This article explains clearly the origin of the De ang people, their evolution and migration

Mondo Culture Updated on 2024-02-01

According to the China Statistical Yearbook-2021, the population of the De'ang ethnic group in China is 22,354, mainly distributed in Dehong, Baoshan, Lincang, Simao and other places, prefectures and cities, and there are more than 1 million De'ang ethnic groups outside China, mainly distributed in Myanmar, Thailand and other countries and regions.

The De'ang ethnic group is known in MyanmarBarang, mainly in Kachin and Shan States. The old name of the De'ang peopleCrashing DragonsIn 1985, it was changed to De'ang (meaning rock) according to the will of the people. The Chinese martial art Plum Blossom Boxing is said to have originated here.

The national language of the De'ang ethnic group belongsAustroasiatic languagesThe Mon-Khmer language group has no native language, and because of long-term coexistence with Dai, Han, Jingpo and other ethnic groups, many people are fluent in Dai, Chinese and Jingpo. The De'ang ethnic group in China uses Dehong Dai or Chinese, while the De'ang ethnic group in Myanmar uses a script modified from Burmese.

Before the Qing Dynasty, relevant records referred to the De'ang, Brown, Wa and other ethnic groups of the Austroasiatic language family in Yunnan as "Pu people", "Pu" or "Puman". As early as the 2nd century B.C., the "Pu people" lived on both sides of the Nu River, and were the earliest ethnic groups to develop the areas of Baoshan and Dehong.

The Pu people belonged to Yongchang County (now Baoshan City, Yunnan) in the Han Dynasty, and during the Sui Dynasty to the Song Dynasty, the ancestors of the De'ang and Brown tribes were separated from Minpu and were calledPu Ziman。During this period, there were two groups of ethnic groups with different views, which sparked controversy: one was aboutSavageThe controversy between the ancestors of the De'ang nationality and the ancestors of the Dai nationality is aboutGold toothIt is a dispute between the ancestors of the De'ang people and the ancestors of the Dai people.

From the comparison of the development of agriculture, handicrafts and commerce between the Dai and Wa and Brown tribes in the Tang Dynasty, it can be seen that the social and economic development of the Dai people in the Tang Dynasty has reached a fairly high level, which is very similar to the Manbarian tribes, while the social and economic development level of the Wa, Brown and other ethnic groups is quite primitive and backwardThe Manbarian tribe is the ancestor of the Dai people and not other ethnic groups

At the beginning of the Yuan Dynasty, in the mid or late 11th century AD, the Golden Tooth established a prominent local government in western YunnanGolden Tooth Country”。The territory was in today's Baoshan, Dehong, Lincang, Simao and Xishuangbanna prefectures, as well as northern Myanmar, northern Laos and northwestern Vietnam. In the middle of the 13th century, the Kingdom of the Golden Tooth was conquered by the Yuan Dynasty. The customs of gold teeth with gold ornaments, serving elephants to plough the fields and fighting, and living in dry stilt houses are similar to those of the Dai peopleTherefore, the golden tooth should be the ancestor of today's Dai people.

After the Yuan Dynasty, with the strengthening of the ruling power of the Central Plains Dynasty and the expansion of the Dai Tusi power, especially the three conquests of Luchuan in the Ming Dynasty, and the failure of the uprising of the De'ang ancestors in Luxi led by Tagangwa during the Jiaqing period of the Qing Dynasty, the ancestors of the De'ang nationality in Yunnan moved to Myanmar in large numbers, and the few who failed to flee became the subjects of the Dai Tusi.

During the Qing Dynasty, the distribution of Puman can be seen in Zhou Yu's record in the "Diary of the Expedition to Burma": "Pu people are Puman, and there are such in the seven prefectures of Shunning, Weijiang, Zhenyuan, Pu'er, Chuxiong, Yongchang and Jingdong". They are todayBrownsof the ancestors. The Pumans of the Tusi region of the southwest of Yongchang Province (present-day Dehong Dai Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture) are no longer recorded, and they have been divided into Banglong. Crashing Dragon and Brown are synonyms. This part of the Puman lacked close ties with other regions for a long time, resulting in local differences, and eventually became a new monolithic people. Banglong is the name of the Han and Dai people for the De'ang people, and "Bang" refers to the bulky and cumbersome clothing they wear; "Dragon" refers to its deafness and does not answer questions. This is a discriminatory and insulting term.

The rise of the Luchuan Kingdom at the end of the Yuan Dynasty led to some of the ancestors of the De'ang tribe becoming subjects of Luchuan, and some of them left their homes. In the winter of the 19th year of Jiaqing in the Qing Dynasty (1814 AD), the De'ang tribe in Luxi was dissatisfied with the oppression of the Dai Tusi, and rebelled under the leadership of its leader Tagangwa and seized the Tusi Yamen of Mangshi. Later, the uprising failed, and the clan was forced to move southAfter that, the De'ang people in Luxi almost disappeared.

After the founding of the People's Republic of China, there were two major exodus of the De'ang people. The first was produced in 1958The Great Leap ForwardIn motion. At that time, due to the unrealistic mass movement, many De'ang people fled one after another. The second time was in ".Period. At that time, the religion of the De'ang people was included in the scope of the four olds, and the women of the De'ang people were forced to change their clothes, so that the people of the De'ang people fled. These two exodus resulted in a significant decrease in the population of the De'ang ethnic group in China, while the population of the De'ang ethnic group outside China continued to increase. In the 60s, it began to return again, and it was not until the end of the 70s that it basically stabilized. Therefore,There are not only historical and cultural ties between the De'ang people at home and abroad, but also direct blood ties and in-laws.

The assimilation of the De'ang into the Dai or other ethnic groups occurred shortly after the great migration of the Qing peoples. The part of the Dai people called Dai Bang today is actually the De'ang tribe that has integrated into the Dai people; The part of the group called Dai Yang is actually those who have integrated into the Dai people, the Hedeang and Karen people. De'ang

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