Page 34 - A History of Siam

A HISTORY OF SIAM
32
Even at the present time the population of Southern
China shows of a Tai strain of blood. The
signs strong
Yunnanese are more Tai than Chinese, and pure Tai
communities are to be found within a few hundred
miles of the of a dialect which
city Canton, speaking
a Bangkok Siamese could understand with but little
difficulty.
The Tai and Chinese are races. before
cognate Long
the dawn of must have had a common
history they
as is shown the resemblance between
origin, by physical
them, and also by the fact that the Tai and Chinese
languages are identical in construction, both of them
presenting certain peculiarities which distinguish them
from any other languages in the world.
Chinese annals from the sixth century B.C. onwards
" "
contain many references to the barbarians south
of the
Yang-tse-kiang.
In A.D. 69 a Tai Prince, named Liu Mao, submitted
to the Chinese Emperor Mingti of the Han dynasty,
with minor Tai chiefs and
together seventy-seven
51,890 families, comprising 553,711 persons.
In A.D. rebelled and their
78 they against China,
Prince, Lei Lao, was defeated in the great battle, as
a result of which many of his people emigrated to the
region now known as the Northern Shan States.
In A.D. the division of China
225, during temporary
into three Empires, the Tai were attacked by the Chinese
General Kong Beng and forced to submit to the Emperor
of Szechuan. Up to this period the Tai were known
"
to the Chinese by the name of Ailao."
By A.D. 650 the Tai were again independent, and had
formed themselves into a powerful Kingdom, known
as Nanchao. They were ruled over by a King, named
Sinulo, who sent an embassy to conclude a treaty of