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Most Thai Lue people in rural communities in both Thailand and Laos are in farming. But Thai Lue in Muang Sing, Laos, hardly weave these days — while youngsters of the same ethnic group in Nan, Thailand are being taught this skill in school these days. Modernity also means it is often easier to get readymade products — be it bags or hats — rather than to make them.

This is just a peek into how history, migration and modernity have weaved different strands into the same Thai Lue group in different, neighbouring countries — Laos and Thailand — although major similarities bind them.

The Thai Lue originated from what used to be the Xishuangbanna kingdom, now part of China and Laos. They have since settled in the southern part of China's Yunnan province, northern Laos and the northern Thailand.

There are both native people and migrants from China in Muang Sing, Luang Nam Ta district in Laos. As for Thai Lue in Nan province in Thailand, people migrated into new areas to seek new settlements suitable for cultivation. Some left their former homes because of political conflict, civil war, and others migrated to help found the new city by the king of Lanna during the period of Burma's decolonisation. The migration of Thai Lue in Nan has been quite complex due to various migrations, different purposes, and over different periods of time.

Generally, the lifestyles of Thai Lue in Nan and the Lanna people are quite similar. It can even be said that one group has influenced the other and that both assimilated into each other. In Muang Sing, there are many ethnic groups — such as the Thai Lue, Thai Dam and Thai Nua — that live close to one another. They can be distinguished from one another from their dresses, spoken language, and food. However, majority of the population in Muang Sing is still Thai Lue.

The Thai Lue in Muang Sing of Laos and in Nan of Thailand maintain their own culture and uniqueness, especially through beliefs and ceremonies passed down from their ancestors. But external factors have also shaped the changes in the Thai Lue's lifestyle today. The photographs here reflect some of the changes among the Thai Lue in Muang Sing and Nan, shifts that have been influenced by events in the past, politics, government policies and the current social context.

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A growing trend for appreciation and love for their hometown, apart from the impetus that tourist interest has given to looking into their culture, is prompting many Thai Lue in Thailand's Nan province to rediscover their heritage.

Many organisations, both governmental and non-governmental, have been supporting cloth weaving by the Thai Lue as a way of preserving their heritage and have published manuals to train villagers in dyeing and weaving. But this is also meant to meet tourist demand for their traditional natural products, including those dyed with colour from tree bark. Many girls in Don Moon, Nan, go to weaving class on Saturdays and Sunday classes, taught by older villages.

Basketry is also a potential income earner for villagers in Non Bua and Don Moon. Many are eyeing the fact that restaurants in the towns of almost every province in the Thai north order rattan food trays — proving that the handmade products are in high demand.

At Don Moon village, there is a big Thai Lue boat in which ancient Thai Lue utensils such as wooden shoes and basketry are placed. This boat is used to welcome tourists. (There is also a monument that was founded by a Thai Lue leader after moving from Xishuangbanna.)

In contrast, the influence of tourism over in Muang Sing, although it is a tourist town, is not as heavy as it appears in Nan. Thai Lue do not make souvenirs to sell to tourists as other ethnic groups do. Weaving is limited and its main purpose, when done, is to create items for home use.

In many ways, the lives of people in Muang Sing remain simple and calm, since the 'modern' world does not intrude as much as it does elsewhere — at least, not yet. People get married at a very young age, many are not highly educated and work in farms. Men work on rice fields and collect wood while the women boil liquor, pick wild plants in the forest with friends, and feed the pigs. Old men do basketry at open-air basements, as the old women feed the chickens and take care of their grandchildren.

Self-reliance seems to be the only way for these people to go, although they do not have much money and things in today's cash economy are far too expensive for them.