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Lisu
Total population
700,000 (est.)
Regions with significant populations
China, Thailand, Myanmar, India
Languages
Lisu
Religions
Shamanism, Christianity

The Lisu people (Chinese: 傈僳族 : Lìsù Zú) are an ethnic group who inhabit Myanmar (Burma), China, Thailand, and the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh. They are also known as Yawyin or, in a few places Yobin. However, this is a derogatory term meaning "savage" used by the Kachin of the Lisu; and was used by the Chinese of the Kachin before them.

The Lisu form one of the 56 ethnic groups officially recognized by the People's Republic of China. 30,000 live in Thailand, where they are one of the six main hill tribes.

Contents 1 History 1.1 Origins 1.2 Arunachal Pradesh Migration 2 Culture 3 Religion 4 See also 5 External links

Lisu history is passed from one generation to the next in the form of songs. Today, this song is so long that it can take more than a week to sing.

The Lisu are believed to originate from eastern Tibet, but recent historical linguistic work by Dr. David Bradley indicates that they moved to eastern Tibet/northwestern Yunnan in the 18th century. Not long after that, in the early 19th century, Lisu peoples began moving southwards down the Salween River Valley into northern Burma and northern Thailand.

Lisus in Arunachal Pradesh are were believed to have migrated from the Patkai Hills. A population Christian Lisu migrated from China to Burma, fleeing the Communists, and then were ordered to leave Burma by the government at the time; this group also settled in Arunachal Pradesh. In Arunachal Pradesh, they are primarily concentrated in Vijoynagar town of Changlang District.[1]

Traditionally Lisu people have been living in villages high in the mountains or in mountain valleys.

Lisu villages are usually built close to water to provide easy access for washing and drinking. Their homes are usually built on the ground and have dirt floors and bamboo walls, although an increasing number of the more affluent Lisu are now building houses from wood or even concrete.

Lisu subsistence was based on mountain rice, fruit and vegetables. However, they have typically lived in ecologically fragile regions that do not easily support subsistence. They also faced constant upheaval from both physical and social disasters (earthquakes and landslides; wars and governments). Therefore, they have typically been dependent on trade for survival. This included work as porters, caravan guards, or robbers of caravans. With the introduction of the opium poppy as a cash crop in the early 19th century, many Lisu populations were able to achieve economic stability. This lasted for over 100 years, but opium production has all but disappeared in Thailand and China due to interdiction of production. Very few Lisu ever used opium, or its more common derivative heroin, except for medicinal use by the elders to alleviate the pain of arthritis.

The Lisu practiced swidden (slash and burn) horticulture. In conditions of low population density where land can be fallowed for many years, swiddening is an environmentally sustainable form of horticulture. Despite decades of swiddening by hill tribes such as the Lisu, northern Thailand had a higher proportion of intact forest than any other part of Thailand. However, with road building by the state, logging (some legal but mostly illegal) by Thai companies, enclosure of land in national parks, and influx of immigrants from the lowlands, swidden fields can not be fallowed, can not re-grow, and swiddening results in large swathes of deforested mountainsides. Under these conditions, Lisu and other swiddeners have been forced to turn to new methods of agriculture to sustain themselves.

Perhaps the best-known subgroup of the Lisu is the Flowery Lisu in Thailand, due to hill tribe tourism. Lisu women are remarked for their brightly colored dress. They wear a multi-colored knee-length tunics of red, blue or green with a wide black belt and blue or black pants. Sleeve shoulders and cuffs are decorated with a dense applique of narrow horizontal bands of blue, red and yellow. Men wear baggy pants, usually in bright colours but normally wear a more western type of shirt or top.

Prior to the 20'th century, the Lisu religion was part animistic part ancestor worship. Most important rituals were preformed by Shamans.

In the beginning of the 20'th century, many Lisu people gave there lives to Jesus, at first largely through the work of the Scottish missionary James O. Fraser. John Kuhn and his wife Isobel continued the work after Fraser died, but by that time the Lisu church was already self propagating, and were sending there own missionary's to tribes that had not yet been reached.

Still today only a bit over 40% of the Lisu are Chrisitians, the other 60% are now either atheist, or too some extent still follow the religions of the past.

• Lisu Church

• The Virtual Hilltribe Museum
• The Lisu Bible Institute
• Lisu of China

v • d • e Ethnic groups in Myanmar (classification by the government of Myanmar)

Anu • Anun • Asho • Atsi • Awa Khami • Bamar (Burman) • Beik • Bre (Ka-Yaw) • Bwe • Chin • Dai (Yindu) • Daingnet • Dalaung • Danaw (Danau) • Danu • Dawei • Dim • Duleng • Eik-swair • Eng • Ganan • Gheko • Guari • Gunte (Lyente) • Gwete • Haulngo • Hkahku • Hkun (Khün) • Hpon • Intha • Kachin (Jingpo) • Kadu (Kado) • Ka-Lin-Kaw (Lushay) • Kamein • Kaung Saing Chin • Kaungso • Kaw (Akha-E-Kaw) • Kayah (Karenni) • Kayin (Karen) • Kayinpyu (Geba Karen) • Ka-Yun (Kayan; Padaung) • Kebar • Khami • Khamti Shan • Khmu (Khamu) • Khawno • Kokang • Kwangli (Sim) • Kwelshin • Kwe Myi • Kwi • Lahu • Lai (Haka Chin) • Laizao • Lashi (La Chit) • Lawhtu • Laymyo • Lhinbu • Lisu • Lushei (Lushay) • Lyente • Magun • Maingtha • Malin • Manu Manaw • Man Zi • Maramagyi • Maru (Lawgore) • Matu • Maw Shan • Meithei (Kathe) • Mgan • Mi-er • Miram (Mara) • Moken (Salon; Salone) • Mon • Monnepwa • Monpwa • Mon Kayin (Sarpyu) • Mro • Naga • Ngorn • Oo-Pu • Paku • Palaung • Pale • Pa-Le-Chi • Panun • Pa-O • Pyin • Rakhine (Arakanese) • Rawang • Rongtu • Saing Zan • Saline • Sentang • Sgaw • Shan • Shan Gale • Shan Gyi • Shu (Pwo) • Son • Tai-Loi • Tai-Lem • Tai-Lon • Tai-Lay • Taishon • Ta-Lay-Pwa • Tanghkul • Tapong • Taron • Taungyo • Tay-Zan • Thado • Thet • Tiddim (Hai-Dim) • Torr (Tawr) • Wa (Va) • Wakim (Mro) • Yabein • Yao • Yaw • Yin Baw • Yin Kya • Yin Net • Yin Talai • Yun (Lao) • Za-How • Zahnyet (Zanniet) • Zayein • Zizan • Zo • Zo-Pe • Zotung

v • d • e Ethnic groups in Thailand
Akha • Bru • Cham • Chinese • Hmong • Karen • Khmer • Khmu • Kuy • Lahu • Lanna (Northern Thai) • Lao • Lawa • Lisu • Lolo (Yi) • Lü (Tai Lü) • Lua • Malay • Mani (Negrito) • Mlabri • Moken • Mon • Nyahkur (Nyah Kur, Chao-bon) • Palaung (De'ang) • Phai • Phu Thai • Phuan • Saek • Shan • So • Southern Thai • Tai Dam (Black Tai) • Tai Nüa • Thai • Urak Lawoi • Yao/Iu Mien