1. Ethnology - Laos. 2. Thai Deng (Tai people) - Laos - Social conditions. 3. Thai Deng (Tai people) - Laos - Social life and customs. 4. Weavers - Laos. This is the first book in the TAEC Ethnography Series, the English translation of The Tai Daeng of Hua Phan Province, Lao People's Democratic Republic, by Sumitr Pitiphat. Translated from Thai by Linda S. McIntosh, Southeast Asia researcher, the book gives historical background as well as documenting the contemporary lives of the Tai Daeng in Laos. The book chronicles the Tai Daeng ethnic group in Hua Phan Province including religious beliefs, textiles, traditional knowledge, and changes in Tai Daeng identity. Professor Sumitr Pitiphat, a former director of the Thai Khai Institute and a trained anthropologist has conducted extensive research on the Tai peoples, traveling throughout northeast Laos, northern Vietnam, and southwest China to document their cultures.