Palaung people

File:Palaung woman.jpg

There are three main subgroups of Palaung: the Palé, Shwe and Rumai.{{Cite web |title=The Indigenous Palaung People |url=https://www.peoplesoftheworld.org/text?people=Palaung |access-date=2022-12-19 |website=The Peoples of the World Foundation}}

The Palé, Riang, Rumai and Shwe peoples are grouped together as the De'ang ethnic nationality. The group also includes the Danau (Danaw) who may no longer have a separate identity from the Palé.

{{main|Palaung language}}

There are three main principal Palaung languages: Palé (Ruching), Rumai, and Shwe (Ta'ang or De'ang). Many Palaung are multilingual, speaking multiple varieties of Palaung, Burmese, Shan, and Jingpo.{{Cite web |last=Badenoch |first=Nathan |date=Autumn 2016 |title=A tale of two dictionaries: discovering, decoding and deliberating diversity {{!}} IIAS |url=https://www.iias.asia/the-newsletter/article/tale-two-dictionaries-discovering-decoding-deliberating-diversity |access-date=2024-12-11 |website=IIAS}} Use of Shan among the Palaung has declined, while younger Palaung prefer to use Burmese as a common language with speakers of other Palaung varieties. The Ta’ang Committee for Literature and Culture published the first Burmese-Ta'ang dictionary in 2012.

In Myanmar, the majority of Palaung groups of Myanmar live in northern Shan State especially in northwestern regions while some are located in the southern parts.

In Thailand, many of the Palaung in northern Thailand are refugees living in refugee camps. Many of them have fled in the past decades from Shan State to escape persecution and oppression at the hands of various Myanmar's military rulers.{{cite web | url=https://www.peoplesoftheworld.org/text?people=Palaung | title=Indigenous peoples of the world — the Palaung }}{{cite web | url=https://taangwomen.org/where-do-the-palaung-people-live/ | title=Where do the Palaung people live? – Ta'aung Women }}

In China, the De'ang (Palaung) are found in the Zhenkang County and Gengma County.

The majority of Palaung are adherents of Theravada Buddhism and Buddhist temples can be found in most of their towns. At the age of ten, many children are sent to monasteries, primarily for education. Most of them return to lay life in later years.

However, some have also maintained their ethnic animist religion which is a system of beliefs based on evil spirits called nats. There has been a small amount of recent Christian missionaries work among them.{{cite web | url=https://www.peoplesoftheworld.org/text?people=Palaung | title=Indigenous peoples of the world — the Palaung }}

• Palaung language
• Ta'ang National Liberation Army

• Palaung Women's Organisation. (2006). Poisoned Flowers: The Impacts of Spiralling Drug Addiction on Palaung Women in Burma. Tak, Maesot, Thailand: Palaung Women's Organisation.
• Ashley, S. (2006). Exorcising with Buddha Palaung Buddhism in Northern Thailand. Ottawa: Library and Archives Canada = Bibliothèque et Archives Canada. {{ISBN|0-494-03309-6}}
• Howard, M. C., & Wattana Wattanapun. (2001). The Palaung in Northern Thailand. Chiang Mai, Thailand: Silkworm Books. {{ISBN|974-88325-1-1}}
• Cameron, A. A. (1912). Notes on the Palaung of the Kodaung Hill Tracts of Mong Mit State. Rangoon: Govt. Printer.
• Milne, Mrs. Leslie. (1924). The Home of an Eastern Clan: A Study of the Palaungs of the Shan State. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

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{{Reflist}}

• {{Commons category-inline}}
• [http://www.palaungland.org/eng/ Ta'ang Students and Youth Organization]

{{Ethnic groups in Burma}}

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{{Ethnic groups in Thailand}}

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Category:Ethnic groups officially recognized by China