Yue Lao

Yue Lao (Chinese: 月下老人; pinyin: Yuè Xià Lǎorén; literally: "old man under the moon"), is a god of marriage and love in Chinese mythology. He appears as an old man under the moon.

He appears at night, and "unites with a silken cord all predestined couples, after which nothing can prevent their union." He is immortal and is said to live either in the moon or in the "obscure regions" (Yue ming), the Chinese equivalent of Hades.

Yue-Laou (sic) appears as a character in Robert W. Chambers' short story "The Maker of Moons" from the collection of the same name in 1896. He is the leader of Kuen-Yuin, a sect of Chinese sorcerers, and is called "Maker of Moons." He had corrupted the Xin, the good genies of China and transformed them into the monstrous form of Xin: "This monster is horrible, for it not only lives in its own body, but it has thousands of loathsome satellites--living creatures without mouths, blind, that move when the Xin moves, like a mandarin and his escort." In the story, it is revealed that he is the stepfather of Ysonde, and is associated with the pack of gold makers. Although he is apparently killed, his body is never found.

Lao

Lao may refer to:

Laos

Other places

Philosophers

Other

Lao, Estonia

Lao is a village in Tõstamaa Parish, Pärnu County, in southwestern Estonia. It is located on the top of the Tõstamaa peninsula, on the coast of the Gulf of Riga. Lao has a population of 31 as of 1 January 2011.

Munalaiu harbour, which connects the islands Kihnu and Manilaid with the mainland, is located in Lao.

References

Lao people

The Lao (Lao: ລາວ, Thai or Isan: ลาว, IPA: láːw) are an ethnic group native to Laos and northeastern Thailand (where they are known as Isan), they belong to the family of Tai peoples.

Names

The etymology of the word Lao is uncertain, although it may be related to tribes known as the Ai Lao (Lao: ອ້າຽລາວ, Isan: อ้ายลาว, Chinese: 哀牢; pinyin: Āiláo, Vietnamese: ai lao) who appear in Han Dynasty records in China and Vietnam as a people of what is now Yunnan Province. Tribes descended from the Ai Lao included the Tai tribes that migrated to Southeast Asia.

The English word Laotian, used interchangeably with Lao in most contexts, comes from French laotien/laotienne. The dominant ethnicity of Northeastern Thailand who descend from the Lao are differentiated from the Lao of Laos and by the Thais by the term Isan people or Thai Isan (Lao: ໄທ ອີສານ, Isan: ไทยอีสาน, Thai pronunciation: [iː sǎ:n]), a Sanskrit-derived term meaning northeast, but 'Lao' is still used.

Subdivisions of the Lao people