Vol. IX, No. 3.] The A-ch’ang (Maingtha) Tribe. 139 
[N.S] 
Burmese they are known as Maingtha, which is a corruption of 
Mong Hsa. On close questioning the A-ch’ang admits readily 
enough that he is not a Shan, a view which was also expressed 
to me by the Sawbwa of Lahsa. I have never succeeded in 
persuading any individual to own his kinship with the despised 
*“yeren,’’ the wild men of the hills, a term applied by the 
Chinese to Chingpaw, Lisu, Maru and all such peoples. Hohsa 
and Lahsa are governed by sawbwas or chiefs who trace their 
ancestry to Chinese military commanders, sent from Ssu-ch’uan 
some 40U years ago to quell rebellions on the Yunnan border. 
For their successful services these leaders were given not only 
the present A-ch’ang States, but the Chinese-Shan States of 
Kanai and Nantien as well, which their descendants now rule. 
The families have intermarried to a great extent with the 
indigenous peoples, and have lost the typical Chinese cast of 
feature, though they invariably assert their Chinese ancestry. 
When I visited the A-ch’ang country in 1910 the Hohsa 
Sawbwa was a youth about 16 years of age, who was engaged 
to marry one of the daughters of the Kanai chief. The Lahsa 
Sawbwa was an elderly man. with the dress and habits of a 
pure Chinese. 
I 
flatter faces, and more prominent cheekbones than the typi- 
cal Shan. Anderson remarked, ‘‘The breadth between their 
eyes is considerable, their mouths are generally heavy, and the 
lips more or less protruding.’’* To the practical anthropo- 
metrist these differences are very apparent, and venturing 
a suggestion in the absence of detailed measurements, the 
average A-ch’ang appears to me to bear a closer relation to the 
Chingpaw type of the Tibeto- Burman family, than to the Shan, 
as far as features and outward appearances go. 
1 (3), p. 258. % (1), p-: 101. 
