scheduled light.

Did You Know?

In Bangkok, there are very many free public Wi-Fi Internet hotspots. The Internet is censored by the Thai government, making some sites unreachable.

Ayutthaya Kingdom

Thailand is an emerging economy and is considered a newly industrialised country. Thailand ranks midway in the wealth spread in Southeast Asia as it is the 4th richest nation according to GDP per capita, after Singapore, Brunei, and Malaysia. Thailand functions as an anchor economy for the neighbouring developing economies of Laos, Myanmar, and Cambodia. In the third quarter of , the unemployment rate in Thailand stood at 0.

Thailand experienced the world's highest economic growth rate from to — averaging In increased pressure on the baht , a year in which the economy contracted by 1. Prime Minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh was forced to resign after his cabinet came under fire for its slow response to the economic crisis. The baht was pegged at 25 to the US dollar from to The baht reached its lowest point of 56 to the US dollar in January and the economy contracted by Thailand's economy started to recover in , expanding 4.

Due both to the weakening of the US dollar and an increasingly strong Thai currency, by March the dollar was hovering around the 33 baht mark. Political uncertainty was identified as the primary cause of a decline in investor and consumer confidence. The IMF predicted that the Thai economy would rebound strongly from the low 0. Following the Thai military coup of 22 May , the AFP global news agency published an article that claimed that the nation was on the verge of recession.

The article focused on the departure of nearly , Cambodians from Thailand due to fears of an immigration clampdown, but concluded with information on the Thai economy's contraction of 2. In , Credit Suisse reported that Thailand was the world's third most unequal country, behind Russia and India. The economy of Thailand is heavily export-dependent, with exports accounting for more than two-thirds of gross domestic product GDP. Substantial industries include electric appliances, components, computer components, and vehicles.

Thailand's recovery from the — Asian financial crisis depended mainly on exports, among various other factors. As of [update] , the Thai automotive industry was the largest in Southeast Asia and the 9th largest in the world.

Breed Characteristics

Most of the vehicles built in Thailand are developed and licensed by foreign producers, mainly Japanese and South Korean. Rail transport in Bangkok includes long-distance services, and some daily commuter trains running from and to the outskirts of the city during the rush hour, but passenger numbers have remained low. There are also three rapid transit rail systems in the capital. As of , Thailand had airports with 63 paved runways, in addition to 6 heliports. The busiest airport in the county is Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport.

As of [update] Thailand has 37 million registered vehicles, 20 million of them motorbikes. A number of undivided two-lane highways have been converted into divided four-lane highways. Other forms of road transport includes tuk-tuks , taxis—as of November , Thailand has 80, registered taxis nationwide [] —vans minibus , motorbike taxis, and songthaews. There are 4, public vans operating on routes from Bangkok to the provinces alone. They are classed as Category 2 public transport vehicles routes within kilometres.

Until , most operated from a Bangkok terminus at Victory Monument. They are being moved from there to the Department of Land Transport's three Bangkok bus terminals. Thailand was the most visited country in Southeast Asia in , according to the World Tourism Organisation. Estimates of tourism receipts directly contributing to the Thai GDP of 12 trillion baht range from 9 percent 1 trillion baht to 16 percent.

In , this was supplemented by a "Discover Thainess" campaign. Asian tourists primarily visit Thailand for Bangkok and the historical, natural, and cultural sights in its vicinity. Western tourists not only visit Bangkok and surroundings, but in addition many travel to the southern beaches and islands. The north is the chief destination for trekking and adventure travel with its diverse ethnic minority groups and forested mountains.

The region hosting the fewest tourists is Isan in the northeast. To accommodate foreign visitors, the Thai government established a separate tourism police with offices in the major tourist areas and its own central emergency telephone number. Thailand's attractions include diving , sandy beaches, hundreds of tropical islands , nightlife, archaeological sites, museums, hill tribes , flora and bird life, palaces, Buddhist temples and several World Heritage sites. Many tourists follow courses during their stay in Thailand. Popular are classes in Thai cooking, Buddhism and traditional Thai massage.

Many localities in Thailand also have their own festivals. Thai cuisine has become famous worldwide with its enthusiastic use of fresh herbs and spices. Bangkok shopping malls offer a variety of international and local brands. Towards the north of the city, and easily reached by skytrain or underground , is the Chatuchak Weekend Market. It is possibly the largest market in the world, selling everything from household items to live, and sometimes endangered, animals.

The night markets in the Silom area and on Khaosan Road are mainly tourist-oriented, selling items such as T-shirts, handicrafts, counterfeit watches and sunglasses. In the vicinity of Bangkok one can find several floating markets such as the one in Damnoen Saduak. It attracts many locals as well as foreigners. The "Night Bazaar" is Chiang Mai's more tourist-oriented market, sprawling over several city blocks just east of the old city walls towards the river.

Prostitution in Thailand and sex tourism also form a de facto part of the economy. Campaigns promote Thailand as exotic to attract tourists.

Thailand is at the forefront of the growing practice of sex-reassignment surgery SRS. Statistic taken from , illustrated the country's medical tourism industry attracting over 2. Forty-nine per cent of Thailand's labour force is employed in agriculture. Agriculture has been experiencing a transition from labour-intensive and transitional methods to a more industrialised and competitive sector.

Thailand produces roughly one-third of the oil it consumes. It is the second largest importer of oil in SE Asia. Thailand is a large producer of natural gas, with reserves of at least 10 trillion cubic feet. After Indonesia, it is the largest coal producer in SE Asia, but must import additional coal to meet domestic demand. Thailand has an diverse and robust informal labor sector—in , it was estimated that informal workers comprised The Ministry of Labor defines informal workers to be individuals who work in informal economies and do not have employee status under a given country's Labor Protection Act LPA.

The informal sector in Thailand has grown significantly over the past 60 years over the course of Thailand's gradual transition from an agriculture-based economy to becoming more industrialized and service-oriented. It is estimated that between —, the number of factory workers in the country doubled from two to four million, as Thailand's GDP tripled. These reforms implemented an agenda of increased privatization and trade liberalization in the country, and decreased federal subsidization of public goods and utilities, agricultural price supports, and regulations on fair wages and labor conditions.

Many migrant farmers found work in Thailand's growing manufacturing industry, and took jobs in sweatshops and factories with few labor regulations and often exploitative conditions. Those that could not find formal factory work, including illegal migrants and the families of rural Thai migrants that followed their relatives to the urban centers, turned to the informal sector to provide the extra support needed for survival—under the widespread regulation imposed by the structural adjustment programs, one family member working in a factory or sweatshop made very little.

Scholars argue that the economic consequences and social costs of Thailand's labor reforms in the wake of the Asian Financial Crisis fell on individuals and families rather than the state. This can be described as the "externalization of market risk", meaning that as the country's labor market became increasingly deregulated, the burden and responsibility of providing an adequate livelihood shifted from employers and the state to the workers themselves, whose families had to find jobs in the informal sector to make up for the losses and subsidize the wages being made by their relatives in the formal sector.

The weight of these economic changes hit migrants and the urban poor especially hard, and the informal sector expanded rapidly as a result. Today, informal labor in Thailand is typically broken down into three main groups: Not included in these categories are those that work in entertainment, nightlife, and the sex industry. Individuals employed in these facets of the informal labor sector face additional vulnerabilities, including recruitment into circles of sexual exploitation and human trafficking.

Thai people - Wikipedia

In general, education levels are low in the informal sector. Many informal workers are also migrants, only some of which have legal status in the country. Education and citizenship are two main barriers to entry for those looking to work in formal industries, and enjoy the labor protections and social security benefits that come along with formal employment. Because the informal labor sector is not recognized under the Labor Protection Act LPA , informal workers are much more vulnerable labor to exploitation and unsafe working conditions than those employed in more formal and federally recognized industries.

While some Thai labor laws provide minimal protections to domestic and agricultural workers, they are often weak and difficult to enforce. Furthermore, Thai social security policies fail to protect against the risks many informal workers face, including workplace accidents and compensation as well as unemployment and retirement insurance. Many informal workers are not legally contracted for their employment, and many do not make a living wage.

Thailand had a population of 68,, [8] as of [update]. Thailand's population is largely rural, concentrated in the rice-growing areas of the central, northeastern, and northern regions. Thailand had an urban population of Thailand's government-sponsored family planning program resulted in a dramatic decline in population growth from 3.

In , an average of 5. At the time of the census, the average Thai household size was 3. Thai nationals make up the majority of Thailand's population, Twenty million Central Thai together with approximately , Khorat Thai make up approximately 20,, The Thailand Country Report provides population numbers for mountain peoples 'hill tribes' and ethnic communities in the Northeast and is explicit about its main reliance on the Mahidol University Ethnolinguistic Maps of Thailand data.

In descending order, the largest equal to or greater than , are a 15,, Lao Increasing numbers of migrants from neighbouring Myanmar, Laos, and Cambodia, as well as from Nepal and India, have pushed the total number of non-national residents to around 3. The official language of Thailand is Thai , a Tai—Kadai language closely related to Lao , Shan in Myanmar, and numerous smaller languages spoken in an arc from Hainan and Yunnan south to the Chinese border. It is the principal language of education and government and spoken throughout the country. The standard is based on the dialect of the central Thai people, and it is written in the Thai alphabet , an abugida script that evolved from the Khmer alphabet.

For the purposes of the national census, which does not recognise all 62 languages recognised by the Royal Thai Government in the Country Report, four dialects of Thai exist; these partly coincide with regional designations. The largest of Thailand's minority languages is the Lao dialect of Isan spoken in the northeastern provinces. Although sometimes considered a Thai dialect, it is a Lao dialect, and the region where it is traditionally spoken was historically part of the Lao kingdom of Lan Xang.

Varieties of Chinese are also spoken by the large Thai Chinese population, with the Teochew dialect best-represented. Hmong is a member of the Hmong—Mien languages , which is now regarded as a language family of its own. English is a mandatory school subject, but the number of fluent speakers remains low, especially outside cities. Thailand's prevalent religion is Theravada Buddhism , which is an integral part of Thai identity and culture. Active participation in Buddhism is among the highest in the world.

According to the census, Muslims constitute the second largest religious group in Thailand, comprising 4. Islam is concentrated mostly in the country's southernmost provinces: There is also a small but historically significant Jewish community in Thailand dating back to the 17th century. According to the census, [7] 67,, Thailand residents belonged to the following religious groups:. According to the census, [7] 67,, Thailand residents by Region belonged to the following religious groups:. Health and medical care is overseen by the Ministry of Public Health MOPH , along with several other non-ministerial government agencies, with total national expenditures on health amounting to 4.

Non-communicable diseases form the major burden of morbidity and mortality, while infectious diseases including malaria and tuberculosis, as well as traffic accidents, are also important public health issues. The current Minister for Public Health is Prof. Emeritus Piyasakol Sakolsatayadorn, M. Chan School of Public Health in Boston. Thai culture has been shaped by many influences, including Indian, Lao, Burmese, Cambodian, and Chinese. Its traditions incorporate a great deal of influence from India, China, Cambodia, and the rest of Southeast Asia.

Thailand's national religion, Theravada Buddhism, is central to modern Thai identity. Thai Buddhism has evolved over time to include many regional beliefs originating from Hinduism , animism , as well as ancestor worship. Thus the year is BE in Thailand. Several different ethnic groups, many of which are marginalised, populate Thailand.

Siamese cat

Some of these groups spill over into Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia and Malaysia and have mediated change between their traditional local culture, national Thai, and global cultural influences. Overseas Chinese also form a significant part of Thai society, particularly in and around Bangkok. Their successful integration into Thai society has allowed for this group to hold positions of economic and political power. Thai Chinese businesses prosper as part of the larger bamboo network , a network of overseas Chinese businesses operating in the markets of Southeast Asia that share common family and cultural ties.

The traditional Thai greeting, the wai , is generally offered first by the younger of the two people meeting, with their hands pressed together, fingertips pointing upwards as the head is bowed to touch face to fingertips, usually coinciding with the spoken words "sawatdi khrap" for male speakers, and "sawatdi kha" for females. The elder may then respond in the same way.

Social status and position, such as in government, will also have an influence on who performs the wai first. For example, although one may be considerably older than a provincial governor, when meeting it is usually the visitor who pays respect first. When children leave to go to school, they are taught to wai their parents to indicate their respect.

The wai is a sign of respect and reverence for another, similar to the namaste greeting of India and Nepal. As with other Asian cultures, respect towards ancestors is an essential part of Thai spiritual practice. Thais have a strong sense of hospitality and generosity, but also a strong sense of social hierarchy. Seniority is paramount in Thai culture. Elders have by tradition ruled in family decisions or ceremonies.

Older siblings have duties to younger ones. Taboos in Thailand include touching someone's head or pointing with the feet, as the head is considered the most sacred and the foot the lowest part of the body. Thai cuisine blends five fundamental tastes: Common ingredients used in Thai cuisine include garlic, chillies, lime juice, lemon grass, coriander , galangal , palm sugar, and fish sauce nam pla. The staple food in Thailand is rice, particularly jasmine variety rice also known as "hom Mali" rice which forms a part of almost every meal.

Thailand was long [ when? Thai society has been influenced in recent years by its widely available multi-language press and media. There are some English and numerous Thai and Chinese newspapers in circulation. Most Thai popular magazines use English headlines as a chic glamour factor.

Many large businesses in Bangkok operate in English as well as other languages. Thailand is the largest newspaper market in Southeast Asia with an estimated circulation of over 13 million copies daily in Even upcountry, out of Bangkok, the media flourish. For example, according to Thailand's Public Relations Department Media Directory —, the nineteen provinces of Isan , Thailand's northeastern region, hosted newspapers along with radio, TV, and cable.

Since then, another province, Bueng Kan, was incorporated, totalling twenty provinces. In addition, a military coup on 22 May led to severe state restrictions on all media and forms of expression. Thailand generally uses the metric system , but traditional units of measurement for land area are used, and imperial units of measurement are occasionally used for building materials, such as wood and plumbing fixtures. Years are numbered as B. Buddhist Era in educational settings, civil service, government, contracts, and newspaper datelines. However, in banking, and increasingly in industry and commerce, standard Western year Christian or Common Era counting is the standard practice.

It incorporates kicks, punches, knees and elbow strikes in a ring with gloves similar to those used in Western boxing and this has led to Thailand gaining medals at the Olympic Games in boxing. Association football has overtaken muay Thai as the most widely followed sport in contemporary Thai society. Thailand national football team has played the AFC Asian Cup six times and reached the semifinals in The country has hosted the Asian Cup twice, in and in The edition was co-hosted together with Indonesia , Malaysia and Vietnam.

Their unique appearance and distinct behaviour attracted attention but all three of the kittens died soon after the show, their cause of death not documented. By , another pair with kittens was imported to the UK by Eva Forestier Walker surnamed Vyvyan after marriage [7] and her sister, Ada.

Compared to the British Shorthair and Persian cats that were familiar to most Britons, these Siamese imports were longer and less "cobby" in body types, had heads that were less rounded with wedge-shaped muzzles and had larger ears. These differences and the pointed coat pattern, which had not been seen before in cats by Westerners, produced a strong impression—one early viewer described them as "an unnatural nightmare of a cat. It is believed that most Siamese in Britain today are descended from about eleven of these original imports.

In their early days in Britain, they were called the "Royal Cat of Siam", reflecting reports that they had previously been kept only by Siamese royalty. The cats ranged from substantial to slender but were not extreme in either way. In the s—s, as the Siamese was increasing in popularity, many breeders and cat show judges began to favor the more slender look.

As a result of generations of selective breeding, they created increasingly long, fine-boned, narrow-headed cats; eventually the modern show Siamese was bred to be extremely elongated, with a lean, tubular body, long, slender legs, a very long, very thin tail that tapers gradually into a point and a long, wedge-shaped head topped by extremely large, wide-set ears. By the mids, cats of the original style had largely disappeared from cat shows, but a few breeders, particularly in the UK, continued to breed and register them, resulting in today's two types of Siamese: In addition to the modern Siamese breed category, The International Cat Association TICA and the World Cat Federation WCF now accept Siamese cats of the less extreme type, and any wichianmat cat imported directly from Thailand, under the new breed name Thai [9] [10] Other, mostly unofficial, names for the traditional variety are "Old-style Siamese", "Classic Siamese", and "Applehead" originally a derogatory nickname coined by breeders of modern-type Siamese.

The breed standard of the modern Siamese calls for an elongated, tubular, and muscular body and a triangular head, forming a perfect triangle from the tip of the nose to each tip of the ear. The eyes are almond-shaped and light blue, while the ears are large, wide-based, and positioned more towards the side of the head. The breed has a long neck, a slender tail, and fur that is short, glossy, fine, and adheres to the body with no undercoat. Its pointed color scheme and blue eyes distinguish it from the closely related Oriental Shorthair.

The modern Siamese shares the pointed color pattern with the Thai , or traditional Siamese, but they differ in head and body type.

The pointed pattern is a form of partial albinism , resulting from a mutation in tyrosinase , an enzyme involved in melanin production. All Siamese kittens , although pure cream or white at birth, develop visible points in the first few months of life in colder parts of their body. Siamese cats tend to darken with age, and generally, adult Siamese living in warm climates have lighter coats than those in cool climates.

Originally the vast majority of Siamese had seal extremely dark brown, almost black points, but occasionally Siamese were born with "blue" a cool grey points, genetically a dilution of seal point; chocolate lighter brown points, a genetic variation of seal point; or lilac pale warm gray points, genetically a diluted chocolate.

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These colours were at first considered "inferior" seal points, and were not qualified for showing or breeding. All of these shades were eventually accepted by the breed associations, and became more common through breeding programmes specifically aimed at producing these colours. Later, outcrosses with other breeds developed Siamese-mix cats with points in other cat colours and patterns, including Red and Cream point, lynx tabby point, and tortoise-shell "tortie" point. For more information on cat coat terminology, see Cat coat genetics.

In the United Kingdom, all pointed Siamese-style cats are considered part of the Siamese breed. In the United States, a major cat registry, the Cat Fanciers' Association, considers only the four original fur colors as Siamese: Oriental Shorthair cats with color points in colors or patterns aside from these four are considered color point Short hairs in that registry. The World Cat Federation has also adopted this classification, treating the color point Short hair as a distinct breed.

Many Siamese cats from Thailand had a kink in their tails, but over the years this trait has been considered a flaw. Breeders have largely eradicated it, but the kinked tail persists among street cats in Thailand. Siamese are usually very affectionate and intelligent cats, renowned for their social nature. Many enjoy being with people and are sometimes described as "extroverts". Often they bond strongly to a single person.

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