Most of the Thai ethnic people in Yen Bai province live in Muong Lo field, one of the most productive fields in the northwestern region.
In the past, they lived separately from the other communities. So, they had specific cultural identity.
Nowadays, due to changes in living conditions, and especially living in mixed communities, some ethnic groups have lost their special cultural characteristics. Typically, the majority of Thai ethnic people in Muong Lo do not know the ancient Thai script. Some people, especially young people, rarely use their mother tongue and can not speak the Thai ethnic language.
Nghia Lo town is cooperating with related agencies to create conditions for people to enjoy traditional festivals build cultural villages and encourage ethnic people to take part in cultural activities like traditional dances and songs of Thai ethnic group restore art troupes for performances of the Thai ethnic group and restore traditional villages.
Nghia Lo town People Committee have worked with the Yen Bai provincial Department of Information and Communications to create a project to preserve the ancient Thai script through research and drawing up a syllabus to teach Thai script to people.
The Thai have a population of more than 1,330,000. The Thai are also known as Tay, Tay Dam, Tay Khao, Tay Muoi, Tay Thanh, Hang Tong, Pu Thay and Tho Da Bac. The Thai language belongs to the Tay-Thai Group.
The Thai are experienced in digging canals, building frames and forming channels to convey water to irrigate the fields. Wet rice is their staple food, especially sticky rice. The Thai also cultivate other rice, subsidiary crops and trees. Each family breeds cattle and poultry, make articles from bamboo, weave cloths and some families have developed ceramic as their occupation.
The Thai worship their ancestors, the heavens and the earth. They also hold rituals to pray for good crops. They live in houses built on stilts, however the Black Thai, they prefer roofs that are shaped like a tortoise shell with decorations at each ridge.
They have a valuable legacy of myths, legends, ancient tales, versed stories, and folksongs. They like to sing and recite the "khap" along with the accompaniment of string instruments and dancing. Their folk dances such as "Xoe", "Sap", "Han Khuong", and "Con" are reflection of the Thai's unique cultural characteristics.
Thai brocade is very well-known, with unique, colourful and durable motifs. In recent decades, Thai men have adopted the Kinh's style of dress, but white Thai women retain their traditional clothes including short vests, long black skirts, scarves and jewelry.
In Thai society, after the wedding, the Thai man comes to live with his wife' family for several years, and when the couple have a child they goto live in the husband's house.
The Thai's concept of death is that they will continue their life in another world. Thus they organise funerals in a way like a farewell party to see off the dead persons to the uppermost world.