Culture · Peoples · Tai-Kadai
Dai
傣族. A tropical lowland people of southern Yunnan's river basins whose Theravada Buddhist monasteries, stilted bamboo houses, Water Splashing Festival, and aromatic cuisine create one of China's most distinctive cultural landscapes.
About this people
The Dai people inhabit the warm river basins of southern Yunnan, primarily in Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture (on the Mekong River near the Lao and Myanmar borders) and the Dehong Dai and Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture (near the Myanmar border in western Yunnan). Their language belongs to the Tai branch of the Tai-Kadai family, making them closely related to the Thai, Lao, and Shan peoples of neighbouring countries. Several Dai script systems are in use, derived from Indian alphabets through Theravada Buddhist transmission.
Theravada Buddhism is the defining institution of Dai cultural life. Virtually every Dai village has a monastery (wat), and young men traditionally spend a period as novice monks, gaining literacy in Dai script and Buddhist texts. Monastery architecture in Xishuangbanna — with its multi-tiered roofs and gilded spires — resembles Burmese and Thai styles more than Chinese Buddhist forms. The Dai Buddhist calendar governs the festival year.
The Water Splashing Festival (Poshui Jie), held in mid-April at the Dai New Year, is the most celebrated Dai event: participants splash water on one another as a blessing, and the festival includes boat racing on the Mekong, lit-lantern releasing, and folk dancing. Dai cuisine is tropical and aromatic: dishes use lemongrass, galangal, kaffir lime, and fresh herbs; grilled fish wrapped in banana leaf, pineapple rice cooked in a bamboo tube, and sour bamboo shoot dishes are characteristic. The Dai live in elegant stilted bamboo houses, with living space elevated above ground for ventilation and flood protection.
Key festivals
- Water Splashing Festival (Poshui Jie, mid-April)
- Tan Ta Festival (opening of Buddhist Lent, 6th lunar month)
- Chu Wa Festival (close of Buddhist Lent)
Crafts and cuisine
Brocade weaving on back-strap loom, gold and silver work, paper umbrella making, bamboo craft; bamboo-tube rice, grilled fish in banana leaf, sour bamboo shoot dishes, pineapple rice.
Where to encounter this culture
Jinghong, Xishuangbanna — Dai culture park, Manting Temple, Mekong riverside; Ganlanba (Menghan) — traditional Dai village; Dehong — Dai villages near Ruili.