Tai–Kadai-speaking peoples

Tai

Dong women and man in Guizhou, People's Republic of China. The Dong are among the many Tai-speaking groups of China and Southeast Asia.
Regions with significant populations
Cambodia, China, India, Laos, Malaysia, Burma, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam
Languages
Tai–Kadai languages, Mandarin Chinese (in China)
Religion
Theravada Buddhism, animism

The Tai (Chinese: 泰) ethnicity refers collectively to the ethnic groups of southern China and Southeast Asia, stretching from Hainan to eastern India and from southern Sichuan to Laos, Thailand, and parts of Vietnam, which speak languages in the Tai-Kadai language family, and share similar traditions and festivals, such as Songkran. Despite never having a unified nation-state of their own, the peoples also have historically shared a vague idea of a "Siam" nation, corrupted to Shan or Assam in some places, and most self-identify as "Tai".

There are five established branches of the Tai–Kadai languages, which may not correspond to ethnicity:

The Lakkia people of Guangxi Autonomous Region of China (Tai Lakka in neighboring portions of Vietnam) are ethnically of Yao, but speak a Tai–Kadai language called Lakkia. These Yao were likely in an area dominated by Tai speakers and assimilated an early Tai–Kadai language (possibly the language of the ancestors of the Biao people).

The Tai have historically resided in China, India and continental Southeast Asia since the early Tai expansion period. Their primary geographic distribution in those countries is roughly in the shape of an arc extending from northeastern India through southern China and down to Southeast Asia. Recent Tai migrations have brought considerable numbers of Tai peoples to Japan, Taiwan, Sri Lanka, the United Arab Emirates, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, North America and Argentina as well. The greatest ethnic diversity within the Tai occurs in China, which is believed to be their prehistoric homeland.