The traditional martial art of Thai boxing (muay Thai) is Thailand’s national sport. It is a spectacular form of unarmed combat that is accompanied by a traditional music ensemble—as well as frenzied ringside betting. Any part of the body is a fair target, and only the head may not be used to strike a blow. Before a muay Thai bout the boxers perform the ram muay, a five-minute dance that pays tribute to their teacher and to the guardian spirit of Thai boxing. After falling from favour, the sport was revived in the 1930s under modern regulations based on the Marquess of Queensberry rules; it has also spread to the West, where it is often called kickboxing. Several standard boxers have won world boxing championships, including Khaosai Galaxy, who was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1999.

The traditional game of takraw, in which participants attempt to keep a woven rattan ball from touching the ground without using their hands, is very popular among young men; it is an internationally competitive sport within the Southeast Asian region. In the 20th century Thailand also adopted several Western sports. Football (soccer) is a highly popular spectator sport, and tennis, swimming, and badminton are pursued throughout the country. Thai athletes have enjoyed success in many of these sports at the Southeast Asian Games.

Thailand first competed in the Summer Olympic Games in 1952 and in the Winter Games in 2002. Thailand has had its best success in boxing events, and in 1996 featherweight boxer Somluck Kamsing earned the country’s first Olympic gold medal. The country has hosted the Asian Games several times.

Temple festivals remain the most important recreational activities for Thai living in rural communities. Members of the growing urban middle class, who generally have much more disposable income, often travel up-country to temple festivals, but they seek recreation in many other ways as well. Some attend gyms or spas; others play tennis or golf. Indeed, so many golf courses were built in Thailand in the 1980s and ’90s that environmentalists began to raise concerns that the allocation of irrigation water for golf courses was having a negative impact on agriculture in neighbouring areas. Thai urban centres also offer many other forms of recreation, ranging from nightclubs with cabaret performances to formal concerts with famous musicians from other parts of the world. Sanuk, the enjoyment of life, is fundamental to social life in Thailand, whether in villages or in the cities.

Media and publishing

Mass media in Thailand originated in the 19th century, when print type and the electronic transmission of messages by telegraph were introduced. By the beginning of the 20th century, newspapers in Thai, Chinese, and English were being published in the country. Radio transmissions began in the 1920s, and television was introduced in the 1950s.

Since the 1950s, newspapers and other periodicals (which are all privately owned) have become increasingly independent, although often subject to censorship laws. By the 1980s Thailand had the highest degree of press freedom in Southeast Asia, a freedom later guaranteed by the country’s 1997 and 2007 constitutions. Lèse-majesté (crimes against the sovereign) laws, however, continue to ensure that only positive stories about the royal family appear in the press. Foreign journalists have on occasion been ordered to leave the country, and some Thai journalists have been prosecuted for writing reports on the monarchy that are considered inappropriate. Such interventions, however, are rare, since most of the press practices self-censorship on the topic.

With the dramatic increase in television ownership and viewing since the 1980s, television has become the most influential of the mass media. Radio and television, in contrast to print media, have remained almost entirely under government or military control. In 1995 the first license was granted to establish a private television company. The government has also given concessions to companies to provide cable television service. Although cable television can be obtained only by paid subscription, the number of subscribers has grown, even outside of Bangkok. Cable service, however, is also subject to strong government regulation. Consequently, most viewers watch television for entertainment rather than for news.

Radio stations multiplied rapidly in the last decades of the 20th century, but like television stations, most of them have been controlled or strongly regulated by government agencies, and shut down if deemed too critical. Since the 1990s an increasing number of Thai, especially those who are young and urban, have turned to the Internet for news as well as for entertainment. Although the government has sought to block some Web sites, those sites critical of the government have found ways to circumvent such censorship.

Early Tai culture

Tai-speaking peoples historically settled along river valleys, where they formed small settlements and engaged in subsistence rice agriculture, fishing, and gathering of forest products. Early in their history the Tai domesticated animals; they used water buffalo for plowing and ritual purposes, and they raised pigs and fowl for food. Women were accorded relatively high social status and could inherit property. The Tai followed local religions that involved propitiation of both malevolent and benevolent spirits through offerings and special ceremonies.

The basic unit of Tai political organization was the müang, or group of villages, ruled by a chao, or hereditary chief or lord. During the 1st millennium ce the political strengths of the müang system enabled the Tai to move out of their original homeland until, by the 8th century, they had expanded across much of southeastern China and northern mainland Southeast Asia. By the 11th century they had begun to filter down into the area of what is now Thailand, and by the middle of the following century they had formed petty principalities there.