Early history Dianyue and Ailao were the ancient countries recorded in Chinese literature in the Dehong area, and Guozhanbi (
Kawsampi) was an ancient country established by the Dai people and recorded in Dai legends.
Dianyue In the history book
Records of the Grand Historian written by
Sima Qian during the
Han dynasty, a paragraph in volume 123 describes
Dianyue as when
Zhang Qian visited
Daxia in
Central Asia, he found some merchandise that was produced in
Sichuan. And the Daxia merchant said it was purchased from
Yuandu (
India). There was a trade route,
Shu-Yuandu Road (), between Yuandu and Sichuan. The road passed a kingdom named "Dianyue" (). The country is also called "Dianyue Chengxiang" () in modern books.
Ailao Ai Lao () was an ancient tribal alliance country in the west of Yunnan from the
Spring and Autumn to the
Eastern Han periods, and modern historians say the area included Dehong. In
Chronicles of Huayang, the record of Ailao mentions its territory "3,000
li from west to east, and 4,600 li from south to north", approximately equal to 1,300 km west to east and 1,994 km south to north in modern units. It includes the southwest of Yunnan and most of
Myanmar, and in modern research, it is called the generalized area of Ailao. In 69 AD, Liu Mao (), the king of Ailao, led the tribal alliance to surrender to the Han dynasty, and Han set "Ailao County" here. During the
Southern dynasty Qi period, the name was changed to "Xicheng County" (). During the end of the
Liang dynasty, Xicheng County was abolished. In the 7th century, the Dai area was in chaos, and the descendants of Zhaowuding could not effectively control the area. At the same time, the kingdom of
Nanzhao was rising and conquered the Dehong area.
Piluoge, the king of Nanzhao, canonized another Dai tribe chief named Hundeng () to be the "King of
Mong Mao" and managed the whole Dai area in 762. In 1995, Dehong historian Yang Yongsheng published research on the ancient Dai civilization. He put forward a new opinion during the Dai legend research — The "Kingdom of Daguang" () is the first country of the Dai people which was established in 424 BC, and the country "Dianyue Chengxiang" is another name for "Daguang". In 233 BC, the capital of Daguang moved to
Pagan, and finally perished in 586 AD. The research was countered by He Ping, a history professor at
Yunnan University. He Ping says that the Kingdom of Daguang is the legendary kingdom of
Tagaung in Burmese history and there was no kingdom of "Daguang" in the ancient Dai civilization. The Dai legend of Daguang is the story of pre-period of the
Pyu city-states. The story of the Pyu city-states spread to the Dehong Dai area, localized to a Dai legend, and was recorded in Dai literature. In Yang Yongsheng's research, the kingdom of "Guozhanbi" was the second kingdom established by the Dai people after Daguang. Dai language literatures were his sources of research. He said the kingdom of Guozhanbi was in existence from 567 to 1488. According to the research of He Ping, "Guozhanbi" is the ancient state "Kawsampi" or
Kosambi. There are many legends about Kawsampi in
Thai-
Shan folklore. The origin of the legend was a story in
Buddhist texts. Therefore, He Ping thought the Kingdom of "Guozhanbi" or "Kawsampi" is an untrustworthy history.
Medieval Whether or not the early history of Dehong is controversial, it can be determined that Dehong belonged to
Nanzhao and
Dali in the medieval period of Yunnan. In Nanzhao, it was divided into "
Yongchang Jiedu" (, south of Dehong) and "Lishui Jiedu" (, north of Dehong). In 1253,
Kublai Khan conquered the Dali Kingdom, and the Dehong Dai people capitulated to the
Mongol Empire. The Mongols set up an administrative division called "Jinchi Anfu Si" () to manage the west of Yunnan. In 1276, during the
Yuan dynasty, the Anfu Si was upgraded to "Jinchi Xuanfu Si" (), and established the agency "6
Lu governor
Fu" () to manage the Dehong area. The 6 Lu were: Luchuan Lu (, modern
Ruili and
Longchuan), Pingmian Lu (, modern southern
Lianghe and northern Longchuan), Zhenxi Lu (, modern
Yingjiang), Zhenkang Lu (, modern
Zhenkang, out of Dehong), Mangshi Lu (, modern
Mangshi), and Rouyuan Lu (, modern
Lujiang, out of Dehong). In addition, the special divisions named "Nan Dan" () and Nandian Fu (, modern
Lianghe) were established. The scope of "6 Lu general manager Fu" was close to the modern Dehong territory. It was the prelude to the
First Mongol invasion of Burma. During the 13th and 14th centuries, the Dehong Dai people immigrated to modern
Assam in
India and built up the kingdom of
Ahom. They formed the latter-day
Ahom people.
Möng Mao The local Dai chief was the leader of Luchuan Lu, and they were the successors of "Guozhanbi". "Luchuan" is the name denoted by Yuan, and "Möng Mao" is a self-claimed name.
Si Kefa enthroned the chieftain of Luchuan Lu in 1340 and sent troops to the surrounding states such
Hsenwi,
Möng Yang, and
Möng Mit. After that, he attacked
Mangshi,
Zhenxi,
Pingmian, and
Nandian. The Yuan dynasty initiated wars in 1342, 1345, 1346, and 1347 to counterattack Luchuan, but all the attempts failed. Luchuan conquered the surrounding states successively. In 1355, Si Kefa asked the Yuan dynasty to canonize him. The Yuan central government admitted his local regime and canonized Si Kefa to be the first Möng Mao
Tusi. The central government set a division of "Pingmian Xuanwei Si" () at Möng Mao to legalize the regime, and Möng Mao Tusi was the leader of Xuanwei Si. However,
Mu Ying, the general of Yunnan, was protecting the Jingdong leader. The wars between the Möng Mao regime and the Yunnan local government occurred in 1387 and 1388. Finally, Möng Mao failed. In order to maintain the relationship with Ming, Si Lunfa sent a mission to
Kunming to make peace. Möng Mao consented to compensate for the losses, and peace was restored. After Si Lunfa died in 1399, a minister of Möng Mao launched a rebellion. The Ming government felt threatened and separated 14 Tusi regions from the Luchuan territory. After Si Xingfa,
Si Renfa was enthroned in 1413, and he tried to restore the kingdom to its former glory. In 1439, a conflict between Möng Mao and Ming reoccurred. This was the beginning of the
Luchuan–Pingmian campaigns. In 1441, Ming sent troops to Möng Mao, and Si Renfa fled to
Möng Yang. Several wars occurred between 1443 and 1449, and finally, Möng Mao lost Dehong. The imperial family continued to live in Möng Yang until they were attacked in 1604 by the
Toungoo dynasty. In 1658, the last emperor of the
Southern Ming dynasty,
Zhu Youlang, passed the Nandian and Ganya Tusi and fled to Myanmar. He granted Ganya Tusi a
marquess title. Ganya Tusi helped Youlang to flee but was completely annihilated in the tussle. Thereafter, all the Tusi in Dehong surrendered to the Qing dynasty in 1659. The war between the Qing and
Konbaung dynasties from
1765 to 1769 also extended to the Dehong area. and an agreement was reached that the Qing dynasty would open two border ports between Burma and China: Manyun () and Zhanxi ().
After the Qing dynasty After the
Wuchang Uprising occurred in October 1911, Ganya Tusi
Dao Anren () launched an uprising at
Tengyue on 27 October 1911. Under the Republic of China, the Yunnan government tried to eliminate the
Tusi system and replace Tusi with state-appointed officials, but the Tusi officials opposed the change. Therefore, special administrative divisions were formed to support the period of transition. The administrative titles included Suppress Committee () and Deputy County () between 1911 and 1917, District and Deputy County between 1917 and 1932, and Administrative Bureau () after 1932. The Tusi system existed until the land reform movement in 1955. The administrative bureaus after 1932 included
Luxi,
Ruili,
Longchuan,
Yingjiang,
Lianshan, and
Lianghe — they were the predecessors of future counties. In 1939, the
Central Aircraft Manufacturing Company moved to Loiwing in the south-west corner of Ruili, and it was the biggest aircraft manufacturing plant in China at that time.
After World War II The area was declared an autonomous region in 1953. In May 1956, it became an autonomous prefecture. In 1960, when inter-provincial migration took place, many farmers came to
Yunnan to farm bananas. This was during the "Great Leap Forward" when a biologist working for
Mao Zedong wrote an article about the weather in Yunnan being very suitable for
bananas to be planted. Before this, many Chinese were scared of going there because of an illness that lurked about. It was later discovered that this was an identifiable tropical disease. The farmers helped to get rid of the disease. They made clearings, roads, and space for fields and
plantations.
Demographics Among the resident population, the
Han population is 629,147, accounting for 51.93% of the total population; the
ethnic minorities population is 582,293, accounting for 48.07% of the total population. Most of the Dai people in Dehong Prefecture and nearby counties and cities belong to
Tai Nua and speak
Tai Nua Language. ==Geography==