The Bisu extinct soon?
The Bisu know kinship with Hani (Poommipat T / Shutterstock.com)
In the past I have regularly paid attention on this blog to the patchwork that the Thai multi-ethnic state is from an ethnographic point of view. Today I would like to take a moment to reflect on what is perhaps the least known ethnic group in the country, the Bisu. According to the most recent counts – which are now 14 years old – there are still about 700 to 1.100 Bisu living in Thailand, which also makes them the most endangered ethnic group.
The Bisu are closely related to other ethnic groups, of which the Mpi, Phunoi and Pyen are the most important. This group is usually described as Hani and belongs to the Tibeto-Himalayan peoples. However, linguistically, the Bisu differ markedly from them. Their language is considered to belong to the southern Loloish group and is related to Akha. The Loloish languages, or Yi languages as they are known in China, group about 100 Sino-Tibetan languages and dialects mainly spoken in the southern Chinese province of Yunan. It is estimated that between 9 and 11 million people today still use one of these languages in their daily communication.
The Bisu are from Yunan. At the end of the eighteenth century, they became involved in a bloody uprising by the Lahu against the centralized Chinese state authority in the regions of Shuangjiang, Lancang and Menglian. This revolt was suppressed with a heavy hand and came to an end in 1801. The defeat sealed the fate of the Bisu, who were henceforth regarded as unreliable in the eyes of the ethnic Han Chinese. Many of the defeated Lahu rebels and most of the Bisu fled southward along the course of the Nanku River in understandable fear of repression. Their arrival led to harassment and new tensions almost everywhere.
To make matters worse, they again got involved in a revolt, this time by peasants. This rebellion was crushed by an unlikely alliance of Lahu-Tsui, Han landlords and locals warlords. Many of the Bisu, who had meanwhile officially become second-class citizens in the Middle Kingdom, then crossed the border and sought refuge in Laos, Burma and Siam. But even there they were not really welcomed with open arms and to this day they are also regarded as second-class citizens. They are continuously discriminated against and the number of extremely offensive nicknames they carry in Thailand, for example, cannot be counted on the fingers of one hand.
The Bisu know kinship with Hani (Matt Hahnewald / Shutterstock.com)
The oldest record of their presence in Siam dates back to 1876 when British railway engineer Holt S. Hallet encountered Bisu in the rugged mountains north of Chiang Rai. According to his testimony, Bisu guerilla fighters had made themselves useful half a century earlier in the fight against Chinese troops that had infested the area of Wiang Pa Pao, the most southwestern district of Chiang Rai province. Be that as it may, it is certain that the Bisu settled around Chiang Rai around 1820 and it is precisely in this region that today the last Bisu can be found, more specifically in two village communities; Huay Chompuu (Amphoe Mae Lao, Tambol Pong Phrea) and Pui Kham (Amphoe Muang, Tambol Sa-a Dong Chai).
The Bisu are not only distinguished from their neighbors by their costumes and folklore. One of the reasons why theyordinary' Thais are looked at skewedly because they refuse to confess to Buddhism. The whole life of the Bisu is dominated by the bond between the living and their dead ancestors. I am not exaggerating when I say that perhaps there is no other ethnic minority in Thailand as obsessed with the spirit world as the Bisu. Almost all their efforts are aimed at keeping the influence of evil spirits out of their lives. This almost maniacal fear of evil spirits is, according to many anthropologists, the reason why they are and remain so poor. The Bisu want to live in peace at all costs and firmly believe that ignoring the evil spirits will inevitably lead to unnecessary suffering, fatal diseases and other calamities. Consequently, they spend a disproportionately large portion of their income on various sacrifices to appease and satisfy these demons. A way of life that does not seem to be particularly conducive to their standard of living…
Due to their small number, the Bisu are threatened in their survival. In recent years, contacts have been made with numerically much stronger Bisu communities in the People's Republic of China, Burma and Laos, but it remains to be seen whether this cross-pollination will have any effect. In any case, the language seems to be a lost cause, because it was not until the XNUMXs that the first attempts were made to put it in writing.
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In Huai Chompu, about 25 km west of the city of Chiang Rai, near the river (Mae Kok) is indeed such a community. I often see the name Hisu, but that must be a difference in pronunciation. You get there by crossing the river via a swinging suspension bridge, about six km past the Karen elephant camp in Ruammit.
I never knew the story behind this, so thanks for your description, Lung Jan!
I mean: Lisu.
Dear Cornelius,
Although the Lisu who live in Northern Thailand also come from Yunan, there are indeed differences with the numerically much smaller Bisu. The difference in traditional clothing between the colorful Lisu and the rather austere Bisu alone is striking. I can perfectly understand this name confusion, because for most ethnic Thai, these minority groups, which are often incorrectly described as 'mountain people', are a mess…
Dear Lung Jan, many thanks. Fascinating!
Many tribes, of course different appearances, costumes, food, customs. Different history too. I always think I can learn something from every culture. Don't be so quick to judge negatively. am more engaged.
I once read in an older book about Thailand that the ladies of the Lisu (possibly bisu) were usually so strikingly beautiful that, driven by poverty, almost all of them went to work in the big city. Where often the most beautiful ladies get the best jobs, or at least jobs in which they could earn money with their appearance. I read that book because, next to everything that can beckon and smile (Mister, massaaaaaad?) in Chiang Mai, I met a girl who I thought was really super beautiful and nice. I, old man, was really impressed by her. I've been massaged by her a few times, all very neat. She told me she was Lisu. so I searched the internet. No idea if you recognize that from the last of the Lisu?
I hear from an Irish friend in Chiang Mai, a translator and editor of scientific books about tribes and ancient peoples, etc. He tells me about a scientist friend who visits highly isolated villages, and then stays there for a long time for research, that until recently in the last isolated Akah tribe hamlets a very specific form of laws and rules was or is being used. Saying out loud she became, past tense. And reportedly, in extreme cases, that may still happen.
Men who behave badly and adulterously towards their wives are warned once by a special village council. If the man does not improve his debauched behavior, then at some point he will simply have disappeared without a trace and he or his body will never be found again.
The village council that protects the ladies and administers 'justice'.
Now we from the Netherlands may find such things strange or retarded. judgment is quickly passed.
But the Netherlands has only just been pulled out of the clay. My great-grandfather's brother was a special man in my family. Strictly religious and hard working. But every Sunday there were very long queues in front of his farm somewhere in the Peel. He had a gift. Often people with simple ailments were healed by his laying on of hands and prayer. Something he did for free and which was quite a burden in addition to a 6-day work week. Until one night two children in different families died of cot death. A black cat was also seen in his yard that day. And the family was then driven out of the village with pitchforks and torches. That was back in the last century…
Lung Jan, more stories please!.
these are the articles you REALLY want to read on this block. Many might stand for me in another, ok, related to this one.
not to forget the MLABRI people , also known as the yellow leaf people .
Of these, only about 400 tribesmen live in Thailand alone
ruudje
Dear Ruudje,
I wrote about the curious Mlabri or Phi Thong Luang on July 18, 2019 on this blog…
living in Maechan (nearby Chiangrai), I can add that the Mlabri are a very small hill tribe who live on two sides of the border with Laos. They have nothing to laugh about in daily (Thai) life, very poor and receive almost no attention from the government and the Thai population. description can be traced back to the custom of the mlabri, to leave a shelter that could be quickly erected, mainly made of banana leaves, as soon as the leaves have turned yellow, in this way these abandoned places were the only trace in the mountains that hunters from thailand and laos of their found. The Mlabri were hunters and gatherers and lived in the Nan area for decades. The Mlabri are today forced to live on the spot. One village is more or less led by a Christian mission, another village is under the care of the local Hmong.
The language of the Mlabri is attributed to the Khmu Group of Mon-Khmer languages. Danish linguist Jørgen Rischel has written a paper on the Mlabri language.
I even think that the Mlabri is even smaller than the Bisu, in 1993 only about 200 were counted in Thailand and about 30-50 in Laos
Thank you very much for your very nice explanation Lung Jan.
Very interesting for me!
Stick to your own faith and then perhaps the holy goal is to die rather than go along in a biotope that is not really yours. In the present time we see that more and more that people do not live in their suitable biotope and the cause is of course simply the more and more attitude at the expense of other values. The Bisu see that if fate and the people in the consumer world know not to give it a place when things are a bit more difficult.
Pride down vs finding out you're just a cost/benefit analysis outcome number in a sick system. Globalization was nice for big capital, but the day has come when the actual costs have to be paid back. In that respect, I have a lot of faith in the new generation, which sees the world very differently. Perhaps also a kind of rescue for the Bisu in Thailand…..