Hsatung (also known as Hsahtung or Thaton) was a Shan state in what is today Burma.
The Shan are a Tai ethnic group of Southeast Asia. The Shan live primarily in the Shan State of Burma (Myanmar), but also inhabit parts of Mandalay Region, Kachin State, and Kayin State, and in adjacent regions of China, Laos, Assam 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 estimation of 5 million spread throughout Myanmar.
Hsatung was a tributary of Burma until 1887, when the Shan states submitted to British rule after the fall of the Konbaung dynasty. The capital was formerly Laip but then was moved to Hsihseng, Nam Pawn valley, about 70 km south of Hopong. It became a part of the unified Shan State within Burma in 1947. Sao Aung Myint, the last real myoza of Hsatung, died in the 1940s. His son abdicated and surrendered his powers to the Burmese government on 29 April 1959. The current population consists mostly of Taungu, with the Shan being a minority ethnic group. [1] [2] [3]
The Konbaung dynasty, formerly known as the Alompra dynasty, or Alaungpaya dynasty, was the last dynasty that ruled Burma/Myanmar from 1752 to 1885. It created the second-largest empire in Burmese history and continued the administrative reforms begun by the Toungoo dynasty, laying the foundations of the modern state of Burma. The reforms, however, proved insufficient to stem the advance of the British, who defeated the Burmese in all three Anglo-Burmese wars over a six-decade span (1824–1885) and ended the millennium-old Burmese monarchy in 1885.
Shan State is a state of Myanmar. Shan State borders China to the north, Laos to the east, and Thailand to the south, and five administrative divisions of Burma in the west. Largest of the 14 administrative divisions by land area, Shan State covers 155,800 km², almost a quarter of the total area of Burma. The state gets its name from the Shan people, one of several ethnic groups that inhabit the area. Shan State is largely rural, with only three cities of significant size: Lashio, Kengtung, and the capital, Taunggyi. Taunggyi is 150.7 km north east of the nation's capital Naypyitaw.
