Mong Mao

Mong Mao, Möngmao (Chinese: 勐卯; Burmese: မိုင်းမော) or Mao kingdom (Mong is the etymological equivalent of Thai Mueang, meaning nation) was an ethnically Dai state that controlled several smaller Tai states or chieftainships along the frontier of what is now Myanmar, China, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh etc principally set 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 the Nam Mao, also known as the Shweli River.

This article is about the former Shan state. For the town, see Mongmao.

Mong Mao
State of the ancient Shan States
560–1604
Territory of Mong Mao in the heyday of Si Kefa period.
History
• Möngmao state founded	560
• State extinguished	1604
Today part of	China India Myanmar
Ben Cahoon (2000). "World Statesmen.org: Shan and Karenni States of Burma". Retrieved 7 July 2014.

History

The chronicle of this region, titled the Mong Mao Chronicle, was written much later.[1] Some scholars identify Mong Mao with the Kingdom of Pong, as well as with the kingdom of Luh Shwan mentioned in Chinese chronicles. Like most of Tai Yai history, the history of the Kingdom of Pong is largely legendary and existing chronicles and traditions include conflicting names and dates which have led to different interpretations.[2]

Mong Mao arose in the power vacuum left after the Kingdom of Dali in Yunnan fell to the Mongol Yuan Dynasty around 1254. The Yuan ruled the region indirectly in what was known as the Native Chieftain System. This kingdom had asserted some unity over the diversity of ethnic groups residing along the southwest frontier of Yunnan.[3] In 1448, a combination of Ming, Sipsongpanna, and other allied forces subjugated Mong Mao.

"Mong Mao" is sometimes used by authors to refer to the entire group of Tai states along the Chinese-Myanmar frontier including Luchuan-Pingmian (麓川平緬), Mong Yang/Mong Yawng?? (Chinese: 孟養; pinyin: Mèngyǎng), and Hsenwi (Chinese: 木邦; pinyin: Mùbāng), even though specific place names are almost always used in Ming and Burmese sources.[4]

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)" [5]

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 Ming Shilu (Wade, 2005) and Baiyi Zhuan (Wade, 1996) which are considered more reliable from the time of the ruler Si Kefa. Kazhangjia (1990), translated into Thai by Witthayasakphan and Zhao Hongyun (2001), also provides a fairly detailed local chronicle of Mong Mao.

List of Monarchs

Chinese name	Years	Length	Succession	Death	Tai Name	Burmese name	Other names
Si Kefa 思可法	1340–1371	31 years		natural	Hso Kip Hpa	Thokhyibwa	Sa Khaan Pha
Zhao Bingfa 昭併發	1371–1378	8 years	son	natural
Tai Bian 臺扁	1378/79	1 year	son	murdered
Zhao Xiaofa 昭肖發	1379/80	1 year	brother of Zhao Bingfa	murdered
Si Wafa 思瓦發	?	?	brother	murdered	Hso Wak Hpa
Si Lunfa 思倫發	1382–1399	17 years	grandson of Si Kefa		Hso Long Hpa	Thowunbwa
Si Xingfa 思行發	1404–1413	9 years	son	abdicated
Si Renfa 思任發	1413–1445/6	29 years	brother	executed	Hso Wen Hpa	Thonganbwa	Sa Ngam Pha
Si Jifa 思機發	1445/6-1449		son	executed		Thokheinbwa	Sa Ki Pha, Chau Si Pha
Si Bufa 思卜發	1449-?					Thopoutbwa
Si Lunfa	?-1532			murdered		Sawlon	Sawlon

Descendants-Tai Ahom

Chaolung Sukaphaa was the founder of the Ahom kingdom in what is now parts of Assam. A Tai prince originally from Mong Mao, founded the kingdom in what is now Charaideo region of Assam, in 1228 and existed for nearly six hundred years which led to the process of Ahomisation and in the process unified the various indigenous ethnic groups of the region under the banner of 'Ahom' that left a deep impact on the region. In reverence to his position in Assam's history the honorific Chaolung is generally associated with his name (Chao: lord; Lung: great).

Since 1996 December 2 has been celebrated in Assam as the Sukaphaa Divawkh, or Axom Divawkh (Assam Day), to commemorate the advent of the first king of the Ahom kingdom in Assam after his journey over the Patkai Hills.

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 Hongyun (translators and editors) (2001) Phongsawadan Muang Tai (Khreua Muang ku muang), Chiang Mai: Silkworm. (Translation of Mong Mao chronicle into the Thai language)

Notes

1. Elias, 1876; Daniels, 2006; Kazhangjia, 1990; Witthayasakphan and Zhao Hongyun, 2001
2. Yos Santasombat, Lak Chang: A Reconstruction of Tai Identity in Daikong, p. 3-4
3. Daniels, 2006, p. 28
4. Wade, 2005
5. 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