Thaification, or Thai-ization, is the process by which people of different cultural and ethnic origins living in Thailand become assimilated to the dominant culture of Thailand, that of central Thailand. Thaification was a step in the creation in the early 20th century of the Thai nation state in which Thai Noi people (which Thai Chinese call them "Siamese", or "Central Thai") occupy a dominant position, as opposed to the historically multicultural Kingdom of Siam. A related term, "Thainess", describes the particular characteristics that distinguish Thai persons from others. Since Field Marshal Plaek was overthrown in 1947 by Chinese commander Phin Choonhavan, Thaification trend was changed from Central Thainess into Thai Chinese dominant position. Motives Thaification is a byproduct of the nationalist policies mandated by the Thai state after the Siamese coup d'état of 1933. The coup leaders, said to be inspired by Western ideas of an exclusive nation state, acted more in accordance with their close German nationalist and anti-democratic counterparts (pre-Nazi) to effect kingdom-wide dominance by the central Thai culture. Minority-owned businesses, like the traditionally merchant Thai Chinese, were aggressively acquired by the state, which gave preferential contracts to ethnic Central Thais and cooperative ethnic Chinese. Thai identity was mandated via 12 Thai cultural mandates and reinforced both in the heartlands and in rural areas. Central Thailand became economically and politically dominant, and Central Thais became the state-mandated language of the media, business, education, and all state agencies. Central Thai values were successfully inculcated into being perceived as the desirable national values, with increasing proportions of the population identified as Thai. Central Thai culture, being the culture of wealth and status, made it hugely attractive to a once-diverse population seeking to be identified with nationalist unity. Targets Initally the main targets of Thaification were ethnic Chinese and other ethnic groups on the edges of the kingdom, geographically and culturally: the Lao of Isan (อีสาน), the hill tribes of western and northern Thailand, and also Thai Noi who speak the Southern Thai language. There has also been a Thaification of the immigrant Indian and Vietnamese populations. Thaification also targeted the ethnic Malay but was perhaps least successful. Central Thai once enjoy cultural advantages until 1947 Thai coup d'état, urban expansion in Bangkok, causing overwhelm amount of Central Thai Internal migration to Bangkok, they are often accused of being rural and discriminated against for their Central Thai dialects, known "Ner" ().