Shan people
The Shan people (Shan: တႆး, pronounced [táj]; Burmese: ရှမ်းလူမျိုး, pronounced [ʃáɰ̃ lùmjó]), also known as the Tai Long or Tai Yai, are a Tai ethnic group of Southeast Asia. The Shan are the biggest minority of Burma (Myanmar)[3] and primarily live in the Shan State of this country, but also inhabit parts of Mandalay Region, Kachin State, Kayah State, Sagaing Region and Kayin State, and in adjacent regions of China (Dai people), Laos, Assam and Meghalaya (Ahom people), Cambodia (Kula people), Vietnam and Thailand.[4] Though no reliable census has been taken in Burma since 1935, the Shan are estimated to number 4–6 million,[1] with CIA Factbook giving an estimate of five million spread throughout Myanmar[2] which is about 10% of the overall Burmese population.[3][5]
"Tai Yai" redirects here. Not to be confused with Tai Ya or Tayal. For other uses of Shan, see Shan.Etymology[edit]
The Shan use the endonym Tai (တႆး) in reference to themselves, which is also used in Chinese (Chinese: 傣族; pinyin: Dǎizú).[6] Shan (ရှမ်း) is an exonym from the Burmese language; the term itself was historically spelt သျှမ်း (MLCTS: hsyam:), and is derived from the term Siam, the former name of Thailand. The term has been borrowed into Chinese (Chinese: 掸族; pinyin: Shànzú). In Thai, the Shan are called Tai Yai (ไทใหญ่, lit. 'Great Tai')[7] or Ngiao (Thai: เงี้ยว) in Tai yuan language. The Shan also have a number of exonyms in other minority languages, including Pa'O: ဖြဝ်ꩻ, Western Pwo Karen: ၥဲၫ့, and Mon သေံဇၞော် (sem).[8]