Burma image, WA0329. Yawyin house. /A flowery Yawyin house at Hkrinmudan, east of Bhamo. Yawyin was a term that was sometimes used in relation to Lisu peoples. It was considered an insult by Lisu peoples themselves and was never employed when talking about oneself. 'Their villages are rarely sited anywhere except in hollows on the highest mountains. Their houses are raised on solid plinths and not on piles. They are made of plaited bamboo and are thatched with grass. Both houses and courtyards are kept neat and clean. The houses have from one to three rooms. A stone hearth - the social centre - is always at the end of the largest room. Their chief crops are maize, millet, buckwheat and hemp. Wild honey is used in making a very palatable alcoholic drink. They re great hunters and trappers. The pig is, however, the only domestic animal which is killed for meat' [dissertation, 1934:262-263]
*****Population [of 'Flowery' Lisu] in Burma - 19,865. The Flowery Lisus are an off-shoot from the main body of the tribe which occurs scattered throughout the highest mountains in Western Yunnan. In British territory isolated colonies exist in the Upper Ngawchang and Panwa Valleys of Htawgaw; the Upper Shingaw Valley of Sadon; near Sima, near Sinlum Kaba; and again in the Northern Shan States south-west of Namhkan. Finally they are found as far south as Kengtung and Mong Pan in the Southern Shan States and also occur in Indo-China and in Northern Siam. [dissertation, 1934:28-29]
*****In spite of their remoteness, I managed to visit a few of these Yawyin villages, notably Hkringmu-Dan. The name means ?bracken land. It was a long climb over hills covered with grass and ferns. The Yawyins of Hkringmu-Dan are Lasangs. They seem to intermarry with the Mitungs who live across the valley on the opposite mountain top at Shang Tai. ['Races of Burma', Major C. M. Enriquez, Meiktila, 1920, p.26]
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