0000/PRELS Page i Friday, February 14, 2003 2:11 PM IN SEARCH OF CHIN IDENTITY 0000/PRELS Page ii Friday, February 14, 2003 2:11 PM NORDIC INSTITUTE OF ASIAN STUDIES Recent Monographs 67. Asta Olesen: Islam and Politics in Afghanistan 68. Hans Antlöv: Exemplary Centre, Administrative Periphery 69. Arne Kalland: Fishing Villages in Tokugawa Japan 70. Weng Eang Cheong: The Hong Merchants of Canton 71. Christine Dobbin: Asian Entrepreneurial Minorities 72. Eldrid Mageli: Organising Women’s Protest 73. Vibeke Børdahl: The Oral Tradition of Yangzhou Storytelling 74. Cecilia Nathansen Milwertz: Accepting Population Control 75. Sharifah Zaleha Syed Hassan and Sven Cederroth: Managing Marital Disputes in Malaysia 76. Antoon Geels: Subud and the Javanese Mystical Tradition 77. Kristina Lindell, Jan-Öjvind Swahn and Damrong Tayanin: Folk Tales from Kammu – VI: A Story-Teller’s Last Tales 78. Alain Lefebvre: Kinship, Honour and Money in Rural Pakistan 79. Christopher E. Goscha: Thailand and the Southeast Asian Networks of the Vietnamese Revolution, 1885–1954 80. Helle Bundgaard: Indian Art Worlds in Contention 81. Niels Brimnes: Constructing the Colonial Encounter 82. Ian Reader: Religious Violence in Contemporary Japan 83. Bat-Ochir Bold: Mongolian Nomadic Society 84. Shaheen Sardar Ali and Javaid Rehman: Indigenous Peoples and Ethnic Minorities of Pakistan 85. Michael D. Barr: Lee Kuan Yew: The Beliefs Behind the Man 86. Tessa Carroll: Language Planning and Language Change in Japan 87. Minna Säävälä: Fertility and Familial Power 88. Mario Rutten: Rural Capitalists in Asia 89. Jörgen Hellman: Performing the Nation 90. Olof G. Lidin: Tanegashima – The Arrival of Europe in Japan 91. Lian H. Sakhong: In Search of Chin Identity 92. Margaret Mehl: Private Academies of Chinese Learning in Meiji Japan 93. Andrew Hardy: Red Hills 0000/PRELS Page iii Friday, February 14, 2003 2:11 PM IN SEARCH OF CHIN IDENTITY A Study in Religion, Politics and Ethnic Identity in Burma Lian H. Sakhong 0000/PRELS Page iv Friday, February 14, 2003 2:11 PM Nordic Institute of Asian Studies Monograph Series, No. 91 First published in 2003 by NIAS Press Nordic Institute of Asian Studies Leifsgade 33, DK–2300 Copenhagen S, Denmark tel: (+45) 3254 8844 • fax: (+45) 3296 2530 E–mail: [email protected] • Website: http://www.niaspress.dk/ Typesetting by NIAS Press Printed and bound in Thailand © Lian H. Sakhong 2003 Publication of this book was assisted with economic support from the Swedish Research Council British Library Catalogue in Publication Data Sakhong, Lian H. In search of Chin identity : a study in religion, politics and ethnic identity in Burma. - (NIAS monograph ; 91) 1. Chin (Southeast Asian people) - Burma - Race identity 2. Chin (Southeast Asian people) - Burma - Religion 3. Ethnology - Burma 4. Nationalism - Burma - Religious aspects - Christianity 5. Christianity and politics - Burma I. Title II. Nordic Institute of Asian Studies 306’.08’09591 ISBN 0-7007-1764-1 (European edition) ISBN 87-91114-15-2 (North American edition) 0000/PRELS Page v Friday, February 14, 2003 2:11 PM CONTENTS Acknowledgements vii Abbreviations and Acronyms ix Glossary x Introduction xiii PART ONE THE CHIN BACKGROUND 1. Chin Ethnicity 1 2. Traditional Chin Ways of Life: Phunglam 21 3. Rituals as Confirmation of Power and Social Status 46 PART TWO COLONIAL POWER, CHRISTIAN MISSION AND THE CHIN RESPONSE 4. The British Annexation of Chinram 85 5. The Coming of Christianity to East Chinram 106 6. The Chin Response to the Christian Mission 129 7. The Church after the Anglo–Chin War 154 PART THREE THE CHIN IN A NEW CONTEXT OF INDEPENDENT BURMA 8. The Burma Act of 1935 and World War II 179 9. The Joining of the Union of Burma 201 10. Christianity and Chin Identity 225 11. Concluding Remarks 242 Appendix I: Pioneers in Ethnic Studies 247 Appendix II: Previous Literature in Chin Studies 254 References 263 Index 275 0000/PRELS Page vi Friday, February 14, 2003 2:11 PM MAPS 1. Chinram xxiv 2. The Union of Burma 200 3. Chin State (East Chinram) 202 0000/PRELS Page vii Friday, February 14, 2003 2:11 PM Acknowledgements This book is a revised and expanded version of my doctoral dissertation, submitted to Uppsala University in 2000. It would never have been under- taken, completed or published were it not for the support of numerous extraordinary people and research institutions. In order to obtain my materials, I have had the privilege to consult with libraries in various parts of the world. In Burma I used the libraries of Rangoon University, Mandalay University and the Burma Institute of Theology. In Singapore I explored the National Library and the Library of Trinity Theological College. In Thailand I visited the Library of Chiangmai University twice, and in India I depended on the Library of United Theological College, Bangalore, where many research papers and theses on Christian movements in the Mizoram State of West Chinram have been written and preserved. The British Library in London and the Library of the University of London preserve the most outstanding, indispensable materials concerning the British colonial period in India and Burma. In the United States I used the Library of Congress in Washington DC. In Scandinavia I consulted with the Library of the Nordic Institute of Asian Studies in Copenhagen, Denmark, which I visited twice, and the Library of Uppsala University, called Carolina Rediviva, where a number of books on contemporary Burmese study are preserved. Moreover, I draw heavily on archival materials from many different countries, including the National Archives in Rangoon, Burma, and the Archive of the Tribal Research Institute in Aizawl, Mizoram, India. In order to obtain the missionary sources, I did archival research at the Official Archives of the American Baptist Churches at Valley Forge, Pa, USA, during the summer of 1997. I also visited the Official Archives of the American Baptist Foreign Missionary Society at Rochester, New York, where I bought eighteen reels of microfilm that contain the originals of all the missionaries' correspondence during the entire history of the American Baptist Chin Mission. I would specially like to acknowledge the steadfast support from my professors and colleagues at the Department of Theology, Uppsala Uni- versity. My deepest gratitude goes to the late Professor Carl F. Hallen- creutz, whose theoretical insight and unfailing support throughout my vii 0000/PRELS Page viii Friday, February 14, 2003 2:11 PM viii In Search of Chin Identity study enabled me to keep going. Professor Alf Tergel, Dr Sigbert Axelsson and Dr Axel-Ivar Berglund also deserve my deepest appreciation for their dedicated and gentle guidance, both academic and personal. Thanks are also due to the Swedish Research Council for the generous grant to facilitate the publication of the present book. I would like to thank again the Nordic Institute of Asian Studies (NIAS), for the publication of this book. I am indebted to the staff of NIAS Press, especially my editor Leena Höskuldsson, for their patient contribution. Finally, I would like to extend my appreciation and gratitude to my close friends and family. My good friend Frederic Love deserves a special word of heartfelt thanks for his editing work at the final stage of my dissertation; thanks also to Bob Delaplane and Alice Rinell Harmansson for their unfailing support and help throughout my study. The love of my dearest family has always been the greatest source of my strength: Per and Margareta Ehnfors, who always stand beside me as my godparents in Sweden, and my wife Aapen and our beloved children Van and Laura deserve my most heartfelt thanks. All have been instrumental in the completion of this book, and I humbly dedicate this work to them. Uppsala, January 2003 Lian H. Sakhong 0000/PRELS Page ix Friday, February 14, 2003 2:11 PM Abbreviations and Acronyms ABCM American Baptist Chin Mission ABFMS American Baptist Foreign Mission Society ABM American Baptist Mission (mission in Burma) ABMU American Baptist Missionary Union (earlier name of ABFMS) AFO Anti-Fascist Organization AFPFL Anti-Fascist People’s Freedom League BIA Burma Independent Army BMSL Baptist Missionary Society of London BNA Burma National Army CHBA Chin Hills Baptist Association DFA Director of Frontier Areas FA Frontier Areas FAA Frontier Areas Administration FACE Frontier Areas Committee of Enquiry GCBA General Council of Buddhist Associations HMG His/Her Majesty’s Government KIH Kaiser-I-Hind KNU Karen National Union KYO Karen Youth Organization LPM Lakher Pioneer Mission PVO People’s Volunteer Organization SCOUHP Supreme Council of the United Hills People SPFL Shan People’s Freedom League UNLD United Nationalities League for Democracy YMBA Young Men’s Buddhist Association ZBC Zomi Baptist Convention ix 0000/PRELS Page x Friday, February 14, 2003 2:11 PM Glossary Arnak-hman sacrificial ceremony for marriage couple; literally, “black-hen sacrificial ceremony”. (Black is religious symbol for ‘invisible force’ which refers to traditional religious concept of ‘Zing’.) Bawi-phun nobility Biaknak religion Biak-inn church, Christian religious institute Chia-phun ordinary class, commoners Chung-um household god, which protected family and clan; literally, the guardian god who is residing inside the house Ding-thlu the attribute of the righteousness of Supreme God, Khua-zing, in the concept of Chin tradition- al religion; literally, the one who paves the way of righteousness Do-dang-tu religious title of Chin traditional chief (Ram-uk) and priest (Tlang-bawi);