The Hani/Akha are a people, an estimated 2.5 million persons, spread over
Yunnan province in Southwest China, the northern parts
of Laos, Vietnam and Thailand,
and eastern Burma. They live in a central part of what
is currently called the 'Mekong Quadrangle' between 19 and 24 degrees North,
99 and 105 degrees East, an area of about 500 by 600 km or 30,000 square kilometres,
somewhat the size of the European Alps. The Akhas are concentrated in areas
around the smaller towns marked in the map below. 
The
ares is crossed by several major rivers: the Mekong, the Red and Black Rivers,
and the Salween, and their many tributaries which cut steep valleys, up to
2,500-3,000m. Of crucial contemporary significance, this border area covers
part of the territory of five modern nation-states. The total population of
this region, including quickly growing industrial centres, is about 15-20
million. Akha and Hani live mostly in the mountains interspersed with other
ethnic groups, but concentrated in certain areas.
Those classified as Hani by the present Chinese Government are concentrated in the following areas.
The
Simao Prefecture in central southern Yunnan. Akha/Hani are mainly distributed
in the Ailao Shan and Wuliang Shan mountains, and in the mountains and valleys
of Mojiang, Babianjiang, and Lancangjiang districts. They are concentrated
in and around the autonomous city and county of Mojiang where two-thirds
of the population of more than 300,000 is Hani. This is the only autonomous
Hani County in Yunnan. Hani also live densely in Jiancheng, Puer, Zheng-juan,
and Lancang. Hani branches here are: Kadu, Budu, Bukong, Duta, and Biyue.
Hani live interspersed with Han Chinese and Dai in the valleys, and with
Lisu, Lahu, and Yi in the mountains (Cun Wen Xue 1996).Peoples calling themselves Akha are concentrated in the following areas:
In these areas Hani/Akha live both in the mountains and with Tai Lue (Dai), or Shan (Thai Yai) in the lowland valleys. In this context they are 'minority peoples'. In the last three areas the Akha are called Aini by the contemporary Chinese Government and are lumped together ethnographically with the Hani. They are called Kha Kaw by the Tai-speaking peoples, Akha by the Yunnanese Chinese. The Akha call the Dai and Thai Yai Bitsm or Atsm, the Chinese Labui, and the Yunnanese Chinese Pehnyoe (green shirts).
The number of Akha (Aini - here excluding Hani) in China, can be safely estimated at about 600,000-700,000 persons, as official statistics only count those in 'areas of concentration' (Stewart-Cox and Hall, 1984). The total number of Hani/Akha in China thus can be estimated at nearly 2 million people. The name Aini or A-nyi was given to the Akha by Chinese ethnographers and linguists in the Mao era. It was based on the conviction that the affix kha is related to the ancient Tai word for 'serf', 'slave' or minority peoples regarded as such. The Akha themselves believe, however, that it is related to a Tibeto-Burman syllable (low tone, kha) meaning 'distance' or 'span'. Akha interpret their name as 'people of the middle'.
Peoples calling themselves Akha are concentrated in the mountains of eastern Burma (Myanmar) in Kengtung (Shan) State, interspersed with Lahu, Lisu, and Wa peoples; the lowlanders are Shan. Many Akha have been displaced during the last 30-40 years by incursions of the Burmese army, internecine warfare, including warlords such as Khun Sa (Lintner, 1990). This has concentrated many around Kengtung city and the town of Ho Ki Lek, near the northern Thai border. Many have become Christian, chiefly Catholic, especially the more urbanised. The number of Akha in Burma is difficult to estimate, but is certainly up to 150,000 (Akha Society for Culture and Art, Kengtung, 1996). They are called Kaw by Shan and Burmese. They are the largest highland minority in north-eastern Burma.
The Akha in Laos are concentrated in the higher areas of the high plateau of Phongsaly (close to the Black River and Vietnam) and Luang Namtha Province (bordering Sipsongpanna, Burma, and the Mekong River) interspersed with Mien, Hmong, Khmu, Htin, Lisu, and Lahu. Lowlanders are a range of Tai-minority peoples, varying according to different valley and basin locations, and include: Tai Lue (Dai), Tai Dam (Black Tai), Tai Yuang or Yang, Tai Neua, Tai Khao (White Tai) and Tai Doi (Mountain Tai) (Chazee, 1995: 33 ff.). Some were displaced during the Vietnam war, in which they were involved in fighting the Americans or the CIA Hmong groups led by Vang Pao, and in conflicts between the Pathet Lao groups (Dassé, 1976; Cooper and Tapp, 1991). People calling themselves Akha in Laos are called, in Lao, I-ko or Kha Ko. Other names given by outsiders include: Puli, Pussang, Oepa, Oema, and Kopien. Most Tai-speaking lowland groups are called Bitsm by Akha. The number of Akha in Laos can be estimated conservatively to be between 92,000-100,000, but might well be higher (Lao UNESCO Committee, 1996; Duy Thieu, 1996).
These peoples, related to those in the south-eastern Red River/Honghe Prefecture of Yunnan live in the upper-North of Vietnam near the Chinese border, together with Tai Dam and more recently Vietnamese. Their number is estimated at 20,000-25,000. They are called Xo by the Vietnamese. There are also 2,000-3,000 Akha living near the Lao border, in mountains bordering the Black River (Duy Thieu, 1996).
They are concentrated in the northern border province of Chiang Rai, but
some have spread to Chiang Mai, Phrao, Phayao, and Lamphang Provinces (Tribal
Research Institute, 1995: 52-9). Most have entered Thailand during the last
130-150 years, as a consequence of wars in neighbouring countries. The Akha
are interspersed with Lisu, Lahu, Karen, Hmong, and Yao/Mien peoples in the
mountains. Until the 1970s the mountains, which make up 35% of Thailand and
65%
of its northern 22 provinces, were thinly populated. The mountain peoples
were a majority of the population of the mountains. Since the defeat of Chiang
Kai Chek in 1949, the northern Thai mountains have been inhabited by a number
of Kuomintang refugees known as Haw or Yunnanese Chinese refugees (Hanks,
1975). Lowlanders are Khon Müang Thai. Since the 1970s and 1980s poor
Thai peasants have moved into the mountains looking for land, with the result
that tribal minority peoples a 10% minority in the mountains by the late 1980s
(Geusau, 1989), notwithstanding an influx of refugees from Burma, escaping
internecine warfare. Since the mid-1980s loss of forest and growing insecurity
over land rights and citizenship have encouraged many younger Akha to move
to the towns and cities of the North. The Akha are called Ekaw (I-Ko) by the
Thai. Unlike any other minority or mountain group it seems, their name has
sometimes been prefixed, in northern Thailand at least, by the Tai classifying
word meng which is used for insects and some other small insect-like
animals - and also figuratively as in English 'small fry' - for example as
in meng i-ko, where the prefix /i/ is itself a diminutive or connotes intermediate
status or classificatory oddity of some sort (cf. Wijeyewardene, 1968; Wijeyewardene
does not however refer to the usage i-ko, but see Jit Phumisak, 1976: 469-70).
The official number of Akha in the mountains of Thailand is now 58,000 persons (Tribal Research Institute, 1995). Given the high number of non-registered Akha and large scale urbanisation, the total number of Akha in Thailand is probably closer to 75,000 persons.
We will from here on call the Hani from the Honghe/Red River area, and northern Vietnam by that name; and we shall call Akha those related groups living in and around Sipsongpanna in Yunnan, Burma, Laos, and Thailand (the so-called 'Golden Triangle').
© Leo Alting von Geusau 2002, Information based on Geusau (2000).