Shan

Member of a people of the mountainous borderlands separating Thailand, Laos, Myanmar (Burma), and China. They are related to the Laos and Thais, and their language belongs to the Sino-Tibetan family.

Settled in fertile valleys, they grow wet rice and opium, and raise cattle. The Shan are stratified into commoners, aristocrats, and princes. The princes receive tribute from their people, taxes on trade goods, and act as warlords. Feuding is frequent, especially in connection with the opium trade, their only source of foreign income. Their religious beliefs incorporate both Buddhism and non-Buddhist elements.

History The Shan entered Burma in the 13th century and founded a powerful kingdom at Ava 1360, which lasted until upper Burma was unified by the Toungoo dynasty from 1531. Shan-Burmese enmity has endured, despite the Shan having adopted Theravāda Buddhism and much Burmese culture. The Shan state, though annexed by Britain 1885, was largely independent of Burma until it was officially incorporated after the military coup 1962.

Shan

Largest state of Myanmar, bordering China to the north, Laos to the east, and Thailand to the south; area 155,801 sq km/60,155 sq mi; population (1995 est) 3,100,000. The capital is Taunggyi. It is composed mainly of plateaus, with mountains in the north, and is crossed from north to south by the Thanlwin (Salween) River.

Half of the population are Tai-speaking Buddhists whose main occupation is rice farming. They originated in southwest China, were driven southwards by the Mongols, and ruled Burma from the 13th to the 16th century.

The former Shan States were semi-independent states to the north of Myanmar under the British sphere of influence. They were annexed to the province of Burma after the third Burmese War in 1885, but the administration was left in the hands of local chiefs (‘sawbwas’), overseen by the commissioner of the Federated Shan States. After 1922 this was replaced by a council of the chiefs. Under the 1947 constitution of the Burma Union, the Shan and Wa states were combined.