THE SHAN STATES and the BRITISH ANNEXATION THE CORNELL UNIVERSITY SOUTHEAST ASIA PROGRAM The Southeast Asia Program was organized at Cornell University in the Department of Far Eastern Studies in 1950. It is a teaching and research pro­ gram of interdisciplinary studies in the humanities, social sciences and some natural sciences. It deals with Southeast Asia as a region and with the in­ dividual countries of the area: Burma, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam. The activities of the Program are carried on both at Cornell and in Southeast Asia. They include an undergraduate and graduate curriculum at Cornell which provides instruction by specialists in South­ east Asian cultural history and present-day affairs and offers intensive training in each of the major languages of the area. The Program sponsors group research projects on Thailand, on Indonesia, on the Philippines, and on the area's Chinese minorities. At the same time individual staff and students of the Program have done field research in every South­ east Asian country. A list of publications relating to Southeast Asia which may be obtained on prepaid order directly from the Program is given at the end of this volume. Information on Program staff, fellowships, require­ ments for degrees, and current course offerings will be found in an Announcement of the Department of Asian Studies obtainable from the Director South­ east Asia Program, Franklin Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York. • ii• THE SHAN STATES and the BRITISH ANNEXATION by Sao Saimong Mangrai Data Paper: Number 57 Southeast Asia Program Eepartment of Asian Studies Cornell University, Ithaca, New York August 1965 Price: $4. 00 • 1.• 1.• 1. 0 1965 CORNELL UNIVERSITY SOUTHEAST ASIA PROGRAM First Printing, 1965 Second Printing, 1969 iv PREFACE The author of this woik, Sao Saimong Mangrai, is the son of a past Sawbwa of the Shan State· · of Kengtung, the husband of Daw Mi Mi Khaing, herself the writer of a well-known book on Burmese family life, and was, until the army coup d'etat of 2 March 196·2 in Burma, Chief E.ducation Officer of the Shan and Kayah states. In these pages he essays to present the full story of the British occupation of this area . consequent' upon the deposition of Thibaw,. · the last king of Burma, in November 1885, and the subsequent annexation of his kingdom to British India on 1 January 1886. He has drawn upon unpublished documents in. the India Office- archives in-London, official publications and con­ temporary published works now long out-of-print and only available in a few libraries. He quotes copiously from his sources, partly for this reason, but also because he has found them fascinating, and his own words inadequate to convey their distinctive flavour. In his introduction, Sao Saimong explains why he has been unable to carry out the full plan suggested to him by Professor Gordon Luce, the sayagyi (great teacher) of all students of Burma's ·.history. He has, however, p.refaced his main story with. a chapter in which he recounts the stories of earlier Shan history to be found in their chronicle literature. They present the histori�n. ' with many problems, and it may be a long time before a-definitive history of the Shans can be written. But they must not be lightly disr�garded for they offer a mirror to the mind of the Shan: they reflect conceptions of the past which have become ·part and parcel of the·outlook of more recent generationsi and failing an authentic picture of_ their past, it is next in importance that the reader should know what the Shans tpemselves have been told about ·it by their own writers. During his year's furlpugh from Burma, when Sao Saimong was researching in London, he and I had regular·_.weekly discussions, and I read each section of his _work ·as it came hot from his pen. His intelligence, urbanity and wit V made these meetings delightful and memorable: they display themselves repeatedly in this book. More than that, the author's ability to stand above the fray and assess situa­ tions fairly -- with nevertheless the occasional touch of amusement -- gives his book what to me is its special quality. D. G. E. Hall Visiting Professor Southeast Asia Program Ithaca, New York December 1963 vi CONTENTS Page Introduc-tion • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 1 Chapter I. Shanland and Its Peoples • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 5 II. Some Earlier Shans • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 15 III. Past Shan-Burmese Relations • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 47 IV. Preparations • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 81 V. Chaos and Revolts • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 1.01 VI. Annexation by Marching Columns • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 129 VII. Southern and Northern Shan Columns • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 147 VIII. Karenni • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 169 IX. The Third Annexation Tour: Kengtung • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 197 x. Boundary with Siam • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 217 XI. Boundary with France • •••••••••••• •••••••••••••••••••••• 239 XII. The Wa States • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Q • • 0 • • • 263 XIII. Boundary with China • • • e • I e e e e e e • • e ♦ e • ♦ ♦ I O e •. ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ e O e ♦ e e e D 275 XIV. Epilogue e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e ♦ e e e ♦ ♦ • ♦ e ♦ O • e • e e ♦ e ♦ • 0 • • ♦ ♦ ♦ • • ♦ 0 e 0 299 Bibliography 0 ♦ • 0 0 I • e • • e • e • • • e • e • • e ■ ■ e e e ♦ • • e • ■ e e • ■ ♦ ■ e ♦ ♦ e e ■ ♦ 0 e e e e 313 Appendix I. Table of Pong kings • ♦ • • • • • • • • I • • • • • • • • • • • e • • 0 • ■ 0 I • ♦ • 0 0 • i II. The Story of Mung-mau and table of kings • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • ii • • • III. The Story of Mog.aung and table of rulers • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • XV1l.1 IV. List of States (1925) and classical names • • • • • • • e • • • • • • XXV vii Appendix Page • • • • • • • • • • • ••••••• IV-A. Table of Salutes to Shan sawbwas • • • xxvii V. Titles of Burme::;e kings and Shan sawbwas .. .... .. xxv·iii VI. List of Bohrnus and Jitkes at Mongnai, 1802-1881 ..... i!II. :�orms of 3ar1ais 5ranted to: i. Sawbwas ...................................... :XXX1 . ll,• • • • • • • • • • • • • • •••• t·�yo�,as and Ngwegur1hmus • • • • • • • X.XX::.J.l • • • . lll. Sawb-.1a of Ken�tung 1889 • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • XXXlll • lV. Sawbv1a of Ken:�tung 1896 • • • • • • • • • •••••••••••••• xxxv· . • • • • • • •• v. Sawbwa of Hsipaw 1889 • • • • • •••••••••••• XXXVll • • • • • • • • • • ••••••••••••••• vi. Sawbwa of Hsipaw 1906 • XXXlX .... 01 • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • vii. Sawbwa Mong Mit 1905 • • • xlii . Vlll. Sawbwa of Kantarawadi • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • xliii ix. l..Jestern Karenni Chiefs .••..•...•.....•.....•.• xlv x. Cases of successions •...•.....•..•...•.....•.• xlvii 'iJIII. The Twelve Pannas of Kenghung ....••••.............••• xlix 1. McLeod's List • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • xlix ii. Scott's First List ........................... xlix iii. Scott's Second Lista........................... L iv. Daly's List . .. .. .. .. .. .... .. .. Li IX. 18 94 Convention ...................................... Lii x. 1897 Agreement ......................•................ Lxii XI. 1960 Sino-Burmese Boundary Treaty ..•••••..••......••• Lxix XII. Commuted Pensions of Shan Chiefs .••••...••••........• Lxxx XIII. Agreement between Shan State Government and the Saophas ... ......................................... Lxxxl. viii ABBREV"IATIONS & Burma Handbook Burma ·"- A Handbook of Practical Commercial Political Information by J. G. Scott, London, 1906. = BSUB Boundary between Siain & Upper Burma being Memorandum (November 1888) and Supplementary Memorandum (April 1889) presented by the Siamese Legation in London to the British Foreign Office on Siam"Y s claim to certain trans-Salween Shan States. CSTK Correspondence Concerning the Siamese Claim to the trans-Salween Territory of Eastern Karenni. Rangoon, 1890. = FACE Frontier Areas Committee of Enquiry, 1947: Report presented to His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom and the Government of Burma, Part I (Report) and Part II (Appendices). Rangoo11, 1947 ., GUESS Gazetteer of Upper Burma & the Shan States. = GUBSS, I.2.100 Gazetteer of Upper Burma & the Shan States, Part I, Volume 2, page 1.00, etc. = JAOS Journal of American Oriental Society. = JASB Jo·urnal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal"o JBRS = Journal of Burma Research Society. JSS = Journal of Siam Society. PAC - Parliamentary Accounts & Papers. PCTSS - Papers Concerning the trans-Salween States, being correspondence on the· relations between Siam and Burma and the former's claims to certain territory. on the easii of the Salween, in 6 parts. Rangoori, 18890 1.X RANSS = Report on the Ad.ministrat:ion of the Northern Shan States. RASSS - Report on the Administration of the Southern Shan States. X Introduction In August, 1957, I wrote to Professor G. H. Luce in the follow­ ing,..vein: A friend had s11ggested that, as the only history of the Shan States existed piece-meal in several works, I should attempt to put together those pieces in one convenient