Country Name: The Lao People’s Democratic Republic
Area: 236,800sq.km.
Population: 6.38 million(2011). There are 49 nationalities in Lao PDR, Thai language family, Khmer language family, Miao-Yao language family, Han-Tibetan language family, all of which are called Laos nationalities. Lao is the common language of these nationalities. Most of the Laotian believe in Buddhism. There are about 30,000 ethic Chinese in Lao PDR.
Capital: Vientiane, with a population of 850,000(2012). Maximum average temperature: 31.7℃; minimum average temperature: 22.6℃.
Profiles: Lao PDR is an inland country located in the north of Indo-China Peninsula, faces China on the north, the south borders on Cambodia, the east side is Vietnam, Myanmar lies in northeast to Lao PDR and the on the southeast side is Thailand. The Mekong River runs through the Lao PDR with the length of 777.4 kilometers, flowing through the Capital Vientiane. Lao PDR has tropical and subtropical monsoon climate, The May to October is the rainy season and November to April next year is the dry season, the mean annual temperature is 26℃. Lao PDR has an abundant rainfall between 1250mm-3750mm (latest 40 years), normally, the annual rainfall of a year can reach about 2000mm.
Resources: Lao PDR has rich mineral resources such as tin, plumbum, sylvite, copper, iron, gold, gypsum, coal, rare earth and so forth. Up to now, the mine resources that had been exploited are gold, copper, coal, sylvite and so on. The forest area is about 17million hectares (2012), the forest coverage has reached 50%, some valuable timber such us teak and rosewood.
History and Culture: Laos traces its history to the kingdom of Lan Xang (Million Elephants), founded in the 14th century, by a Lao prince Fa Ngum. In history, thousands of elephants had lived on the land of Laos, there still many of them on the land till now, that’s why the Lao PDR has an elegant name The Kingdom of Elephants.
The Theravada Buddhism predominates in the culture of Lao PDR. We can see its trace from temples, languages, art, performance and so forth. In the eighth century, Buddhism had been brought into Laos by Lao Theung, them it became the state religion of Lao PDR. Nowadays, there are 5000 temples and 29000 monks (part of who are acolytes), 4500 Buddhist nuns. The most important temple in Lao PDR is Pha That Luang. The Buddhists in Lao PDR are very pious, almost every male Laotian will learn in temples as the acolytes for several weeks, the temples in Laos were once considered as colleges.
Tourist attractions: LangPrabang is a delicate ancient town, located in the bank of Mekong River, surrounded by mountains, which is 500 kilometers away from Vientiane. LangPrabang is the oldest ancient town in Lao PDR that had exited over 1000 years. There are 679 temples which are worthy preserving in LangPrabang. In December 1995, Langprabang had been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site.
