Tai Nua people

Tai Nüa

ᥖᥭᥰ ᥘᥫᥴ ᥖᥭᥰ ᥖᥬᥲ ᥑᥨᥒᥰ
Tai Nüa in Burmese tribal records
Total population
540,000–700,000 (?)
Regions with significant populations
China (Yunnan Province) Thailand Laos Myanmar (Shan State and Kachin State)
Languages
Tai Nua
Religion
Buddhism and Tai folk religion
Related ethnic groups
Tai Ahom, Tai people, Tai Lao, Tai Thai, Shan people

Tai Nüa (Dehong Dai: ᥖᥭᥰ ᥘᥫᥴ Tai Lə; Chinese: 傣那 Dǎinà) is one of the Tai ethnicities in Southeast Asia. They are primarily found in the Yunnan Province of China, Laos, Thailand, Myanmar, and Vietnam, with some immigrating to the United States. There are, however, two distinct groups of Tai people called Tai Nua: one in China and Myanmar (Burma), and the other in Laos.

Ethnonyms

Tai Nua/Lua can be written as Tai Neua, Tai Nuea, Tai Nüa, or Dai Nua, and sometimes Tai Nau. They are also known as Dehong Dai, Dehong Tailurian, and Chinese Shan. The word Nua (Thai: เหนือ, Dehong Dai: ᥘᥫᥴ Lə) in the Tai languages means "north", so Tai Nua (Thai: ไทเหนือ, Dehong Dai: ᥖᥭᥰ ᥘᥫᥴ) means "Northern Tai" and is used by Tai people to refer to other Tai groups living to the north. However, the naming of the Tai people can be confusing; some publications may also use Dai Kong, Dai Loe, Tai Mao, and others. Two different groups of Tai people are called Tai Nua. Dehong is a Sinicized form meaning "Tai from the Hong River," which is the Tai name for the Salween River.

History

Tai Neua people in Laos

Tai Nua was one of the many ethnic groups in China that prospered during the 17th and 18th centuries. They came from an area referred to as Muang Neua and were called Tai Muang Neua. The former kingdom of the Tai Nua people had its capital at Muang Boo; other main cities included Muang Khwan and Muang Guoen Mai.

Tai Nua had many warlords of their own, known as Jao Fa (Lord of Sky). There were many Jao Fa or Khun descent as late as the early 19th century. There are still many Tai Nua villages in China that preserve their heritage. Although Tai Nua in China are considered a small minority group, many of their relatives live in other countries in Southeast Asia, Europe, and America.

Some Tai Nua escaped depredation from China during the early 19th century and divided into three different routes, eventually settling in Laos, Thailand, and Burma. Tai Nua in Laos are found in nine villages, including Ban Koum, Ban Patoy, Ban Nam Keoluang, Ban Siriheuang, and Ban Tong Mai. There are as many as 16 villages of Tai Nua people living in Kiang Tung (Xiang Tung), Burma. Five of the villages are located in the town of Xiang Tung, including Xao Paed, Bo Heua, Nong Kham, Pa Laeng, and Suan Luang.

Since the Laotian Civil War in the 1960s, some Tai Nua fled Muang Sing to escape the newly established communist control. They settled in Bokeo Province, about 25 kilometres (16 mi) north of Ban Houeisai, in Ban Namkeung Mai. This area was first settled by the Yao or Mien ethnic group during the CIA-backed conflict. Chao La was the chief of this village. His family, along with other Mien families, fled from Muangsing in 1965. By 1973, when Nam Touiy was lost to communism, the rest of the Tai Nua in Nam Touiy fled to join their relatives in Ban Namkeung Mai. A few families immigrated to other countries after Laos fell under communist control in 1975. Today, more than 30 Tai Nua families still live in Ban Namkeung Mai, Laos, which has become the sixth village of Tai Nua in Laos.

Demographics

Today, most of the Tai Nua people live in China, where they are classified with other related Tai peoples as the Dai people, one of the 56 ethnic groups officially recognized by the People's Republic of China. The number is estimated to be around 540,000 in China (2001 census), and around 700,000 in total, including those in other countries. The Tai Nua people are Buddhist, but their beliefs are mixed with animism and polytheism.

Language

The Tai Nuea language is closely related to other Tai languages. It has its own script, the Tai Le or Dehong Dai script, used in Yunnan, China. However, the Tai Nua people of Houaphanh Province in Laos speak a different dialect from those in Yunnan and Burma; the dialect spoken in Yunnan is a Southwestern Tai dialect, while the Laotian dialect has Northern Tai features.

Culture

The Tai Nua people have their own culture, traditions, language, and literature.

New Year

Among their many festivities is the New Year celebration, "Jin Leun Sam", which typically falls on the first day of the third month of the lunar calendar. The New Year celebration is an important festival in Tai Nua tradition, with people living outside their hometown returning to celebrate with family and friends.

The festivities may last up to a week, with activities such as swinging on the "Ki Tong Ja", playing with spinning tops, and participating in competitions like "Toh Mark Khang" and tossing bean bags "Peak Gon". This is also a time for children to ask for forgiveness from their elders ("Su Ma") by preparing an offering of flowers. On the last day of the festival, an effigy of a bull is created from straw and is burned in a ceremony to symbolize the departure of the old year.

It is also the time for the Tai Neua people to make traditional cakes, such as sesame rice cakes ("Khao Pook Nga") and rice ball cakes ("Kao Ke Mah"). People invite friends and family to join them for special meals throughout the week, culminating on the first day of the New Year ("Meu Ho Leun Sam"). The final celebration takes place at the temple, where a big festivity is held with the blessing of the monks.

Performing arts

Daiju (傣剧), classified as a form of "minority drama" (shaoshan minzu xiqu, 少数民族戏曲), is most popular in the Dehong Dai and Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture, as well as in neighboring Baoshan, both of which are located in the westernmost part of Yunnan Province, bordering Burma's Kachin and Shan states. It combines traditional Dai music and dance with stories drawn from long narrative poems (叙事长诗) and folk tales (often from Buddhist traditions), blending elements from Han Chinese theatrical traditions, including Dianju (滇剧, Yunnan opera), Beijing opera, and piyingxi (皮影戏, shadow puppet plays).

The genre originated during the late Qing Dynasty when Dai traditional artists and intellectuals worked to translate scripts from Beijing opera, Sichuan opera, and Dianju into the Dai language, creating a new form of theater for Dai people. During the reign of the Tongzhi Emperor (同治帝, r. 1861–1875), Shang He (尚贺), a resident of Yingjiang County (盈江县, then known as Ganya, 干崖) in what is now Dehong Prefecture, drew on old Dai literature to create the first Daiju play, entitled "Xiang Meng" (相勐).

See also

• Tai languages
• Tai people
• Shan people
• Ahom people
• Tai Khün

Further reading

• Schliesinger, Joachim (2015). Ethnic Groups of Laos Vol 3: Profile of Austro-Thai-Speaking Peoples. BooksMango.
• Pierson, David E. (2007). The Tai, an Ethnographic Survey: Understanding the People, Their Culture and Their Language. University Press.