Shan people

The Shan people (Shan: တႆး, pronounced [taj˥], or Burmese: ရှမ်းလူမျိုး, pronounced [ʃáɰ̃ lùmjó]), also known as the Tai Long (တႆးလူင်, [taj˥.loŋ˨˦]) or Tai Yai, are a Tai ethnic group of Southeast Asia. The Shan are the biggest minority of Burma (Myanmar) and primarily live in the Shan State, but also inhabit parts of Mandalay Region, Kachin State, Kayah State, Sagaing Region and Kayin State, and in adjacent regions of China (Dai people), Laos, Assam and Meghalaya (Ahom people), Cambodia (Kula people), Vietnam and Thailand. Though no reliable census has been taken in Burma since 1935, the Shan are estimated to number 4–6 million, with CIA Factbook giving an estimate of five million spread throughout Myanmar which is about 10% of the overall Burmese population.

'Shan' is a generic term for all Tai-speaking peoples within Myanmar (Burma). The capital of Shan State is Taunggyi, the fifth-largest city in Myanmar with about 390,000 people. Other major cities include Thibaw (Hsipaw), Lashio, Kengtung and Tachileik.

The Shan use the endonym Tai (တႆး) in reference to themselves, which is also used in Chinese (Chinese: 傣族; pinyin: Dǎizú).

Shan (ရှမ်း) is an exonym from the Burmese language; the term itself was historically spelt သျှမ်း (MLCTS: hsyam:), and is cognate with the term "Siam," the former name of Thailand. The term is extant to Old Burmese, first attested to a Bagan era inscription from 1120, where it referred to Tai-speaking populations east of the kingdom. "Shan" has also been borrowed into Chinese (Chinese: 掸族; pinyin: Shànzú).

In Thai, the Shan are called Tai Yai (ไทใหญ่, lit. 'Great Tai') or Ngiao (Thai: เงี้ยว) in Tai yuan language. The Shan also have a number of exonyms in other minority languages, including Pa'O: ဖြဝ်ꩻ, Western Pwo Karen: ၥဲၫ့, and Mon သေံဇၞော် listen^ⓘ (seṃ jnok).

The major groups of Shan people are:

The speakers of Shan, Lue, Khun and Nua languages form the majority of Dai nationality in China.

There are various ethnic groups designated as Tai throughout Shan State, Northern Sagaing Division and Kachin State. Some of these groups in fact speak Tibeto-Burman and Mon-Khmer and Assamese languages, although they are assimilated into Shan society.