The term Kra–Dai peoples or Kra–Dai-speaking peoples refers collectively to the ethnic groups of southern China and Southeast Asia, stretching from Hainan to Northeast India and from southern Sichuan to Laos, Thailand and parts of Vietnam, who not only speak languages belonging to the Kra–Dai language family, but also share similar traditions, culture and ancestry.

[note 1] Chamberlain (2016) proposes that the Kra–Dai language family was formed as early as the 12th century BCE in the middle of the Yangtze basin, coinciding roughly with the establishment of the Chu state and the beginning of the Zhou dynasty.

[1] Following the southward migrations of Kra and Hlai (Rei/Li) peoples around the 8th century BCE, the Yue (Be-Tai people) started to break away and move to the east coast in the present-day Zhejiang province, in the 6th century BCE, forming the state of Yue and conquering the state of Wu shortly thereafter.

al (2023), however, suggests that the Kra-Dai language family originated from coastal south China, around the Fujian, Guangdong and Guangxi provinces, and underwent a radial expansion into the Guizhou-Yunnan region, Hainan Island, and Mainland Southeast Asia.

Roger Blench (2008) demonstrates that dental evulsion, face tattooing, teeth blackening and snake cults are shared between the Taiwanese Austronesians and the Kra–Dai peoples of Southern China.

Their primary geographic distribution in those countries is roughly in the shape of an arc extending from northeastern India through southern China and down to Southeast Asia.

In southern China, people speaking Kra-Dai languages are mainly found in Guangxi, Guizhou, Yunnan, Hunan, Guangdong, and Hainan.

A smaller Saek community makes its home in the Isan region of northeast Thailand, near the border with Laos.

A smaller Saek community makes its home in the Isan region of northeast Thailand, near the border with Laos.

Gu Yanwu (a Chinese scholar in the Ming dynasty) gave the correct explanation of this point, saying "The Yao were Jing Man (aborigines from Hunan), and the Zhuang originated from the ancient Yue."

The Buyi, who lived in Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau since ancient times, were called Luoyue, Pu, Puyue, Yi, Yipu, Lao, Pulao, Yilai, etc., in the Qin and Han dynasties.

Since the Yuan dynasty, the name Zhong, which appeared in the historical book later than Zhuang was used to refer to the Buyi.

The Kam lived in compact communities in neighboring areas across the Guizhou and Hunan Provinces, and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region until the Ming dynasty.

The ancestors of the Dai in Yunnan were the Dianyue (滇越) group mentioned in the Records of a Historian by Sima Qian.

In the Tang dynasty, they were mentioned as Black Teeth, and as Face-Tattooed in a book named A Survey of the Aborigines by Fan Chuo.

The modern Dai people can be traced back to Dianyue, a subgroup among the ancient Baiyue groups.

The following table of Y-chromosome DNA haplogroup frequencies of modern Kra-Dai speaking peoples is from Li, et al.

[22] A 2022 study states that Han Chinese in Fujian and Guangdong provinces show excessive ancestries from Late Neolithic Fujianese sources (35.0–40.3%), which are more significant in modern Ami, Atayal and Kankanaey (66.9–74.3%), and less significant in Han Chinese from Zhejiang (22%), Jiangsu (17%) and Shandong (8%).

[23] Genetic characteristics of the "Bai-Yue" lineage are also present in modern Tai-Kadai speakers residing in southern China and northern Vietnam.

The Li people also shared stronger genetic connections with Austronesians that harbored more divergent ancestry, such as the Ami, Atayal, and Kankanaey.