Chin State (, ) is a state in western

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 Wells explai ...

. The Chin State is bordered by Sagaing Division and Magway Division to the east,

Rakhine State Rakhine State (; , , ; formerly known as Arakan State) is a state in Myanmar (Burma). Situated on the western coast, it is bordered by Chin State to the north, Magway Region, Bago Region and Ayeyarwady Region to the east, the Bay of Ben ...

to the south,

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million pe ...

to the south-west, and the

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 ...

n states of

Mizoram 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 ...

to the west and

Manipur Manipur () ( mni, Kangleipak) is a States and territories of India, 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 ...

to the north. The population of Chin state is about 478,801 in 2014 census. The capital of the state is Hakha. The state is a mountainous region with few transportation links. Chin State is sparsely populated and remains one of the least developed areas of the country. Chin State has the highest poverty rate of 73% as per the released figures from the first official survey. The official radio broadcasting dialect of Chin is Falam. There are 53 different subtribes and languages in Chin State. There are nine townships in Chin State: Hakha, Thantlang, Falam, Tedim,

Tonzang Tonzang(တွန်းဇန်) is a town, located in northern Chin State, western side of Myanmar. Tonzang is at about 37 miles north-eastern of Tedim town. The people who live in Tonzang are called Zo and Zomi. They speak Zo, Zomi and Burmese ...

, Matupi,

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, a Burmese prince *Mindat.org Mindat.org is a non-commercial online databas ...

, Kanpetlet and

Paletwa Paletwa (, ) is one of the westernmost towns of Myanmar, in Chin State 18 kilometres from the border with Bangladesh. Its population in 2014 was about 97,000. Demographics Rakhine is the Lingua Franca of the region, while Kuki-Chin language ...

townships. In 1896, Mindat and Kanpetlet were placed under Pakokku Hill Tracts District of British Burma later emerged into Chin hills. Only

Paletwa Township Paletwa Township ( my, ပလက်ဝမြို့နယ်) is a Townships of Myanmar, township of Matupi District in the Chin State of Myanmar. It consists of Paletwa and Sami, Paletwa, Sami towns and Paletwa is the administrative center for t ...

became a part of Arakan Hill Tracts District of British Burma.

History

Early history

The Chin people entered the Chin Hills in the first millennium 1200 AD as part of the wider migration of Chin peoples into the area. For much of history, the sparsely populated Chin Hills were ruled by local chiefs. Some historians (Arthur Phayre, Tun Nyein) put Pateikkaya in eastern Bengal, thus wrongly placing the entire Chin Hills under Pagan suzerainty but others, like Harvey, citing stone inscriptions, properly put it near the eastern Chin Hills. (Burmese Chronicles report the kings of Pateikkaya as Indian though the ethnicity of the subjects is not explicitly cited.) Accordingly, since the first human settlement in the region later called Chin Hills as early as 10 century CE, no other external military conquest nor tributary influence was noticed either in oral traditions or other historical inscriptions but the rule and leadership of local native chiefs as listed above until the British advancement in the late 19th century.

Feudal era

The first confirmed political entity in the region was the

Shan State Shan State ( my, ရှမ်းပြည်နယ်, ; shn, မိူင်းတႆး, italics=no) also known by the endonyms Shanland, Muang Tai, and Tailong, is a state of Myanmar. Shan State borders China (Yunnan) to the north, Laos ( L ...

of Kale (Kalay), founded by the

Shan people The Shan people ( shn, တႆး; , my, ရှမ်းလူမျိုး; ), also known as the Tai Long, or Tai Yai are a Tai ethnic group of Southeast Asia. The Shan are the biggest minority of Burma (Myanmar) and primarily live in t ...

who came to dominate Kale-Kabaw valley of the northwestern-to-eastern arc of Burma after the fall of the Pagan Kingdom in 1287. Kale was a minor Shan state. The minor state occasionally paid tribute to the larger Shan States of Mohnyin and Mogaung and ultimately became a vassal state of the Burmese Ava Kingdom in the 1370s. Starting in the 1480s, Ava began to disintegrate and Kale was swallowed up by the Shan State of Mohnyin by the 1520s. Three of the Saopha sons (Thein Kheing/Thuan Khai(Ancestor of Hlythi/Hlawncheu, Hauhulh and Zahao/Zahau), Phra Lung/Phurh hlum (Ancestor of Zanniat/Nuhma/Nohro(Sumthang,Syuhlo,Hlosa/Hluansang and Notlia/Nuhnu/Nutlai), and Ral Thang) fled to the Chin hills around 1400 where their descendants ruled the petty chiefdoms all over Falam, Hakha, and parts of Paletwa and Mindat district along with various villages in the hill range of Bangladesh(Chittagong Hills Tracts and India(Mizoram) as well some villages in Rakhaing State. The Burmese kingdoms between 1555 and 1559 when King

Bayinnaung , image = File:Bayinnaung.JPG , caption = Statue of Bayinnaung in front of the National Museum of Myanmar , reign = 30 April 1550 – 10 October 1581 , coronation = 11 January 1551 at Toun ...

of the Toungoo Dynasty conquered part of Upper Burma and its surrounding regions, stretching from the eastern and northern Shan states to the western Magway Division and plain region in

. Toungoo began to weaken in the late 17th century. By the 1730s, a resurgent Manipuri Kingdom had conquered the Kabaw Valley, which is at the eastern front of Chin Hills, from the Burmese. Situated in a far west hilly region, however, Chin Hills was traditionally autonomous and far for successional Burman kingdoms to reach. Until British colonial rule, independent city-states such as Ciimnuai (Chinwe/Chin Nwe) later shifted to Tedim and Vangteh in the north, Tlaisun and Rallang in the mid-land, and Hakha, Thantlang and Zokhua in the south played important political role in securing peace of the region, and each city-state practised its own independent sovereignty in their own rights.

Colonial era

The British acquired the Chin Hills a decade after the

Third Anglo-Burmese War The Third Anglo-Burmese War ( my, တတိယ အင်္ဂလိပ် – မြန်မာစစ်, Tatiya Anggalip–Mran cac), also known as the Third Burma War, took place during 7–29 November 1885, with sporadic resistance conti ...

of 1885. American missionaries began arriving in the 1890s and, by the middle of the 20th century, most of the Chin people had converted to

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesu ...

. The ensuing Chin resistance to the British was suppressed only by 1896 with the arrest of Khai Kam Thuantak of Siyin area.In 1896,it became a part of Pakokku Hill Tracts Districts of British Burma until 1948,January 4. The administered the Chin Hills as part of

Pakokku District Pakokku District ( my, ပခုက္ကူခရိုင်, ; also Pagukku District) is a district of the Magway Division in central Burma (Myanmar). It is situated in northern part of Magwe Region. The administrative centre is the city of P ...

. The region was the westernmost advance of the

Imperial Japanese Army The was the official ground-based armed force of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945. It was controlled by the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office and the Ministry of the Army, both of which were nominally subordinate to the Emperor ...

, which occupied the region in November 1943, in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. After the war, Chin state leaders headed by Vawmthu Moung, with Burman, Shan and Kachin leaders, participated in the Panglong Conference which discussed the future of an independent Union of Burma. Because of the region's heavy economic dependence on Burma, Chin leaders, unlike Shan and Kachin leaders, asked only for a "special administrative division", not a full-fledged state. As a result, when the 1947 Constitution of Burma granted the right of secession to states after 10 years after the independence, the Chin people did not get a state (no right to secede). (The Karen, who did not participate in the conference, received a state, with the right to secede). Until 1974, three townships of today Chin State (Mindat,Kanpetlet and Matupi townships) were part of Pakokku Hill Tracts of

and then, it became a part of Chin State Until now.

Post-Burmese independence

Upon

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 C. Wells, Joh ...

's independence from the United Kingdom in 1948, Chin Hills Special Division was created out of the Chin Hills, with its capital at Falam. However, three townships of modern Chin State (

, Kanpetlet and Matupi) were part of the Pakokku Hill Tracts of

and

of the Arakan Hill Tracts, until 4 January 1974. On 4 January 1974, the Chin Hills Special Division was granted state status and became Chin State. Today, Chin State has little infrastructure and remains extremely poor and undeveloped. "Chin National Day" is designated on 20 February to commemorate the "General Assembly of Chinland" held in 1948. The first celebration of Chin National Day was held in 1951, but it was not well recognized by Myanmar governments until the 2010s. Chin National Front proposed to designate 3 January as "Chin State Day".

Administrative divisions

To more easily convince the Chin people within the declaration of emergency rule by the Burma government, Chin State divided to two districts in the north (Hakha District and Falam District) and two in the south (Mindat and Matupi District) and was further subdivided into nine townships and three subtownships. Falam had been the district capital since the British colonization. After the military coup in 1962, the junta in the 1974 reorganization shifted the state capital to Hakha. The township borders have been adjusted, most recently in a reorganization of Falam District in 2008. Falam Township lost area in its northeast to Tedim Township but gained territory from Tedim in the northwest, extending northward as far as the developing town of Rihkhawdar on the Indian border. In the reorganization, Falam lost a small area in its southwest back to Thantlang Township from which it had recently been shifted.

Districts and Townships

* Tedim District of Northern Chin State **

Tedim Township Tedim or Tiddim Township ( my, တီးတိန်မြို့နယ်) is a township in Tedim District of the Chin State of Myanmar (Burma). The administrative centre for the township is the town of Tedim. Tedim is the most populous towns ...

** Tonzang Township ** Cikha Subttownship ** Khaikam Town *

Falam District Falam District ( my, ဖလမ်းခရိုင်) is a district of the Chin State in Myanmar. It consists of 3 townships and 445 villages. The major towns include: Chikha (Gyikhar), Tonzang (Htonzan), Tiddim, Fort White, and Falam. B ...

Central Chin State ** Falam Township ** Rihkhawdar Town ** Webula Town * Hakha District of Central Chin State ** Hakha Township ** Surkhua Town ** Thantlang Township ** Hnaring Town *

Matupi District Matupi District is a district of the Chin State 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 speake ...

of Central and Southwestern Chin State ** Matupi Township ** Rezua Subtownship ** Lailenpi Town **

** Samee Subtownship * Mindat District of Southeastern Chin State ** Mindat Township ** Makui Innu Town ** Kanpetlet Township Hakha District was formed by the first Chin State Hluttaw emergency meeting No. 2/2012 on 1 June.

was formed by the second Pyidaungsu Hluttaw regular meeting on 28 June 2017.

Cities and towns

* Cikha, subtownship in the north * Falam, northern Chin State (Falam District) * Hakha, capital of Chin State (Hakha District) * Kanpetlet * Lailenpi, subtownship in west south * Matupi, southern capital town.(Matupi District) *

, southern Chin State *

, southern Chin State * Rezua, Rezua Subtownship * Rihkhawdar, subtownship in the north *

Sami Acronyms * SAMI, ''Synchronized Accessible Media Interchange'', a closed-captioning format developed by Microsoft * Saudi Arabian Military Industries, a government-owned defence company * South African Malaria Initiative, a virtual expertise net ...

, subtownship in south * Tedim, Tedim Township * Thantlang, Thantlang Township *

, Tonzang Township * Webula, Webula town * Hnaring, Hnaring town * Surkhua, Surkhua town * Makui innu, Makui Innu town * Khaikam, Khaikam subtownship in east * Loklung village

Government

Executive

Legislature

Judiciary

Geography

Hiang Ziing Village, Chin State, Myanmar

Khonumtung ( Mount Victoria), high, is the highest peak in Chin State. Many natural watercourses flow among mountain ranges running from north to south forming valleys and gorges. The state has many rivers and the Manipur River flows through its northern half. The

Tio River Tiau River (or Tio river) a long river which forms part of the international boundary between India and Myanmar. It rises near Khuangphah village of Champhai district in Mizoram, India. It ultimately merges with the Tuipui River. Zokhawthar ...

forms much of the border with India for the northern half of the state. The Bawinu/Beino/ Chhimtuipui River, as the Kaladan River is known upstream from its confluence with the Tiau, forms the border with India for the central portion of the state. In the southwestern part of the state, the Kaladan River enters from India and flows down past Sinletwa/Salyutlana and

and exits into

. The longest waterfall in Chin state is the Bungtla Waterfall near Matupi.

Population

Demographics

The people of Chin state are made up of many tribes which, though historically related, now speak divergent languages and have different cultural and historical identities. Some consider the name Chin an

exonym An endonym (from Greek: , 'inner' + , 'name'; also known as autonym) is a common, ''native'' name for a geographical place, group of people, individual person, language or dialect, meaning that it is used inside that particular place, group, o ...

, given by the Burmese and of unclear origin. There are different languages or ethnic groups in Chin State: Kcho, Laimi, Matu, Zomi, Mizo, Asho, Mara, Khumi, and Daai.

Religion

According to the 2014 Myanmar Census,

Christians Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

, who make up 85.4% of Chin State’s population, form the largest religious community there. Minority religious communities include

Buddhists Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and g ...

(13%),

Muslims Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abra ...

(0.1%),

Hindus Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

(0%), and animists (0.4%), including adherents of Pau Cin Hau, who collectively comprise the remainder of Chin State’s population. 1.1% of the population listed no religion, other religions, or were otherwise not enumerated. Chin State is the only state in Myanmar with a majority Christian population. According to the State Sangha Maha Nayaka Committee’s 2016 statistics, 457 Buddhist monks were registered in Chin State, comprising 0.1% of Myanmar's total

Sangha Sangha is a Sanskrit word used in many Indian languages, including Pali meaning "association", "assembly", "company" or "community"; Sangha is often used as a surname across these languages. It was historically used in a political context t ...

membership, which includes both novice samanera and fully-ordained bhikkhu. All monks in Chin State belong to the Thudhamma Nikaya (100%). 43 thilashin were registered in Chin State, comprising 0.1% of Myanmar’s total thilashin community.

Transport

The government has been building many new miles of roads in the mountainous region. Earth roads have been upgraded into metaled ones and metaled roads to bituminous facilities. The Kalay-Falam-Haka road is already completed. Bituminous roads include *70 miles and four furlong Gangaw-Haka Road *102 miles Pakokku-Mindat-Matupi-Rezua Road *172 miles and seven furlong Haka-Rezua-Matupi Road *115 miles and one furlong Kalay-Falam-Haka Road *53 miles long Haka-Hmandaw Road is under construction and almost completed by the donation of Chin (Laimi peoples) communities around the world. *Kyaukhtu-Mindat road linking Chin State and Magway Division have been built. Gangaw-Hakha Road

ASEAN Highway crosses through the center of Chinland settling areas of Madalay-Kalay-Tamu-Lamka/Behiang. The sector-wise upgrading of the gateways to Chin State Mandalay-Sagaing-Monywa-Gangaw-Haka road and Pakokku-Pauk-Tabyin-Kyaukhtu-Mindat road is in progress. Kyaukhtu Airport, built by Directorate of Military Engineers of the Ministry of Defence in Kyaukhtu, Saw Township, Gangaw District, Magway Division, was commissioned into service on 10 July 2004. The airport has helped develop the transport sector of southern Chin State linking Yaw and Pakokku regions in Magway Division. Cars can reach Kanpetlet from Magway (capital of Magway division) via Saw and from Kyautthu and Mindat and Matupi in southern Chin State from Pakukku via Kyaukhtu. In 1988, the state has two over bridges: *270 foot Nakzaang Bridge in Tonzang Township *240 foot Lemro Bridge in Matupi Township. The military government has built the Var Bridge across Manipura River on Kalay-Haka Road in Falam Township in 1998 and 'Mansuang Hlei' Bridge across River Manipura on Tedim-Kaptel-Rih Lake road in Tedim District in 2002. The Mansaung Bridge is being built across Manipura River on Tedim-Rih Lake section.

Airports

* Surbung Airport *

Airport VYPE

Communication

Development in the communication sector

Comparison between period preceding 1988 and after (up to 31 December 2006)

Electricity

The effective use of land and water resources in the state has helped develop its power generation capacity. In 1988, the state has four small scale hydro-power stations: *the Zalui in Tedim Township *the Tongva in Haka Towhship *the Ngasitvar in Falam Township *the Paletwa in Paletwa Township. The military government built another 12 diesel power stations and six new hydro power plants, helping increase the power consumption. The four new hydroelectric power plants are the *0.2 megawatt Namhlaung Creek plant in Matupi Township *0.6 megawatt Laiva plant in Falam Township *0.2 megawatt Tuisawmlui plant in Tonzang Township *0.2 megawatt Chichaung plant in Mindat Township The Manipura Multipurpose Dam Project will be implemented.

Development in the electric power sector

Comparison between period preceding 1988 and after (up to 31 December 2006)

List of Hydro power plants

*Zalui 0.40 megawatt *Tongva 0.40 megawatt *Ngasipva 1.00 megawatt *Paletwa 0.05 megawatt *Nanlaungchaung 0.20megawatt *Laiva 0.60 megawatt *Tuisawmlui 0.20 megawatt *Chichaung 0.20 megawatt *Thinthe 0.05 megawatt *Linebon 0.05 megawatt

Industrial sector

Due to the facilitation of the transport and communication sectors and increase in the power generation in the state, many new private industries have emerged in the region. The state now has 522 private industries, 179 more than 343 in 1988. The number of state-owned industries has now reached nine from five in the past. The government has been striving to develop the industrial sector of the state which will become a major tea-growing region. Comparison between period preceding 1988 and after (up to 31 December 2006)

Education

According to official statistics, Chin State had 25 high schools in 2003. Chin State does not have any secular colleges or universities. Students have to leave to in order to pursue higher education. Students from northern Chin State attend university in

Tahan Tahhan or alternative Tahan (in Arabic طحان) is a surname and may refer to: * Bassam Tahhan, Syrian-born French professor of Arabic literature and expert on the Quran *Hussein al-Tahan or al-Tahhan (born 1955), the governor of Baghdad, Iraq fro ...

- Kalay, Sagaing Division. Students from southern Chin State attend university in Pakokku. However, there are private theological colleges in Chin State: * Chin Christian College, Hakha *Union Theological College (UTC), Matupi *Kalay University, Kalay, formerly Khaikam College *Chin Institute of Christian Theology, Falam, formerly known as Zomi Theological College *Government Technology of Institute (GTI, Hakha) *Bethel Bible College (BBC, Tedim) *Tedim Theological College (TTC, Tedim) *Faith Baptist Bible College and Seminary (FBBC&S, Tedim) *Kalay University, formerly known as Khaikam University *

Technological University (Kalay) Technological University (Kalay) ( my, နည်းပညာတက္ကသိုလ် (ကလေး)) is a technological university under the Ministry of Science and Technology. It is situated in the Tharyarwady village, south of the Kalay, Saga ...

Computer University (Kalay) The University of Computer Studies, Kalay (UCSK) ( my, ကလေး ကွန်ပျူတာ တက္ကသိုလ်), is an IT and computer science university of Myanmar. The university offers bachelor's and master's aprograms in compute ...

Pakokku University Pakokku University is a public university located in Pakokku, Magway Region, central Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although ...

Computer University, Pakokku University of Computer Studies (Pakokku) (formerly Computer University (Pakokku), Government Computer College (Pakokku)) is a public undergraduate university located in Pakokku, Magway Region, Myanmar. Students study various computer disciplines ...

Technological University, Pakokku Technological University, Pakokku is situated beside the Pakokku–Yesagyo road. It is about 8 miles and 4 furlongs far from Pakokku. Kyauk Hlae Khar village is situated to the north, Pantinechone village at the south and Oakkan village at the we ...

Health care

The general state of health care in Myanmar is poor. The health care infrastructure outside of

Yangon Yangon ( my, ရန်ကုန်; ; ), formerly spelled as Rangoon, is the capital of the Yangon Region and the largest city of Myanmar (also known as Burma). Yangon served as the capital of Myanmar until 2006, when the military government ...

and

Mandalay Mandalay ( or ; ) is the second-largest city in Myanmar, after Yangon. Located on the east bank of the Irrawaddy River, 631km (392 miles) (Road Distance) north of Yangon, the city has a population of 1,225,553 (2014 census). Mandalay was fo ...

is extremely poor. Although health care is nominally free, in reality, patients have to pay for medicine and treatment, even in public clinics and hospitals. Public hospitals lack many of the basic facilities and equipment. The following is a summary of the public health system in the state.

References

External links

WorldStatesman - Myanmar - States of Burma 1948-1974
*For more cultural information about the Chin see

F.K. Lehman FK or fk may refer to: In arts and entertainment: * Flyer Killer, fictional automated robots in the ''Terminator'' film franchise. * Fox Kids, a former American children's television programming block. * Funky Kong, a video game character. Place: ...

. 1963. ''The Structure of Chin Society;: A Tribal People of Burma Adapted to a Non-Western Civilization''. University of Illinois Press.
Stavanger Chin OrganizationThe Chin National FrontChin Human Rights OrganizationMatupi Students UnionChin Community in JapanChin Community in NorwayChin Community in DenmarkChinland Development and Research Society in SwedenChin Community in GermanyChin Christian Fellowship in DenmarkEnglish- Chin Online DictionaryMITCSZOGAM HomeVaphual news & articles on Zo peopleChin Community GermanyThe official website of Zomi Reunification Organisation
- arranged by state and division {{Authority control States of Myanmar 1974 establishments in Burma States and territories established in 1974