The Shan are a sophisticated minority group who have flourished in the mountains of China, Myanmar and Thailand for hundreds of years.

A Buddhist temple and the headman's house mark each Shan village. A larger town may have a market square in the center. Without any sign of street arrangement, a Shan village is a cluster of bamboo of teak houses with verandahs and thatched roofs, perched on eight-foot piles.

With a complex and well developed social structure and increasing contact with the outside world, the Shan remain unchanged in their resistance to the gospel.

Forced relocations of Shan villages, persecution, including rape by Burmese soldiers have meant that some are beginning to question their Buddhist faith. In the past five years new Shan churches have been planted in several locations.

Language

The Shan language is tonal and related to Thai and Lao. There are several dialects - Tai Long, Tai Kuen and Tai Khamti.

Population

Approximately 10 percent of Myanmar's 43 million are Shan or Tai.

Location

Most Shan are concentrated in the Shan states of Myanmar, the eastern and central portion of Myanmar, next to North Thailand and bordering on China. There is also a pocket along Myanmar's northwest border with India. Large populations of Shan also live in Thailand, Laos and China.

Culture

The Shan grow wet rice which they irrigate with dams, plow fields and plant gardens. Their diet consists of rice as a staple, with beans, peas, okra, tomatoes, oranges, bananas, melons, mangos and other foods. They especially like pickled foods.

Though they are usually monogamous, premarital sex is common. Boys court the girls of their choice by singing and playing love songs. Once married, the new couple usually lives in the home of the husband's parents until they can build their own home.

Life for a Shan boy is filled with a mix of religion and magic. At one month of age a baby is bathed in water into which visitors have dropped coins or gold bits. At this time he receives a name which he will keep until at 10 or 12 years of age he goes into the Buddhist priesthood for the first time. At 14, elaborate tattoos on legs, chest or arms mark his passage into manhood.

Livelihood

The Shan are traditionally an orderly, conservative and prosperous farm people. The persecution of recent years has challenged the Shan-Tai society. Many children are raised by grandparents as their parents are away in Thailand seeking to earn a living.

Politics

For over 400 years the Shan have been in Myanmar (formerly Burma). They have been influenced by the Burmese and to some extent by the British who stabilized their fighting kingdoms when they took control in the 1930s. Currently, the Shan are a sizable minority in a poor and politically isolated nation.

Religion

The Shan are conservative Theravada Buddhists, centering their lives around temples built with three-tiered roofs.

Christianity

The Shan have been resistant to the gospel. Maybe 0.6% are Christian. The American Baptists have worked for over 100 years and there is an indigenous church. Evangelical Anglicans BCMS (now Crosslinks) planted churches in the Southern Shan State and several of these remain, though they are small and not very strong. The Bible was translated 100 years ago and a new modern translation was published in 2003. Shortage of Christian literature and nominalism are obstacles for the existing church. The several new churches that have been planted in the past few years have a variety of backgrounds. Lisu churches with CIM background, Chinese churches, Shan Baptist churches and Pentecostal churches have all been reaching out to the Shan Buddhists. It is true to say that today wherever there are people doing outreach to the Shan, there are Shan coming to Christ.