Shanstate Overview
ShanState
ShanState is a state of Myanmar. Shan State borders China (Yunnan) to the north, Laos (LouangNamtha and Bokeo Provinces) to the east, and Thailand (Chiang Rai, Chiang Mai and Mae Hong Son Provinces) to the south, and five administrative divisions of Burma in the west. The 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 Burmese name for the Tai people: "Shan people". The Shan constitute the majority among several ethnic groups that inhabit the area. Shan is largely rural, with only three cities of significant size: Lashio, Kengtung, and the capital, Taunggyi. Taunggyi is 150.7 km northeast of the nation's capital Naypyitaw.
Shan State, with many ethnic groups, is home to several armed ethnic armies. While the military government has signed ceasefire agreements with most groups, vast areas of the state, especially those east of the Salween River, remain outside the central government's control, and in recent years have come under heavy ethnic-Han Chinese economic and political influence. Other areas are under the control of military groups such as the Shan State Army.
Most of the Shan State is a hilly plateau, the Shan Plateau, which together with the higher mountains in the north and south forms the Shan Hills system. The gorge of the Thanlwin (Salween/Namhkong) River cuts across the state. Inle Lake where the leg-rowing Intha people live in floating villages, in the great NyaungShwe "plain", is the second largest natural expanse of water in Burma, shallow but 14 miles (23 km) long and 7 miles (11 km) wide. Pindaya Caves near Aungpan are vast limestone caverns which contain 6,226 Buddha images.
The road to Taunggyi via Kalaw and Aungpan branches off at Thazi from the main Yangon–Mandalay Road; another road via Ywangan and Pindaya branches off from Kyaukse south of Mandalay. The railhead stops short of Taunggyi at Shwenyaung, again from Thazi junction, and nearby Heho has an airport.
A severe magnitude 6.8 earthquake struck in Tarlay, Tachileik Township, the eastern part of Shan State, on 24 March 2011. It killed more than 70 and injured more than 100 people. 390 houses, 14 Buddhist monasteries, and nine government buildings were damaged.
