The Solar Village
The “Solar Village” is our village in Chiang Mai! More properly known as Pang Hua Village, BPS has been working hard to help this wonderful commune become more self-sufficient. After an initial consultation with “Taew”, a friend from Bangkok, and a visit in 2017, my students and I have been visiting annually to help with this effort. Over the years we’ve successfully outfitted 72 houses with solar power, donated an awesome playground for the kids of the village, donated solar accessories to the houses such as fans, donated laptop computers to five worthy students with more to come. And on top of that, nearly a ton of clothing has been donated to our village friends!
The villagers in Pang Hua are in the Lisu Tribe - see below:
The Lisu Tribe
The Lisu people (Lisu; Burmese: လီဆူလူမျိုး, [lìsʰù]; Chinese: 傈僳族; pinyin: Lìsùzú; Thai: ลีสู่) are a Tibeto-Burman ethnic group who inhabit mountainous regions of Myanmar (Burma), southwest China, Thailand, and the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh.
Taew and her little brother in Pang Hua Village
About 730,000 Lisu live in Lijiang, Baoshan, Nujiang, Dêqên and Dehong prefectures in Yunnan Province and Sichuan Province, China. The Lisu form one of the 56 ethnic groups officially recognized by China. In Myanmar, the Lisu are recognized as one of 135 ethnic groups and an estimated population of 600,000. Lisu live in the north of the country; Kachin State (Putao, Myitkyina, Danai, Waingmaw, Bhamo), Shan State (Momeik, Namhsan, Lashio, Hopang, and Kokang), and southern Shan State (Namsang, Loilem, Mongton), and Sagaing Division (Katha and Khamti), Mandalay Division (Mogok and Pyin Oo Lwin). Approximately 55,000 live in Thailand, where they are one of the six main hill tribes. They mainly inhabit remote mountainous areas.
The Lisu tribe consists of more than 58 different clans. Each family clan has its own name or surname. The biggest family clans well known among the tribe clans are Laemae pha, Bya pha, Thorne pha, Ngwa Pha (Ngwazah), Naw pha, Seu pha, Khaw pha. Most of the family names came from their own work as hunters in the primitive time. However, later, they adopted many Chinese family names. Their culture has traits shared with the Yi people or Nuosu (Lolo) culture.
Lisu history is passed from one generation to the next in the form of songs. Today, these songs are so long that they can take an entire night to sing.
The Lisu are believed to have originated in eastern Tibet even before present Tibetans arrived in the plateau. Research done by Lisu scholars indicates that they moved to northwestern Yunnan. They inhabited a region across Baoshan and the Tengchong plain for thousands of years. Lisu, Yi, Lahu, and Akha are Tibetan–Burman languages, distantly related to Burmese and Tibetan. After the Han Chinese Ming Dynasty, around 1140–1644 CE the eastern and southern Lisu languages and culture were greatly influenced by the Han culture. Taiping village in Yinjiang, Yunnan, China, was first established by Lu Shi Lisu people about 1,000 years ago. In the mid-18th century, Lisu peoples in Yinjiang began moving into Momeik, Burma, a population of southern Lisu moved into Mogok, and southern Shan State, and then in the late 19th century, moved into northern Thailand. Lisu is one of the three Lolo tribes, the descendants of Yi. Yi (or Nuosu) are still much closer to the Lisu and Myanmar languages. Myat Wai Toe observes that as the saying, "the Headwaters of the Great River, Lisu originates," where Lisu lived in "Mou-Ku-De"; they were not yet called "Lisu" until 400–200 BC.
Since the 2010s, many Lisu clashed with the Kachin over allegations of the KIA forcefully conscripting them and killing civilians. During the Myanmar Civil War, the Lisu National Development Party formed pro-Tatmadaw militias to fight the KIA and the PDF. Both the youth and the elderly were conscripted into these "people's militias." U Shwe Min led these militias until his death on March 7, 2024.
Solar Village Expeditions 2017 through 2019
2022
2023
2024
