Before 1886, the region was called
Chiang Hung, a
Tai Lue kingdom that was contended between China,
Lanna and the Burmese dynasties. After the
Mongol conquest in 1296, the subsequent
Ming and
Qing emperors appointed the Tai Lue rulers of Chiang Hung as a native
Tusi governor. In 1563, King
Bayinnaung of Burma's
Taungoo Dynasty captured Chiang Hung. The Burmese and the Chinese agreed on the joint domination over Xishuangbanna, whose ruler was enthroned in a ceremony in which both Burmese and Chinese representatives jointly presided. In the 19th century, the region briefly became a tributary state of
Luang Prabang and the
Rattanakosin Kingdom during the
Burmese–Siamese War (1849–1855). When the
British Empire occupied
Upper Burma in 1886, it became a part of the
British Raj. In 1892, the British transferred Chiang Hung to the Qing dynasty. In the chaos of the
Xinhai Revolution, which overthrew the Qing government in 1911 in favor of a Chinese republican government, a local leader, the Chao Maha of Meng Jie, staged a rebellion against Qing remnant officials. The Yunnan provincial government of the newly established
Republic of China sent troops in 1913 to oust the Chao Meng Jie rebels. Ke Shuxun remained in Xishuangbanna to govern with his "13 Principles of Governing the Frontier", which emphasized equality between Han and Dai in areas such as land ownership and taxation; allowed intermarriage between the ethnic groups; and promoted education in secular and technical subjects, rather than
Burmese-based monastic education. The
Second Sino-Japanese War (1931–1945) saw the heavy bombardment of Xishuangbanna by Japanese troops and a simultaneous influx of
Pan-Taiist propaganda from Japan's ally,
Thailand. According to Hsieh, that reduced the appeal of a broad pan-
Tai identity among the Dai Lue. During the final phase of the
Chinese Civil War, many remnants of the
Kuomintang fled from
Chinese Communists forces into Burma's
Shan State from Xishuangbanna. The new People's Republic of China sent various non-military expeditions to Xishuangbanna from 1949 to provide services such as schools and hospitals to replace those by western Christian missionaries. The Communists took control of the prefecture from Kuomintang loyalists in 1952. On January 23, 1953, the PRC established the Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Region and ended the
native-chieftain system. That year, the People's Congress of Xishuangbanna created the
New Tai Lue alphabet, based on the
Tai Tham alphabet, to print material in the
Tai Lü language. Xishuangbanna was made an autonomous prefecture in 1955 but lost some territory on the creation of
Jingdong Yi Autonomous County and
Jiangcheng Hani and Yi Autonomous County.
Land reform started in earnest in January 1956, destroying the power of the village headmen. State-owned rubber plantations accounted for most of the region's wealth during the early communist period. Xishuangbanna also received an influx of educated youth during the
Down to the Countryside Movement of the
Cultural Revolution (1966–1976) during which Buddhist temples in Xishuangbanna were used as barns. They were restored to their original purpose only in 1981. In 1987, the Xishuangbanna government promulgated the
Law of the Xishuangbanna Dai Nationality Autonomous Prefecture for Self-government to bring local laws into line with the national ''Law of the People's Republic of China for Regional National Autonomy''. Shao Cunxin (, 1922–2015), the former head of the chieftain's outer council (1944–1950) and chief of Meng Peng (1938–1950), was the chief of the autonomous prefecture from 1955 to 1992. ==Administrative subdivisions==