Kayan people (Myanmar)

Kayana Gowana

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 sub-group of Red Karen (Karenni people), 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, 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 the brass neck rings). The Kayan residents in Mae Hong Son Province in Northern Thailand refer to themselves as Kayan and object to being called Padaung. In The Hardy Padaungs (1967) Khin Maung Nyunt, one of the first authors to use the term "Kayan", says that the Padaung prefer to be called Kayan.^[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 tribes fled to the Thai border area.^[3] Among the refugee camps set up there was a Long Neck section, which became a tourist site, self-sufficient on tourist revenue and not needing financial assistance.^[4]

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