The Chin people (, ) are a Southeast Asian people native to
Chin State
Chin State (, ) is a state in western Myanmar. The Chin State is bordered by Sagaing Division and Magway Division to the east, Rakhine State to the south, Bangladesh to the south-west, and the Indian states of Mizoram to the west and Manipur t ...
and its neighbouring states of
Myanmar
Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...
.
[Head, Jonathan]
Burma's 'abused Chin need help'
''BBC News'', Jan 28, 2009, accessed Jan 28, 2009 The Chin are one of the founding groups (Chin,
Kachin,
Shan and
Bamar
The Bamar (, ; also known as the Burmans) are a Sino-Tibetan ethnic group native to Myanmar (formerly Burma) in Southeast Asia. With approximately 35 million people, the Bamar make up the largest ethnic group in Myanmar, constituting 68% of th ...
) of the
Union of Burma
Union commonly refers to:
* Trade union, an organization of workers
* Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets
Union may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment
Music
* Union (band), an American rock group
** ''Un ...
.
The Chin speak a variety of related languages, share elements of cultures and traditions.
According to the British state media
BBC News
BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broadca ...
, "The Chin people... are one of the most persecuted minority groups in Burma."
These people predominantly live in the Chin State,
Bago Division
Bago Region ( my, ပဲခူးတိုင်းဒေသကြီး, ; formerly Pegu Division and Bago Division) is an administrative region of Myanmar, located in the southern central part of the country. It is bordered by Magway Region a ...
,
Ayeyarwady Division
Ayeyarwady Region ( my, ဧရာဝတီတိုင်းဒေသကြီး , , ; formerly Ayeyarwady Division and Irrawaddy Division), is a region of Myanmar, occupying the delta region of the Ayeyarwady River (Irrawaddy River). It is bor ...
,
Magwe Division
Magway Region ( my, မကွေးတိုင်းဒေသကြီး, ; formerly Magway Division) is an administrative division in central Myanmar. It is the second largest of Myanmar's seven divisions, with an area of . Pa Del Dam (ပဒ ...
,
Rakhine State
Rakhine State (; , , ; formerly known as Arakan State) is a Administrative divisions of Myanmar, state in Myanmar (Burma). Situated on the western coast, it is bordered by Chin State to the north, Magway Region, Bago Region and Ayeyarwady R ...
and
Sagaing Region
Sagaing Region ( my, စစ်ကိုင်းတိုင်းဒေသကြီး, ; formerly Sagaing Division) is an administrative region of Myanmar, located in the north-western part of the country between latitude 21° 30' north and lon ...
of Myanmar, but are also spread throughout
Burma
Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...
,
Bangladesh
Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...
and
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
. In the
2014 Burmese ethnic census, the Chin ethnicity was again dismissed by the people of the Chin State.
It is to be noted that the
Mizo people
The Mizo people ( Mizo: ''Mizo hnam'') are an ethnic group native to the Indian state of Mizoram and neighbouring regions of Northeast India. The term covers several related ethnic groups or clans inside the Mizo group.
All Mizo tribes and cla ...
in Mizoram, India and the Chin are both
Chin-Kuki-Mizo people
The Zomi are an ethnic group which can be found in India, Myanmar and in Chittagong hill tracks of Bangladesh. The word Zomi is used to describe an ethnic group, which is also known as the Chin, the Mizo, the Kuki, or a number of other name ...
, who share the same history with each other. The difference in name and dispersal across international borders resulted from a
British colonial policy that drew borders on political grounds rather than ethnic ones. This page mainly focuses on the Chin people, who live in areas that became part of Burma and later Myanmar.
During the
era of British rule, the colonial government used the compound term 'Chin-Kuki-Mizo' to group the
Kukish language speaking people, and the
Indian government
The Government of India (ISO 15919, ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the Government, national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy lo ...
inherited this nomenclature. More recently the word Zomi has been rejected by some in favor of Chin. Some Chin nationalists now consider that Chin would mean subtle Paite domination of Chin, Kuki and Chin identity, which other groups like
Hmar
Hmar may refer to:
*Hmars or Hmar people
*Hmar language
Hmar language, also known by its endonym Khawsak Ṭawng, belongs to the Kukish branch of the Sino-Tibetan family of languages. The speakers of the language are also known as Hmar. Acc ...
s, Chins (Chinmi), and Koms may not use.
Etymology
The term 'Chin' initially as used by the
Burmese in Myanmar referred to all the hill tribes in the western frontier of Myanmar. However, in India the hill tribes are divided into two groups i.e. Chin-Kuki and Naga. The Kukis generally live to the south of the Nagas.
The term now generally refer only to the majority
Chin-Kuki-Mizo speaking communities of Myanmar since many of the similar tribes have rejected the name as foreign.
Alternatively, the Chin-Kuki-Mizo use the original name of the people ‘Chinlung/Khul/Sinlung’. It goes by different pronunciations through the respective languages’ evolution to Yaw, Jou, Zou, Cho, Qin, Zy etc.
History and politics
The Chin people are believed to have come to Burma via the
Chindwin Valley in the late ninth or tenth century A.D. They moved westward, and are thought to have settled in the present Chin State around 1300-1400. The Chin practice oral traditions and do not have written historical records.
The
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
first conquered Burma in 1824, established rule in 1886, and remained in power until Burma's independence in 1948. The 1896
'Pakokku Chin Hills Regulation Act' stated that the British would govern the Chins separately from the rest of Burma, which allowed for traditional
Chin chiefs to remain in power while Britain was still allotted power via indirect rule (Human Rights Watch, 2009). Burma's independence from Britain in 1948 coincided with the Chin people adopting a
democratic government
Democracy (From grc, δημοκρατία, dēmokratía, ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which the people have the authority to deliberate and decide legislation ("direct democracy"), or to choose gover ...
rather than continuing its traditional rule of chiefs. The government did not allow the celebration Chin National Day. Instead of Chin National Day, Chin State Day is celebrated on February 20, the day that marked the transition from traditional to
democratic rule in the Chin State (Center for Applied Linguistics, 2007).
The newfound democracy of Chin State ended abruptly in 1962 with the onset of the military rule of
General Ne Win
Ne Win ( my, နေဝင်း ; 10 July 1910, or 14 or 24 May 1911 – 5 December 2002) was a Burmese politician and military commander who served as Prime Minister of Burma from 1958 to 1960 and 1962 to 1974, and also President of Burma f ...
in Burma (Center for Applied Linguistics, 2007).
Ne Win
Ne Win ( my, နေဝင်း ; 10 July 1910, or 14 or 24 May 1911 – 5 December 2002) was a Burmese politician and military commander who served as Prime Minister of Burma from 1958 to 1960 and 1962 to 1974, and also President of Burma ...
remained in power until 1988, when nationwide protests against military rule erupted. These uprisings, commonly known as the 8888 because of the date on which they occurred, were met by an outburst of violence from the
military government. The violent government response killed approximately 3,000 people in just a matter of weeks and imprisoned many more (Human Rights Watch, 2009). It was during this period of resistance to military rule that the
Chin National Front
The Chin National Front ( my, ချင်းအမျိုးသားတပ်ဦး; CNF) is a Chin nationalist political organization in Myanmar. According to its website, its armed wing, the Chin National Army (CNA), fights the government of ...
(CNF) and its armed branch, the
Chin National Army
The Chin National Army ( my, ချင်းအမျိုးသားတပ်မတော်; abbreviated CNA) is a Chin ethnic armed organisation in Myanmar (Burma). It is the armed wing of the Chin National Front (CNF), and was founded on ...
(CNA), gained momentum (Human Rights Watch, 2009).
In 2012, the Chin National Army organized a ceasefire with the
Burma
Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...
military. In 2015, the Chin National Army (CNA) signed a National Ceasefire Agreement (NCA).
Divisions
Tribes
There are many tribes among the Chin people, such as the Zomi, Lai,
Zanniat The Zanniat tribe are people of western Myanmar (Burma) who are a sub-group of the Chin peoples. The Zanniat tribe has fifty-seven sub-groupings and clans. The group's existence was recorded (along with three of its many sub-groups) in Burma's 193 ...
, Yaw, Yindu, Senthang, Ngawn, Mizo, Zotung, Daai, Thadou (Kuki), Khami
Mro-Khimi (Wakung), Matu, Hmar, Asho, Cho, Mara. The word "Chin" comes from “Chinlung”, which is believed to be a cave, where their ancestors once lived. A Chin scholar, Lian Uk in 1968, define the term “Chin” and similar names as “people”, further stating that the name “Chinland” means Ourland. Chin people are scattered between three countries, namely India, Burma (Myanmar) and Bangladesh. In India, the Chin people live in the state of Mizoram and a sizable population of Chin live in
Churachandpur
Churachandpur ( Meitei pronunciation: ''/tʃʊraːˌtʃaːnɗpʊr/'') is the district headquarter of the Churachandpur District in the Indian state of Manipur. It is named after the Meitei King Churachand Singh, the Maharaja of Manipur Kingdom.
...
district of
Manipur
Manipur () ( mni, Kangleipak) is a state in Northeast India, with the city of Imphal as its capital. It is bounded by the Indian states of Nagaland to the north, Mizoram to the south and Assam to the west. It also borders two regions of Myanm ...
, consisting of smaller tribes such as the
Hmar
Hmar may refer to:
*Hmars or Hmar people
*Hmar language
Hmar language, also known by its endonym Khawsak Ṭawng, belongs to the Kukish branch of the Sino-Tibetan family of languages. The speakers of the language are also known as Hmar. Acc ...
,
Paite, and others. The
Bawm tribe in southern
Mizoram State
Mizoram () is a state in Northeast India, with Aizawl as its seat of government and capital city. The name of the state is derived from " Mizo", the self-described name of the native inhabitants, and "Ram", which in the Mizo language means "lan ...
and
Bangladesh
Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...
is a sub-group Lai tribe. Some of the Chin live in
Rakhine State
Rakhine State (; , , ; formerly known as Arakan State) is a Administrative divisions of Myanmar, state in Myanmar (Burma). Situated on the western coast, it is bordered by Chin State to the north, Magway Region, Bago Region and Ayeyarwady R ...
and most of them are
Cumtu,
Asho, Kongtu and Laitu. They are living in
Myebon
Myebon ( my, မြေပုံမြို့ Myebon Township) is a town of Mrauk-U District in Rakhine State, Myanmar
Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ eve ...
,
Minbya
Minbya (Mongbra) ( my, မင်းပြားမြို့, ) is a town in Rakhine State, in the westernmost part of Myanmar
Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating ...
,
Ann
Anne, alternatively spelled Ann, is a form of the Latin female given name Anna. This in turn is a representation of the Hebrew Hannah, which means 'favour' or 'grace'. Related names include Annie.
Anne is sometimes used as a male name in the ...
,
Thandwe
Thandwe ("Thandway" in Arakanese; ; formerly Sandoway) is a town and major seaport in Rakhine State, the westernmost part of Myanmar. Thandwe is very ancient, and is said to have been at one time the capital of Rakhine State, then called Arakan ...
and
Gwa. Among them, the majority is
Cumtu Chin. The Chin speak several languages,
Kukish
The Kuki-Chin languages (also called Kuki-Chin-Mizo, Kukish or South-Central Tibeto-Burman languages) are a branch of 50 or so Sino-Tibetan languages spoken in northeastern India, western Myanmar and southeastern Bangladesh. Most speakers of the ...
,
Naga
Naga or NAGA may refer to:
Mythology
* Nāga, a serpentine deity or race in Hindu, Buddhist and Jain traditions
* Naga Kingdom, in the epic ''Mahabharata''
* Phaya Naga, mythical creatures believed to live in the Laotian stretch of the Mekong Riv ...
and
Maraic languages;
Ethnologue
''Ethnologue: Languages of the World'' (stylized as ''Ethnoloɠue'') is an annual reference publication in print and online that provides statistics and other information on the living languages of the world. It is the world's most comprehensiv ...
lists 49 languages in this group, of which 20 contain the word "Chin" in their name.
Present-day ethnic groups
There are several tribes within Chin people. For example:
Cumtu,
Zomi
The Zomi are an ethnic group which can be found in India, Myanmar and in Chittagong hill tracks of Bangladesh. The word Zomi is used to describe an ethnic group, which is also known as the Chin people, Chin, the Mizo people, Mizo, the Kuki peop ...
,
Mara_people, Mara,_
Yaw,__
Asho,_Cho
Cho or CHO may refer to:
People
* Chief Happiness Officer
Surnames
* Cho (Korean surname), one romanization of the common Korean surname
* Zhuo (), romanized Cho in Wade–Giles, Chinese surname
* Cho, a Minnan romanization of the Chinese sur ...
,_ Kuki,_Laimi,_ Mizo,_Zotung_and_ Khumi._Each_Tribe_has_hundreds_of_clans_and_family_tree._Although_the_word_"Chin"_is_absent_among_the_Chin_language,_it_is_found_to_be_used_by_these_people_since_the_8th_century._Therefore,_the_majority_of_people_living_in_Chin_State_accepted_the_name_"Chin".
_Attempts_at_unification
The_realization_that_the_Zomi_are_one_group_that_share_common_dialectical_roots_and_customs_despite_separation_by_international_and_state_boundaries,_brought_about_movements_for_unification_of_the_occupied_territories_and_of_the_people._One_of_the_first_movements_was_the_ Mizo_National_Movement_which_ended_with_the_formation_of_the_Mizoram_State
Mizoram () is a state in Northeast India, with Aizawl as its seat of government and capital city. The name of the state is derived from " Mizo", the self-described name of the native inhabitants, and "Ram", which in the Mizo language means "lan ...
_in_India.
*_The_re-unification_of_the_Chin-Kuki-Mizo_people_in_the_Chin_Hills
The Chin Hills are a range of mountains in Chin State, northwestern Burma, Burma (Myanmar), that extends northward into India's Manipur state.
Geography
The highest peak in the Chin Hills is Khonu Msung, or Mount Victoria, in southern Chin State ...
,_Manipur_Hills,_Biate_Hills,_Hmar_Hills,_Riam_Hills,_ Rakhaing_Hills,_Lakher_Hills,_Yaw_plains,_ Lushai_Hill,_Chindwin_plains_and_the_ Chittagong_Hill_area_arouse_in_1990_with_the_Zomi_Revolutionary_Army
The Zomi Revolutionary Army ( my, ဇိုမီး တော်လှန်ရေး တပ်မတော်; abbreviated ZRA) is an armed Zomi nationalist insurgent group formed in 1997, following an increase in ethnic tensions between the ...
._It_is_an_armed_group_in_Manipur_
Manipur_()_(_mni,_Kangleipak)_is_a_state_in_Northeast_India,_with_the_city_of_Imphal_as_its_capital._It_is_bounded_by_the_Indian_states_of_Nagaland_to_the_north,_Mizoram_to_the_south_and_Assam_to_the_west._It_also_borders_two_regions_of_Myanm_...
,_India.
_Culture
_Chin_National_Day
The_Chin_National_Day_is_celebrated_annually_on_February_20,_which_is_the_day_the_Chin_people_abolished_the_slavery_system_or_chieftainship._The_first_Chin_National_Day_was_celebrated_in_1951_at_
Mindat Mindat may refer to:
Places in Burma/Myanmar
*Mindat, Chin State, in Burma
*Mindat Township, in Burma
*Mindat District in Chin State, Burma
Other uses
*Mindat Min
Kanaung Mintha ( my, ကနောင်မင်းသား; 31 January 1820 ...
.
__People_display_many_traditional_dance_such_as_bamboo_dance,_Sarlam_(conquest_dance),_Khuangcawi(a_lady_is_lifted_by_a_crowd),_ Ruakhatlak/Cherua_and_many_other_dances_from_each_group._One_of_the_big_events_on_Chin_National_Day_is_the_traditional_wrestling_(Lai_Paih).__There_is_also_Miss_competition_from_each_town_or_city_in_Chin_State._Other_events,_such_as_fashion_shows_and_singing_also_take_place_in_Chin_National_Day.__Traditional_food,_such_as_Sabuti/Sabaktui_(_hominy_corn_soup)_and_Chang_(rice_cake)_are_served.
_Clothing
There_are_several_tradition_dresses_such_as_Matu
The Matu District is a district in Mukah Division, Sarawak, Malaysia. Before Mukah Division was established, Matu was within Sibu Division. There are more than 20 villages in the district, with Melanau
Melanau or ''A-Likou'' (meaning River ...
,_Falam
Falam (, ) is a town in north-western Burma (Myanmar) near Burma's western border with the Indian state of Mizoram. The town was founded by Taisun tribe. The British arrived to Falam in 1892, and became an important base for British rule of the ...
,_Tedim
Tedim (, , ( Zo: ''Tedim Khawpi'', pronounced ; is a town in and the administrative seat of Tedim Township, Chin State, in the north-western part of Burma. It is the second largest town in Chin State. The town's four major boroughs (''vengte'') ...
,_ Zo,_Tapong,_ Zotung,_Mindat Mindat may refer to:
Places in Burma/Myanmar
*Mindat, Chin State, in Burma
*Mindat Township, in Burma
*Mindat District in Chin State, Burma
Other uses
*Mindat Min
Kanaung Mintha ( my, ကနောင်မင်းသား; 31 January 1820 ...
,_ Mara_people, Mara,_etc._The_main_colors_use_for_these_traditional_dresses_are_red,_green_and_black._Accessories_such_as_bracelets,_necklaces,_hairpins_and_rings_also_play_a_huge_role_when_it_comes_to_traditional_clothing_as_they_complete_the_overall_looks_of_the_Chin._Chin_people_do_not_wear_these_clothes_in_daily_life._They_wear_these_on_special_occasions_like_Sundays,_weddings
Chin_National_Day
and_any_other_important_occasions
_Sports
Wrestling
Wrestling is a series of combat sports involving grappling-type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. Wrestling techniques have been incorporated into martial arts, combat ...
_is_a_part_of_the_Chin_people's_tradition.
Chin_United_F.C._represents_the_Chin_people_in_Burmese_association_football
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...
._The_club_play_in_the_Myanmar_National_League
The MPT Myanmar National League ( my, မြန်မာ နေရှင်နယ် လိဂ်; abbreviated MNL) is the premier national professional football league of Myanmar. In 2009, the league replaced the Myanmar Premier League, which co ...
.
_Language
There_are_31_different_varieties_of_the_Chin_language,_which_are_also_spoken_in_India_and_Bangladesh._The_largest_varieties_in_three_countries_are:
*_Mizo_Chin_along_with_Lusei,_Hualngo,_Hmar_estimated_1,000,000+
*_Zomi_Tedim_Chin_with_an_estimated_344,000_speakers
*_Thadou_Kuki_Chin_estimated_300,000
*_Asho_Chin_200,000-300,000
*_Falam_Chin_with_an_estimated_50,300_speakers
*_Haka_Chin_(Hakha)_with_an_estimated_125,000_speakers
*_Matu_Chin_25,000_speakers
*_Khumi_Chin_90,000
*_Mara_Chin_with_an_estimated_50,000_speakers
*_Cho_Chin_60,000
*_Zotung_Chin_35,000
There_are_also_many_different_accents_among_the_same_dialects._Many_Chin_people,_especially_students_also_speak_Burmese,_since_it_is_the_primary_official_language_in_Myanmar_
Myanmar,_;_UK_pronunciations:__US_pronunciations_incl._._Note:_Wikipedia's_IPA_conventions_require_indicating_/r/_even_in_British_English_although_only_some_British_English_speakers_pronounce_r_at_the_end_of_syllables._As_John_C._Wells,_Joh_...
_and_it_is_taught_in_school.