Lahu History in Yunnan

                                                    by Jim Goodman

 

       Among Yunnan’s 25 recognized minority nationalities, the Lahu, with a population over 600,000, rank the eighth largest.  They speak a Tibeto-Burman language that’s part of the Yi sub-group, related to Yi, Lisu and Hani.  Despite some dialect differences among the many sub-groups, the basic Lahu language is mutually intelligible among them all.  Like many other ethnic minorities, the Lahu never developed a script for their language.  There are no Lahu books or records and what we know of their origin and early history depends on the people’s traditional myths and legends and scholars’ interpretations of them

       For a long time scholars believed the Lahu descended from an offshoot of the Qiang in northwest China.  Although it’s the name of a recognized minority nationality today, in ancient times the term ‘Qiang’ identified anyone in the far west who wasn’t Han, Mongol or Tibetan.  These proto-Lahu supposedly settled in the Yellow River plain until driven south by an expanding Han population, eventually all the way to Yunnan.  A Lahu genes study in 2015 cast doubt on this story, discovering no Lahu genes matching those of northwest China people and all of them resembling those of others in southwest China.

       On better grounds is the conjecture that the Lahu are descended from the ancient Kunming people who lived on the Dali plain.  They later migrated to the hills either during the Nanzhao Era (7^th-10^th centuries) or after the Mongol conquest 1253.  By the Ming Dynasty they were firmly ensconced in the range of mountains south of Dali in Lincang, Pu’er and Xishuangbanna prefectures, an area broadly identified as Loheishan in early Ming documents.  They established their settlements in remote mountain areas, far from the plains and their administrators, living in wood and bamboo stilted houses with an open balcony and thatched roof.. 

       They were basically self-sufficient, reclusive folks who lived by slash-and-burn agriculture supplemented by hunting, for which they were famous.  Legends speak of them as renowned tiger hunters and in fact their name Lahu in the Lahu language means ‘eaters of roast tiger flesh’.  Their Dai neighbors in the plains called them Museur, which means ‘hunter’ in Dai.  Several sub-groups exist, usually named after the dominant color of the women’s garments, like Yellow, Black or Red Lahu, which have sub-groups of their own and they all have their own distinct names for themselves.

       The most colorful are those in Nanmei district in Lincang County, the northernmost area of Lahu inhabitation in Yunnan.  Females of all ages dress in the traditional style; long-sleeved, side-fastened jacket with wide strips of embroidery and appliqué along the lapel, knee-length shorts and calf-wrappers.  Medium blue and yellow are the dominant colors.  South of Nanmei, in Gengma and Shuangjiang Counties, and the northern districts of Lancang County, the women wear more subdued colors, mostly black and mid-blue, sometimes with some trimming on the lapels, and wear black tubular skirts, some with a few red lines above the hem.  In the southern part of Lancang County and in Ximeng, Menglian and Menghai Counties they are more colorful again, featuring red and black garments with lots of embroidery and silver studs.  

       They are most concentrated in Lancang, where they occupy over 50% of the land, thus making it Lancang Autonomous Lahu County.  In the county capital stands a huge yellow gourd, symbolizing the one from which the Lahu people originated.  Mvuh Hpa Mi Hpa, the Lahu origin myth—Creating Heaven, Creating Earth—is widely known among the Lahu both in Yunnan and in Southeast Asia.  In the past Lahu bards sang verses of the epic at festivals and other special occasions.  The Lahu language had no script until 20^th century outsiders devised one based on the Latin alphabet.  The epic has been translated and published, but other versions exist, some much more embellished with details, yet all contain the same basic elements.

       Part One narrates how the all-powerful divinity G’ui-sha created the sky and the earth, making adjustments to make them the way they are now and adding the sun and the moon.  In Part Two G’ui-sha creates the elements of life on earth.  He starts with water, then plants and animals.  Next he makes a hut, burns it down and plants a gourd seed in the ashes.  It grows to a large size and when ripe topples over to the ground.  A wild ox accidentally breaks the vine and the gourd begins rolling away.

       When G’ui-sha discovers it is missing he starts searching and asks various plants and animals if they had seen it.  Most of them lie, so G’ui-sha curses them with certain consequences.  Humans, when finally born, he told them, would split up the dishonest bamboo to make baskets, eat the meat of the lying goats, use the prevaricating indigo to dye their plants, etc.  Trees and plants that answer honestly he rewards with the capacity to bear fruits or flowers.  Eventually he finds the gourd floating in the sea, conscripts crabs to bring it ashore and takes in home. 

       After it is thoroughly dried he orders rats to gnaw a hole in its hard surface.  From this hole emerge Ja Ti, the first man, and Na Ti, the first woman.  She later gives birth to six sons, who marry and become the progenitors of the six Lahu sub-groups.  The remainder of the section deals with the birth and growth of children and the creation of fire.  Part Three narrates the introduction of the characteristics of Lahu life and culture:  hunting and gathering, the use of iron, rice agriculture, establishing permanent settlements, using medicinal plants, raising cotton and celebrating New Year.

       Aside from the special veneration accorded G’ui-sha, Lahu religion was originally animist, like most mountain peoples, driven by fear of nefarious spirits and measures taken to propitiate them or prevent their misbehavior.  But a major outside influence began arriving in the 17^th century at the end of the Ming Dynasty.  An ex-Ming official Yang Dayuan, a monk at Jizushan north of Dali, undertook a mission to spread Mahayana Buddhism to  the highlanders of Loheishan, primarily the Lahu and Wa.  He was also reputedly an herbal medicine specialist and his ability to cure sick people while proselytizing made his spiritual message resonate all the stronger.  Lahu have always had a propensity to follow religious leaders who were healers.

       He established a monastery at Nancha, in northwest Lancang County, taught and trained new monks to carry on the mission elsewhere.  By the middle of the 18^th century there were seven major Mahayana temples in Lancang County and one each in Ximeng and Shuangjiang.   These were monasteries with monks, novices, regular spiritual exercises and rituals, lessons in Buddhist scriptures and meditation sessions, while  also the focus of great public festivals and community services.

       How extensive the adoption of Buddhism was is not certain.  Much of Lahu territory was beyond the range of the monasteries.  Villages had temples, but simple ones, without much in the way of imagery and no resident monks or novices, just caretakers.  Conversion also had political implications.  Yang’s mission came when Han immigration had begun in the area and the new Qing Dynasty was establishing control over the peripheral parts of the empire.  The monks were largely Ming loyalists resentful of the Manchu foreigner regime and it is reasonable to assume they spread anti-government sentiments along with their spiritual message to a people already wary of the new authorities.

        The Qing government policy began with rule by proxy, in which local rulers governed on its behalf and were expected to keep the peace and suppress revolts.  The Naxi Mu family in Lijiang, for example, was responsible for the entire northwest, establishing military posts as far north as upper Deqin County.  In 1727 the policy changed.  For most of Yunnan, including Lijiang, the government appointed its own Han governors.  But for the southern frontier areas they still relied on a number of Dai princes in autonomous states. 

       Most of the Lahu areas fell under the jurisdiction of the Dai sawba of Menglian.  Even if carried out by their local proxies, the new system entailed new interference in hitherto undisturbed remote areas.  The hill people rightfully assumed that this interference in their lives most likely meant taxes and forced labor conscription.  Throughout the rest of the 18^th and early 19^th centuries the Lahu staged periodic revolts against Menglian authorities.  While never completely successful, they did somewhat modify the burden of government requirements.

       Meanwhile, by mid-19^th century the Qing Dynasty was in clear decline and struggling to fend off British and French imperialist demands and encroachments.  The Qing Court’s fears multiplied as they witnessed the French take over Vietnam step-by-step and the British gobble up Burma in three stages.  Now imperialist forces stood on China’s own borders.  And while Vietnam’s border had long had clearly defined lines, Burma’s did not.  Burmese kings had never exercised direct control over any of the Dai states in southern Yunnan.  They demanded recognition of Burmese suzerainty, but so did the Qing emperors and most Dai states simply paid token tribute to both.

       In the 1880s Qing armies campaigned in southwest Yunnan to establish direct control in lieu of continuous British advances.  It took them years to subdue Lancang County, where the outnumbered, outgunned Lahu resisted the most and the longest, relying on guerilla tactics and their trusty crossbows.  The soldiers leveled the remaining Lahu monasteries, though these had mostly been abandoned already.  The campaign did work in halting the British advance and establishing permanent Chinese control over southern Yunnan.  It also sent lots of Lahu fleeing south to Menghai and Menglian Counties and over the border into northeast Burma.

       Since then, the main disturbances to Lahu culture and identity have been the Cultural Revolution and modernization.  The former was an all-out assault on Lahu tradition and identity.  Not all of the proscribed customs revived after it was over.  But ethnic pride did, as well as the wearing of traditional garments.  Modernization enhanced integration with the outside world, introduced new cash crops like tea in Xishuangbanna and potatoes in Lancang, and an improved transportation network enabling greater participation in the regular market days.  The Lahu are also more educated than past generations and less likely to believe in some of the traditional beliefs, taboos and superstitions.

      A minority of Lahu converted to Christianity and the first Protestant church in Yunnan was erected at Nuofu, a Lahu village in southern Lancang.  Others became Buddhist, of the Theravada branch practiced by their Dai neighbors.  Mahayana Buddhism among the Lahu and Wa died out over a century ago, though ruins of the monasteries of Nancha in Lancang and Mengka in Ximeng still attract occasional Lahu pilgrims.

       Some of the old Mahayana customs still persist in contemporary Lahu culture.  One of them was the observance of vegetarian ‘merit days’ on new moon and full moon with an injunction against farming, hunting and the killing or eating of domestic animals.  For a people famous as hunters that was a significant, Buddhist-inspired rule to adopt.  Mahayana influence is also evident in the village spirit house.   

        Like temples in Buddhist villages, the Lahu spirit house stands apart, and usually above, the residential area, its compound surrounded by stakes.  In some cases tall poles with banners, like Dai village temples, may also stand along the compound.  The building honors the Creator God G’ui-sha and the interior layout resembles that of a Mahayana temple, though without any image.  The altar features banners of the sun and moon, both venerated in Lahu thought.  The village ritual specialist carries out ceremonies here, such as the New Year in December, on behalf of the community.  New Year is also the occasion when the younger generation honors their elders by drawing fresh water and bathing them.

       Differing from other highlands people, the Lahu accord women a high status and the birth of a daughter is considered a blessing.  Originally Lahu society was matrilineal, the groom lived with his bride’s family and property passed from mothers to daughters.  Over time a dual inheritance system evolved, with sons inheriting from fathers and daughters inheriting from mothers.  Although parental approval was desirable, marriage partners were by choice, not arrangement.  To compensate the bride’s family for the economic loss they will experience, the groom lived in the bride’s house and worked for her father for a fixed period, usually three years.  Then he took her either to his family dwelling or to establish a house of their own.

       The inheritance system is evolving yet again as more Lahu youths leave the villages for work in the towns.  Nowadays Lahu parents tend to bestow the entire inheritance on the son or daughter who will best support them in their old age.

       The status of women is still high.  The elderly heads of the female lineages—groups of related families--are much respected.  They chair discussions and are the ultimate authority over cultural matters like customs or disputes.  Women are always more rooted in their culture and the persistence of this tradition bodes well for the future of the distinctive culture of the Lahu.  It’s as important an indicator as the beautiful Lahu-style clothes they continue to wear to the markets.

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               for more on the Lahu see my e-book Xishuangbanna: the Tropics of Yunnan 

The Ethnic Mix of Little-Known Menglian County

                                                           by Jim Goodman

       The landscape and culture of southwestern Yunnan’s Menglian County very much resemble that of Xishuangbanna.  Hills rise around the alluvial plains, where the major towns lie along rivers.  The Dai minority nationality dominates the plains population, wet-rice cultivators who live in stilted houses and practice Theravada Buddhism.  Other ethnic minorities, from the Tibeto-Burman and Mon-Khmer linguistic groups, inhabit the hills, growing dry rice, sugar cane or tea.

Dai temple in Menglian old town

       Menglian (the Chinese word for the original Dai Muang Lem) was never administratively part of Xishuangbanna, though.  The southern part of Lancang County separates it from Banna and even today travelers from Banna have to go to Lancang City first, then go southwest to Menglian.  Until the late Qing Dynasty Menglian was an autonomous Dai state, first established in the 13^th century.  The previous century a Dai chieftain in Xishuangbanna had already founded a kingdom, but relations between the two remained friendly.  The two shared a common religion and social order and their Dai dialects are close as well.

       The little Dai state of Menglian not only retained its autonomy over the centuries, it remained aloof from the internecine power struggles that plagued Xishuangbanna throughout the 19^th century, when Jinghong was repeatedly destroyed and rebuilt in new locations.  As a result, today virtually nothing remains of old Jinghong palaces, walls, classic buildings, etc, while Menglian’s old Dai 

riverside chedi

quarter still exists, nestled on a gentle slope beside the west bank of the river, opposite the new city.  In the past, the ruling family, state officials and nobles lived in the upper part of the slope, while the commoners lived on the flat section at the base of the hill and in hamlets across the river.  Today this section has become part of Menglian’s commercial quarter, but the upper part of the old town is still in place.

       Most of the houses have in the past decade or so replaced their bricks and tiles with cement and corrugated iron.   They retain the Dai style, though, with angled roofs and sculpted peacocks below the roof apex.  And while a couple of new, large temple compounds have gone up in recent years at the base of the hill, the old quarter still retains two of its old temples, with wooden walls and tiled roofs, further up the slope. 

       The old quarter also retains the former ruling chao’s palace, now the city museum, just above the ceremonial center of the town, about midway on the slope.  Though it’s obviously the biggest residential compound around, as a palace it is relatively modest.  The chao and his wife slept on simple mattresses on the floor, rather like the commoners, and did not furnish the place with a lot of fancy furniture, even in the royal audience hall.  The kitchen is not particularly capacious, the buildings not embellished with ornate carvings and other decorations, the heirlooms on display not evidence of a rich royal family. 

the former ruling chao muang's compound

       So it was not a particularly wealthy state, but it didn’t really need to be.  It had no quarrels with its neighbors.  Its people carried on with their lives in pretty much the same manner in the past as they do today.  They raise their crops, perform their daily chores and attend the periodic markets.  They have electricity now, modern communications devices like cell phones and computers, vehicles like motorbikes and tractor-trailers, but their lives are still ruled by the seasons.

       Menglian today still has that relaxed, laid-back atmosphere that must have characterized the former chao muang’s realm.  The city is not very big. From the new bus station on the expanded eastern edge of the city it’s but twenty minutes walk to the river.  Traffic is not very heavy yet.  The main road crosses the river and continues to other points in the county all the way to

Dai grill stand in Menglian city

the Myanmar border.  But above this road, taking a walk up the slope through the old town to the former palace or the two old temple compounds is like strolling through a quiet rural village.  The old town is beyond the hearing range of city traffic sounds.

       The new city is never very noisy, anyway.  Buildings are rarely more than four stories high, maximum seven, and no towering skyscrapers dominant the skyline as in Jinghong.  On my first visit in September, 1998 a row of attractive buildings and a gilt chedi lined the river’s east bank just below the bridge to the old town.  

Menglian riverside, 1998

After the turn of the century I found the city demolished all but the chedi, replacing them with a football field.  But a couple years later the city established a new park further downriver from the chedi, that included bronze sculptures of ethnic minority activities, a performance park, temple and other chedis, carved pillars and a palm-lined walkway beside the river to the southern bridge.

       Menglian is officially a Dai, Lahu and Wa Autonomous County in Pu’er Prefecture.  The Aini, though, are also a numerically significant presence and so the park’s sculptures include them as subjects, too.  Depictions of ethnic life include an Aini woman carrying a pack basket that uses a shoulder board and head-strap, as well as Dai farmers in the rice field, a Wa woman making liquor, a Lahu woman weaving with a back-strap loom, Dai dancing girls, a Wa hunter and a Lahu fisherman.  The performance area is the venue for government holiday events, but also the programs, usually dances, associated with the Dai Water-Sprinkling Festival and the Wa New Rice Festival.  At those times villagers of all ethnic minorities are in the city to watch the show and their colorful presence enhances the events.

Lahu women in Menglian for market day

Dai thread merchants, Menglian market

       They will also come to Menglian, in only slightly greater numbers, for the market day the city hosts every five days.  Arriving in trucks, minibuses and tractor-trailers, Dai, Lahu, Wa and Aini villagers swarm into the city from early morning.  Most of then are women and dress in all or part of their traditional outfits.  Among the Dai, it’s generally just the older women in ethnic clothing, dominated by white, gray, blue and black, with white turbans.  The Lahu women dress in red and 

Wa cap and earplugs

black sarongs and jackets.  Wa women are distinctive both by the style of sarong, the cap laden with silver chains, perhaps with s smoking pipe tucked into the top, and the large silver ear plugs and disc pendants they favor for jewelry.  

       Aini women, though, are the real standouts.  From dark indigo cotton cloth they weave and dye themselves they make an outfit that consists of a plain short skirt, pleated in the back, a colored and beaded sash hanging in front, a heavily embroidered jacket with appliquéd stripes on the sleeves, leg-wrappers similarly appliquéd, embroidered shoulder bag and an elaborate headdress.

       Basically the headdress is a fitted skullcap with a plate rising behind it, straight at the bottom and rounded at the top.  Rows of silver studs and beads cover the surface of the cap, while a false hair part protrudes below the front rim.  The back plate is covered in black cloth and often decorated with strings of beads and rows of silver studs.  From the sides of the headdress they might drape loops of beads and to the cap attach flowers, tassels, pompoms or green beetle wings. 

Aini woman checks for messages

AIni woman, Menglian market

       Many of the Aini men also show up in traditional attire, though of course these are less spectacular than the women’s.  The outfit comprises plain trousers, moderately embroidered jacket and plain turban.  Lahu, Dai and Wa men dress in modern style for the most part.  But men are a minority anyway in the city on market day, for women both run the stalls and do the shopping.  The big, covered central market is the main venue.  But on the side streets beside it villagers set up rows of stalls.  Aini women selling mountain and forest products—wild vegetables, mushrooms, herbs, bamboo grubs and bee larvae—will occupy one lane.  On another lane Dai women sell medicinal herbs and plants, vegetables, rice, farm tools and wooden items like mortars, chopping blocks, bowls, etc.  On other streets, for market day is not confined to only one area, Wa and Lahu women set up stalls to hawk their particular products. 

the Menglian Lahu ethnic style            

       Besides Menglian city itself, each district in the county holds its own regular market day.  The composition of the crowd will change according to the location.  The Aini who are so prominent in the Menglian market are elsewhere only present for market day in the border town of Mengxin, directly south of Menglian.  To the north and northwest, in hilly Nanya, Fuyan and Gongxin districts, some Dai come up from the valleys, but those in the market are mainly Wa, from the higher villages, and Lahu from lower on the slopes. 

       Southwest of Menglian, on the main road to Myanmar, Dai and Lahu dominate the Mengma market.  In Menga, the border town, the venue is a pleasant shady grove at the edge of town.  Besides the Dai locals, those in attendance include Wa and Lahu from both China and Myanmar.  You can sort of tell them apart, even when they belong to the same sub-group.  The poorer they appear to be, the more they just look around at all the goods and the less they actually purchase, the more likely they are to be from Myanmar.

winnowing grain near Mengma

       Both Mengma and Menga are plains towns, so the area around them mostly consists of Dai villages, plus a handful of resettled Wa hamlets.  Lush rice fields flank both sides of the highway and occasionally bamboo bridges span the stream running alongside.  The best time to enjoy this scenery is early autumn, when the fields turn golden yellow and the people are out in big groups, harvesting the crop together.  After they have threshed the grain they next winnow it by standing on a stilt.  The grain thus has further to fall than if they were doing it standing on the ground and the wind has more time to blow away the chaff.  The method may be unique to Menglian, for I’ve not seen it elsewhere in the province.

       Farmers in the hills grow a different kind of rice, but nowadays far less than in the past.  Many villages now raise tea or sugarcane as a cash crop, since these do not take so much out of the soil as rice does, so they do not need to make new fields for rice cultivation every two years.  Tea factories have been set up in the hills and during the tea boom times in Xishuangbanna several years ago, Menglian County tea cultivators also got a windfall.  They didn’t spend it on building a “modern style” concrete house to replace their own, though, as so many newly rich Banna people did.  Traditional style still characterizes houses in the tea garden villages in the hills of Menglian County.      

Wa woman, Mengxin district

       Despite its obvious attractions, Menglian still draws few tourists.  Compared to Xishuangbanna, it is less congested, less “touristy” and money–oriented, more authentic, its historical relics more intact, its ethnic minorities more colorful and traditional, yet it gets only a tiny sliver of the crowd that visits Banna.  Menglian’s people don’t particularly resent that.  They know their county is rather remote and not as well connected as Banna.  The few foreigners who make it there find the people quite friendly and quick to smile.  Minority women in town for market day do not avoid the camera nor shy away from their rare sight of a foreigner.  In fact, they may become curious, especially the Wa, and approach the visitor, not to sell some trinket or other, but to engage in a short conversation, short because of their own limited knowledge of Chinese.

       This is also true in the villages far from the city.  In my own excursions in the hills there I found my unexpected presence taken not as an intrusion but as a welcome interruption.  I could not be there more than five minutes before someone rushed to invite me inside the house for tea and talk.  Learning that I lived in Thailand provoked questions about the differences between the life of the Wa, Lahu or Aini there and in Menglian; or even between Menglian and Xishuangbanna.

       The big difference is that Menglian doesn’t have a tourist industry.  Villagers might feel less welcoming if busloads of camera-toting strangers descended regularly on their settlements or surrounded them in the city on market day to get selfies with the lady in the exotic costume.  In the 14 years since my initial and my most recent visit to Menglian, the city has added new suburbs as well as parks, and the people are as friendly, approachable and hospitable as ever.  Tourists are still rare and maybe that’s why the place is so relaxed and genuine.  And because it’s so off the beaten track, maybe it will stay charming for a long time to come.

Aini woman, Menglian market

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       for more on the Lahu and Aini see my e-book Xishuangbanna: the Tropics of Yunnan