Talk:Laos

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http://www.mekong-protected-areas.org/lao_pdr/n_report.htm says 21% of land area is NBCA

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[edit] Older Lao history -- please help

I am temporarily removing this section because it is completely unsourced, confusing, and not up to grammatical standards. Can someone improve/source this text and restore it to the article?


Laos traces its history to the kingdom of Lan Xang, founded in the fourteenth century, by Fa Ngum (Faa Ngoom) with the help of Ayuttaya (SIAM). Fa Ngum's 2nd wife was a princess of Ayuttaya. Folling on his conquests and the founding of Lan Xiang, his son took control and retired Fa Ngum to Nan. As the son assumed kingship of Lan Xiang, he changed his name to "Sam Sen Thai" (300,000 Thai), which reflects the makeup of the population. The predominantly Siamese royal family maintained control of Laos, sometimes under different municipal Kings, until an invasion of HAW from the north necessitated a call for aid from Ayuttaya. While the armies of Luang Prabang and Ayuttaya were fighting the HAW, the armies of Vientienne attacked them from the rear. Naturally, Ayuttaya retaliated, conquered Southern Laos and assumed control of the separate principalities that remained. One hundred years later, to avoid a costly war with the French, the Siamese king ceded lands now known as Laos to them, and these were incorporated into French Indochina in 1893. The French saw Laos as a useful buffer state between the two expanding empires of France and Britain. Under the French, the capital (Vieng Chan) was changed to Vientiane. Following a brief Japanese occupation during World War II, the country declared its independence in 1945, but the French re-asserted their control and only in 1950 was Laos granted semi-autonomy as an "associated state" within the French Union. Moreover, the French remained in de facto control until 1954, when Laos gained full independence as a constitutional monarchy. Under a special exemption to the Geneva Convention, a French military training mission continued to support the Royal Laos Army. In 1955, the U.S. Department of Defense created a special Programs Evaluation Office to replace French support of the Royal Lao Army against the communist Pathet Lao as part of the U.S. containment policy.

Jkp1187 (talk) 15:15, 19 December 2007 (UTC)

This is great educational background information. It would be good to find a way to include it. Dr. B. R. Lang (talk) 18:59, 10 May 2008 (UTC)


I'm afraid this is not true. There is no ethnic Lao group in Thailand. Many of the people of Issan's ancestors were Lao when the region was part of Lao before the Thai annexation. These people are aware of their heritage but have been part of Thailand for nearly two centuries. Countrary to urban legend, Issan does not speak Lao, it has no single language but a series of different dialects, many akin to central plains Thai, only the people around Nong Khai actually speak Lao. The people of Issan reguard themselves as Thai and regard being considered anything other offensive.

Similarly Lao is not an ethnicity it is a nationality. A large part of the country does not even speak the language but hold PDR Lao nationality. The country is called Lao, the nationals are called Lao, the language is called Lao. Do you really want to base a description of a country looking at the point of origin of distant ancestors and saying these are not nationals? I notice this isn't done when describing western countries.

Actually Western countries do tabulate ethnic statistics. In the United States, not only do the Lao have a category but so do the Hmong. Thailand is one of a few countries that does not include ethnic information in their census (I think they stopped counting Lao in about 1930), but independent sources estimate the Lao population as slightly more numerous than Central Thai/Siamese. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.165.156.177 (talk) 00:07, 14 March 2008 (UTC)
Hey, man, it wasn't me. I just knew this section wasn't up to spec. If you're more educated on the subject and say it doesn't belong, that's good enough for me. Leave it out. Jkp1187 (talk) 19:29, 21 December 2007 (UTC)


Lao should not redirect to Laos because Lao is also an ethnic group (to the tune of 30 million people) that resides in Thailand.

When is this page going to be wikied into the wiki country style???

let's make this like other wiki country pages

I have just created the List of Laos-related topics. Please add all pages I forgot or did not find, or those which you start into that list. andy 11:58 Apr 8, 2003 (UTC)

Lao unicode doesn't work. Let's just use Thai. Lao people have no problem reading it.

What is the problem with Lao unicode? I can see the characters working - however what seems to be broken is the posing of the vocals above and below and in front the characters, something which works fine with Thai. But this is not a problem of unicode nor a problem of Wikipedia, it's just that the OS does not know about it. A western Win2000 handles Thai fine, but not Lao. Probably older Windows will have problem with handling Thai as well pr might not even include a font to render it, and maybe future OS will handle Lao correctly - I don't about other OS like MacOS or Linux how much these are prepared for non-latin languages. Some totally nonsense Lao: ຍີຽໃຜັ andy 09:05 Apr 14, 2003 (UTC)

Interesting. I can't read it. Only see empty boxes. I'm running 2000


Then it's a font issue - I have one nearly complete unicode font (24MB) containing the japanese, chinese and koreanish characters as well, seems like that one adds the Laotian characters, too. Sadly, this font is no longer available from the Microsoft website, it was a free add-on to Office. However, at http://www.alanwood.net/unicode/fonts.html it has an alternative which only contain the Lao characters - and with that font even the placement is correct. andy 07:46 Apr 15, 2003 (UTC)

[edit] Lao (ethnic group)

is there a way to discuss the use of the term "Laotian" versus "Lao"? I feel offended every time i read the word because people from Laos are Lao, the food is also Lao, the culture and language is Lao. the term "Laotian" is a term coined by western culture is it not? can we not correct this?

—Preceding unsigned comment added by Jindapee (talk • contribs) 17:51, 17 December 2007 (UTC)

This isn't strictly about the Laos page, but I don't think there's a better place to mention it. I have a draft article on the Lao ethnic group at User:Markalexander100/Lao: is there any objection to putting it on Lao, which currently redirects here? The alternative (as far as I can see) is to put it on Lao (ethnic group) and have Lao as a disambig page. Markalexander100 09:27, 1 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Why does the article say that Laos only has electricity in a few urban areas? From my experience I thought that Laos has elecricity in all urban areas and in fact has electricity in all of the villages that I saw. Admittedly I haven't seen very many villages, but in any event I think that the phrase "Electricity is available only in a few urban areas" is misleading.

[edit] Laos finest fauna

The gaur:


http://www.arkive.org/species/GES/mammals/Bos_frontalis/Bos_frontalis_00.html

[edit] citation request

A citation request was made for:

"Laos was ordered in the late 1970s by Vietnam to end relations with China which cut the country off from trade with any country but Vietnam [citation needed]."

I dont see this as needing a citation. There is nothing obscure about:

- Laos cutting off relations with China after Vietnam and China fell out with each other. - The fact that this decision effectively isolated Laos economically. Thailand was already closed. Insurgencies made Burma impossible and Cambodia was ruled by Vietnam. That only left China and the break in relations cut that off.

A citation request is nothing to do with obscurity, it has to do with verifiability. I suspect the questioner's concern is with the 'ordered' rather than with the actual effects. HenryFlower 09:52, 9 April 2006 (UTC)

You obviously won't be able to find a citation for Vietnam "ordering" Laos to do anything. As I discuss at my two History of Laos articles, the Lao communists don't need to be "ordered" to do things by the Vietnamese communists, to whom they have always been willing subordinates. Laos always follows Vietnam's lead in foreign policy, both because Laos is still largely dependent on Vietnam (and was even more so in 1979) and because the Lao leaders believe the Vietnamese leadership is always right. Adam 10:35, 9 April 2006 (UTC)

I refuse to entertain the fiction that the Laos government in the late 1970's was an independent government making its own decisions. There was no independent Laos government until the Vietnamese army and the Vietnamese political advisors left the country. There were no Laos reasons for cutting relations with China. The country that had the problem at that time with China was Vietnam. The point of the original text was that the action was done for Vietnamese reasons, that it was harmful to Laos and it left Laos even more dependent on Vietnam as a side-effect. If the word "ordered" is a problem, I'm willing to consider alternatives that preserve the the original point.

Please stop posting anonymous comments. Adam 01:43, 10 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Re: Image...Si Saket vs. That Luang

Gentleman two simple google image searches for "That Luang" and "Wat Sisaket" reveal that this is indeed a picture of Wat Sisaket. From what I can see, the temple in the article's image looks nothing like any structure in the That Luang compound. The image uploader and Mr. Fowler are correct so Mr. annonymous IP, please stop changing the caption.--WilliamThweatt 19:19, 7 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Not Sisaket

The image whose caption was changed is, with all due respect, not Wat Sisaket. It is a view of the Wat Luang Nua (or Neua) located on the north side of the That Luang complex. There is also a Wat Luang Tai temple building to the south. The photograph in question appears to have been taken by someone who had entered through the main That Luang entrance and then turned 90 degrees to their left. In the photograph one can see the inner couryard area of That Luang as well as (in the bottom right corner) the sloping edge of the That Luang stupa itself. As an imperfect reference see the following image which appears to have been taken from a location about a 100 meters behind, and a little to the right of, the location of the photo in question (http://www.orientalarchitecture.com/vientiane/THATLUANG02.htm). One can clearly see the That Luang stupa as well as the top of Wat Luang Nua on the left of the frame.

Wat Sisaket, on the other hand, is located a couple of kilometers away from That Luang (at the intersection of Lane Xang Blvd and Sethatirat Rd). Wat Sisaket has an aged brown and yellow appearance, unlike the pink and gold building seen in the photograph. A simple Google image search will provide multiple examples (although some images of neighboring Hor Phra Kheo also appear to come up).

Another difference, the inner coutyard of Wat Sisaket is covered in brick or tile (see "http://www.orientalarchitecture.com/vientiane/WATSISAKET08.htm"), while the inner courtyard of That Luang (as seen in the disputed photograph) is covered with grass.

I live in Laos and visited both of these sights just a couple of weeks ago, so my memory is pretty fresh.

I've only seen one of them, so I express no opinion either way. However, it seems to me that this argument is irrelevant: the picture is included as an example of a wat, so which one it is is neither here nor there. HenryFlower 18:14, 16 June 2006 (UTC)
A good solution for now, but in the interest of thoroughness, I think it should only be considered a temporary solution until we can get this figured out. Maybe we should scrap the pic and find one of a temple we can all agree on.

Please note few Lao citizens or residents use the word 'Wat' to describe a temple. They prefer the transliteration 'Vat' which reflects the Lao language (Vientiane dialect) better, reflects the French cultural influence of the past, and distinguishes from Thai and Khmer temples. Aidenglen 08:12, 26 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] My PD Laos photos

Sabaidee, folks: here are some new photos for you. Perhaps you should use one of Wat That Luang, since it's the national shrine. Adam 03:31, 17 June 2006 (UTC)

That Luang is too atypical to be a good example of Lao religious architecture in general; I'd go for something more conventional, but without a bloody great tree in the way - perhaps Image:Luang_Prabang_Xieng_Tong.jpg. 08:03, 17 June 2006 (UTC)

It's my attempt to be artistic. I will find you one without the tree. Adam 09:58, 17 June 2006 (UTC)

I also have photos of Wat Xieng Thong in LP, IMHO the most beautiful wat in Lao, if you are interested. Adam 10:23, 17 June 2006 (UTC)

The new pic looks perfect- do you remember which one it is? HenryFlower 10:34, 17 June 2006 (UTC)

Do you mean, is it Wat Sisaket or Ho Phra Kaeo? It's Ho Phra Kaeo - you can tell them apart because Ho Phra Kaeo has those curved black nagas at the entrance. Adam 11:03, 17 June 2006 (UTC)

Excellent pictures. Although not typical of Lao temple architecture, an image of That Luang might be a good idea to place somewhere in the article. It is very much the national symbol. The temples themselves vary quite a bit. I think that Hor Phra Keao is the most beautiful building in Vientiane, while Wat Sisaket has the claim to being the oldest continually standing structure. I'll agree with Adam though and say that Wat Xieng Thong in Luang Prabang is absolutely the most stunning piece of architecture in the country.

I took an executive decision and inserted Ho Phra Kaeo, since it's a better picture than the Xieng Thong one, and a rather more typical building. HenryFlower 20:24, 19 June 2006 (UTC)

Ho Phra Kaeo

Wat Sisaket

Wat That Luang

Ho Phra Kaeo without trees

Wat Xieng Thong

[edit] Coat of Arms

Someone seems to have added the older picture of the code of arms, I have no idea why did they do this but please change it back.

And to the person that mentioned that the Thai font should be use instead of the Lao font, please try not to create hostilites or you would likely see massive complaints and comments from Laotians that view this page. The comment that you made was a big insult and offensive to the Laotian people.

If you mean the tag at the top, that's just the template and I have removed it. Chris 02:05, 26 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Formatting

Can anybody fix the huge white space problem at the beginning of the history section? The country-info-box extending into the section causes the text to begin at the bottom of the info box, leaving about a half-page of white space between the "History" header and the beginning of the text. It's very unsightly. The 2nd section ("Naming") appears correctly, starting right after the intro and entirely to the right of the info box. I took a cursory look but couldn't figure out why the "history" section doesn't do the same.--WilliamThweatt 16:20, 3 August 2006 (UTC)

I think I figured it out. The image at the top of the History section was forcing the text to begin after the image. I moved the image syntax to after the third paragraph of the history section which allowed the text to begin immediately after the header. Not sure how it will affect other brosers but it looks a lot better in mine.--WilliamThweatt 16:26, 3 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Userboxes

I have created a Userbox for Wikipedians living in Vientiane. Add this template to your userpage:

{{User Vientiane}}

The Userbox will automatically add your name to Category:Wikipedians in Vientiane and create a box that looks like the one below.

This user lives in Vientiane

Who wants to make a userbox for Laos? Most other countries in Asia have one. See Category:Nation of origin user templates and Wikipedia:Userboxes/Location/Asia. Cheers. APB-CMX 05:13, 21 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Proposed WikiProject

In my ongoing efforts to try to include every country on the planet included in the scope of a WikiProject, I have proposed a new project on Southeastern Asia at Wikipedia:WikiProject Council/Proposals#Southeastern Asia whose scope would include Laos. Any interested parties are more than welcome to add their names there, so we can see if there is enough interest to start such a project. Thank you for your attention. Badbilltucker 16:42, 20 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Youtube Video Links

I've removed the paragraph and the links to the YouTube Videos, under the Politics paragraph. The paragraph didn't fit in, and the links were not appropriate for the section anyway. Devtrash 01:13, 10 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Please help-Lao language request

Hello! The Wikipedia:Graphic Lab is working on artwork related to Laos, and we need some help to get the proper Lao language text into the artwork. Please visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Graphic_Lab/Images_to_improve#Scouting_in_Laos and see if you can help! Thanking you in advance, Chris 07:01, 30 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Lao font?

Anyone know where I can download something that lets me view Lao characters, instead of squares? Thanks Josh 19:34, 2 July 2007 (UTC)

Try here: [1] siafu 20:56, 2 July 2007 (UTC)

Can anyone give step-by-step directions to view lao fonts, because I've downloaded many files from that site wit no results. T_Sing1991 —Preceding comment was added at 19:05, 19 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Irrelevant statement removed

I removed "Also, American actress Brenda Song is from Laos" for irrelevancy under Terminology. Brenda Song has no relation to the adjectival form of "Laos."

Tolerant666 21:00, 9 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Deletion vote

Please see the deletion vote at Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/List of Taiwanese Americans. Badagnani 02:58, 28 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Lao Censorship & News (errors & need for separate page?)

(1) Although some will assume that I'm telling a lie, it is actually not true that the government censors the internet in Laos. Unlike China *or* Thailand, at any internet cafe in Lao you can access anything and everything that's on the net --not only "politically sensitive" material, but also pornography (the latter is more popular than politics, in case you didn't know).

Although it would be possible for the government to block certain websites, even the most rapid American-Lao websites can be read within Laos. No kidding.

(2) I think there could (or should) be a separate page for Lao censorship, just as there is one for the P.R. of China.

There's a gap between legislation and reality: Article 31 of the Lao constitution allows freedom of speech without restrictions. On the other hand, any publication (books, magazines, etc.) imported into Laos must be (theoretically) approved by the government. In reality, Thai newspapers are shipped in the same way as Thai prawns, and are never censored (this is a contrast to, e.g., Singapore, where you're likely to find literal holes in foreign newspapers). I've seen the forms to get a book approved for import or publication; they now do it in seven business days, and the restrictions are very lax. Many books in English that are openly critical of the government are sold everywhere in the capital, and are available even in public libraries. It seems that there is more control on Lao-language and Thai materials, but I don't know if this is purely informal or has a legislative basis.

In 2007, Martin Stuart-Fox, the author of Buddhist Kingdom, Marxist State was given a hero's welcome at a series of events co-sponsored by the Lao and Australian governments (with uncritical praise for and from both countries). This book's history is a good example; it was briefly banned while the Lao government took time to read and review it (probably translating it from Eng. to Lao in the process) --but then, at the end of that procedure, they did allow the book to be sold and distributed in Laos. And it can be easily found there today.

This is an interesting contrast to Thailand.

(3) What is currently stated, that the Lao government owns and controls all newspapers, was true until about 2004 or 2005 --but there now are a few minor publications that they don't own/control. There's one lifestyle Magazine called "M" that doesn't discuss anything more political than lipstick and organic food, and a newspaper called "Lao Classified" that, again, doesn't discuss politics beyond rate of taxation on imported cars. Still, these reflect a slowly growing (and somewhat "free") press, in a tiny communist country of only 5.6 million.

Like most small countries, the people rely on outside sources of news; mainland China's Lao-language news service can be heard on radio throughout the country --as can the C.I.A.'s "Radio Free America". —Preceding unsigned comment added by 125.24.146.14 (talk) 05:37, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Need Lao script

Need Lao script at Lao-Lao. Badagnani 23:21, 15 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Request for an additional section

There should be added a section concerning UXO's and cluster bombs that litter the countryside and cause hundreds of deaths and injuries. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.165.103.222 (talk) 16:40, 2 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Socialist or Communist?

I'm a bit confused. I thought Laos was more of a Communist State than a Socialist Republic (even if a Marxist-Leninist Socialist Republic is the same as a Communist State).

Royaljared 21:39, 3 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] NPOV

More statistics need to be included about different indexes than ones that try to show how bad the current government is —Preceding unsigned comment added by 128.211.249.183 (talk) 10:26, 13 December 2007 (UTC)


[edit] deleted: bombing of Laos

"destroying the country's limited infrastructure and restricting much of its population to living in caves" as been deleted since sources do not support this claim. U.S. bombing was center on NVA installations on the Ho Chi Minh trail, which was limited to the southeastern corner of the country. Patently absurd to claim that "much" of the population was reduced to living in caves.

Chudogg (talk) 16:10, 17 February 2008 (UTC)

It is true that neither source mentions anything about people living in caves; both sources are more about the legacy of unexploded ordinance in the areas bombed. OhNoitsJamie Talk 16:19, 17 February 2008 (UTC)

i don't have the sources in front of me, but in my university studies i recall reading (from US. govt primary sources) that U.S. bombing (and civil war generally) created about 200-300,000 internal refugees during the war. indeed many of the people who did not flee the countryside ended up living in caves, though the actual number of such people is unknown. there is one famous cave (at least famous locally) in laos, where hundreds of people died when a US missile got a direct hit. another cave is known for the scores (perhaps hundreds) of people who died when capsicum was burned at the entrance in an effort to 'smoke' out the inhabitants.

bombing was, in fact, not limited to the ho chi minh trail or the 'southeastern corner of the country.' practically all non-urban regions were bombed, in particular the northern areas were particularly well hit, being the base of the pathet lao and the NVA. if you need proof, simply fly into phonsavanh (the plain of jars). you will see craters everywhere, as well as refurbished UXO. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.165.156.177 (talk) 00:01, 14 March 2008 (UTC)