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Hsipaw State was perhaps one of the most well known and powerful saopha Shan States. According to the biography of Sao Nang Hearn Hkam (the chief wife, Madhidevi of Sao Shwe Thaik, the first president of Myanmar and another saopha of Hsenwi), Hsipaw, along with Kengtung and Yawnghwe were the wealthiest and most powerful saopha states in Shan State.<br/><br/> The Saophas played fluctuating roles in regional Shan and national Burmese politics from the 11th century all the way until the 1962 military coup by General Ne Win.
Photograph of a Sawbwa’s wife and child at Wuntho in Burma (Myanmar) from the Elgin Collection: 'Autumn Tour 1898', taken by Felice Beato c.1891. The portrait was taken in front of a house at Wuntho, showing the wife and child of the Wuntho Sawbwa, a Shan feudal lord, seated on the ground with food baskets. Attendants are arranged around the pair in a semi-circle and two servants hold umbrellas over the group.<br/><br/> The woman wears a striped silk <i>hta-mein</i> (wrap-around skirt), a close-fitting jacket of fine muslin or cotton known as an <i>ein-gyi</i>, and necklaces. During the Konbaung Dynasty (1752-1885), rich jewellery, fine fabrics such as silk, and garments such as her jacket were reserved for court officials and their wives by sumptuary laws. After the fall of the Burmese monarchy they were worn by the wealthy.<br/><br/> Wuntho or Waing Hso was a native state of Upper Burma when Burma (Myanmar), was under British control. It had an area of around 6,200 square kilometres (2,400 sq mi) with 150,000 inhabitants and lay midway between the Ayeyarwady and Chindwin rivers.
Sao Nang Hearn Kham, Daw Hearn Kham, (b. 26 May 1916 in Hsenwi d. 17 January 2003 in Canada) was the Mahadevi of Yawnghwe one of the most important Shan States. Her husband Sao Shwe Thaik was the 23d and last Saopha of Yawnghwe and became the first President of Burma. She had five children with him.<br/><br/> She was born as Hearn Kham on 26 May 1916 in Hsenwi, Northern Shan State, as the daughter of 65th Saopha Hkun Hsang Ton Hong of North Hsenwi. Her brother would be the 66th and last saopha of the state.<br/><br/> Together with her husband she participated in the 1946 - 1947 Pang Long Agreement. In post-independence Burma she became a M.P. for the constituency of Hsenwi between 1956 and 1960 and became known for her active role within the parliament.<br/><br/> Her husband was arrested in the Burmese coup d'état in March 1962 by the Revolutionary Council headed by General Ne Win and one of her sons, who was 17 at that time, was killed in the military coup, apparently the only casualty on the day of the disturbances. She fled with her family to Thailand in April 1962 and her husband died in prison in November the same year. While in exile she participated in the independence struggle of the Shan State. In 1964 Sao Nang Hearn Kham, together with her son Chao-Tzang Yawnghwe, helped to form the Shan State War Council (SSWC) and the Shan State Army (SSA), becoming Chairwoman of the SSWC.<br/><br/> Sao Nang Hearn Kham died on the 17th January 2003 in exile in Canada at the age of 86. Hso Khan Pha, one of her five children took up her cause of fighting for the liberation of the Shan people.
Saopha, Chaofa, or Sawbwa was a royal title used by the rulers of the Shan States of Myanmar (Burma). The word means 'king' in the Shan and Tai languages.
Hsipaw was a Shan state in what is today Burma / Myanmar. Its capital was Hsipaw town.<br/><br/> Hsipaw State was one of the most well known and powerful saopha Shan States
Hsipaw State was perhaps one of the most well known and powerful saopha Shan States. According to the biography of Sao Nang Hearn Hkam (the chief wife, Madhidevi of Sao Shwe Thaik, the first president of Myanmar and another saopha of Hsenwi), Hsipaw, along with Kengtung and Yawnghwe were the wealthiest and most powerful saopha states in Shan State.<br/><br/> The Saophas played fluctuating roles in regional Shan and national Burmese politics from the 11th century all the way until the 1962 military coup by General Ne Win.
Located in the northeast of the country, Shan State covers one-quarter of Burma’s land mass. It was traditionally separated into principalities and is mostly comprised of ethnic Shan, Burman Pa-O, Intha, Taungyo, Danu, Palaung and Kachin peoples.<br/><br/> The ethnic Tai-Shan people are believed to have migrated from Yunnan in China. The Shan are descendants of the oldest branch of the Tai-Shan, known as ‘Tai Long’ (Great Tai) or ‘Thai Yai’ (Big Thai). The Tai-Shan who migrated to the south and now inhabit modern-day Laos and Thailand are known as ‘Tai Noi’ (Little Tai) or ‘Tai Nyai’.<br/><br/> The Shan have inhabited the Shan Plateau and other parts of modern-day Myanmar as far back as the 10th century CE. The Shan kingdom of Mong Mao (Muang Mao) existed as early as the 10th century CE, but became a Burmese vassal state during the reign of King Anawrahta of Pagan (1044-1077).
Hsipaw State was perhaps one of the most well known and powerful saopha Shan States. According to the biography of Sao Nang Hearn Hkam (the chief wife, Madhidevi of Sao Shwe Thaik, the first president of Myanmar and another saopha of Hsenwi), Hsipaw, along with Kengtung and Yawnghwe were the wealthiest and most powerful saopha states in Shan State.<br/><br/> The Saophas played fluctuating roles in regional Shan and national Burmese politics from the 11th century all the way until the 1962 military coup by General Ne Win.
Panglong in the Wa regions near the China border is a town founded by Chinese Muslim settlers in the trans-Salween Wa States. It became an important Hui (Chinese Muslim) settlement after the collapse of the Yunnan Muslim rebellion (1856 - 1873).<br/><br/> Chinese muleteers were known to the Burmese as Panthay, and to the Thai and Lao as Haw or Chin Haw. They were - and to some extent still are - the masters of the Golden Triangle.<br/><br/> Yunnanese Chinese muleteers have for several centuries been the traders of the 'Golden Triangle' formed by the junction between Burma, China, Laos and Thailand. Travelling as far afield as Moulmein in Burma, Chengdu in China, Luang Prabang in Laos, Chiang Mai in Thailand and Lhasa in Tibet, they have long been indomitable caravan masters and today continue to thrive in motorized long distance commerce.
Saopha, Chaofa, or Sawbwa (Thai: Chaofa, เจ้าฟ้า) was a royal title used by the rulers of the Shan States of Myanmar (Burma). The word means 'king' in the Shan and Tai languages. In some ancient Chinese literature it was recorded as 詔 (pinyin: Zhào) for example Six Zhao and Nanzhao.
Dance in Burma can be divided into dramatic, folk and village, and nat dances, each having distinct characteristics. Although Burmese dance has been influenced by the dance traditions of its neighbours, in particular Thailand, it retains unique qualities that distinguish it from other regional styles, including angular, fast-paced and energetic movements and emphasis on pose, not movement.<br/><br/> Various types of Burmese music use an array of traditional musical instruments, assembled in an orchestra known as hsaing waing which the Burmese saing saya Kyaw Kyaw Naing has made more widely known in the West. Traditional folk music is atypical in Southeast Asian music, as it is characterized by sudden shifts in rhythm and melody as well as change in texture and timbre.<br/><br/> Classical traditions of Burmese music are found in the Mahagita, an extensive collection of classical songs and are typically divided into indoor and outdoor ensembles. These songs tend to be about various legends in Pali and subsequently in Burmese intermingled with Pali, related to religion or the power and glory of monarchs, and then the natural beauty of the land, forests and the seasons, eventually feminine beauty, love, passion and longing, in addition to folk music sung in the paddy fields.
Saopha, Chaofa, or Sawbwa (Thai: Chaofa, เจ้าฟ้า) was a royal title used by the rulers of the Shan States of Myanmar (Burma). The word means 'king' in the Shan and Tai languages. In some ancient Chinese literature it was recorded as 詔 (pinyin: Zhào) for example Six Zhao and Nanzhao.
Sao Kawng Kiao Intaleng succeeded his brother to become the 53rd ruler (sawbwa) of the Shan state of Kengtung in 1895. He, his first wife, and his sister, Princess Tip Htila, all attended the Delhi Durbar in 1903 in a party of Shan princes guided by J. G. Scott. After this journey, in 1905, he built a new palace in Imperial Indian style at his capital, Kengtung. He was a popular and capable ruler, and abolished domestic slavery in the state. He died in 1935.<br/><br/> The Kengtung State Chronicle lists his six wives and nineteen children. The politician and scholar Sao Sāimöng was one of his sons.