THE RELATION OF CHINESE 

 AND SIAMESE 



W. CLIFTON DODD 



The Editor has asked me to write on some such topic as 

 the above. These terms are popular rather than scientific, 

 as the Editor doubtless intended them to be. For the names 

 Chinese and Siamese are more strictly national and political 

 terms than racial. It is well known to Sinologists that the' 

 name Chinese is popularly applied to many millions of people 

 who* are racially alien to the Peh Sing or original Chinese 

 immigrants and their descendants. On the other hand the 

 people of Siam constitute but a part of an ethnological 

 family. In modern times this family calls itself Tai, pro- 

 nounced like the English word "tie," not like "die." This 

 family scarcely ever gets its proper family name, outside a 

 circle of ethnologists, chiefly because it is no longer a political 

 unit. Those of the family living in Siam are known to the 

 rest of the world as Siamese; those in Burma are called 

 Shans : while those in China and Indo-China go mostly by 

 tribal names, such as Chung-chia, Lung, Nung, T'o, Lao, 

 and some less complimentary Chinese nicknames. For 

 racial purposes the name Chinese is too big : and the name 

 Siamese is too little. 



Perhaps I shall be carrying out the Editor's intention if 

 I treat this subject racially, confining myself in this paper to 

 the historic relation of the Chinese and the Tai. And as the 

 Tai are far less known than the Chinese, I shall let the rela- 

 tionship appear chiefly through an attempt to trace up the 

 Tai historically. Separate articles would be required to treat 

 adequately the present-day distribution of each race and 

 their linguistic and sociological differences and agreements. 

 Suffice it to say in passing that the Siamese constitute only 

 about one half of modern Tai speakers. South China alone 

 gives home to> more than five millions of them. The lang- 

 uages and characteristics of both races shew close relation- 

 ship. Both languages are monosyllabic, and hence "tonal : " 

 while many of the chapters of Dr. Arthur H. Smith's 

 " Chinese Characteristics " could have been penned of the Tai 

 with but slight modifications. 

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