Literature of Laos families: Lao-Tai (Tai-Kadai); Mon-Khmer (Austroasiatic); Hmong-Mien (Miao-Yao), and Sino-Tibetan (primarily Tibeto-Burman). As an inland crossroads of Southeast Asia the political history of Laos has been complicated by frequent warfare and colonial conquests by European and regional rivals. As a result, Laos today has cultural influence from France, Thailand, China, Vietnam, Burma, and Cambodia. Traditionally literature is held high regard in Lao society. Lao literature spans a wide range of genres including religious, philosophy, prose, epic or lyric poetry, histories, traditional law and customs, folklore, astrology, rituals, grammar and lexicography, dramas, romances, comedies, and non-fiction. Lao thematic elements frequently combine the
Postage stamps and postal history of Laos movement came to power in 1975. The first stamps of Laos, as an "associated state" within the French Union, were issued on 13 November 1951 . Before then stamps of French Indo-China were used. Laos gained full independence as a constitutional monarchy in 1953. On 2 December 1975, Pathet Lao government renamed the country as the "Lao People's Democratic Republic". Postage stamps and postal history of Laos This is a survey of the postage stamps and postal history of Laos. Laos is a landlocked country in Southeast Asia, bordered by Burma and People's Republic of China to the northwest, Vietnam