People & Culture - Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Northern Thailand - page 1012

Kinh (Vietnamese)
Despite the Chinese view that the Vietnamese are 'the ones that got away', the Viet-
namese existed in the Red River Delta area long before the first waves of Chinese arrived
some 2000 years ago. The Kinh make up about 90% of the population of Vietnam. Cen-
turies ago, the Vietnamese began to push southward in search of cultivable land and swal-
lowed the kingdom of Champa before pushing on into the Mekong Delta and picking off
pieces of a decaying Khmer empire. As well as occupying the coastal regions of Vietnam,
the lowland Kinh have been moving into the mountains to take advantage of new oppor-
tunities in agriculture, industry and tourism.
The Mekong region is home to around 85 million Kinh, most living in Vietnam, Cambodia and
Laos.
Khmer (Cambodian)
The Khmer have inhabited Cambodia since the beginning of recorded history around the
2nd century AD, long before the Thais and Vietnamese arrived in the southern Mekong
region. During the subsequent centuries, the culture of Cambodia was influenced by con-
tact with the civilisations of India and Java.
Cambodia was the cultural staging post for the Indianisation of the Mekong region. In-
dian traders brought Hinduism and Buddhism around the 2nd century and with these came
the religious languages of Sanskrit and Pali; Sanskrit forming the root of modern Khmer,
Lao and Thai. They also brought their art and architecture, which was redefined so effect-
ively by the ancient Khmers before spreading into Laos and Thailand.
During the glory years of Angkor, Hinduism was the predominant religion, but from the
15th century Theravada Buddhism was adopted and most Khmers remain devoutly
Buddhist today, their faith being an important anchor in the struggle to rebuild their lives
following the rule of the Khmer Rouge. The Cambodian population went to hell and back
during those brutal times when it is believed as much as one-third of the population per-
ished.
Lao
Laos is often described as less a nation-state than a conglomeration of tribes and lan-
guages. The Lao traditionally divide themselves into four broad families - Lao Loum, Lao