Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture

Xishuangbanna, Sibsongpanna or Sipsong Panna, shortened to Banna, is an autonomous prefecture for Dai people in the extreme south of Yunnan Province, China, bordering both Myanmar and Laos. The prefectural seat is Jinghong, the largest settlement in the area and one that straddles the Mekong, called the "Lancang River" in Chinese. This region of China is noted for the distinct culture of its ethnic groups, one that is very different from that of the Han Chinese. The people, architecture, language and culture more closely resemble those of the Shan, Dai and Tai peoples, which includes the Thai and Lao. Sibsongpanna (Tai Lue: ; สิบสองปันนา; ສິບສອງພັນນາ; သိပ်းသွင်ပၼ်းၼႃး) is a Tai Lü compound consisting of sipsong (, 'twelve'), pan 'township' and na (, 'rice paddy'). The name refers to the traditional division of the mueang into twelve districts that were called panna (township rice-fields). The etymology is parallel to the autonomous Tai-speaking region in French Indochina from 1890 to 1945 called Sip Song Chau Tai, meaning 'twelve Tai cantons'. Chiang Hung Before 1886, the region was called Chiang Hung, a Tai Lue Kingdom contended between Lanna and the Burmese dynasties. British occupied the whole Burma in 1886, it became a part of British India. In 1892, the British transferred Chiang Hung to the Qing Dynasty. In the 19th century, it briefly became a tributary state of Luang Prabang and the Rattanakosin dynasty. Chiang Hung Kingdom submitted to the Qing dynasty during the late 19th century. In the chaos of the Xinhai Revolution that overthrew the Qing government in 1911 in favor of a Chinese republican government, a local leader, the Chao Maha of Meng Jie, staged a rebellion against Qing remnant officials. The Yunnan provincial government of the newly established Republic of China sent troops in 1913 to oust the Chao Meng Jie rebels. Ke Shuxun remained in Xishuangbanna to govern with his "13 Principles of Governing the Frontier", which emphasized equality between Han and Dai in areas such as land ownership and taxation, allowed intermarriage between the ethnic groups and promoted education in secular and technical subjects, rather than Burmese-based monastic education.