Mong Mao was an ethnically Tai state that controlled several smaller Tai states or chieftainships along the frontier of what is now Myanmar and China in the Dehong region of Yunnan with a capital near the modern-day border town of Ruili. The name of the main river in this region is named the Nam Mao River also know as the Shweli River. Tai peoples include: the Lao of Laos and Northeast Thailand the Northern Thai (Lanna or Thai Yuan) of Thailand the Thai of Thailand the Shan (Thai Yai) of Burma the Thai Lue of Laos and China (also called Dai) the Nung of China, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam the Black Tai (Tai... The Dehong Dai and Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture (Chinese: Déhóng DÇŽizú Jǐngpōzú zìzhìzhōu 德宏傣族景颇族自治州) is located in the west of Yunnan province in southwest China. ...   (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: ; literally south of the clouds) is a province of the Peoples Republic of China, located in the far southwestern corner of the country. ... Ruili (simp. ...

The chronicle of this region, which was written much later, was named the Mong Mao Chronicle. ^[1]

Mong Mao arose in the power vacuum left after the Kingdom of Dali in Yunnan fell to the Mongols around 1254. This kingdom had asserted some unity over the diversity of ethnic groups residing along the southwest frontier of Yunnan. ^[2] Dali (大理 pinyin: Dàlǐ) was a Bai kingdom centered in what is now Yunnan Province of the Peoples Republic of China. ...

"Mong Mao" is sometimes used by authors to refer to the entire group of Tai states along the Chinese-Myanmar frontier including Luchuan-Pingmian, Mong Yang (Chinese: Meng Yang), and Hsenwi (Chinese: Mu Bang), even though specific place names are almost always used in Ming and Burmese sources ^[3].

The center of power shifted frequently between these smaller states or chieftainships. Sometimes they were unified under one strong leader, sometimes they were not. As the Shan scholar Sai Kam Mong observes: "Sometimes one of these [smaller states] strove to be the leading kingdom and sometimes all of them were unified into one single kingdom...The capital of the kingdom shifted from place to place, but most of them were located near the Nam Mao [river] (the "Shweli" on most maps today)" ^[4] The Shan (Burmese: ; IPA: ; Chinese: ; pinyin: ) are an ethnic group of Southeast Asia. ...

The various versions of the Mong Mao Chronicle provide the lineage of Mong Mao rulers. The Shan chronicle tradition, recorded very early by Elias (1876), provides a long list with the first ruler of Mong Mao dating from 568 A.D. The dates in Elias for later rulers of Mong Mao do not match very well the dates in Ming dynasty sources such as the Ming Shi-lu (Wade, 2005) and the Bai Yi Zhuan (Wade, 1996) which are considered more reliable from the time of the ruler Si Ke Fa. Kazhangjia (1990), translated into Thai by Witthayasakphan and Zhao Hong Yun (2001), also provides a fairly detailed local chronicle of Mong Mao. The Shan (Burmese: ; IPA: ; Chinese: ; pinyin: ) are an ethnic group of Southeast Asia. ... For other uses, see Ming. ... The Ming Shi-lu contains the imperial annals of Ming dynasty emperors (1368-1644) and is the single largest historical source for the dynasty and plays an extremely important role in the historical reconstruction of Ming society and politics. ... The Bai Yi Zhuan is a description of the Thai polity of Mong Mao in 1396 written by two envoys, Qian Guxun and Li Sicong, sent by the Ming court in China to resolve conflicts between the Ava kingdom in Burma and Mong Mao, also known as Luchuan-Pingmian. ...

List of Monarchs

Si Ke Fa is the Chinese name given to the ethnic Tai ruler who ruled over the Kingdom of Mong Mao from 1340 to 1371. ...

References

• Daniels, Christian (2006) "Historical memories of a Chinese adventurer in a Tay chronicle; Usurpation of the throne of a Tay polity in Yunnan, 1573-1584," International Journal of Asian Studies, 3, 1 (2006), pp. 21-48.

• Elias, N. (1876) Introductory Sketch of the History of the Shans in Upper Burma and Western Yunnan. Calcutta: Foreign Department Press. (Recent facsimile Reprint by Thai government in Chiang Mai University library).

• Jiang Yingliang (1983) Daizu Shi [History of the Dai ethnicity], Chengdu: Sichuan Renmin Chubanshe.

• Kazhangjia, Z. (1990). "Hemeng gumeng: Meng Mao gudai zhuwang shi [A History of the Kings of Meng Mao]." In Meng Guozhanbi ji Meng Mao gudai zhuwang shi [History of Kosampi and the kings of Meng Mao]. Gong Xiao Zheng. (tr.) Kunming, Yunnan, Yunnan Minzu Chubanshe.

• Liew, Foon Ming. (1996) "The Luchuan-Pingmian Campaigns (1436-1449): In the Light of Official Chinese Historiography". Oriens Extremus 39/2, pp. 162-203.

• Sai Kam Mong (2004) The History and Development of the Shan Scripts, Chiang Mai; Silkworm Books.

• Wade, Geoff (1996) "The Bai Yi Zhuan: A Chinese Account of Tai Society in the 14th Century," 14th Conference of the International Association of Historians of Asia (IAHA), Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand [Includes a complete translation and introduction to the Ming travelogue "Bai-yi Zhuan", a copy can be found at the Thailand Information Center at Chulalongkorn Central Library]]

• Wade, Geoff. tr. (2005) Southeast Asia in the Ming Shi-lu: an open access resource, Singapore: Asia Research Institute and the Singapore E-Press, National University of Singapore, http://epress.nus.edu.sg/msl/

• Witthayasakphan, Sompong and Zhao Hong Yun (translators and editors) (2001) Phongsawadan Muang Tai (Khreua Muang ku muang), Chiang Mai: Silkworm. (Translation of Mong Mao chronicle into the Thai language)

His Majesty King Rama V of Siam, with his son, HRH Crown Prince Maha Vajirunnahis (portrait in National History Museum, Bangkok) King Chulalongkorn the Great or Rama V (royal name: Phra Chula Chomklao Chaoyuhua; Thai script: พระบาทสมเด็จพระจุลจอมเกล้าเจ้าอยู่หัว) (September 20, 1853 - October 23, 1910) was the fifth king of the Chakri dynasty... The Thai language (Thai: , transcription: phasa thai; IPA: ), is the national and official language of Thailand and the mother tongue of the Thai people, Thailands dominant ethnic group. ...

Notes

1. ^ Elias, 1876; Daniels, 2006; Kazhangjia, 1990; Witthayasakphan and Zhao Hong Yun, 2001
2. ^ Daniels, 2006, p. 28
3. ^ Wade, 2005
4. ^ Sai Kam Mong, 2004, p. 10, citing Jiang Yingliang, 1983

External links

• Crucible of War: Burma and the Ming in the Tai Frontier Zone (1382-1454), by Jon Fernquest