Throughout its long history, Thailand has welcomed and gently assimilated immigrants. Many were skilled as writers, painters, sculptors, dancers, musicians and architects, and helped enrich the indigenous culture.

People inhabiting Thailand today share a rich enthnic diversity-mainly Thai, Mon, Khmer, Laotian, chinese, Malay, Persian and Indian stock-with the result that there is no typically Thai physiognomy or physique. There are petite Thais, statuesque Thais, round-faced Thais, dark-skinned Thais, and light-skinned Thais.

Some 80 percent of all Thais are connected in some way with agriculture, which in varying degrees, influences and is influenced by the religious ceremonies and festivals that help make Thailand such a distinctive country.

Thailand is located at the meeting point of the two great cultural systems of Asia, Chinese, and Indian. In everyday life, Chinese culturehas mixed very well with the Thai, whereas in Thai court culture, which has been based mainly on Buddism and Brahmanism, India has exerted a strong influence.

By traditonal culture we mean customs concerning agriculture and human relations, and the art of making daily necessities suc as utensils, clothing, and basketry. The basis of the Thai customs and traditions lies in the family, whose structure is of bilateral descent. Like the Chinese and some Asian people, the young are taught to pay respect and the follow the admonitions of parents, elders, teachers, and Buddhist monks, who formed a highly educated class in the old days.

When speaking about traditional Thai culture, we cannot be left unmentioned is the Buddhist temple or "WAT" and monastery combined. After Buddhism has been spread throughtout Thailand for hundreds of years, the primitive animist belief of the Thai people was assimilated by the Buddhist one. The temple becomes the center of the village. It was the place that people recieved education, attended rites and ceremonies, and observed feasts and festivals all year round.

Nowadays, due to the rapid advancement of technology, the traditional Thai wayof living, especially in the big cities, has inevitably changed. However, it is still preserved to a large extent in the far away rural areas where modern civilization has failed to penetrate.