De'ang
The De'ang , also Deang ( Chinese 德昂族 , Pinyin Dé'ángzú ) or Benglong and Palaung ( Burmese ပလောင် လူမျိုး ), are a Mon-Khmer-speaking ethnic minority in Shan State in Myanmar , in the Yunnan Province of the People's Republic of China and in northern Thailand .
In China, the De'ang are among the smallest of the 55 officially recognized national minorities. The vast majority live in Myanmar. Due to the political repression in Myanmar, however, De'ang have been moving to northern Thailand for more than 20 years, where they are tolerated. There are around two to three million De'ang in total, but these can be divided into individual subgroups. a. Divide gold, silver, rulai, rumai and black de'ang. According to the last census in 2010, China counted 20,556 people.
language
The De'ang / Palaung language belongs to the Palaung-Wa group of the Mon-Khmer branch of the Austro-Asian languages. The individual De'ang groups sometimes differ so much in their dialects that they can only talk to one another with great difficulty.
Web links
- The De'ang ethnic minority. china.org.cn (Chinese government website)