The Dai (alternatively, Tai) are one of the 56 official ethnic minorities in China, whose ethnic majority are of course the Han Chinese. The Dai Ethnic Group comprises several smaller ethnic groups living mainly in the Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture and in the Dehong Dai and Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture, both of which prefectures are located in the southern part of Yunnan Province, though smaller pockets of Dai live in and around the Yunnan cities of Xinping and Yuanjiang, as well as in other autonomous counties in Yunnan Province. In all there are roughly 1.2 million Dai living in China. However, the Dai of China belong to a larger family of Dai/ Tai ethnic groups that also exist in neighboring Burma, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Present-day Dai peoples call themselves, besides Dai, which means freedom - and which is the consensus designation that the Dai have themselves chosen after their liberation by the PRC - also Daile, Daiya, Daina, and Dai Beng, as well as other local designations depending on the enclave. During the Tang (CE 618-907) and Song (CE 960-1279) Dynasties, they were often referred to as the "olden Teeth" and "blackened Teeth" peoples, as a result of the Dai tradition of blackening one's teeth by chewing betel nuts. Blackened teeth in women especially was considered a mark of beauty, or at least of modesty, and it seems that the betel nut juice prevented cavities (it should also be mentioned that Japanese women in the 16th century followed the same practice for roughly the same reasons).