Ancient Khmer language

Later, the Khmer king learned that the emperor enjoyed Khmer food so he sent two more families to cook for the emperor. Today, local ethnic Khmers here still say that the four families of their ancestors came to China from Cambodia. They also speak some of the ancient Khmer language that they remember” The assimilation is not surprising and has been occurring in the region for thousands of years. Reports as early as the 6th century B.C. indicate that the Tai cultivated rice in lowland areas. During the first millennium A.D., Tai speaking tribes from the mountainous plateau near the Yangtze River had already begun moving southward. Meanwhile, to the south, the Khmer civilization grew in what is now Cambodia. Khmer influence then  spread northward, sharing their religion, technology, architecture and system of government.