Shan people

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
"Tai Yai" redirects here. Not to be confused with
Tayal. For other uses of Shan, see Shan
.
Tai Shan
တႆး
Tai Yai
Tai people, Tai Lao, Nung Bouyei, Dong, Tai Thai
This article contains Burmese script. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Burmese script.
1889 photograph of a Shan woman

The Shan people (

CIA Factbook giving an estimate of five million spread throughout Myanmar[2] which is about 10% of the overall Burmese population.[3][5]

'Shan' is a generic term for all

Thibaw (Hsipaw), Lashio, Kengtung and Tachileik
.

Etymology

The Shan use the endonym Tai (တႆး) in reference to themselves, which is also used in Chinese (

Western Pwo Karen: ၥဲၫ့, and Mon သေံဇၞော် (sem).[8]

Subdivisions

Major subdivisions

The major groups of Shan people are:

  1. Tai Yai (တႆးယႂ်ႇ) or Thai Yai (Thai: ไทใหญ่); the 'Shan Proper', by far the largest group, by which all Shan people are known in the Thai language.
  2. Tai Lü or Tai Lue (တႆးလိုဝ်ႉ). Its traditional area is in Xishuangbanna (China) and the eastern states.
  3. Keng Tung area. The former ruling family of Kengtung State
    belonged to this group.
  4. Dehong
    , China.

The speakers of Shan, Lue, Khun and Nua languages form the majority of Dai nationality in PRC.

Other Tai Shan groups

There are various ethnic groups designated as Tai throughout

Mon-Khmer and Assamese language, although they are assimilated into Shan society.[9]

Culture

The majority of Shan are

Shan scripts.[12]

Most Shan speak the

Mongnai Shan has five.[15] The Shan alphabet is an adaptation of the Mon–Burmese script via the Burmese alphabet.[15]

The Shan are traditionally wet-rice cultivators, shopkeepers, and artisans.[16]

A Shan deer dance ceremony in the early 1900s
The Shan kinnara and kinnari dance.[17]
Nam ngiao, a Shan dish
Shan style pounded oily rice- served on a banana leaf with garlicky roots. Pinlaung, Pinlaung township, Shan State (Pa'O Self Administered Zone)

History

See also:
List of Shan states and rulers

The

Mong Mao (Muang Mao) existed as early as the 10th century CE but became a Burmese vassal state during the reign of King Anawrahta of Pagan
(1044–1077).

After the Pagan Kingdom fell to the Mongols in 1287, the Shan chiefs quickly gained power throughout central Burma, and founded:

State Peak territory Duration Notes
Myinsaing–Pinya Kingdom (1297–1364) Central Burma 1297–1364 Founded by three Shan brothers named
Ava Kingdom
Sagaing Kingdom[19] Central Burma 1315–1364 Thihathu was a co-founder of the Myinsaing Kingdom and the founder of the Pinya Kingdom, and the minor kingdom was a predecessor to Ava Kingdom.
Confederation of Shan States
 Upper Burma 1527–1555 A group of Shan States led by
Saopha of Mohnyin
conquered the Ava Kingdom in 1527 and ruled Upper Burma until 1555
Shan States
(Princely states) 		Shan States 1215–1885, 1948–1959 Princely Shan States
British Shan States / Federated Shan States Shan States 1885–1922, 1922–1948 Princely Shan States of
princely states, but they were subject to British Crown.[20][21]

Many

Confederation of Shan States defeated Ava in 1527, and ruled all of Upper Burma until 1555.[22]

The Burmese king

Siam, and elsewhere. Shans were a major part of Burmese forces in the First Anglo-Burmese War of 1824–1826, and fought valiantly—a fact even the British commanders acknowledged.[24]

In the latter half of the 19th century Shan people migrated into

Mae Sai and Lampang, where there are groups which settled long ago and built their own communities and temples. Shan people are known as "Tai Yai" in north Thailand, where the word Shan is very seldom used to refer to them.[26]

After the

Saophas.[27]

After

Union of Burma
. The Shan states were given the option to secede after 10 years of independence. The Shan states became Shan State in 1948 as part of the newly independent Burma.

General Ne Win's coup d'état overthrew the democratically elected government in 1962, and abolished Shan saopha system.

Shan nationalism

See also: Shan State Army
Shan conflict
Part of
internal conflict in Myanmar
Date21 May 1958 - present
Location
Shan State, Myanmar
Status ongoing
Belligerents

Myanmar Myanmar

UWSA (from 1989)
SSA-S
PNA
PNLA
LDU
MRDA
(1985–2000)

Northern Alliance

SSA-N
WNA
NDAA
KDA (1961-2010)
UWSA (until 1989)
NDA-K
(1989–2009)
Commanders and leaders

Myanmar Min Aung Hlaing
Myanmar Myint Swe
Myanmar Soe Win
Myanmar Henry Van Thio

Bao Youxiang		 Sao Nang Hearn Kham
Mo Heng
Khun Sa
Colonel Kan Yod
Yawd Serk
Khun Okka
U Sai Leun

A Shan independence movement has been active and engaged in armed struggle, leading to intermittent

Burmese Army.[28]

During conflicts, Shan civilians are often burned out of their villages and forced to flee into Thailand. Some of the worst fighting in recent times occurred in 2002 when the Burmese army shelled the Thai border town of

Mekong River to Laos.[31]
This evacuation was aided by members of the Shan State Army, and in turn brought tighter measures restricting foreign aid in the area as violence increased.

Whether or not there is an ongoing conflict, the Shan are subject to depredations by the Burmese regime; in particular, young men may be conscripted into the Burmese Army indefinitely, or enslaved to do road work for a number of months—with no wages and little food.[citation needed] The horrific conditions inside Burma have led to a massive exodus of young Shan males to neighbouring Thailand, where they are not given refugee status.[citation needed] Shan people in Thailand often work as undocumented labourers. Males typically find low-paid work in construction, while many Shan females fall in the hands of human trafficking gangs and end up in the prostitution business[citation needed] or bride trafficking.[32] Despite the hardships, Shan people in Thailand are conscious of their culture and seek occasions to gather in cultural events.[33]

Although the

Burmese military has frequently used the United Wa State Army (UWSA) as an ally for the purpose of fighting against Shan nationalist militia groups.[34]

Communities in exile

novice ordination
festival celebrated by one of the Shan communities in exile in Thailand

Following the arrest of

Shan State War Council (SSWC) and the Shan State Army (SSA), becoming chair of the SSWC,[36] and taking the Shan rebellion that started in 1958 to a new phase.[37]
Sao Nang Hearn Kham died on 17 January 2003 in exile in Canada at the age of 86.[36]

Prince Hso Khan Pha (sometimes written as Surkhanfa in Thai), son of Sao Nang Hearn Kham of Yawnghwe lived in exile in Canada. He was campaigning for the Burmese regime to leave the Federated Shan States and return to their own country, to respect the traditional culture and indigenous lands of the Shan people. He worked with the interim Shan Government, with Shan exiles abroad, and the Burmese regime to regain his country.

Opinion has been voiced in the Shan State, in neighboring Thailand, and to some extent in distant exile communities, in favor of the goal of "total independence for the Shan State." This came to a head when, in May 2005, Shan elders in exile declared the independence of the Federated Shan States.

The declaration of independence was rejected by most other

civil society organisations are concerned about the lack of international response on the recent conflict.[40]

See also

References

  1. CIA Factbook
    , the Shan make up 9% of the total population of Myanmar (55 million) or approximately 5 million people.
  1. ^ a b "The Shan People". The Peoples of the World Foundation. Archived from the original on 2016-03-14. Retrieved 2015-01-16.
  2. ^ a b c "The World Factbook — Central Intelligence Agency". cia.gov. Archived from the original on 1 December 2021. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
  3. ^ a b "Shan | people". Encyclopedia Britannica. Archived from the original on 2020-10-04. Retrieved 2020-08-26.
  4. ^ Sao Sāimöng, The Shan States and the British Annexation. Cornell University, Cornell, 1969 (2nd ed.)
  5. ^ "FACTBOX: The Shan, Myanmar's largest minority". Reuters. 2007-08-30. Archived from the original on 2021-09-29. Retrieved 2020-08-26.
  6. ISBN 0-931745-92-6
    .
  7. ^ de La Loubère, Simon (1693). "CHAP. II. A Continuation of the Geographical Description of the Kingdom of Siam, with an Account of its Metropolis.". A New Historical Relation of the Kingdom of Siam. Translated by A.P. Archived from the original on 2021-09-24. Retrieved 2021-04-01.
  8. ^ Shorto, H.L. (1962). Dictionary of Modern Spoken Mon. Oxford University Press.
  9. ^ Edmondson, Jerold A. 2008. "Shan and other Northern Tier Southeast Tai languages of Myanmar and China: Themes and Variations." In Diller, Anthony, Jerold Edmondson, & Yongxian Luo, (eds.) The Tai–Kadai languages. London: Routledge.
  10. ^ Pauk, Kyar (24 January 2012). "သျှမ်းနီလူငယ်: သျှမ်းနီလူမျိုးတို့၏ အိုးစည်နိုင်ငံတော် Country of Drum". ShanniYouth.Blogspot.com. Archived from the original on 24 March 2017. Retrieved 24 March 2017.
  11. ^ Sawada, Hideo. 2017. Two Undescribed Dialects of Northern Burmish Sub-branch: Gyannoʔ and Thoʔlhang. Presented at ICSTLL 50, Beijing, China.
  12. S2CID 163824875
    – via JSTOR.
  13. ^ Shan language page Archived 2012-09-29 at the Wayback Machine from Ethnologue
  14. ^ "Shan: A language of Myanmar". Ethnologue. Archived from the original on 2012-09-29. Retrieved 2006-12-02.
  15. ^
    ISBN 978-0-231-11569-8
    .
  16. ^ Susan Conway, The Shan: Culture, Art and Crafts (Bangkok, 2006).
  17. ^ "Thai Yai cultural dance at Mae Hong Son, Thailand". ThaiDetails.com. Archived from the original on 29 February 2012. Retrieved 24 March 2017.
  18. ISBN 978-1-4021-5293-1
    .
  19. ^ Lt. Gen. Sir Arthur P. Phayre (1967). History of Burma (2 ed.). London: Susil Gupta. pp. 282–285.
  20. ^ Great Britain India Office. The Imperial Gazetteer of India. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1908.
  21. ^ Census of India 1901 - Burma
  22. ^ Maung Htin Aung (1967). A History of Burma. New York and London: Cambridge University Press. p. 95.
  23. ^ Lt. Gen. Sir Arthur P. Phayre (1967). History of Burma (2 ed.). London: Susil Gupta. pp. 108–109.
  24. ISBN 978-0-374-16342-6
    .
  25. ^ "Thailand's World: Shan People Thailand". ThailandsWorld.com. Archived from the original on 22 April 2017. Retrieved 24 March 2017.
  26. ^ History of Lanna - From Dark Times to Modern Times Archived 2014-01-10 at the Wayback Machine
  27. ISBN 978-0-415-25816-6
    .
  28. ^ Photos of Shan State Army-South (SSA-S) military outposts along the border of Thailand, Chiang Rai province Archived 2010-09-23 at the Wayback Machine
  29. ^ "Mae Sai Evacuated as Shells Hit Town", Bangkok Post, 12 May 2002
  30. ^ "Mortar Rounds Hit Thai Outpost, 2 Injured", Bangkok Post, 20 June 2002, p.1
  31. ^ Desmond Ball. Security Developments in the Thailand-Burma Borderlands, Australian Mekong Resource Centre, University of Sydney. October 2003
  32. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived
    from the original on 2020-08-16. Retrieved 2020-08-28.
  33. ^ Celebration of Panglong Agreement Day in Loi Tai Leng Archived 2016-02-05 at the Wayback Machine
  34. ^ "Myanmar: The United Wa State Army's Uncertain Future". ProjectAK47.com. 22 July 2013. Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 24 March 2017.
  35. ISBN 9780810854765
    .
  36. ^ a b "Burma's first President's wife passed away ( DVB ) January 18, 2003". BurmaToday.net. Archived from the original on 11 September 2014. Retrieved 24 March 2017.
  37. ^ Smith, Martin (1991). Burma - Insurgency and the Politics of Ethnicity. London and New Jersey: Zed Books.
  38. ^ PCL., Post Publishing. "Bangkok Post". Archived from the original on 22 October 2023. Retrieved 24 March 2017.
  39. ^ SHRF. "Naypyidaw must immediately stop its attacks in central Shan State and let communities return home". ShanHumanRights.org. Archived from the original on 28 April 2016. Retrieved 24 March 2017.
  40. ^ "Shan CSOs blast 'silence' over conflict". Archived from the original on 2015-11-30. Retrieved 2015-12-01.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Shan.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Shan_people&oldid=1219197189"