For centuries, wherever Thai Buddhists have made their homes, statues of the Buddha have provided striking testament to the role of Buddhism in the lives of the people. The Buddha in Lanna offers the first in-depth historical study of the Thai tradition of donation of Buddha statues. Drawing on palm-leaf manuscripts and inscriptions, many never previously translated into English, the book reveals the key roles that Thai Buddha images have played in the social and economic worlds of their makers and devotees from the fifteenth to twentieth centuries. Author Angela Chiu introduces stories from chronicles, histories, and legends written by monks in Lanna, a region centered in today’s northern Thailand. By examining the stories’ themes, structures, and motifs, she illuminates the complex conceptual and material aspects of Buddha images that influenced their functions in Lanna society. Buddha images were depicted as social agents and mediators, the focal points of pan-regional political-religious lineages and rivalries, indeed, as the very generators of history itself. In the chronicles, Buddha images also unified the Buddha with the northern Thai landscape, thereby integrating Buddhist and local conceptions of place. By comparing Thai Buddha statues with other representations of the Buddha, the author underscores the contribution of the Thai evidence to a broader understanding of how different types of Buddha representations were understood to mediate the “presence” of the Buddha. The Buddha in Lanna focuses on the Thai Buddha image as a part of the wider society and history of its creators and worshippers beyond monastery walls, shedding much needed light on the Buddha image in history. With its impressive range of primary sources, this book will appeal to students and scholars of Buddhism and Buddhist art history, Thai studies, and Southeast Asian religious studies.

This is a book about the experience of a Lanna whose identity is a Siamese. He has lived in Thailand, New Zealand, England, Japan and Hungary.

Lan Na is the name of a conglomerate of Thai city-states that covered roughly the area of modern north Thailand between the thirteenth and sixteenth centuries. Lan Na's influence reached far into the neighbouring regions, most under the leadership of the city-state of Chiang Mai. Beginning with the popular legends, this wide-ranging narrative takes us through prehistoric and protohistoric periods, through history, up to the present day. While the writing of Lan Na history is still in its infancy, this brief and highly readable volume is a welcome step towards developing a fuller history of Northern Thailand.

The Khmer civilisation centred on Angkor was one of the most remarkable to flourish in Southeast Asia.

The country now known as Thailand achieved its present form in the nineteenth century. Before then for over five hundred years there flourished the independent kingdom of Lanna (one million rice fields). Over the centuries the kingdom developed fascinating and distinctive art, architecture, language and culture. This book explores these elements.

History of Northern Thailand.

In addition, Whiteson was nominated for Pulitzer Prize for his articles on the Watts Towers. He has been a screenwriter with the BBC and London Weekend Television and he has worked with film producers Otto Plaschkes, Michael Winner and Alex Jacobs.

On wood carving in northern Thailand.

An invaluable Book dealing with United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC), in force from December 2005, including its evolution, and related UN Convention Against Transnational Organize Crime. UNCAC - is an international legal instrument dealing with combating fraud, corruption and economic crime in public and private sectors, including political leaders and lackeys. Author discloses the formation of International Association of Anti-Corruption Authorities (IAACA), in Beijing in October 2006, with Inaugural Address by Chinese President, Hu Jintao. IAACA promotes and facilitates implementation globally of UNCAC, supported by United Nations Office on Drugs & Crime (UNODC). He reveals his endeavours to combat fraud, corruption and economic crime, prior to UNCAC. He demonstrates that whilst fraud and corruption, as endorsed by international research, is a major issue confronting people, how political leaders stride to power exploiting their anguish by committing to combat fraud and corruption, but once in power get bogged down in the quagmire of fraud and corruption, peddled by their lackeys, financing them. Disclosing real instances, he demonstrates how countries, having ratified UNCAC, are not honouring its obligations, but blatantly violating with impunity its obligations; he highlights dire need for international endeavour to deal with political leaders, pillaging and plundering the resources of people plunging them into abject poverty, as crimes against humanity. SAARC leaders acknowledge people in Asia are enslaved in abject poverty, and propound prosperity is not monopoly of a few, but are not committed to combat fraud and corruption. He reveals how World Bank and international agencies pontificate on combating fraud and corruption, but continue to fraternize with fraudulent and corrupt miscreants, demonstrating that mere rhetoric, only subverts UNCAC - an indispensable handbook for those combating fraud, corruption and economic crime.