Kayan people (Myanmar)

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Kayan

ကယန်း
A Kayan Lahwi woman
Total population
180,000
Regions with significant populations
Myanmar Thailand Vietnam U.S.
Myanmar: Shan State	90,000
Myanmar: Kayah State	70,000
Myanmar: Kayin State	12,000
Thailand	600
United States	600
Languages
Padaung Kayan
Religion
Roman Catholicism

The Kayan are a subgroup of the Red Karen (Karenni people), a Tibeto-Burman ethnic minority of Myanmar (Burma). The Kayan consists of the following groups: Kayan Lahwi (also called Padaung, ပဒေါင် [bədàʊɰ̃]), Kayan Ka Khaung (Gekho), Kayan Kadao, Kayan Lahta (Zayein people), Kayan Ka Ngan, Kayan Kakhi, and sometimes, Bwe people (Kayaw). They are distinct from and not to be confused with the Kayan people of Borneo.

Padaung (Yan Pa Doung) is a Shan term for the Kayan Lahwi (the group in which women wear brass neck rings). Kayan residents in Mae Hong Son province in northern Thailand refer to themselves as Kayan and object to being called Padaung, as corroborated by Khin Maung Nyunt in The Hardy Padaungs (1967).^[1] On the other hand, Pascal Khoo Thwe calls his people Padaung in his 2002 memoir, From the Land of Green Ghosts: A Burmese Odyssey.^[2]

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, due to conflict with the military regime in Myanmar, many Kayan tribespeople fled to Thai border areas.^[3] Among the refugee camps set up, there was a "long neck" section, which became a tourist site.^[4]

According to U Aung Roe (1999:21ss), the Kayan number about 90,000 in Shan State (around the Pekhon Township area), about 20,000 around Kayin State, and 70,000 in Kayah State (around Demawso and Loikaw). A 2004 estimate put the total population at approximately 180,000.^[5] About 600 Kayan reside in three villages open to tourists in Mae Hong Son, including the Ban Mai Nai Soi refugee camp.