as in many multicultural societies of the world, different ethnic groups, either as inhabitants, migrants or visitors, engage in social life in these northern urban regions.
The region has long been multilingual ( or multicultural ) as several different ethnic groups from different regions in Southeast Asia were forced to settle in chiang mai and its neighborhoods. The biggest move was made during the reign of king Kawila for 19 years (from 1796 to 1815) and was named by historians as the period of "Keb phak sai sa keb kha sai Mueng",or the period of "store vegetables and put the servants into the city",which means "move people to populate the city" according to the importance of the settlement and skills of the ethnic groups (Saratsawadee,2010).In the inner part of the city's wall, only tai yuan royal families and their servants could settle (Tai Yuan are ancestors of the majority group of people in chiang Mai today).The Khun group from Keng Tung (in Myanmar) and Tai Yai group, who were skillful in handicrafts including lacquer ware, artificial paper flowers, clay post and trading,were assigned to settle in the outer part of the city of Chiang Mai, whereas the non-skillful groups were assigned to settle out of the city to be agriculturists as Yong group in Lamphun and San Kamphaeng (a district of Chiang Mai ).