Bit people
The Bit or Bid are an ethnic group living in Louang Namtha Province, Laos. There are around 1,500 people left, mainly in a single village, as well as a further 500 or so over the border in China. They speak Bit, a Mon–Khmer language, although most also speak Lao.
The Bit live in houses built on stilts, and cultivate wet rice as well as other vegetables. They believe in local spirits and have a male religious leader known as mo mon.
Further reading
- Schliesinger, Joachim, Ethnic Groups of Laos, vol. 2, White Lotus 2000, ISBN 974-480-036-4