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Lan Xang
Lan Xang () or Lancang was a Lao people, Lao kingdom that held the area of present-day Laos from 1353 to 1707. For three and a half centuries, Lan Xang was one of the largest kingdoms in Southeast Asia. The kingdom is the basis for Laos's national historic and cultural identity. Name ''Lān Xāng Hôm Khāo'' is one romanization of Lao, romanization of the Lao language, Lao name (), meaning "the Million Elephants and the Chatra (umbrella), White Parasol". The kingdom's name alludes to the power of the king, his ties to Buddhism in Laos, Laotian Buddhism, and his army's countless war elephants. Other romanizations include ''Lan Sang'', ''Lane Sang'', and ''Lane Xang''. The name ''Láncāng'' is the pinyin romanization of Chinese, romanization of the kingdom's Chinese language, Chinese name , Lancang River, still used for the upper stretches of the Mekong in Tibet and Yunnan. Other names for the kingdom include the Chinese ''Nánzhǎng'' (); the Sanskrit ''Srī Śatanāganay ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lao Language
Lao (Lao: , ), sometimes referred to as Laotian, is the official language of Laos and a significant language in the Isan region of northeastern Thailand, where it is usually referred to as the Isan language. Spoken by over 3 million people in Laos and 3.7 million in all countries, it serves as a vital link in the cultural and social fabric of these areas. It is written in the Lao script, an abugida that evolved from ancient Tai languages, Tai scripts. Lao is a Tone (linguistics), tonal language, where the pitch or tone of a word can alter its meaning, and is Analytic language, analytic, forming sentences through the combination of individual words without inflection. These features, common in Kra–Dai languages, Kra-Dai languages, also bear similarities to Sino-Tibetan languages, Sino-Tibetan languages like Chinese language, Chinese or Austroasiatic languages, Austroasiatic languages like Vietnamese language, Vietnamese. Lao's mutual intelligibility with Thai language, Thai a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 spans . Thailand Template:Borders of Thailand, is bordered to the northwest by Myanmar, to the northeast and east by Laos, to the southeast by Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the southwest by the Andaman Sea; it also shares maritime borders with Vietnam to the southeast and Indonesia and India to the southwest. Bangkok is the state capital and List of municipalities in Thailand#Largest cities by urban population, largest city. Tai peoples, Thai peoples migrated from southwestern China to mainland Southeast Asia from the 6th to 11th centuries. Greater India, Indianised kingdoms such as the Mon kingdoms, Mon, Khmer Empire, and Monarchies of Malaysia, Malay states ruled the region, competing with Thai states s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural diffusion, diffused there from the northwest in the late Bronze Age#South Asia, Bronze Age. Sanskrit is the sacred language of Hinduism, the language of classical Hindu philosophy, and of historical texts of Buddhism and Jainism. It was a lingua franca, link language in ancient and medieval South Asia, and upon transmission of Hindu and Buddhist culture to Southeast Asia, East Asia and Central Asia in the early medieval era, it became a language of religion and high culture, and of the political elites in some of these regions. As a result, Sanskrit had a lasting effect on the languages of South Asia, Southeast Asia and East Asia, especially in their formal and learned vocabularies. Sanskrit generally connotes several Indo-Aryan languages# ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yunnan
Yunnan; is an inland Provinces of China, province in Southwestern China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 47.2 million (as of 2020). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the Chinese provinces of Guizhou, Sichuan, Autonomous regions of China, autonomous regions of Guangxi and Tibet Autonomous Region, Tibet, as well as Southeast Asian countries Myanmar (Burma), Vietnam, and Laos. Yunnan is China's fourth least developed province based on disposable income per capita in 2014. Yunnan is situated in a mountainous area, with high elevations in the Northwest and low elevations in the Southeast. Most of the population lives in the eastern part of the province. In the west, the altitude can vary from the mountain peaks to river valleys as much as . Yunnan is rich in natural resources and has the largest diversity of plant life in China. Of the approximately 30,000 species of Vascular plant, higher plants in China, Yunnan has perhaps 17, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tibet
Tibet (; ''Böd''; ), or Greater Tibet, is a region in the western part of East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are other ethnic groups such as Mongols, Monpa people, Monpa, Tamang people, Tamang, Qiang people, Qiang, Sherpa people, Sherpa, Lhoba people, Lhoba, and since the 20th century Han Chinese and Hui people, Hui. Tibet is the highest region on Earth, with an average elevation of . Located in the Himalayas, the highest elevation in Tibet is Mount Everest, Earth's highest mountain, rising above sea level. The Tibetan Empire emerged in the 7th century. At its height in the 9th century, the Tibetan Empire extended far beyond the Tibetan Plateau, from the Tarim Basin and Pamirs in the west, to Yunnan and Bengal in the southeast. It then divided into a variety of territories. The bulk of western and central Tibet (Ü-Tsang) was often at least nominally unified under a ser ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lancang River
The Mekong or Mekong River ( , ) is a transboundary river in East Asia and Southeast Asia. It is the world's twelfth-longest river and the third-longest in Asia with an estimated length of and a drainage area of , discharging of water annually. From its headwaters in the Tibetan Plateau, the river runs through Southwest China (where it is officially called the Lancang River), Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, and southern Vietnam. The extreme seasonal variations in flow and the presence of rapids and waterfalls in the Mekong make navigation difficult, though the river remains a major trade route between Tibet and Southeast Asia. The construction of hydroelectric dams along the Mekong in the 2000s through the 2020s has caused serious problems for the river's ecosystem, including the exacerbation of drought. Names The Mekong was originally called ''Mae Nam Khong'' from a contracted form of Kra-Dai shortened to ''Mae Khong''. In Thai and Lao, ''Mae Nam'' ("Mother ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chinese Language
Chinese ( or ) is a group of languages spoken natively by the ethnic Han Chinese majority and List of ethnic groups in China, many minority ethnic groups in China, as well as by various communities of the Chinese diaspora. Approximately 1.39 billion people, or 17% of the global population, speak a variety of Chinese as their first language. Chinese languages form the Sinitic languages, Sinitic branch of the Sino-Tibetan language family. The spoken varieties of Chinese are usually considered by native speakers to be dialects of a single language. However, their lack of mutual intelligibility means they are sometimes considered to be separate languages in a Language family, family. Investigation of the historical relationships among the varieties of Chinese is ongoing. Currently, most classifications posit 7 to 13 main regional groups based on phonetic developments from Middle Chinese, of which the most spoken by far is Mandarin Chinese, Mandarin with 66%, or around 800&nb ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Romanization Of Chinese
Romanization of Chinese is the use of the Latin alphabet to transliterate Varieties of Chinese, Chinese. Chinese uses a logographic script and its Chinese characters, characters do not represent phonemes directly. There have been many systems using Romanization, Roman characters to represent Chinese throughout history. Linguist Daniel Kane (linguist), Daniel Kane wrote, "It used to be said that sinologists had to be like musicians, who might compose in one key and readily transcribe into other keys." The dominant international standard for Standard Chinese, Standard Mandarin since about 1982 has been Pinyin, Hanyu Pinyin, invented by a group of Chinese linguists, including Zhou Youguang, in the 1950s. Other well-known systems include Wade–Giles (Beijing Mandarin) and Yale romanization (Yale romanization of Mandarin, Beijing Mandarin and Yale romanization of Cantonese, Cantonese). There are many uses for Chinese romanization. Most broadly, it is used to provide a useful way for ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pinyin
Hanyu Pinyin, or simply pinyin, officially the Chinese Phonetic Alphabet, is the most common romanization system for Standard Chinese. ''Hanyu'' () literally means 'Han Chinese, Han language'—that is, the Chinese language—while ''pinyin'' literally means 'spelled sounds'. Pinyin is the official romanization system used in China, Singapore, Taiwan, and by the United Nations. Its use has become common when transliterating Standard Chinese mostly regardless of region, though it is less ubiquitous in Taiwan. It is used to teach Standard Chinese, normally written with Chinese characters, to students in mainland China and Singapore. Pinyin is also used by various Chinese input method, input methods on computers and to lexicographic ordering, categorize entries in some Chinese dictionaries. In pinyin, each Chinese syllable is spelled in terms of an optional initial (linguistics), initial and a final (linguistics), final, each of which is represented by one or more letters. Initi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
War Elephant
A war elephant is an elephant that is Animal training, trained and guided by humans for combat purposes. Historically, the war elephant's main use was to charge (warfare), charge the enemy, break their ranks, and instill terror and fear. Elephantry is a term for specific military units using elephant-mounted troops. War elephants played a critical role in several key battles in Ancient history, antiquity, especially in ancient India. While seeing limited and periodic use in Ancient China, they became a permanent fixture in armies of history of Southeast Asia, historical kingdoms in Southeast Asia. During classical antiquity they were also used in History of Persia, ancient Persia and in the Mediterranean world within armies of Macedon, Hellenistic period, Hellenistic Greek states, the Roman Republic and later Roman Empire, Empire, and Ancient Carthage in North Africa. In some regions they maintained a firm presence on the battlefield throughout the post-classical history, Medi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Buddhism In Laos
Theravada Buddhism is the largest religion in Laos, which is practiced by 66% of the population. Lao Buddhism is a unique version of Theravada Buddhism and is at the basis of ethnic Culture of Laos, Lao culture. Buddhism in Laos is often closely tied to animism, animist beliefs and belief in ancestral spirits, particularly in rural areas. Laos is a multi-ethnic country with a large proportion of non-Buddhist groups that adhere to religions that are often subsumed under the denominator "animism", but that can also substantially overlap with Buddhism, or a least contain Buddhist elements resulting from cross-cultural contact. The percentage of the population that adheres to Buddhism in modern Laos is variously reported, the CIA World Factbook estimates 66% of the total population identify as Buddhist. Although this overall number is likely to be correct, there are large variations from province to province. Ethnic minority provinces like Sekong had only a quota of 20% of Buddhi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chatra (umbrella)
The chatra or chhatra, also known under various translations including the ceremonial, state, royal, or holy umbrella or parasol, is a symbol of royal and imperial power and sanctity in Indian art and a symbol of holiness in Hinduism, Jainism, and Buddhism. There are also various specific forms, including 3-, 7-, 8-, and 9-tiered chatra and the bejewelled chatraratna. India and Tibet In India, the chatra was an ancient symbol of kingship and emperorship, representing both kingly power and righteousness. In particular, it is employed in depictions of chakravartis, the supposed holy emperors over the entire earth. It is also reckoned one of the ashtamangala, the eight holy symbols of enlightened sages and buddhas, in Digambar Jainism, Vajrayana Buddhism, and other Dharmic faiths. In Hindu mythology, Chatra can itself be recognized as a deity, yidam, and ishta-devata. More often, it is an emblem of various gods including Varuna, Ganesha (particularly during Ganesh Chat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
