re-oriented as a primarily religious organisation. With Buddhist institutions being still firmly integrated into the Party State, Buddhism and the language, moral values and lifestyles associated with it, are now again promoted as "national culture". Vatthana Pholsena describes this as "a secularized image of Buddhism in order to reconcile the official ideology and the religion." A process of the Buddhification of the political sphere, but also everyday culture and is observable, at least in regions with a high proportion of ethnic Lao. Although the ethnic and religious conversion of animist ethnic minorities has been a long-standing feature of the region, it seems that the increasing reach of the nation-state accelerates this process. 'Laotification' and 'Buddhification' very often go hand-in-hand, at least in some southern regions of Laos where Mon-Khmer minorities and ethnic Lao live in close proximity to each other. Like in the past, Buddhism offers social upward mobility to poorer segments of society and ethnic minorities. Buddhist institutes for the training of monks like Champasak Sangha College have been devoting more time to the teaching of religious disciplines such as the foundation of the Dhamma, the disciplinary code, Pali, the life of the Buddha and the Buddhist canon. Monks appear to give talks on television and radio and they are allowed to give talks in schools and have access to patients in hospitals. Lately, a kind of socially engaged Buddhism has also developed in Laos. Monks are now actively involved in HIV-and drug-prevention programs and expand into other areas that mix social work, environmental protection and education. The UNESCO world heritage status of Luang Prabang has also led to more global engagements of its Buddhist institutions: The highest ranking monk of Luang Prabang Maha Khamchan Virachitto (1920–2007) kept his transnational networks even during the time of socialism active, and has had a major impact on the resurgence of Buddhism in Laos. The large collection of photos he left after his death, and those of other laypeople and monks taken over the last hundred years, are now being transformed into an archive that will be of great value for documenting the past of the religious culture of the city. Buddhism in Laotian Culture Laotian Buddhists are very devout, and in the past almost every Laotian man joined a monastery, or temple, for at least a short period of time. Some men eventually become monks for the rest of their lives.