Tai Dam - Viet Nam (original) (raw)

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[](../images/v/vn-td.gif)
image by Jaume Ollé

• Tai Dam
• 1948-1950 flag See also:
• Viet Nam
• Aspirant Peoples - Viet Nam (index page)

Tai Dam

(Black Thai) that live between Laos and Vietnam
Jaume Ollé, 30 November 1996

[](../images/v/vn%5Fth%5Fn.gif)
image by Chrystian Kretowicz

It is stated there the Tai Dam are populating an area between Laos and Vietnam. And the flag has a sun with 24 rays. According to Thomas A. Cseh & John Sylvester Jr the "T'ai Federation, the semi-autonomous area around Dienbienphu, established on 4 March 1948, comprised the traditional sixteen 'chau' (cantons) of the T'ai people. Their flag was composed of three equal vertical design was also pictured on the distinguishing insignia worn by military units made up of ethnic T'ais who fought for the French Far Eastern Expeditionary Corps' First and Second Battalions between September 1946 and October 1949." It is my educated guess, that the Jaume's flag with 24-rayed sun represents the more modern variant of the T'ais' ethnic flag.
Chrystian Kretowicz, 18 July 2002

1948-1950 flag

[](../images/v/vn-as-td.png)
image by Ben Cahoon, 12 February 2025

There was a period 1948-1950 where a French flag with a white star and moon were used. Here is what I have found so far:

Tai Federation (Capital: Lai Châu [Muong Lay]) 1948-1954

In 1888, the country was colonized by France, and, in 1948, renamed the Tai Federation. In 1954, after the defeat of the French and Tai military at a Tai principal city Muang Theng (in Vietnamese: Dien Bien Phu), the French withdrew from Indochina, the Tai Federation was absorbed by North-Vietnam. Most of the Tai government and their families fled and took refuge in Laos and South-Vietnam.

The Tai Federation was a confederation of Tai Dam ("Black Tai"), Tai Dón ("White Tai") and Tai Daeng ("Red Tai") chiefdoms in the mountainous north-west of today's Vietnam,

• 7 Apr 1889: The then 12 (sip song) Tai states are incorporated into the French protectorate of Tonkin.
• 1 Mar 1948: Tai Federation (Fédération Thaï/Phen Din Tai/Khu tự trị Thái) consisting of the 19 Tai states in then three Vietnamese provinces of Lai Châu, Sơn La and Phong Thổ), intended to be an independent component of the French Union.
• 15 Apr 1950: Tai Federation is made a "crown domain" (an autonomous area) of Vietnamese Emperor Bao Dai, but not a fully an integrated part of the State of Vietnam.
• 21 Jul 1954: Dissolved after the Geneva Accords, incorporated into (North) Vietnam.
• President of the Tai Executive 1948 - 1954 Deo Van Long (b. 1887 - d. 1975) (evacuated 7 May 1954) There are images from "Archive sur les symboles du Vietnam" showing this flag, and the ones for the Nung, Mung, and Montagnard, from Wikipedia.
  Ben Cahoon, 12 February 2025
  Sources:
  https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Flag_of_Tai_Autonomous_Territory.svg
  https://vi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khu_tự_trị_Thái
  https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Flag_of_the_Tai_Dam_People.svg
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sip_Song_Chau_Tai