Introduction
This article tells the origin of the mysterious Rawang people in Myanmar and Derung in Yunnan of China who are part of Sino-Tibetan people. The Derung were called Khiu (俅) people in ancient China. They are the smallest ethnic group in Yunnan.Homeland
The Derung people's homeland is along the Derung/Dulong River basin in Gongshan county of Nujiang prefecture in Yunnan. This place is quite isolated which is surrounded by high mountains. They also live in adjacent Zayu county of Tibet.
Their homeland was under the control of the Nanzhao kingdom (738-902 AD) and the subsequent Dali kingdom.
Original homeland
The Derung people's legend stated that their original homeland is in the nearby upper Salween River basin. Their ancestors went hunting and came across the Derung River basin and decided to stay there due to better living conditions. They were the first natives in Derung River basin.Their relatives left behind in the Salween River basin are called the Nu tribe. 'Nu' is the Chinese name for Salween River.
Ultimately, all Sino-Tibetan tribes came from further north i.e. eastern Qinghai bordering Sichuan. Refer to 'Related links' section below.
Migration to Myanmar
The Derung is called Rawang in Myanmar and mostly live in Putao district of Kachin state.
They migrated to Putao district in northernmost Myanmar by travelling along the Derung River. The Derung River seems to be connected to the N'Mai Hka (မေခမြစ်) River in Myanmar. The Putao district consists of a Putao plains surrounded by high mountains.
It is unknown when and why they migrated to Myanmar but it was most probably during the 18-19th century AD when their tribe was harassed by other tribes in Yunnan as described in the section below.
Derung culture
The Derung women has a traditional custom of tattooing their faces.
During the Qing dynasty around 1730-1908 AD, the Lolo-Yi people living in the adjacent east would pillage their villages and also take their people as slaves and probably pretty women as their wives.
Their legend also spoke of the past when there was an external invading tribe who would take away their pretty girls. So the girls tattooed their faces to make themselves less desirable to the invaders. However, in modern times, this tradition has been abandoned.
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| Tattooed-faced Derung grandma |
The Kachowa festival is their most important festival which they celebrate for three days. Cows are sacrificed for the mountain gods and statues called 'La' were constructed during the festival.
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| 'La' statue |
Writing & language
Throughout their history, the Derung people don't have their own written script. In 1951, the Rawang people created the Rawang script based on Latin alphabet. In 1983, the Derung people in Yunnan also created a Latin alphabet based on the Rawang script.
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| Derung language classroom |
The Derung language preserves the double-consonant clusters of ancient Sino-Tibetan languages such as pl, kl, pr, kr, ml, mr, hr which were lost in Chinese languages.
Like more than 90% of Sino-Tibetan languages, the Derung language is also a tonal language.
Nungish subgroups
The Nungish branch of Sino-Tibetan includes the following subgroups:
- Derung in Gongshan county (Derung River basin) in Yunnan of China
- Nung/Anong/Anung in Fugong county (Salween River basin) in Yunnan
- Rawang in Putao district in Kachin state of Myanmar
- Naw in Myitkyina district in Kachin state of Myanmar
The word Nung/Nong means 'muddy river' and is the name of the Anong/Anung subgroup where this branch derived its name from.
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| Nungish subgroups (inset - Rawang people) |
Closest ethnic relative
It is unknown which Sino-Tibetan branch is their closest ethnic relative because their languages are not very close to the other branches. Therefore, more research need to be done on the linguistic side.
The Rawang are not closely related to the Jingpho ethnic group which is the ethnic majority in Kachin state but did borrow some loanwords and culture from the Jingpho. Note that Kachin is just a geographical grouping and not a single ethnicity.
Conclusion
The Derung are the natives of Upper Salween River and Derung River basins in Yunnan province. They form a main branch of the Sino-Tibetan people called Nungish. |
| Derung people by the Derung river |
Related links
Ethnic origin of Sino-Tibetan people- The language situation in China vol. 4. By Li Yuming.
- The Disappearing Derung. By The Young Reporter (TYR).
- https://kknews.cc/news/vz43ngy.html
- https://kknews.cc/history/ma89k69.html
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