Shan States

“ Its position as a commercial centre in the midst of the vast plains which extend on both sides of the river; its bountiful climate and productive soil; the wealth in teak and other timber, as well as in minerals of the surrounding regions; and the fact, brought out by Mr Bourne in his report, that Chinese from Ssuchuan (Szechuen) , Kweichau, and Yunnan, are settling in the Shan States to the north of it, will soon tempt immigrants to take up the now vacant land, and ensure the city and district a large and prosperous population. ”

“ The little states of Manwyne and Sanda, Muangla, Muangtee, Muangtha, or Hotha and Latha, and Muangwan and Muangmow, which lie on the right bank of the Shuaylee, are the remains of the Koshanpyi or Nine Shan States, forming the chief component parts of the Shan kingdom of Pong, conquered by the Chinese in the fourteenth century. ”

“ As to the population of the Shan States, all he knew was that Zimmé returned 80,000 fighting-men on the list forwarded to Bangkok; Lakon, 80,000; and Nan, 100,000. The Siamese Government doubles these figures, as the Shan chiefs return far too few on their lists, so as to have to provide fewer men in the case of war. I may here mention that the number given by Prince Bigit for Zimmé was 50,000 higher than the number given me previously by Princess Chow Oo-Boon. Slaves are not included amongst the fighting-men. ”

“ The suggestion of the risk of creating a powerful Shan State strong enough to be a menace to Government was plainly ridiculous. If all the Shan States were united under one Chief, he would not have as much power as the ruler of a second-class native State in India. Thibaw with its added sub-States could never be in a position to cause the Government of Burma a moment’s anxiety. On the other hand, a large and comparatively wealthy State is more easily managed and likely to be administered better than a lot of small tracts. ”

“ Men often linger out their existence in slave-bondage.
Any person may settle in and cultivate land in the Shan States that is not already under cultivation, and does not become a serf to the chiefs unless he marries a woman of the State; and even then he can remain free, with his wife, and any family that may be born to them, if he pays seventy-two rupees for her redemption. Unless this redemption money is paid, no woman is allowed to remove from the country.
All the Zimmé Shans, except the nobles, are serfs, but have the right to change their allegiance from one lord to another. ”

“ Each State was administered by its own chief, Sawbwa, Myosa, or Ngwekunhmu, appointed or recognized by the Burmese Government, and very practically subject to the King and his Council. Consequently, when we succeeded to the sovereignty of Burma, the Shan States became as much an integral part of British India as any district of Upper Burma. To [Pg 226] speak of the annexation of a Shan State is incorrect. Those States, such as Wuntho and Kale, which have ceased to be governed by their own chiefs, have been, not annexed, but taken under direct administration. ”

“ Among interesting visitors to his camp were Sawbwas of the Chinese Shan States, which lie along the border. These chiefs occupy very much the same position as those of our own Shan States. At times they enjoy greater freedom, at times are more severely repressed, than their brothers in Burma. ”

“ Two ancient cities, Muang Hâng and Muang Teung, and several villages, are situated in the old lake-basin which forms part of the British Shan States; it is solely occupied by Burmese Shans, and was included in the Burmese Shan States under the name of Muang Hâng. The upper parts of the Meh Ping and Meh Teng valleys are likewise occupied and owned by Burmese Shans, although claimed by the Zimmé Shans as part of their 330State ”

“ The vast sums expended on the Mandalay-Lashio railway in the Northern States and on the road connecting the Southern States with the Toungoo-Mandalay railway have not been repaid, except by the increased prosperity of the country.
The Shan population may be taken at about one million two hundred thousand persons. It would be a high estimate [126] of the incidence of the tribute received by the Government if it were reckoned at sixpence per head. As a source of revenue, therefore, the Shan States are not of much account. ”

“ Hildebrand became the first Superintendent of the Shan States. A little later they were divided into two groups, Northern and Southern, under two mutually independent Superintendents working in direct communication with Government. The Shan States extend over an area estimated at about 60,000 square miles. Here, as elsewhere in Burma, our aim has been to administer as far as possible in accordance with pre-existing custom. Each State is ruled by its own Chief, who has the power of life and death, appoints his own officials, and manages his own finances and domestic affairs. ”

“ It will be strange indeed if, with the advantage we now possess by the annexation of Upper Burmah and its Shan States, the press, the mercantile community, the manufacturers, and working classes of this kingdom, cannot induce the Government to make or guarantee the sections of our railway to China which lie in British territory, and thus throw open for British commerce the most magnificent, unopened, and available market in the world. ”

“ The houses in the Shan villages along the river-banks are situated in orchards of fine fruit-trees, separated from each other by palisades. The people, like the Burmese, are very fond of flowers, and rear them in their gardens, and in wooden boxes and earthenware pots placed on the balustrade of their verandahs. Young children encircle the top-knot on the head with orchids and sweet-smelling flowers. ”

“ T'ai-Noe or 'Little T'ai,' whilst they applied the term T'ai-Yai, or 'Great T'ai,' to their northern kindred or some part of these; [10] sometimes also calling the latter T'ai-güt, or the 'Ta'i left behind.' The T'ai or Shan are certainly the most numerous and widely spread race in Indo-China, and innumerable petty Shan States exist on the borders of Burma, Siam, and China, more or less dependent on, or tributary to, their powerful neighbours. They are found from the extreme north of the Irawadi Valley, in the vicinity of Assam, to the borders of Camboja ”

“ In the dry season, which lasts for half the year, it has a large local market and carries on a considerable trade. People congregate there from all directions. Scattered before the court-house you may see natives of India from Maulmain with cotton goods and twist; Burmans and Talaigus from the same place, with oil, salt, dried and salt fish, tinned provisions, and other commodities; Karen villagers with fowls, ducks, and pigs from the neighbouring districts; Shan and Toungthoo cattle-dealers from Thatone on their way to the Shan States; Chinese with mule-caravans from Yunnan ”

“ Finally, there are the village headmen, assisted in Upper Burma by elders, variously designated according to old custom. Similarly in the towns, there are headmen of wards and elders of blocks. In Upper Burma these headmen have always been revenue collectors. The system under which in towns headmen of wards and elders of blocks are appointed is of comparatively recent origin, and is modelled on the village system.
The Shan States were declared to be a part of British India by notification in 1886. ”

“ The Shan population where it has been absorbed into the Burmese kingdom has become assimilated in language and customs with the dominant race, from which they can scarcely be distinguished. Throughout the valley of the upper Irawady above Bhamô, but with the Kakhyen hills interposing their stratum of hill tribes between them and their brethren of the Chinese states, the Shan element predominates, though contending with the wilder Singphos to the west of the valley. ”

“ On the whole it seems probable that the Maingthas are merely Chinese-Shans. The total, of Maingthas at the 1901 Census was 749 only. The Upper Burma Gazetteer connects the Maingthas with the Turengs, referred to by Mr. Enrol Gray, but it seems probable that Mr. Errol Gray's Turengs were merely a tribe of Kachins. A second Shan tribe is that of the Daves, who are found in the Myelat Division of the Southern Shan States. ”

“ The most characteristic of what may be called the Burman tribes are the Taungyos and Inthas of the Southern Shan States, the Yaws of the Pakokku District and the Yabeins of Lower Burma. The first two live surrounded by people of non-Burman origin and have adopted the dress and habits of their neighbours, but speak a language which is practically an archaic form of Burmese. ”

“ They are the most numerous and about the most widely distributed hill tribe in the Southern Shan States. The Taungthu men dress like Shans. The women wear a dark smock and skirt. In the Shan States the arms are frequently covered with sleeves decorated with coloured patch work, and leggings are worn. ”

“ The frontier-duty station is at Muang Doo, a village to the north of the Meh Khoke, where 3 rupees are levied on every ten laden porters, 4 annas on a laden ox, 3 annas on an unladen ox, and 8 annas on a laden pony or mule. Two ponies in every ten are allowed to pass free. Similar frontier import duties are levied in the Siamese Shan States of Lakon, Lapoon, Peh, and Nan. No frontier duties exist in the Burmese Shan States. ”

“ The Pee Song Nang, if belonging to the primitive Turanian spirits, so generally believed in by the Shans, are neither male nor female spirits. All such spirits, unlike the ancient Chaldean deities, have neither husbands, wives, nor children, and are utterly devoid of any of the good points appertaining to human beings. They know neither law nor kindness, do not listen to prayer and supplication, and are merely objects of dread to the people. They are sacrificed to only to keep them in a good humour, and to prevent them wreaking their vengeance and spite upon the people. ”

“ It was found that on this south-western frontier of the Shan States the inhabitants were mostly Karens and kindred races split up into small tribes speaking different dialects, timid and shy people submitting to the tyranny of dacoits and outlaws who sought a refuge in their hills from the pursuit of the police and troops in the low country.
The column marched through the Mawkmai territory to Möngpan. No special matter had been marked for settlement in Mawkmai. But it was noted that the villagers in the south stood in great fear of Sawlapaw, and paid blackmail to him. ”

“ The habitat of the Riangs is the eastern portion of the northern half of the Cis-Salween Southern Shan States, from Kebsi Mansam southwards to Mongsit. Like the Palaungs they are a quiet, peaceable folk. ”

“ The inhabitants of Kiang Hsen accordingly slew the Burmese governor and the 300 Burmese soldiers who were within the walls, and opened the gates to the Ping Shans. They soon found to their cost that they had been treacherously dealt with. The city was destroyed; some of the people escaped across the Salween and settled in Mokmai and Monay, and the rest were taken captive to the Ping States, and distributed amongst them. With the Shans treachery is an ordinary occurrence in warfare: the persons deluded are ashamed at having been taken in ”

“ A well-conducted European able to satisfy his hosts that he had no hostile intentions would probably be well received in Lolo-land, for the people seem to be as hospitable as those of Laos and the Shan States, with whom, indeed, it is just possible that they are ethnologically connected. ”

“ If the Shans generally on the west of the Salween have accepted British rule and learned to trust our good faith and moderation, the credit must be given to the work done by the two columns. Although that work was in the main of a civil character, and the military force was there as an escort and a protection in case of need, yet the soldiers deserve quite as great a share of the blessing promised to the peacemaker as the civilians. In building the Indian Empire, soldiers and civilians have always worked hand in hand. In Burma and the Shan States the old tradition was not belied. ”

“ The Chow came in state, accompanied by fifteen attendants bearing his gold betel-boxes, water-goblets, and other paraphernalia of rank. On his ascending the stairs, I rose to meet him and exchange the usual greetings—“Chow, sabira?” (“Prince, are you well?”) “Sabi, sabi!” (“Well, well!”) . Having no interpreters—Mr and Mrs Webster being out, and my Shans in attendance upon Dr Cushing—the remainder of our conversation was chiefly in dumb show, owing to my knowing only a few sentences of Shan, and my visitor being acquainted with neither Burmese nor English. ”

“ In a jungle-clad country, nothing could be easier than to surprise an enemy.
After passing several Lawa villages we reached the large Shan village of Meh Pik, or the Pepper river, and halted for ten minutes to visit a temple, which was handsomely decorated with gold-leaf and vermilion, and occupied by a very ugly image of Gaudama, about which stood many smaller and less hideous images. The offerings, which consisted of flowers, food, dolls’ houses, and toy elephants and ponies, were indications of what the votaries wished forwarded to the spirits of their deceased relations and friends. ”

“ Probably the great cause which keeps the Tibetan from being absorbed is the cold, inhospitable nature of his country. There is little to tempt the Chinese to emigrate into Tibet and consequently they never are there in sufficient numbers to influence the Tibetans around them. A similar cause has preserved some of the low-lying Shan states from absorption, the heat in this case being the reason that the Chinese do not settle there. ”