our shan(tai) flag
Friday, July 3, 2009
about the earliest shan(tai) state map and location AD(1555-1885) and after colonial period to nowaday....
Shan State, with many ethnic groups, is home to several armed ethnic armies. While the military government has signed ceasefire agreements with most groups, vast areas of the state, especially those east of Thanlwin river, remains outside the central government's control, and in recent years have come under heavy ethnic-Chinese economic and political influence.
History
Shan State is the unitary successor state to the Burmese Shan States, the princely states that were under some degree of control of Irrawaddy valley-based Burmese kingdoms. (Historical Shan states extended well beyond the Burmese Shan States, ranging from full fledged kingdoms of Assam in the northwest to Lan Xang in the east to Lanna and Ayutthaya in the southeast, as well as several petty princely states in between, covering present day northern Sagaing Division, Kachin State, Yunnan, Laos and Thailand. The definition of Burmese Shan States does not include Ava and Pegu kingdoms of 13th to 16th centuries although the founders of these kingdoms were Burmanized Shans and Monized Shans, respectively.)Early history
The first founding of Shan states inside the present day boundaries of Burma began during period of Pagan Kingdom in the Shan Hills and accelerated after the fall of Pagan Kingdom to the Mongols in 1287. The Shans, who came down with the Mongols, stayed and quickly came to dominate much of northern to eastern arc of Burma—from northwestern Sagaing Division to Kachin Hills to the present day Shan Hills. The most powerful Shan states were Mong Yang (Mohnyin) and Mong Kawng (Mogaung) in present-day Kachin State, followed by Hsenwi (Thenni), Hsipaw (Thibaw) and Mongmit (Momeik) in present-day northern Shan State. Smaller Shan states like Kalay in northwestern Sagaing Division, Bhamo in Kachin State, Yawnghwe (Nyaungshwe) and Kengtung (Kyaingtong) in Shan State played a precarious game of paying allegiance to more powerful states, sometimes simultaneously. To be sure, the newly founded Shan States were multi-ethnic states. Although Burmanized Shans founded the Ava kingdom that ruled central Burma, other Shan states, Mohnyin in particular, constantly raided Ava territories throughout the years. Mohnyin finally conquered Ava itself in 1527.
Taungoo and Konbaung periods (1555-1885)
In 1555, King Bayinnaung dislodged the Shan king from Ava, and by 1557, went on to conquer all of what would become known as Burmese Shan States under his rule, from Assamese border in the northwest to those in Kachin Hills and Shan Hills, including the two most powerful Shan States, Mohnyin and Mogaung. (Bayinnaung also conquered Lan Na in 1558 but allowed the more established kingdom to retain more autonomy.) The Shan states were reduced to the status of governorships but the Saophas were permitted to retain their royal regalia and their feudal rights over their own subjects. Bayinnaung introduced Burmese customary law, and prohibited all human and animal sacrifices. He also required the sons of Saophas to reside in the Burmese king's palace essentially as hostages for good conduct of their fathers and to receive valuable training in Burmese court life. This was a policy followed by Burmese kings right up to the final fall of the kingdom to the British in 1885.Ming dynasty of China by the middle of 15th century.) (Northernmost Shan states in Yunnan had already fallen to the Ming dynasty of China by the middle of 15th century.
To be sure, the reach of Burmese sovereign waxed and waned along with the ability of each Burmese monarch. Shan states became briefly independent following the collapse of the first Taungoo dynasty, in 1599. Nonetheless, the Restored Taungoo dynasty under King Nyaungyan and King Anaukpetlun had recovered the Shan states, including the two strongest—Monhyin and Mogaung by 1605 and Lan Na by 1615. Starting in the late 17th century with the reign of King Minyekyawdin, the rule of Burmese monarchs declined gradually, and by the 1730s, Shan States like other areas in the kingdom were de facto independent.
In the middle of the 18th century, the Burmese Konbaung dynasty's reassertion of easternmost boundaries of Burmese Shan States led to a war with the Qing dynasty of China, which launched four separate invasions of Burma in 1765, 1766, 1767 and 1769. For a brief period, after the second invasion, the Burmese occupied eight Chinese Shan states within Yunnan. Although the Burmese would give up these Chinese Shan states soon after, but their success in repelling a numerically far superior Chinese force laid the foundation for the present day boundary between Burma and China. The present-day boundary of southern Shan State vis-a-vis Thailand was also formed shortly after. In 1774, Burma lost much of Lan Na kingdom to a resurgent Bangkok-based Siam, ending a two century plus Burmese suzerainty over the region and retaining just Kengtung on the Burmese side.
Throughout the Burmese feudal era, Shan states supplied much manpower in the service of Burmese kings. Without Shan manpower, it would have been difficult, if not impossible, for the Burmans alone to achieve their much vaunted victories in Lower Burma, 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.
After the Second Anglo-Burmese War of 1852, the Burmese kingdom was reduced to Upper Burma alone. The Shan states—especially those east of the Salween, were essentially autonomous entities, just paying token tribute to the king. In 1875, King Mindon, in order to avoid certain defeat, ceded Karenni states, long part of Shan states, to the British. When the last king of Burma, King Thibaw--coincidentally a half Shan--ascended the throne in 1878, the rule of central government was so weak that Thibaw had to send thousands of troops to tame a rebellion in the Shan state of Mongnai and other eastern Shan states for the remainder of his 6 year reign.
Colonial period (1886-1948)
On 28 November 1885, the British captured Mandalay, officially ending the Third Anglo-Burmese War in just 11 days. But it was only in 1890 that the British were able to subdue all of Shan states. Under the British colonial administration, established in 1887, the Shan states were ruled by their saophas as feudatories of the British Crown. The British however placed Kachin Hills inside Mandalay Division and northwestern Shan areas under Sagaing Division. In October 1922, the Shan states, and Karenni states were merged to create the Federated Shan States, under a commissioner who also administered the Wa State. This arrangement survived the constitutional changes of 1923 and 1937.
During World War II, most of Shan States came under the Japanese occupation. Chinese Kuomingtang (KMT) forces came down to northeastern Shan states to face the Japanese. Thai forces, allied with the Japanese, occupied Kengtung and surrounding areas in 1942.
After the war, the British returned and many Chinese KMT forces stayed inside Burmese Shan states. Negotiations leading to independence at the Panglong Conference in February 1947 secured a unitary Shan State including former Wa states, but without the Karenni states. More importantly, Shan State was the only entity to gain the right of secession in 10 years from independence.
Independence (1948-present)
Soon after gaining independence in January 1948, the central government led by U Nu faced several armed rebellions. The most serious was the Chinese Nationalist KMT invasion of Shan State in 1950. Driven out by the Chinese Communist forces, Nationalist KMT armies planned to use the region east of the Salween river as a base from which to regain their homeland. In March 1953, the KMT forces with American help were on the verge of taking the entire Shan State, and within a day's march of the state capital Taunggyi. The Burmese army drove back the invaders east across the Salween but much of the KMT army and their progeny would remain in the eastern Shan State under various guises to the present day. The Burmese army's heavy handedness fueled resentment.
n 1961, Shan saophas led by the first president of Burma and saopha of Yawnghwe Sao Shwe Thaik proposed a new federal system of government for greater autonomy even though the Shans had the constitutional right to secede. Though Shan leaders promised not to exercise the right, it was seen by the Burmese army led by Gen. Ne Win as secessionist.[14] Gen. Ne Win's coup d'etat in 1962 brought an end to the Burmese experiment with democracy and with it, the call for greater autonomy for the ethnics. The coup fueled the Shan rebellion, started in 1958 by a small group called Noom Suik Harn (Young Warriors), now joined by the Shan State Army (SSA).
By the early 1960s, eastern Shan State, festered with several insurgencies and warlords, emerged as a major opium growing area, part of the so-called Golden Triangle. Narcotics trafficking became a vital source of revenue for all insurgencies. Major forces consisted of the SSA, Communist Party of BurmaKhun Sa, and Lo Hsing Han. By the mid-1960s, CPB had began receiving open support from China. Thailand also began a decades-long policy of support for non-Communist Burmese rebels. Families of insurgent leaders were allowed to live in Thailand, and insurgent armies were free to buy arms, ammunition, and other supplies.
In the late 1980s and 1990s, the military government signed ceasefire agreements with 17 groups, including all major players in Shan State. An uneasy truce has ensued but all forces remain heavily armed. Today, the 20,000 strong United Wa State Army (UWSA) is the largest armed group, and heavily involved narcotics trade. In the 2008 Constitution, endorsed by the Burmese junta, certain UWSA controlled areas were given the status of an autonomous region.
In recent decades, Chinese state and ethnic Chinese involvement in Shan State has deepened. Hundreds of thousands of illegal Chinese immigrants have flooded Upper Burma since the 1990s. Chinese investment in the state has funded everything from hydropower and mining projects to rubber plantations, illegal logging, and illegal wildlife trafficking. Wa and Kokang regions, led by ethnic Chinese, openly use the yuan and operate on Chinese Standard Time.
Geography
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 Burma, shallow but 14 miles long and 7 miles wide. Pindaya Caves near Aungbanlimestone caves which contain 6226 Buddha images.
Administration
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:
- Kengtung (also spelled Kengtong, Kyaingtong, Kentung)
- Kunlong (also spelled Kunlon)
- Kyaukme
- Lashio (also spelled Lasho)
- Laukkaing
- Loilen (also spelled Loi-lem, Loi-leng)
- Mong Hpayak (also spelled Maingbyat)
- Mong Hsat (also spelled Muang Sat, Maingsat)
- Mu Se (also spelled Muse)
- Tachileik (also spelled Tachilek, Tha Chi Lek, Tha Chaleak)
- Taunggyi
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. Much of the meth-amphetamine (yaba) that ends up in Thailand is produced in this region as well.
Demographics
The people of Shan State can be divided into six primary ethnic groups: the Shan, Pa-O, Intha, Taungyo, Danu, Palaung and Kachin.
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, Namhpaka, Kutkai, and Lashio Townships along the Burma China Border and also in the middle of Shan State, in Namhsam, Kyaukme and ThibawTownships. The population of the Palaung people is over 100,000.[citation needed] Some of the Palaung people in Kalaw and Aungban 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. The Kachin People are numerous in the Northern Shan State, in Namkham, Muse, Namhpaka, Kutkai, Kawng Hka, Mungmyit Kodawng, Kengtung and Lashio Townships and along the Burma China Border. The Kachin people in Shan state is estimated over 200,000.| Capital | Taunggyi |
| Region | East central |
| Area | 155,801 km² |
| Population | 51,49,000 (2008) |
| Ethnicities | Shan, Bamar, Chinese, Wa, Kachin, Danu, Intha, Palaung, Pa-O, Taungyo, Indians |
| Religions | Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism |
Description of the flag
In an old (1993) magazine I found a picture with this flag: a three equal horz stripes yellow - green - red and a central white disc over them. The caption says:
"Gen. Khun Sa, the "king of opium" of the Golden Triangle, called "the prince of death". He is the chief of a private army of 20.000 people, the Mong Tay Army, which controls wide opium plantations in the eastern Burman jungle."
Giuseppe Bottasini, 1 April 1996
I think this flag is the flag of the Shan state. A version of this flag appears in Crampton (1990), at the page of the flags of the peoples seeking independence.
Pascal Vagnat, 2 April 1996
In "Flaggenmitteilungen" no. 100 an article about the flag of Shanland:
Breadth 3 x length 1 1/2, radius of white disc 1, three horizontal stripes yellow-ochre/green/red in a ratio of 1/2 each.
Mark Sensen, 1 June 1996
I'd rephrase it to "flag ratio of 3:6, circle diameter of 2 and stripes height of 1"
Antonio Martins18 June 1999
Meaning of the flag
In "Flaggenmitteilungen" no. 100 an article about the flag of Shanland:
Yellow ochre indicates that all of the nationalities of Shanland belong to the yellow race; also indicates that Shanland is a Buddhist country, the robe of the Buddhist monks has the same color. Green represents the evergreen landscape, warm climate and agriculture, the basis of Shan economy. Red symbolizes the courageous spirit of the Shan people. White disc stands for the moon, because the Shan people are so pure and gentle like the moon; they love peace and quiet, they wish to co-exist peacefully with all nationalities inside and outside of Shanland, and they do not provoke and attack the other peoples.
Mark Sensen, 1 June 1996
Yellow doesn't indicate the robe of the monk but the rice field (at the time of harvest).
Dr. Sai Mtwe Maung, 6 March 1998
"Starting from the center, the white circle illustrates the moon, for that we are so pure and peace-loving people. Red stripe is for bravery and courage, Green represents our mysterious evergreen mountain plateaus and agriculture while Yellow sympolizes the color of Buddhism for us we are mostly devout Buddhist.""The Shan National Day, February 7 1947 symbolises the day when all the Shan Leaders and peoples of the Shan State got together to adopt the Shan Flag and the National Anthem. [...] On the 12th February 1947 Shan and other non-Burman Ethnic Leaders signed the “Panglong Agreement” with Bogyoke Aung San, who represented the Burman Ethnic State, Burma Proper, to ask the British Government for joint independence. A Union Constitution was drafted and passed in 1947, which was witnessed by the British Government Officials. Thus the Union of Burma came into existence. According to the Agreement and Constitution the Union of Burma was made up of several states and not one single state, “Myanmar or Burma” as termed by the SPDC and as perceived by some international communities. The Agreement also stated that all member states should have equal status and equal opportunities and that the Shan State and the Karenni State have the right to secede from the Union after a period of ten years, which was the year 1958. [...] The non- Burman ethnic nationals were betrayed and The Panglong Agreement” dishonoured by the Burmese Military Regimes when they staged a coup and immobilised Shan Leaders by putting them in prison. The Constitution was destroyed and the Union of Burma dissolved.
The Shan Herald Agency for News (SHAN) gives more details on the history of the State and of its flag:
From http://www.shanland.org/flag.htm with the revealing text:
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Nowaday, about shan state map and location
1 = Muse (a town on Myanmar - China border)2 = Nan Hkan (Nam Hkan)
3 = Kun Lon
4 = Kut Khai
5 = Moe Meik
6 = Mine Maw (Mong Maw)
7 = Lashio
8 = Nam-Tu (mine area)
9 = Hsipaw
10 = Kyauk Me
11 = Nong cho
12 = Tan Yen
13 = Mine Hsu (Mong Hsu)
14 = Maung Lar (Myanmar - China border)
15 = Kyaing Tone (Keng Tong - airport - daily domestic flights)
16 = Mine Pyin (Mong Ping)
17 = Kun Hing
18 = Nan Sang
19 = Loi Len
20 = Ho Pong
21 = Taunggyi (capital of Shan state)
22 = Shwe Nyaung
23 = Nyaung Shwe (entrance to eastern shore of Inle lake)
24 = Ba Htoo
25 = Pindaya
26 = Ywa Ngan
27 = Heho (airport - daily domestic flights)
28 = Aung Ban
29 = Kalaw
30 = Mine Yawing (Mong Yawing)
31 = Kyaing Lap (Keng Lap)
32 = Tachileik (Myanmar - Thai border)
33 = Mine Ton (Mong Tong)
34 = Pon Pa Kyin
35 = Hsi Hseng
36 = Pin Laung
37 = Pe Kon
38 = Pin Lon
A = To Bhamaw (Bhamo), the Ayeyarwaddy river, Myitkyina (Kachin state)
B = Mo Gok (mines of precious stones) in Mandalay division
C = Highway and railway to Maymyo (Pyin Oo Lwin) and Mandalay
D = Car road and train rail road to Thazi - a town on Yangon - Mandalay highway
E = Road to Ye Zin and Pyinmana
F = Car road to Thandaung (Kayin or Karen state) and Taungoo (Bago division)
G = Loikaw (capital of Kayah state)
H = Mae Sai - Thai border town in Chiang Rai province
I = Ruli - Chinese border town
R1 = Ayeyarwaddy river
R2 = Thanlwin or Sanlawin river
R3 = Mekong river (Burma - Laos border)
R4 = Shwe Li river (flows into the Ayeyarwaddy)
R5 = Dok Hta Waddy or Myit Nge river (flows into the Ayeyarwaddy)
R6 = Nam Pan river (flows into Thanlwin river)
R7 = Zaw Gyi river (flows into Myit Nge river)
R8 = Nampon river (flows into Thanlwin in Kayah state)
R9 = Nam Belu river (begins in Inle lake and flows into Nampon river)
R10 = Paung Laung creek flows into Sittaung river
L = Inle lake and Inle lake wildlife sanctuary
N1 = Lomwe nature reserve
N2 = Pa-sa nature reserve
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