As part of the Rockefeller’s program “Learning Across Boundaries (LAB)”, the Vietnam Museum of Ethnology (VME) was awarded a grant (a continuing effort, which started in 2001) to create a network of museums, cultural institutions and experts in Yunnan part of China, Lao PDR, Thailand and Vietnam. The “Tai Textiles in the Greater Mekong Sub-region: Continuity and Change”, an outcome of this effort, opens on December 10, 2004 and continues until June 10, 2005. The exhibition invites visitors to meet the Tai people and learn about Tai culture as they take an imaginary journey along the Mekong River. Visitors understand the differences and commonalities among the Tai people in the various GMS countries while admiring textiles used in everyday life, rituals and festivals.

Main collaborating institutions are the Yunnan Museum of Nationalities in Kunming, Yunnan (China), the Institute of Cultural Research in Vientiane (Lao PDR), and scholars from Thammasat University (Bangkok, Thailand).