Shan warrior king to be honored

Human Rights

Shan warrior king to be honored

Reporter: Pegasus
A replica of the palace of Shan king Surkhanfah who flourished in the 14th century would be constructed in the near future as part of the plan to promote tourism, according to an official of Yunnan Province's Dehong Dai Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture, opposite northern Shan State.

The location chosen is a hillock 3 km north of Ruili known by Shans as Mongmao, opposite Shan State's Muse. It is believed by the local Shans, known as Dai in China, as the original headquarters of the Mao Kingdom (764-1418).

Details of the plan however were not disclosed at the Dai Nationality Culture Symposium held in Jiegao, 4 km south of Ruili, on the bank of the Mao (Shweli) river on 2 May and attended by more than 200 academics and observers from Burma's Shan State, India and Thailand.

The symposium coincided with the Sino-Burma friendship festival in Muse, 3-6 May.

Surkhanfah (1311-1364), who, according to folklore was raised by a white tiger, was credited as being the conqueror of a vast region which included most of today's Burma, southeastern Yunnan, Western Laos, Northern Thailand and Assam in northeastern India. He 'was the only Shan that ever united these squabbling states into one solid kingdom," wrote W.W. Cochrane in "The Shans".

The 42-page booklet on him was published by S.H.A.N. in 1994. It has been printed and reprinted 3 times since.