[Buddha-l] State Meddling in a formerly Buddhist, now fairly etiolated, culture

[jkirk]

This is offered for those on the list who aren't entirely cynical.

About the Tai (or Dai) peoples of Sipsongpanna, a China border minority 
region near Burma. The people were, and still try to be, theravada 
Buddhists, but they have to work quietly against an official state onslaught 
to commodify, control, and fraudify their Tai Lue culture.

http://japanfocus.org/products/details/2362
Dance, Or Else: The Politics of Ethnic Culture on China's Southwest Borders
By Sara L. M. Davis
 An American researcher examines how [forced] political assimilation have 
threatened the unique culture of China's Tai minority, and the Tai 
response...........[read the article at this link]

Joanna