Back in the days almost all countries near China borrowed somewhat from China and was under their influence culturally...... examples korea, japan, vietnam.

Thai's being ethnically mongoloid and migrated from what is todaya south china did not...

why is that?  They ended up borrowing from India.... was there something in India they thought was better?  And why is it for other southeast asian countries (aside from vietnam) like that too ?

Wasn't Nanchao(Pre-Mongol Tai kingdom) a heavily Chinese influenced Kingdom? What happened when they migrated south?

The Thais are indo-chinese a mix of Caucasian and Mongloid. These days they are much more mongloid but in the past they were overwhelmingly caucasian. It reflect India's waining influence on the region and China's growing.

We don't really know where the Thais came from, the china one is only one of several theories.

The north of Thailand especially the Chang Mai kingdon has a lot of Chinese influence and came under Chinese rule for part of it's history.

Finally china spent a lot of it's history, since 15th century, closing itself off to the world. So the Thais couldn't get to the much sought after infuence.

Actually, the Tais didn't borrow directly from India. They borrowed from Mons, Khmers, Malays and other inhabitants already in the region who were also ethnically mongoloid.

I believe it's in general agreement among scholars that the Tais were originally from Southern China, migrated south to escape the Mongol invasion, settled in what is today Thailand and mixed with the inhabitants already in the region such as Malays, Mons, Viets, Khmers etc.

Isn't "general agreement between scholars" an oxymoron?

"The Emergence of the Thais

The origin of the Thai (or Tai) race is shrouded in mystery. Many theories and hypothesis have been put forward, some more convincing than others.

One theory is that the Thai race immigrated southwards into Southeast Asia from the Altai mountain range in northwestern China-Mongolia. Since archaeological, ethnographic, and linguistic researches do not bear this out, the theory now has few champions. Another unconvincing hypothesis contends that the Thai, having migrated from Sichuan province in central China, founded a kingdom in southern China called Nanchao, from whence they were driven further south by the all-conquering Mongol ruler Kubilai (Kublai Khan) in 1253, into Indochina and present-day Thailand. This theory is not very tenable because Nanchao was not a Thai-dominated kingdom, and it appears too that Thai had immigrated into the area that is now Thailand well before 1253.

A third theory propounds that the Thais were originally of Austronesian, rather than Mongoloid, stock and had migrated northwards from the Malay Archipelago. The most convincing theory, however, is that which relies largely on linguistic evidence. From research done in the southern Chinese provinces of Kwangtung, Kwangsi, and Yunnan, where the Thai language is still spoken, the proponents of this theory maintain that the Thais migrated southward from these provinces.

The fifth, and latest, hypothesis claims that archaeological and anthropological evidence proves that Thailand has been inhabited continuously even since prehistoric times. Ethnic groups mixed with each other until it was difficult to tell them apart. Animism, material culture, and folklore, however, point to continuity in the settlement of this area. This hypothesis has been cogently put forward by its proponents, but it sidesteps too conveniently the issue of Thai migration by maintaining that the Thai have been here all along, the present-day Thai nation being but a mixture of various races.

The controversy over the origin of the Thais shows no sign of abating, and further research is needed before we can draw any definite conclusions. What is beyond dispute, however, is that by the 13th century the Thais had become a force to be reckoned within mainland Southeast Asia, and Thai princes ruled over states as far apart as Lanna, Suphannaphum (Suphanburi), Nakhon Si Thammarat, and Sukhothai."

taken from...

http://www.thaiembassy.se/Thai%20History.htm - http://www.thaiembassy.se/Thai%20History.htm

Also check out...

http://la.aznet.net/~rmyers/Chapt2.htm - http://la.aznet.net/~rmyers/Chapt2.htm

               lol.......i was thinking likewise...

                       and i don't think they're mongoloids either...

The 1st inhabitants of Thailand migrated there from India so were probably caucazoid. Later major migrants the Mon for instance came were mixed race but a good part caucazoid. The thais we don't know what. And then for the last 1000 years a steady influx of Chinese. So the amount of mongoloid has steadily increased. Some Bangkok Chinese/Thais can look almost Chinese.

Actually, the first inhabitants of Thailand region where a group of people called the "Negritos". They look very similar to southern Africans, tight curly hair, black skin, but they are of short stature. Shorter then the Africans. There are still some Negritos left in Thailand.

http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Negritos - http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Negritos

People still argue wether Australoid is a seperate racial group or a sub group of Caucasoid.

Well, 19th century racial theory breaks down. When we apply intelligence.

Negrozoid, a clear racial group. Mongoloid everything from the American Indian to the SE Asians, clearly some dispute as to whether they are a single or multiple ethnic group, begs an answers. The Caucasoids := yes the darkest Sri Lankans and the lightest Scandinavians are no different whatsoer but in skin pigmentation. However the Australian Aborigony is more different but still incredibly close to caucasoids too. Are the South sea Islanders a seperate racial group (australoid) or all of them caucasians too. Skin colour isn't a factor when dealing with caucasoids.

Alternatively racial  theory is, the brown stuff that come from the cow behind, and there is only one race -human-.

Personally I like talking about race, but the trouble is.... Even from an untra-commie like me, in any discussion it is difficult to remain unpoluted by ultra rightwing bollocks. Though I do try......

Well this is an interesting perspective you all placed in my country and my great people. Good inputs on the history of the Thai, but your inputs of raciology infer a colonialistic point of view to the thread and implies an inferior-superior status on different racial groups ( as the raciology theory was ment to do).

The Thai people belong to the Ai-Lao group of people which are not only Thai, but includes Laotians, Shan and Karen ethnic groups of northeastern Burma as well as the Tai groups of present day Yunnan province in China.

The word 'Thai' is nothing more than a national identity, the Thai people and the Lao people actually are related culturally and ethnically to the Tai ethnic group in china and we lived in Yunnan (once called Nang Zhou or Nanchao) by the Han Chinese. This was our historical birthplace and land that were forced of with the influx of the Han Dynasty, forcing the Tai people in an ethnic diaspora to the golden lands of the south. Some settled in northern vietnam, laos, modern day Thailand and parts of burma and north easter India.

When the Tai groups arrived in present day Thailand, the land was already occupied by the Khmer Empire, which is now present day Cambodia. Khmer Empire was influenced by Indian empires such as the Chandra Gupta Mauraya Empire and King Ashoka's empire to spread brahimism and buddhism. Hence the the Khmers were culturally Indian. When we Thais arrived to the lands of present day Thailand, we formed small princedoms and formed the state of Sri Sukkothai (first great empire of Thailand) and ousted the Khmer Empire of our lands. Thais of course adopted Khmer writing script (based of Indian Sanksrit) as well as adopted some methods in building and city admnistration as the Khmers had greatly mastered.

The fact that Thailand is so close to India allowed a lucrative trade with India and Thailand and allowed our recongition as the hegemonic power of S.E Asia.

Its true that Thailand is the cross roads for both India and Chinese traders..beautiful actually.

Proof of the beauty of our distinctly 'Thai'  culture...