Ethnic origin of Chin in Myanmar

Introduction

The ethnic Chin is called Chin in Myanmar and Mizo, which originated from the word Mizoram in Northeast India. The Bengali called them Kuki meaning 'wild hill people'.

The Chin is their original tribal name before other names were given to them. Collectively, most westerners named them as Kuki-Chin-Mizo which is a part of Sino-Tibetan people.

This article consists of Part One of their origin, the controversial part of their origin will be debated in Part Two.

Homeland

The homeland of the Chin people is in the Chin State in Myanmar.  The Chin people live mainly in the Chin hills in Chin State of Myanmar and Mizo hills in Mizoram of Northeast India to the south of the Naga hills. Some also live in southern Manipur. Refer to grey region in the map below.

Homeland

Migration to Chin State

Chin people were documented to be living along the Chindwin River basin in Sagaing region in Myanmar around 750 AD. Evidence of this is that the Burmese word for Chindwin means 'River of the Chin'. This means that the Chin people came earlier than the Bamar people who came from Yunnan to Myanmar around mid 9th century AD.

Some of their earliest settlements were found in northern town of Homalin and southern town of Khampat in Sagaing region. Khampat was established around 996 AD.

Migration to Chin State

The Mongol invasion of Myanmar (1277-1302 AD) caused a weakening of the ethnic Bamar hold on Chindwin river basin. This enabled the ethnic Tai coming from Yunnan province to occupy the Chindwin river basin. 

In 1395 AD, the ethnic Tai built Kalay-Myo town in the Kale Valley using forced labor of the Chin people. The hardship to build the fortress of the new town drove the Chin to migrate up the Chin hills to Tedim (Chin Nwe) in 15th century AD.

The migration of Northwestern Tai into Chindwin river basin is narrated on another article.

Original homeland in China

Their folk-tales talked about how they originally came from a place called Chin-Lung aka Sin-Lung in central-western China. Some scholars contended that their ancestors escaped the hardship of building the Great Wall of China and hid in a huge cave because the word 'Lung' means cave in their language.

According to Chinese history books, there were other Sino-Tibetan tribal groups (besides Han Chinese) called Khiang/Qiang/Chiang (羌) who lived in Qinghai and Gansu during Eastern Zhou dynasty (771-476 BC). 

Between 7th and 8th century AD, they managed to migrate southward along the Qiang belt (Gansu-Sichuan-Yunnan) via Hukong Valley in Upper Myanmar to Chindwin Valley and called it Chinlung after their original homeland in China.

Origin of the word 'Chin'

The stone inscriptions, erected by the Burmese king King Kyanzittha (1084–1113), the name Chin was spelled as ‘Khian’ which is very close to Khiang. Note that in ancient times, the character 羌 was pronounced as Khiang in Old Chinese whereas Chiang is the modern Mandarin pronunciation. In 1826 AD, the British Major Snodgrass mentioned Khian country as their country. During 1891-1896 AD, the British pronounced the tribe as Chin which became the standard pronunciation for the tribe.

The Chin tribes have stories about an ancient Chin-Lung civilization. From the classification of the Chin language, one of the two kingdoms listed below might be its possible origin.

Possible kingdoms	Period	Ethnic group
(Former) Chin	351-394 AD	Di (氐)
(Later) Chin	384–417 AD	Chiang/ Khiang (羌)

Chin sub-groups

There are basically five Chin branches.

• Northern Chin: Zomi: Thado, Tedim, Zo, Sizang/Siyin, Ngawn, Vaiphei, Simte, Paite, Gangte

• Central Chin: Mizo: Lushai, Hmar; Lai: Hakha, Falam; Tawr/Laamtut Thet.

• Maraic: Mara/Lakher, Zophei/Zyphe, Senthang, Lautu, Zotung

• Southern Chin: Ashoic: Asho; Cho: Matu/Nga La, Chinbon, Daai, Muun  

• Khumic: Khumi, Mro-Khimi

Chin subgroups

The Northwestern Chin was the first group (called 'Old Kuki') to split from the rest of the Chin groups from Khampat in Kabaw Valley and then migrated to Manipur by 1500 AD. However, this branch consider themselves Naga so they will be considered as one of the sub-branches of Southern Naga instead.

The Northern, Central and Southern Chin branches were formed after they dispersed from Chin Nwe (Tedim) to the northern, central and southern regions of Chin Hills respectively around 1420 AD. 

After staying in the Chin Hills for around 100 years, some Central Chin tribes started migrating to Mizoram from the 16th century AD to become the Hmar and Rangkhol tribes.

The Lusei tribe migrated to Mizoram from the 18th century AD, The Hmar was forced to migrate northward to Manipur in 1880 AD by the increasing number of Lusei migrants.

British colonization

The Chin had their independent country called Chinland aka Chinram which is depicted in the shaded region of the first map above but the British invaded Chinland from 1871-1895 AD. This annexation resulted in the land being divided between British Myanmar, British India. 

In 1947 AD, when East Pakistan/Bangladesh split from India, part of Chinland was absorbed into Bangladesh.

In Northeast India, one of the biggest uprising by the Chin was led by General Tintong Haokip against the British in the Anglo-Chin war (1917-1919 AD). The uprising was unsuccessful and Chinland remained part of British India and currently Indo-Aryan India.

General Tintong's statue

In Myanmar, in order to get independence from the British, the ethnic Chin and other ethnic groups signed the Panglong agreement in 1947 AD. The Myanmar army's breaching of this agreement was the main source of armed conflicts between the ethnic Chin and ethnic Bamar after independence in 1948 AD.

Closest ethnic relatives

The Tangkul and Mao Naga legends state that the Chin and Southern Naga descended from a common ancestor who had three sons in the order from oldest to youngest. Meitei (youngest) actually split from Tangkul so it should be considered a Southern Naga tribe.

This common ancestral tribe was probably formed in Chindwin River basin more than one thousand years ago who followed the same migration path into Myanmar before splitting into two brotherly groups - Southern Naga and Chin. The Southern Naga lived around Homalin whereas the Chin lived around Khampat.

Their folk-tales, close language classification, Chindwin River origin, proximity of present location to each other, all seem to support this close relationship between the three groups. Therefore, the closest relatives to the Chin are the Southern Naga.

Ao Naga (courtesy of JK Photos Nagaland)

The Southern Naga and Meitei migrated westward into Manipur whereas the Chin migrated southward into the Chin hills pressured by the same invaders.

Conclusion

From their oral legend, their native language and the history of ethnic groups in China, we may conclude that the ancestors of Chin came from central-western China.

They migrated along the Qiang/Chiang belt into Chindwin River basin in Myanmar before settling in their present locations of Chin State and Northeast India.

Chin bamboo dance

Related links

Ethnic origin of South Naga
http://eastasiaorigin.blogspot.com/2018/03/ethnic-origin-of-naga.html

Origin of Sino-Tibetan tribes
http://eastasiaorigin.blogspot.com/2018/08/origin-of-sino-tibetan-tribes.html

Sources

• Essays on the History of the Mizos. By Sangkima. Spectrum Publications, Guwahati, 2004, p. 15 & 36-37. 
• The Origin of the Chin. By Lian H. Sakhong. 
• In Search of Chin Identity: A Study of Religion, Politics, and Ethnic Identity in Burma. 2003. By Lian H. Sakhong.
• Language, Identity and Contemporary Society. 2019. By Rajesh Kumar, Om Prakas. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. 
• Zo History. by Vumson.
• Life Style, Indian Tribes: Locational Practice, Volume 1. By Shiva Tosh Das
• Transnational Tribe of North East India: The Maras and their Quest for Identity. Dr. K. Robin. Department of History and Ethnography, Mizoram University.
• Status of the term Kuki in the past and present: A critical analysis. 
• Area of Chin migration and its causes. 
• http://factsanddetails.com/southeast-asia/Myanmar/sub5_5d/entry-3048.html 
• https://www.timesofmizoram.com/2017/06/mizo-church-history-khuma-first-mizo-to.html
• http://mizoram.nic.in/about/history.htm

Last update: 1 July 2022

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