Panghsang
Coordinates: 22 ° 11 ' N , 99 ° 10' E
Panghsang ( Burmese ပန်ဆန်း , BGN / PCGN : panzan; Chinese 邦桑 or Chinese 邦康 , Pinyin Bāngkāng ) is the capital of Special Region 2 of the Shan State in Myanmar , the former Burma. Special Region 2 is also known as the Wa State . A few years ago the place only had a few hundred inhabitants, but recently a real city with 15,000 inhabitants has emerged. Panghsang is just a few kilometers from the Yunnan border in the People's Republic of China . Until 1989 there was a headquarters of the Communist Party of Burma in Panghsang . After the defeat of the National Chinese in 1949, Panghsang was held by the Kuomintang for several years , but they were driven out in 1954. The majority of the population belongs to the Va ethnic group . But there are also Shan , Lahu , Han Chinese ( Kokang ) and Burmese . There are large rubber and tea plantations in the vicinity of Panghsang . Opium was also grown in the past . The headquarters of the United Wa State Army is located in Panghsang .
Drugs
Panghsang has long been considered the capital of the global drug trade. Opium was cultivated on a massive scale in the area and processed into heroin in Panghsang . In 2005, the Panghsang region was declared a drug-free zone by the Wa authorities.
Web links
- Soldiers of Fortune (in English)
Literature on Phangsang
- Midnight in Burma . A novel about the daughter of a general in Wa State, not exactly historical with many historical errors, but very excitingly written, Alex O'Brien. Asia Books, ISBN 974-8303-58-6 (2001)
- The Shore Beyond Good and Evil, A Report from Inside Burma's Opium Kingdom, Hideyuki Takano takes us on a journey into the Wa State at the very heart of the Golden Triangle., ISBN 0-9701716-1-7