Northern Thailand is home to many interesting and colourful ethnic minorities, collectively referred to as the hill tribes. Most of the hill tribes have migrated into the region during the past 100 years from Burma and whilst some try to preserve their traditional ways and can do so with little outside interference, others have become a tourist freak show. Wherever you visit in Thailand’s north, whether trekking or on day trips out of Chiang Mai or Chiang Rai to some of the small villages you may find yourself visiting some of the hill tribes.

Ethnologists state that there are six broad hill tribe groupings: Karen, Lahu, Hmong, Lisu, Akha and Mien. Within these categories, there are sub-categories and clans that further divide the groups. Each hill tribe has its own customs, language, dress and spiritual beliefs and this is sometimes true even of the numerous sub-categories within one hill tribe. For example, the Green Hmong and White Hmong are said to speak in different and distinct dialects and dress differently.

Today the majority of the hill tribes living in the remote upland areas practice subsistence farming. Formerly, opium cultivation was a major source of income for many of the hill tribes and the government worked encouraged the eradication of opium production by substituting it with other cash crops, such as cabbages and fruits. The hill tribes lived in relative isolation until the 1950s, when, as a result of the increase in their numbers, extreme poverty and statelessness, the Thai government established the National Committee for the Hill Tribes.

Today there are still concerns with regard to issues with citizenship, conforming to mainstream Thai society and the loss of indigenous customs and languages.

Many Padaung escaped from the Kaya State in Burma to Thailand in the mid to late 1900’s and are refugees from Burma. They belong to the Karenni sub-group of the Karen People, who are still fighting for their independence in Burma. The Karen-Padaung occupied central Burma before the Burmese arrived from the North and they, together with the ancient Mon, farmed the Irrawaddy and Salween Valleys. There are pockets of Paduang around Mae Hong Son in Thailand.

The main reason tourists come to visit the Paduang is because of the long-necked women. When the Beetle was in Thailand, she was told that the women in this tribe wore huge coils of metal around their necks to protect them from tigers. She asked if this tradition still held true and was assured that it did. What a load of nonsense! The women who wear these huge coils around their neck do so as a means of income generation from fees from tourists taking their photos and buying handicrafts presented at their stores. It came across, sadly, as something of a human freak show.

It might seem that the neck is elongated, but in actuality, the collarbone is displaced rather than the stretching and weakening of the neck leading to a decompression of the spine and fused vertebrae and discs. This neck ring adornment is started when the girls are 5 or 6 years old. Some women and children also wear rings on the arms and the legs which are not quite as prominent as those on the neck because the neck rings are so pronounced. The rings on the arms are worn on the forearm from the wrist to the elbow. Those on the legs are worn from the ankles to the knees, and cloth coverings are kept over most of these rings, from the shins down to the ankles.

Here is a question: if the so called long necked women were cultivating opium, which they do not, then the Thai government would be amongst the first if they could get there before the NGOs and denounce this as a terrible practice. Is there a huge difference between growing opium and following an inhumane practice for money? So why not follow what has gone before and show people how to make a living in another way that does not involve this practice? Money: the long neck hill tribe women will continue to do this and inflict the practice on their female children as long as tourists go and visit and pay money to see them. This seems a difficult situation to know what is ‘right or wrong’. One wonders how many of the long neck villages in Thailand are managed by the Padaung people themselves and would they choose to do this themselves – or is the best form of income they can generate? How do the women feel about being photographed and gawped at whilst presumably being in pain through wearing the weight of the rings? Is it right to initiate or perpetuate the practice through the young girl children? How much of the entrance fee actually goes to the women in these villages? If these tourist shows are managed by someone else, and it seems likely that this is the case, are the women treated fairly?

What do you think? E-mail the Beetle and we will incorporate your comments in the next edition of the e-newsletter.