| Xiangkhouang Province ຊຽງຂວາງ |
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|---|---|
| Location of Xiangkhouang Province in Laos | |
| Coordinates: | |
| Country | Laos |
| Established | |
| Capital | Phonsavan |
| Area | |
| • Total | 15,880 km2 (6,131.3 sq mi) |
| Population (2004) | |
| • Total | 262,200 |
| • Density | 16.5/km2 (42.8/sq mi) |
| Time zone | UTC+07 |
| ISO 3166 code | LA-XI |
Xiangkhouang (Lao: ຊຽງຂວາງ, meaning "Horizontal City") is a province of Laos, located in the north-east of the country. It was heavily bombed during the Vietnam War era.
Originally known as Muang Phouan, the famous Plain of Jars is located here. Many people talk with a slightly different accent than the usual Vientiane accent. Lum Phuan is highly popular in this region. The capital is Phonsavan.
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While the origin of the Plain of Jars` people is unknown, the recorded history of Xieng Khouang is interlinked with the Tai Phuan. The Tai Phuan or Phuan people are a Buddhist Tai-Lao ethnic group that migrated to Laos from southern China and by the 13th century had formed the independent principality Muang Phuan at the Plain of Jars with Xieng Khouang (the contemporary Muang Khoun) as the capital. They prospered from the overland trade in metals and forest products. In the mid-14th century, Muang Phuan was incorporated into the Lan Xang Kingdom under King Fa Ngum.[1][2]
The Phuan population were able to retain a high degree of autonomy although they had to pay tax and tribute to Lan Xang. During the 16th century expressive Buddhist art and architecture flourished. The capital was dotted with temples in a distinct Xieng Khouang style, i.e. simple low roofs with a characteristic ‘waist’ at the foundation. In 1930 Le Boulanger described it as ‘a large and beautiful city protected by wide moats and forts occupying the surrounding hills and the opulence of the sixty-two pagodas and their stupas, of which the flanks concealed treasures, obtained the capital a fame that spread fear wide and far.”
After the Kingdom of Siam, contemporary Thailand, extended control to Lao territories east of the Mekong in the 1770s, Muang Phuan became a Siamese vassal state and also maintained tributary relations with Dai Viet (Vietnam). To exert greater control of the lands and people of Muang Phuan, the Siamese launched three separate campaigns (1777–79, 1834–36 and 1875/76) to resettle large parts of the Phuan population to the south in regions under firm Siamese control. Subsequent invasions by Haw marauders, splinter groups of ex-Taiping Revolution rebels from Southern China plundered Luang Prabang and Xieng Khuang in the 1870s, and desecrated and destroyed the temples of the Phuan region.
The Franco-Siamese treaties of the 1890s placed Xieng Khouang under colonial rule as part of French Indochina until briefly after World War II. The French used Xieng Khouang today called Muang Khoun as their provincial capital. A few ruinous colonial public buildings remain such as the governor’s residence, church and the French school.
During the Second Indochina War that raged in Laos during the 1960s and early 1970s Xieng Khouang suffered heavy aerial bombing. Since Laos gained full independence in 1975, Xieng Khouang and the Plain of Jars are enjoying peace and tranquility after centuries of conflict. More details next section.
In August 1960, a neutralist military faction let by Kong Le seized Vientiane in a coup d’etat; but rightist forces, backed by the U.S. marched on Vientiane from the south and forced the neutralists to retreat. They moved back to the Plain of Jars and set up their headquarters in Muang Sui. Fighting ensued between the two sides until a second coalition government was formed in 1962. During this time a section of the neutralists developed good relationships to the Neo Lao Hak Sat (NLHS), the communist led Lao Patriotic Front and so some joined forces with the NLHS. From then on Xieng Khouang, along with neighbouring Houaphanh became one of the major theatres in the Lao Civil War.
From 1964 to 1973 Laos was a battlefield in a war. Both the USA and North Vietnam acted in direct contravention of the Geneva Accord of 1962, which recognized the neutrality of Laos and forbade the presence of all foreign military personnel. The war was so secret that the name of the country was banished from all communications. To evade the Geneva agreement the USA placed CIA agents in foreign-aid posts and temporarily turned air force officers into civil pilots. U.S. military trained the Royal Army as well as Hmong hill tribe guerrillas under the charismatic General Vang Pao, himself a Hmong. Muang Sui (Ban Nong Tang) once a city of antique Buddha temples and quaint provincial architecture, became a landing site also called” Lima Site”, used by US Aircraft. By the early 1970s more than 400 military runways were set up in the country. The Pathet Lao (PL) leadership allowed 7 North Vietname Army (NVA) divisions into northeastern Laos. By 1964 the NVA and the PL had at least 16 anti-aircraft emplacements along with a vast underground arsenal.
Civil war also swept back and forth across Xieng Khouang and Royal Lao Air Force fighter bombers joined the fight. Later they were followed by US Phantom jet fighter bombers that focused on towns and villages which fell into NLHS hands. All these villages became “free fire” zones. In addition secret saturation bombing of Pathet Lao and the North Vietnamese Army strongholds was carried out, but the PL simply moved its headquarters into caves near Xam Neua. Besides the daily bombing ground combat took place between the Hmong army and the forces from Vietnam and Pathet Lao. By 1973 almost every town in Xieng Khouang had been destroyed. Most of the population had fled and lived a subterranean existence in tunnels and caves or had been removed forcibly.
Laos endured some of the heaviest aerial bombing in history: 580,000 bombing missions unleashing around two tons of ordnance per inhabitant and at a cost of over 10 billion US dollars. Defoliants and herbicides were also dropped on Laos laying bare all vegetation, poisoning civilian crops and rendering the water system unusable even for irrigation.
Much of this bombing occurred in Xieng Khouang. The destruction which rained down on the province was partly an accident of geography. American pilots regularly took off from northeast Thailand for bombing missions in North Vietnam and along the Ho Chi Minh trail but bad weather often prevented them from reaching their targets. Pilots couldn’t risk landing with their bombs aboard, and the added weight burned too much fuel. So they jettisoned their ordnance over eastern Laos. Deep bomb craters are scattered all over the province and the extent of the bombardment can still be seen around Ban Khai (1), 30 km northwest of Phonsavanh.
War scrap has become an important part of the local architecture and economy in the province. The bomb casings are refashioned into items of every day use - as fence posts, as substitute for the traditional wooden stilts, as plant cases for vegetables - or sold as scrap. Aluminum spoons sold in local markets are said to be fashioned from the war scrap of downed American aircraft. Casings being used like this can still be seen in many Xieng Khouang villages.
The province is made up of the following districts:
The district Thatom was reassigned from the special zone Xaisomboun when it was dissolved in January 2006.
| Houaphanh Province | ||||
| Luang Prabang Province | Nghe An province, Vietnam | |||
| Xiangkhouang Province | ||||
| Vientiane Province | Bolikhamxai Province |
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