Lahu

The Lahu people (Chinese: 拉祜族 Lāhùzú; own names: Ladhulsi or Kawzhawd; Vietnamese: La Hủ) are an ethnic group.

They form one of the 56 ethnic groups officially recognized by the People's Republic of China, where they live in Yunnan province. They are one of 54 ethnic groups in Vietnam, where 5300 of them live in Lai Chau province. Other populations of Lahu live in Laos and Burma. In Thailand Lahu are one of the six main hill tribes, and their population is estimated at between 20,000 and 60,000.

The Lahu divide themselves into a number of subgroups, such as the Lahu Na (Black Lahu), Lahu Nyi (Red Lahu), Lahu Hpu (White Lahu), Lahu Shi (Yellow Lahu) and the Lahu Shehleh. Where a subgroup name refers to a color, that is the traditional color of their dress. The language spoken by the Lahu Shi is notably divergent from that spoken by the other groups. These groups do not function as tribes or clans - there are no kin groups above that of the family. Lahu trace descent bilaterally, and typically practice matrilocal residence.

Their language is in the Loloish branch of the Lolo-Burmese subgroup of the Tibeto-Burman family (itself a member of the Sino-Tibetan language family). Like most of its relatives, it is a heavily isolating language with Subject Object Verb word order and a set of numeral classifiers. It is written with the Latin alphabet. In Thailand, Lahu Na often serves as a lingua franca among the various hill tribes.

The traditional Lahu religion is polytheistic. Buddhism was introduced in the late 1600s and became widespread. Christianity became established in Burma in the 1800s and has been spreading since.

References

External links

[The Virtual Hilltribe Museum]

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