Shan State

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Coordinates: 21°30′N, 98°0′E

ရုမ္‌းပ္ရည္‌နယ္‌
Shan State

(MLCTS: yum: pranynai)
Capital Taunggyi
Region East central
Area 155,800 km²
Population 4,702,000 (1999)
Ethnicities Shan, Bamar, Chinese, Anglo-Burmese, Kachin, Danu, Intha, Palaung, Pa-O, Taungyoe, Indians
Religions Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism

Shan State is an administrative division of Myanmar (Burma), which takes its name from the Shan people, one of several ethnic groups that inhabit the area. It is the largest of the 14 administrative divisions by land area. Shan State is largely rural, with only three cities of significant size: Lashio, Kengtung, and the capital, Taunggyi.[1]

Contents

[edit] Sub-states, districts, townships

Shan State is traditionally divided into three sub-states: North Shan State, East Shan State, and South Shan State. It is also officially divided into 11 districts:[2]

[edit] Geography

Rural landscape.
Rural landscape.
A village in northern Shan State.
A village in northern Shan State.

Shan State borders China to the north, Laos to the east, and Thailand to the south. It also shares borders with five administrative divisions of Myanmar. Shan State covers 155,800 km², almost a quarter of the total area of Myanmar.

Most of the Shan State is a hilly plateau; there are higher mountains in the north and south. The gorge of the Thanlwin (Salween) River cuts across the state. The famous Inle Lake where the leg-rowing Intha people live in floating villages, in the great Nyaung Shwe 'plain', is the second largest natural expanse of water in Myanmar, shallow but 14 miles long and 7 miles wide. Pindaya Caves near Aungban are vast limestone caves which contain 6226 Buddha images.[3]

The road to Taunggyi via Kalaw and Aungban branches off at Thazi from the main Yangon-Mandalay Road; another road via Ywa Ngan and Pindaya branches off from Kyaukse south of Mandalay. The railhead stops short of Taunggyi at Shwenyaung, again from Thazi junction, and nearby Heho has an airport.

[edit] Education

In South Shan State, there are the following universities, colleges and training schools.

  • Taunggyi University
  • Taunggyi Education College
  • Government Computer University (Taunggyi)
  • Government Technical College (Aye Thar Yar)
  • Pin Lon University
  • Computer College (Pin Lon)
  • Government Technical College (Pin Lon)
  • Nursing Training School

[edit] Economy

Silver, lead, and zinc are mined, notably at the Bawdwin mine, and there are smelters at Namtu. Teak is cut, and rice and other crops are grown. Shan State is famous for its garden produce of all sorts of fresh fruit and vegetables thanks to its temperate but sunny climate. Itinerant markets that travel from place to place, setting up on every fifth day in each small town or village, are typical, although large towns have permanent markets. It is part of the Golden Triangle, an area in which much of the world's opium and heroin are illegally produced. Drug trafficking is controlled by local warlords, some of whom have private armies amounting to thousands of soldiers.

[edit] Demography

Houses in Hsipaw
Houses in Hsipaw

The people of Shan State can be divided into six primary ethnic groups: the Shan, Pa-O, Intha, Taungyoe, Danu, and Palaung.[4]

The valleys and tableland are inhabited by the Shans, who in language and customs resemble the Thais, Dai, and the Lao. They are largely Buddhists and are mainly engaged in agriculture. Among the Shans live the Bamar, Chinese, and Karens. The hills are inhabited by various peoples, notably the Wa, who are numerous in the north and along the Chinese border.The Palaung People are numerous in the Northern Shan State, in Namkham, Muse, Nampaka, Kut Kai, and Lashio Townships along the Burma China Border and also in the middle of Shan State, in Namsarn, Kyat Mae and Thipal Townships. The population of the Palaung people is over 1 million. Some of the Palaung people in Kalaw and Aung Pan in the Southern Shan State. There is a dwindling population of Anglo-Burmese in major hill stations, such as Kalaw and in Taunggyi, a hold-over from the colonial period.

[edit] History

The Shans dominated most of Myanmar from the 13th century to the 16th century as rulers of Ava, Sagaing and Pinya kingdoms. In the 19th century, long after their power declined, they were distributed among more than 30 petty states; most of them paid tribute to the Bamar king. Under the British colonial administration, first established in 1887, the Shan States were ruled by their hereditary chiefs (Saophas or Chaofa) as feudatories of the British crown. In 1922 most of these small states were joined in the 'Federated Shan States', under a commissioner who also administered the Wa State. This arrangement survived the constitutional changes of 1923 and 1937.

In 1942, the Thai Army launched an offensive against the Shan States. The results were 4,000 Burmese dead and 367 Thai dead. A single Shan state, including the former Wa states, was established by the 1947 Constitution of Burma. Earlier on February 12, 1947, at the Panglong Conference an agreement was signed by the Shan, Kachin and Chin leaders and Aung San for the Burmese government.[5] In 1959 the Sawbwas relinquished much of their power to the Burmese government under General Ne Win. Then the Shan Federal Movement, led by Yawnghwe Sawbwa Sao Shwe Thaik - the first president of the independent Union of Burma (1948-52), and Mong Mit Sawbwa Saw Hkun Hkio - Foreign Minister, was seen as a separatist movement insisting on the government honouring the right to secession in 10 years provided for by the 1947 Constitution, and Ne Win staged a coup d'etat in 1962. The military coup fuelled the Shan rebellion, started in 1958 by a small group called Noom suik harn (Young Warriors), now joined by the Shan State Army (SSA) led by Sao Shwe Thaik's wife Mahadevi and son Chao-Tzang Yawnghwe. Shan State's autonomy was further eroded by increased centralisation of the Burmese government following the Constitution of 1974 promulgated by the ruling Burma Socialist Programme Party (BSPP). Generally, the Shans remain committed to the preservation of their distinct ethnic heritage.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Shan: largest cities and towns and statistics of their population. World Gazetteer. Retrieved on 2008-01-19.
  2. ^ An Introduction to the Toponymy of Burma, The Permanent Committee on Geographical Names for British Official Use, 2007, p. 11, <http://www.pcgn.org.uk/Burma%200907.pdf>. Retrieved on 19 January 2008 
  3. ^ Journeys Myanmar. The Paoh national day is dapound lapyi ((March 10) im Myanmar.
  4. ^ Eliot, Joshua (1997). Myanmar (Burma) Handbook. Lincolnwood, Illinois: Passport Books. 
  5. ^ The Panglong Agreement, 1947. Online Burma/Myanmar Library.

[edit] See also

List of Shan states and rulers

[edit] External links

[edit] Bibliography

  • Sao Sāimöng, The Shan States and the British Annexation. Cornell University, Cornell, 1969 (2nd ed.)
  • J. G. Scott, Gazetteer of Upper Burma and the Shan States. 5 vols. Rangoon, 1900-1901
  • J. G. Scott, Burma and beyond. London, 1932
  • Leslie Milne, The Shans at Home. London, 1910.
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