Xiangkhouang (
Lao:
เบเบฝเบเบเบงเบฒเบ, meaning 'Horizontal City') is a province of
Laos
Laos (, ''Lฤo'' )), officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic ( Lao: เบชเบฒเบเบฒเบฅเบฐเบเบฐเบฅเบฑเบ เบเบฐเบเบฒเบเบดเบเบฐเปเบ เบเบฐเบเบฒเบเบปเบเบฅเบฒเบง, French: Rรฉpublique dรฉmocratique populaire lao), is a socialist ...
on the
Xiangkhoang Plateau
The Xiang Khouang Plateau or Xiang Khwang Plateau, also known in French as Plateau dTran-Ninh'' is a plateau in the north of Laos. The landscape is characterized by green mountains, rugged karst formations and verdant valleys with plenty of rivers, ...
, in the nation's northeast.
The province has the distinction of being the most heavily bombed place on Earth.
The province was originally known as the Principality of ''
Muang Phuan'' (Muang Phouan / Xieng Khouang). Its present capital is
Phonsavan
Phonsavan ( Lao: เปเบเบเบชเบฐเบซเบงเบฑเบ), population 37,507, is the capital of Xiangkhouang Province. Phonsavan was built in the late-1970s and replaced the old Xiangkhouang (today: Muang Khoune) which was destroyed during the Second Indoc ...
. The population of the province as of the 2015 census was 244,684.
Xiangkhouang province covers an area of and is mountainous. Apart from
floodplain
A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river which stretches from the banks of its channel to the base of the enclosing valley walls, and which experiences flooding during periods of high discharge.Goudi ...
s, the largest area of level land in the country is on the province's Xiangkhoang Plateau. The plateau is characterized by rolling hills and grassland whose elevation averages . The country's highest peak,
Phou Bia
Phou Bia ( Lao: เบเบนเปเบเบฑเปเบ) is the highest mountain in Laos. It is in the Annamese Cordillera, at the southern limit of the Xiangkhoang Plateau in Xiangkhouang Province. Owing to its elevationโ2,819 m (9,249 ft), the highest terrestr ...
(), rises at the south side of the plateau.
Nam Et-Phou Louey
Nam Et-Phou Louey National Protected Area (NPA) is a protected area in northern Laos, covering in three provinces: Houaphan, Luang Prabang, and Xieng Khouang. The park includes a core area where human access and wildlife harvest is prohibited an ...
is a
National Biodiversity Conservation Area A National Biodiversity Conservation Area (NBCA) is an environmentally protected area in Laos. There are all together 21 different NBCAs in Laos, protecting 29,775 square kilometers. Another 10 NBCAs have been proposed, many of them being treated ...
(NBCA) in the province, covering an area of 5,959 km
2, and overlaps into
Houaphanh
Houaphanh province ( Laotian: เบซเบปเบงเบเบฑเบ ; Romanization of Lao: ''Houaphan'') is a province in eastern Laos. Its capital is Xam Neua.
Houaphanh province covers an area of . The province is bordered by Vietnam to the north, east, and so ...
and
Luang Prabang
Luang Phabang, ( Lao: เบซเบฅเบงเบเบเบฐเบเบฒเบ/ เบซเบผเบงเบเบเบฐเบเบฒเบ) or ''Louangphabang'' (pronounced ), commonly transliterated into Western languages from the pre-1975 Lao spelling เบซเบผเบงเบเบเบฃเบฐเบเบฒเบ (เบฃ = silent r) ...
provinces.
The province's
Plain of Jars
The Plain of Jars ( Lao: เบเบปเปเบเปเบซเบซเบดเบ ''Thong Hai Hin'', ) is a megalithic archaeological landscape in Laos. It consists of thousands of stone jars scattered around the upland valleys and the lower foothills of the central plain of ...
was designated as a
UNESCO World Heritage Site
A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...
in 2019.
History
![Plainofjars 1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/10/Plainofjars_1.jpg)
While the origin of the
Plain of Jars
The Plain of Jars ( Lao: เบเบปเปเบเปเบซเบซเบดเบ ''Thong Hai Hin'', ) is a megalithic archaeological landscape in Laos. It consists of thousands of stone jars scattered around the upland valleys and the lower foothills of the central plain of ...
' people is unknown, the recorded history of Xiangkhouang is interlinked with the
Tai Phuan. As an ancient civilization, its prehistory is linked to the enigmatic
megalithic
A megalith is a large stone that has been used to construct a prehistoric structure or monument, either alone or together with other stones. There are over 35,000 in Europe alone, located widely from Sweden to the Mediterranean sea.
The ...
stone jars of the Plain of Jars (with prehistoric material dating back to 2000 BCE, with an Iron Age period of 500 BCE and 500โ800 CE period dominating the archaeological finds) representing burial grounds. 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'' on the Plain of Jars with Xieng Khouang (the contemporary ''Muang Khoun'') as its capital. They prospered from the overland trade in metals and forest products with India and China. In the mid-14th century, ''Muang Phuan'' was incorporated into the
Lan Xang Kingdom under King
Fa Ngum
Somdetch Brhat-Anya Fa Ladhuraniya Sri Sadhana Kanayudha Maharaja Brhat Rajadharana Sri Chudhana Negara ( lo, เบชเบปเบกเปเบเบฑเบ เบเบฃเบฐเบเบฒเบ เบญเบฑเบเบเบฒ เบเปเบฒ เบฅเบฑเบเบเบธเบฃเบฑเบเบเบฒ เบชเบฃเบต เบชเบฑเบเบเบฐเบเบฒ เบเบ ...
.
The Xieng Khouang Plateau was the center of trade for a large area of upland
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, south-eastern region of Asia, consistin ...
, extending to Vietnam, ''
Samrong Sen
Samrong Sen (alternates: Somron-Seng, Somrong Seng, Somrong Sen, Som-Ron-Sen;Sophady (2007), p. 7 km, แแแแแแแแ) on the east bank of the Stueng Chinit River is a prehistoric archaeological site in the Kampong Chhnang Province, ...
'' in
Cambodia
Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, แแแแแปแแถ, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailand t ...
, the
Khorat Plateau in northeast
Thailand
Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...
,
Da Nang
Nang or DanangSee also Danang Dragons ( ; vi, ฤร Nแบตng, ) is a class-1 municipality and the fifth-largest city in Vietnam by municipal population. It lies on the coast of the East Sea of Vietnam at the mouth of the Hร n River, and is one ...
, and the
North Cachar Hills
Dima Hasao district (), earlier called North Cachar Hills district, is an administrative district in the state of Assam, India. As of 2011, it is the least populous district of Assam.
Dima Hasao district is one of the two autonomous hill distr ...
of
northeastern India
, native_name_lang = mni
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, ...
.
[
According to the ''Pongsawadan Meuang Puan'' or the ''Muang Puan Chronicles'', the '']Phuan people
The Phuan people ( เธเธงเธ), ''Phouan'', ), also known as Tai Phuan, Thai Puan ( th, เนเธเธเธงเธ) or Lao Phuan, are a Theravada Buddhist Tai people spread out in small pockets over most of Thailand's Isan region with other groups scattered ...
'', a Buddhist Tai-Lao ethnic group, were the first people who migrated in the 13th century from China to settle this province, creating the Muang Phuan Kingdom. They established trade in metals and forest products and were prosperous. During the mid-14th century they were subsumed into the Lan Xang Kingdom
existed as a unified kingdom from 1353 to 1707.
For three and a half centuries, Lan Xang was one of the largest kingdoms in Southeast Asia. The meaning of the kingdom's name alludes to the power of the kingship and formidable war machine of the ea ...
. Siamese invasions in 1777โ1779, 1834โ1836, and 1875โ1876) sought to resettle the Phuan population to regions under Siamese control.[
In subsequent years the Haw invaders from China looted the province and ]Luang Prabang
Luang Phabang, ( Lao: เบซเบฅเบงเบเบเบฐเบเบฒเบ/ เบซเบผเบงเบเบเบฐเบเบฒเบ) or ''Louangphabang'' (pronounced ), commonly transliterated into Western languages from the pre-1975 Lao spelling เบซเบผเบงเบเบเบฃเบฐเบเบฒเบ (เบฃ = silent r) ...
. In the 1890s the province came under French colonial rule following the Franco-Siamese War. During the Second Indochina War
The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...
of the 1960s and 1970s the province suffered through the Laotian Civil War
The Laotian Civil War (1959โ1975) was a civil war in Laos which was waged between the Communist Pathet Lao and the Royal Lao Government from 23 May 1959 to 2 December 1975. It is associated with the Cambodian Civil War and the Vietnam War ...
between royalists and the Pathet Lao
The Pathet Lao ( lo, เบเบฐเปเบเบเบฅเบฒเบง, translit=Pa thฤt Lฤo, translation=Lao Nation), officially the Lao People's Liberation Army, was a communist political movement and organization in Laos, formed in the mid-20th century. The gro ...
until 1975, when the Pathet Lao took power. Xiangkhouang was the Lao province most bombed by the US Air Force
The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...
(USAF) in support of the royalist forces. As a result of this prolonged warfare, Muong Khoun, the original capital of the province, was virtually destroyed, resulting in a move of the capital to Phonsavan
Phonsavan ( Lao: เปเบเบเบชเบฐเบซเบงเบฑเบ), population 37,507, is the capital of Xiangkhouang Province. Phonsavan was built in the late-1970s and replaced the old Xiangkhouang (today: Muang Khoune) which was destroyed during the Second Indoc ...
. During the wars, most of the 16thโ19th century temples were destroyed except for the Wat Phia Wat Temple. The royalists were led by General Vang Pao
Vang Pao ( RPA: ''Vaj Pov'' , Lao: เบงเบฑเบเบเบฒเบง; 8 December 1929 – 6 January 2011) was a major general in the Royal Lao Army. He was a leader of the Hmong American community in the United States. He was also known as General Vang P ...
, who was born in the province.
Geography
Xiangkhouang province covers an area of and has a largely mountainous topography. The province borders Luang Prabang province to the northwest, Houaphanh province to the northeast, Vietnam
Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Viแปt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...
to the east, Bolikhamsai province to the southeast, and Vientiane province to the southwest. The capital is Phonsavan. Xiangkhouang and Vientiane provinces are part of the Nam Ngum River
Nam Ngum ( Laotian: เบเปเปเบฒเบเบทเบก ) is a 354 km long river in Laos. It is a major tributary of the Mekong River.
Geography
The Nam Ngum originates from the northern mountainous region of Xiangkhoang Province and flows south through ...
watershed.
Apart from floodplains, the largest expanse of level land in the country is on the province's Xiangkhoang Plateau. This area is characterized by rolling hills and grassland whose elevation averages . The country's highest peak, Phou Bia
Phou Bia ( Lao: เบเบนเปเบเบฑเปเบ) is the highest mountain in Laos. It is in the Annamese Cordillera, at the southern limit of the Xiangkhoang Plateau in Xiangkhouang Province. Owing to its elevationโ2,819 m (9,249 ft), the highest terrestr ...
(), rises at the southern side of the plateau, while the Plain of Jars is at the plateau's center.
The province is 400 km northeast of Vientiane
Vientiane ( , ; lo, เบงเบฝเบเบเบฑเบ, ''Viangchan'', ) is the capital and largest city of Laos. Vientiane is divided administratively into 9 cities with a total area of only approx. 3,920 square kilometres and is located on the banks of ...
. Phou Bia
Phou Bia ( Lao: เบเบนเปเบเบฑเปเบ) is the highest mountain in Laos. It is in the Annamese Cordillera, at the southern limit of the Xiangkhoang Plateau in Xiangkhouang Province. Owing to its elevationโ2,819 m (9,249 ft), the highest terrestr ...
, at 2700 m elevation, is the highest peak in the province, and the highest in Laos. The capital city is at an elevation of about 1,000 m above mean sea level
Height above mean sea level is a measure of the vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) of a location in reference to a historic mean sea level taken as a vertical datum. In geodesy, it is formalized as ''orthometric heights''.
The comb ...
(AMSL) with Kham District in a low-laying basin at an elevation of about 600 m AMSL.
Protected areas
Nam Et-Phou Louey
Nam Et-Phou Louey National Protected Area (NPA) is a protected area in northern Laos, covering in three provinces: Houaphan, Luang Prabang, and Xieng Khouang. The park includes a core area where human access and wildlife harvest is prohibited an ...
is a National Biodiversity Conservation Area A National Biodiversity Conservation Area (NBCA) is an environmentally protected area in Laos. There are all together 21 different NBCAs in Laos, protecting 29,775 square kilometers. Another 10 NBCAs have been proposed, many of them being treated ...
(NBCA) which covers an area of 5,959 km2 in Xiangkhouang, Houaphanh, and Luang Prabang provinces. The park consists mainly of mountains and hills, with elevations ranging between 336 and 2257 metres. The area is the source of many rivers. It is named after the Nam Et River and Phou Louey Mountain ('Forever Mountain').[
The area has a high level of ]biodiversity
Biodiversity or biological diversity is the variety and variability of life on Earth. Biodiversity is a measure of variation at the genetic (''genetic variability''), species (''species diversity''), and ecosystem (''ecosystem diversity'') l ...
, and a number of endangered species including tiger
The tiger (''Panthera tigris'') is the largest living cat species and a member of the genus '' Panthera''. It is most recognisable for its dark vertical stripes on orange fur with a white underside. An apex predator, it primarily preys on u ...
, leopard
The leopard (''Panthera pardus'') is one of the five extant species in the genus '' Panthera'', a member of the cat family, Felidae. It occurs in a wide range in sub-Saharan Africa, in some parts of Western and Central Asia, Southern Russia, a ...
, clouded leopard
The clouded leopard (''Neofelis nebulosa''), also called the mainland clouded leopard, is a wild cat inhabiting dense forests from the foothills of the Himalayas through mainland Southeast Asia into South China. In the early 19th century, a cl ...
, Asian golden cat
The Asian golden cat (''Catopuma temminckii'') is a medium-sized wild cat native to the northeastern Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia and China. It has been listed as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List since 2008, and is threatened by poach ...
, marbled cat, civet, gaur, Sambar deer
The sambar (''Rusa unicolor'') is a large deer native to the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia that is listed as a vulnerable species on the IUCN Red List since 2008. Populations have declined substantially due to severe hunting, local ins ...
, white-cheeked gibbon
''Nomascus'' is the second-most speciose genus of gibbons (family Hylobatidae). Originally, this genus was a subgenus of ''Hylobates'', and all individuals were considered one species, ''Hylobates concolor''. Species within ''Nomascus'' are char ...
, sun bear, black bear, Asian elephant
The Asian elephant (''Elephas maximus''), also known as the Asiatic elephant, is the only living species of the genus ''Elephas'' and is distributed throughout the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia, from India in the west, Nepal in the no ...
, dhole, hornbill
Hornbills (Bucerotidae) are a family (biology), family of bird found in tropical and subtropical Africa, Asia and Melanesia. They are characterized by a long, down-curved bill which is frequently brightly coloured and sometimes has a Casque (an ...
and three species of otter
Otters are carnivorous mammals in the subfamily Lutrinae. The 13 extant otter species are all semiaquatic, aquatic, or marine, with diets based on fish and invertebrates. Lutrinae is a branch of the Mustelidae family, which also includes wea ...
.
Administrative divisions
The province is composed of eight districts which cover a total land area of .[ Thathom District was moved to Xaisomboun province in January 2006.
]
Economy
Xiangkhouang province is the main maize
Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maรญz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. Th ...
-producing area of Laos. The centre for trade and tourism is Phonsavan
Phonsavan ( Lao: เปเบเบเบชเบฐเบซเบงเบฑเบ), population 37,507, is the capital of Xiangkhouang Province. Phonsavan was built in the late-1970s and replaced the old Xiangkhouang (today: Muang Khoune) which was destroyed during the Second Indoc ...
. In the village of Ban Napia
Ban, or BAN, may refer to:
Law
* Ban (law), a decree that prohibits something, sometimes a form of censorship, being denied from entering or using the place/item
** Imperial ban (''Reichsacht''), a form of outlawry in the medieval Holy Roman ...
near Phonsavan, villagers re-use unexploded ordnance (UXO) scrap metal to make spoons to be sold as souvenirs. The scrap metal is checked for safety beforehand by UXO Lao. This community-based project provides income for the villagers. As of 2012, three minor accidents involving UXO had been reported.
Ethnic groups
Xiangkhouang is home to five different ethnic groups. The Tai Dam
The Tai Dam (Tai Dam: , lo, เปเบเบเบณ, th, เนเธเธเธณ) are an ethnic minority predominantly from China, northwest Vietnam, Laos, Thailand. They are part of the Tai peoples and ethnically similar to the Thai from Thailand, the Lao from Laos ...
, Tai Daeng, Phuan, Khmu
The Khmu (; Khmu: ; lo, เบเบฐเบกเบธ ; th, เธเธกเธธ ; vi, Khฦก Mรบ; ; my, แแแฐ) are an ethnic group of Southeast Asia. The majority (88%) live in northern Laos where they constitute the largest minority ethnic group, comprising elev ...
, and Hmong have settled in the province. Their traditional houses, dresses, beliefs and rituals are part of the cultural heritage of Laos. There are also minorities of Laotian Chinese
The Laotian Chinese are Laotian citizens of Chinese ancestry. They constitute one of the many Overseas Chinese residing in Southeast Asia. At present, they constitute an estimated 1 to 2 percent of the Laotian population. The Laotian Chinese com ...
and Vietnamese as well as some international workers from Korea, Japan, Europe, and North America.
Image:Hmong_New_Year_Girls.JPG, Hmong girls
Image:Phonsavan_Hmong New Year_Bullfight.jpg, Bullfight, Hmong New Year
Image:Phuan_Girls.JPG, Phuan girls in traditional clothing
Tai Dam
Tai Dam, Tai Daeng, and Tai Phuan belong to the Tai language
The Tai or ZhuangโTai languages ( th, เธ เธฒเธฉเธฒเนเธ or , transliteration: or ) are a branch of the KraโDai language family. The Tai languages include the most widely spoken of the TaiโKadai languages, including Standard Thai or Sia ...
family, by far the most significant language in Laos, spoken by 60% of the national population. The Tai Dam migrated from northern Vietnam to Laos 80โ300 years ago. They are not Buddhists. Instead, they practice a form of ancestor and spirit worship. Tai Dam are well known producers of fine quality silk and cotton textiles and many women export directly to markets in Japan and the US. Older Tai Dam women still wear the traditional blue indigo cotton shirt, skirt, and black turban woven with colored patterns. They produce rice alcohol, called ''lao lao'' that is consumed socially and used for ritual purposes.
Tai Dam settled in upland valleys near streams and irrigable and accessible plains scattered among Lao and Phuan villages. They built rectangular symmetric houses on pilings, with a rice granary under the house. Villages are composed of 15ยฌ60 houses and are not fenced. The people subsist on wet rice, vegetables, poultry, weaving, sewing, and hunting.
The ancestors of the Tai Phuan once founded the kingdom of the same name.
Khmu
Part of the Mon-Khmer branch of the Austro-Asiatic
The Austroasiatic languages , , are a large language family in Mainland Southeast Asia and South Asia. These languages are scattered throughout parts of Thailand, Laos, India, Myanmar, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Nepal, and southern China and are th ...
linguistic family, the Khmu are one of the largest ethnic groups in Laos. They settled in the area several thousand years ago. The Khmu rapidly acculturated and there is now little in their clothing that distinguishes them from the surrounding Lao, although they speak a completely different language.
Khmu houses are built on stilts. Each village has a communal house where men gather for political discussions, or work together on basket making and other crafts. Like many ethnic groups in Lao the Khmu practice their own form of animism
Animism (from Latin: ' meaning 'breath, Soul, spirit, life') is the belief that objects, places, and creatures all possess a distinct Spirituality, spiritual essence. Potentially, animism perceives all thingsโAnimal, animals, Plant, plants, Ro ...
. The Khmu are well known for their skill at making baskets, fish traps, and other objects from bamboo. Their material culture, their tools, utensils, baskets and netbags reflect their continued reliance on the forest. Growing rice, hunting, gathering forest products and producing handicrafts provide some cash income. They distill ''lao hai'' ('jar alcohol').
Hmong
Hmong people migrated from China to Laos between 1800 and 1900. Having a strong desire for independence, they rebelled against Chinese attempts to control and settle them and fled in successive waves southwards. During the Lao Civil war in the 1960s and 1970s, Hmong were recruited by the CIA's "secret army", commanded by Hmong General Vang Pao. Hmong villages were relocated in free-fire zones and many died during these evacuations or due to fighting. When the communists came to power in 1975 tens of thousands of Hmong fled to Thailand or emigrated to the US. Today remittances from the diaspora are a major economic factor in the province, fueling significant construction activity.
The Hmong present 6-10% of the total population of Laos and remain most numerous and concentrated in eastern Xiangkhouang. In the province the White Hmong, the Striped Hmong, and the Green Hmong can be distinguished. The easiest way to differentiate these groups is by looking at the women's dresses.
Hmong live in forested mountains between 800 and 1,500 meters elevation and in Laos they are categorized as Lao Soung, highland people, although today there are more and more villages located in the lowlands. They live in villages ranging in size from 15 to over 60 houses. These are not fenced and are organized by clan. The rectangular houses are on beaten soil and have one room without windows. The walls are made of vertical wood planks and bamboo and a thatched roof. Hmong are known for their knowledge of the forest, herbal medicines, and expertise in raising animals. Their agricultural system is based on rain-fed slope cultivation with slash-and-burn techniques. They live on rice, corn and vegetable production, swine and poultry husbandry, gathering, hunting, embroidery, and basket work.
Their religion is a form of shamanistic animism with a cult of ancestors and spirits, and a belief in three souls. Certain spirits protect the people within the village boundaries while others maintain their influence over the plant and animal kingdom outside the village.
Hmong women are renowned for their embroidery and weaving. Traditionally, clothes are made from hemp and cotton. Batik, used only by Green Hmong for their distinctive skirts, is a very long process. Before dying the cloth the pattern is marked with wax. The wax is then removed to reveal the pattern. The wax is applied with a batik pen and the design is completed square by square. Many geometrical patterns exist and they are passed on from mother to daughter. The material is pleated by running a sharp edged stone along the pleat lines on alternate sides of the cloth, and sewing the poles into place at the waistband. These skirts and many other items of Hmong clothing are also embroidered. Embroidery and applique is a social activity, a time for women to sit together and exchange views and news.
Hmong New Year celebrations in December, starting from the 15th day of the ascending moon, are accompanied by numerous activities including top-spinning competitions, dances, songs, and bull fights. It is one of the main occasions for finding a wife or a husband. The young men and women toss the '' makkono'', a small fabric ball, as part of a courting ritual. The throwing of the ball can go on for hours. During the festivities Hmong women wear their traditional dresses, adorned with intricate embroidery and silver jewelry.
Landmarks
The tourism department of Laos has listed 63 notable landmarks in the province. Thirty-two are natural sites, 18 are cultural sites, and are 13 historical sites.[ Of these some of the important sites are the following.]
The province's most distinctive landmark is the Plain of Jars
The Plain of Jars ( Lao: เบเบปเปเบเปเบซเบซเบดเบ ''Thong Hai Hin'', ) is a megalithic archaeological landscape in Laos. It consists of thousands of stone jars scattered around the upland valleys and the lower foothills of the central plain of ...
. The "jars" are 2,100 tubular-shaped megalithic
A megalith is a large stone that has been used to construct a prehistoric structure or monument, either alone or together with other stones. There are over 35,000 in Europe alone, located widely from Sweden to the Mediterranean sea.
The ...
stone jars used for funerary purposes. The jars range from in height. They are found throughout the province in clusters containing from one to several hundred jars each. The jars date from the Iron Age
The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly appl ...
(500 BCEโ500 CE). Nearest to Phonsavan is Jar Site 1, with an area of 25 hectare
The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100-metre sides (1 hm2), or 10,000 m2, and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. An acre is a ...
s (ha). The largest jar found here is 2.5 m x 2.5 m, while the rest are half this size. One jar has decorations on it. The megalithic jar sites of Xiangkhouang were inscribed on UNESCO's list of World Heritage Site
A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...
s in July 2019.
Muang Khoun was the capital of the ancient Phuan Kingdom of the 14th century. It is southeast of Phonsavan. At the Wat Piawat Temple, destroyed during the conflicts of the First Indochina War (1946โ1954) and the Second Vietnam War (1955โ1975), the ruins of a stone wall with brick archways, relics of the former colonial rule of France over this part of Laos and from the whole country, a large-sized statue of Buddha, broken pillars and short sections of walls remain to this day and are still clearly visible as well as accessible. Once buried in the thick tropical forest, the That Foun stupa
A stupa ( sa, เคธเฅเคคเฅเคช, lit=heap, ) is a mound-like or hemispherical structure containing relics (such as ''ลarฤซra'' โ typically the remains of Buddhist monks or nuns) that is used as a place of meditation.
In Buddhism, circumamb ...
, dating back some 450 years, can be seen near the road outside Phonsavan.[ In an ethnic village of the Phuan, to the south of Phonsavan, ''Ban Napi'' mounds of war scrap can be seen buried in tableware. During the 1980s, eight families came together and assembled bits and pieces of aluminum from damaged, crashed or shot-down ]US Air Force
The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...
(USAF) and other aircraft of air forces of US-aligned countries (such as the Royal Lao Air Force
The Royal Lao Air Force (french: Aviation Royale Laotiรจnne โ AVRL), best known to the Americans by its English acronym RLAF, was the air force component of the Royal Lao Armed Forces (FAR), the official military of the Royal Lao Government and ...
) in mounds of melted metal, lack, wood and ash. Such war debris and wreckage can be found scattered between the Lang Waterfall and Jar Site 3 of the Plain of Jars.[
A secret tunnel was constructed below the hills of the Phu Kheng Jar Quarry Site during the Second Vietnam War. The tunnel is in length and in height. Reinforced-concrete bunkers with night-camps are visible nearby.][ Unexploded ordnance (UXOs) can be found in large quantities in this Laotian province and these are all in the process of getting cleared and removed away under the aegis of the UK-based Mines Advisory Group (MAG). The Visitor Information Centre established by the (MAG) in Phonsavan provides information on the history of the aerial bombardment campaigns in this part of Laos.
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See also
*Ban Phou Pheung Noi
Ban Phou Pheung Noi (Lao: เบเปเบฒเบเบเบนเปเบเบทเบญเบเบเปเบญเบ) is a Laotian village located at the peak of Phou Pheung mountain in the Xieng Khouang province of Laos. Phou Pheung mountain is approximately . During the Vietnam War, c ...
References
Further reading
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External links
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Tragic Legacy: Profound Mystery โ The Unknown Story of Xieng Khouang by Mike Matsuno
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Provinces of Laos