Shan State
(1990 est. pop. 4.25 million). The Shan State in northeastern Burma is the country's largest ethnic minority state. A highland plateau covering 156,000 square kilometers, it is home to a diversity of peoples with strong traditions of local independence. This is reflected in the state's turbulent history.
No accurate ethnic census has ever been taken, but in the 1990s the population was estimated by the government at 4.25 million, of whom 1.64 million were majority Shans (Tais), 450,000 Paos, 400,000 Palaungs and Was, 170,000 Lahus, 100,000 Kachins, and 100,000 Akhas. Other substantial populations include Burman, Kokang, Danu, Intha, Lisu, and Kayan.
In precolonial history, the state consisted of a loose political system of over forty substates ruled by local sawbwas (princes), who were recognized by the British in the process of annexation in the late nineteenth century. Some of these valley kingdoms had histories dating back to at least the fourteenth century CE, when Shan rulers had vied with Burmans and Mons for control over central Burma. In contrast, in mountain areas many of the minority peoples, such as the Wa and Lahu, continued lives that were little touched by the outside world until well into the twentieth century.
At Burma's independence in 1948, the Federated Shan States (established in1922), which had been under British administration, were reconstituted as a single state with the right of secession after a ten-year period. However, armed conflicts broke out within two years of the British departure, and these have continued through the long years since.
A major factor in this destabilization was the late-1949 invasion by Guomindang remnants from China. Insurgency then escalated from the early 1960s when General Ne Win seized power to prevent Shan and other ethnic minority leaders from attempting to renegotiate nationality rights. Up to a dozen minority armies operated in the state, and descentded into full-scale civil war in 1968 when the Communist Party of Burma (CPB) invaded the eastern borderlands with the military backing of China. Only after the CPB's collapse in 1989 did peace return to a number of warafflicted regions under the cease-fire policy of the State Law and Order Restoration Council government. The situation, however, remained complex and unstable in many areas.
Decades of conflict have taken a serious toll on human lives and development. Agriculture is the main economy, with crops such as paddy rice, wheat, cotton, pulses, tobacco, and groundnuts all being grown. Varieties of fruit, vegetables, and tea are also produced in the mountain climate. However, it is opium and heroin production for which the state is internationally notorious. During the early 1990s, Shan State was reputedly the world's largest illicit producer.
The state also contains valuable natural resources, including silver, lead, zinc, copper, antinomy, and precious stones. The Namtu-Bawdwin mines are the largest mineral enterprise. There is also potential for power generation along the Salween (Thanlwin) River as well as tourism in the Inle Lake region. However infrastructural links remain poor, and road journeys between the state capital Taunggyi and other key towns, such as Kengtung and Lashio, are long and often interrupted.
Only during the 1990s were efforts begun by both the government and cease-fire groups to upgrade the local economy. Trade links to central Burma, as well as neighboring China and Thailand, were the major priority. But the people of the state continued to face a daunting array of social problems, and the spread of HIV/AIDS has been another cause of concern.
Further Reading
Amnesty International. (2000) Myanmar: Exodus from Shan State. London: Amnesty International.
Lintner, Bertil. (1984) "The Shans and the Shan States of Burma." Contemporary Southeast Asia 5, 4: 403–450.
——. (1998) "Drugs and Economic Growth: Ethnicity and Exports." In Burma: Prospects for a Democratic Future, edited by Robert Rotberg. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press, 165–183.
Saimong Mangrai, Sao. (1965) The Shan States and the British Annexation. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Southeast Asia Program, Data Paper 57.
Scott, James George, and J. P. Hardiman. (1900) Gazetteer of Upper Burma and the Shan States. Rangoon, Burma: Superintendent, Government Printing.
Tzang Yawnghwe, Chao. (1987) The Shan of Burma: Memoirs of a Shan Exile. Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.
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