New Taigress

Shan Culture - Social Life

Boom Town Spectacular

By Ampika Jirat/Shan State
February 2006

The China/Burma border town where a minority rules

“Oh…brothers, sisters…do not forget our past, our ancestors, our fatherland.”

Sentimental? Zealous? Jubilant? It’s difficult to read the mood of the crowd at this point.

“Do not leave the Tai [Shan] to die.”

shan new year

Thousands of Shan people are packed into the temple grounds, singing at a volume so intense, that the notes reverberate through the nearby hills.

“Do not let the Tai disappear.”

Up on stage, performers lead the crowd in a rendition of “Khat Jai Hai Mai Soong” (Make the Best Effort for Progress), the song that has been embraced as a Shan anthem. Before them, the audience sings, dances, waves Shan flags and lights fireworks. Despite the November chill, the fervor of the crowd keeps our blood warm.

“Everything here is Shan,” one man tells me. “The costume, the language, the music. It’s the only time Shan flags are allowed to fly.”

It’s the Shan New Year celebration and I am in Muse, across from the Chinese town of Ruili, on the famous Burma Road. Like many border towns, it’s a strange place full of trading houses, karaoke joints and brothels. It is also the most important border crossing between Burma and China.

Traders and goods come back and forth from Ruili, crossing the Ruili River in a daily ritual that also involves the trafficking of drugs and sex workers. This is why the Burmese government sees Muse as a sensitive area, and visitors are not allowed to travel without special permission. This “special permission” can only be obtained after giving US $150 to a tourist agency for a permit, then renting a car along with a guide to make sure that you do not wander off the main road or ask too many questions.

shan new year

Muse is a town where a minority is the majority. Almost exclusively dependent on the huge amount of trade that comes into Burma from China—and specifically from Yunnan province—the thriving economy has given the Shan, the dominant ethnic group here, a solid financial base. In a country where expression of ethnic identity is usually suppressed, the Shan in Muse enjoy comparative freedom. Each year the Shan Literature and Cultural Committee collects more than 10 million kyat (about $9,000) in donations for the New Year festivities, guaranteeing Muse the most spectacular festival in Shan State.

Over four nights of celebration, local singers send messages of pride, urging young Shan to help preserve their own language and culture, remembering their glorious past and encouraging confidence in the future.

The celebration reaches its peak at midnight on November 30, when thousands of revelers join together to welcome the 2100th year on the Shan calendar. It is the celebration of a new century and the hope, prosperity and progress it promises. “Being in the midst of the crowd like this,” my new friend says, “I feel like we already have independence.”

http://www.irrawaddy.org/aviewer.asp?a=5450&z=104