Namhsan
| Namhsan နမ့်ဆန်မြို့ | |
|---|---|
  Namhsan | |
| Coordinates: 22°57′54″N 97°9′48″E / 22.96500°N 97.16333°ECoordinates: 22°57′54″N 97°9′48″E / 22.96500°N 97.16333°E | |
| Country | Burma |
| Division | Shan State |
| Population (2005) | |
| • Ethnicities | Palaung |
| • Religions | Buddhism, Hinduism |
| Time zone | MST (UTC+6.30) |
Namhsan (Burmese: နမ့်ဆန်မြို့; Om-yar in Palaung), also spelt Namh San, Namsan, or Nam San, is the capital of Tawngpeng, a Palaung substate in northern Shan State of Burma. The only Palaung kingdom in the Shan States, the people of the town are predominantly of the Ka-tur (Samlong) tribe.[1] The people of the tribe are often referred to as the Golden Palaung (Shwe Palaung) because of the color of the belts that they wore.[2] In previous times they wore silver belts for dress occasions, but these days aluminum has taken its place.
Their language is called Shwe.[3] In Shwe, Namhsan means trembling waters and the town is thought to be so named because it is situated on a marsh which gets flooded during heavy rains. In its heydey, during the 1920s and 1930s, the town prospered because of the presence of silver mines in the kingdom and because of the tea grown in the area. The tribe was heavily studied by the anthropologist Leslie Milne.
Besides Palaung, the town is populated by Kayin, Lisu, and Shan ethnic tribal groups as well as Indians, and Chinese.
The town is a popular starting point for trekking to Hsipaw.
References
- ↑ Milne, Leslie (1924) The Home of an Eastern Clan: A study of the Palaungs of the Shan states Clarendon Press, Oxford, England, OCLC 5226811
- ↑ Marshall, Andrew (2002) The Trouser People: a story of Burma-in the shadow of the Empire Counterpoint, Washington, D.C., ISBN 1-58243-120-5
- ↑ Shwe is a separate language and is only partially intelligible by other Palaungic language speakers. "Overview of the Shwe De'ang" Asiaharvest.org, last accessed 5 October 2010
External links
- Satellite map Wikimapia
