Burma – more formally the Republic of the Union of Myanmar – is ethnically a very diverse place indeed. While the Burman majority or Bamar make up around 70 percent of the national population and dominate both the government and the central lowlands, the central authorities recognise no fewer than 134 other distinct ethnic groups. These range from the Shan at 10 percent of the population, through the Kachin at 7 percent, the Rakhine at 4 percent and the Mon at two percent, to a to a handful of Taron - Asia's only pygmies - a people barely surviving in the remote far north of the country. Then there are the extraordinary Padaung or 'Long Necked Karen', the women readily distinguishable by the heavy brass coils which appear to lengthen the neck, but in reality compress the clavicles and rib cage...

Read More: Under a Shan Moon [CPA Media] Discover Thailand's Hill Tribes [CPA Media], Hill Peoples of Chiang Mai [CPA Media].

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