Eastern Shan State Special Region 4

Eastern Shan State Special Region 4
ရှမ်းပြည်နယ်အရှေ့ပိုင်း အထူးဒေသ(၄) (Burmese)
缅甸掸邦东部第四特区 (Chinese)
ဢိူင်ႇၽိသဵတ်ႇမၢႆ(4)၊ မိူင်းတႆးပွတ်းဝၼ်းဢွၵ်ႇ (Shan)
Biqcmq khanq dovkhaeq paw, (4)dev mircoer (Hani)
Lesser Mongla
De jure Non-Autonomous Special region/De facto Autonomous Special region (1989–2021)[1][2][3][4]
De facto independent state (2021–Circa. 2022)
De jure Non-Autonomous Special region/De facto Autonomous Special region (Circa. 2022–present)[5][6]
Flag of Eastern Shan State Special Region 4
Flag
Official seal of Eastern Shan State Special Region 4
Emblem
Anthem: Kaba Ma Kyei
Situation of the Eastern Shan State Special Region 4 in 2025
Situation of the Eastern Shan State Special Region 4 in 2025
Interactive map of Eastern Shan State Special Region 4
CountryMyanmar
StateShan State
No. of townships3
Formation of the NDAA and SR4–ESS30 June 1989
CapitalMong La
Official languages
GovernmentSelf-administered Region[7]
• President
U Htein Lin (Lin Daode)
• Vice President
Wu Sang Bai[8]
Khun Hsang Lu[9]
• Special Region Administrative Leader
Yan Xiang La[10]
• Secretary of Special Region 4's Peace and Unity Committee
Kyi Myint[11]
Area
• Total
4,952 km2 (1,912 sq mi)
Population
• 2013 census
116,887
CurrencyRenminbi
Time zoneUTC+6:30 (MMT)
Driving sideright
Calling code+86 (0)691
Websitewww.4tzx.com

Eastern Shan State Special Region 4[12] (Burmese: ရှမ်းပြည်နယ်အရှေ့ပိုင်း အထူးဒေသ(၄),[13] Chinese: 缅甸掸邦东部第四特区), commonly known as Shan State Special Area 4,[14] Mongla area, Lesser Mongla area or Mong La Area,[15] is a special region administrated by Peace and Solidarity Committee (PSC) of Shan State-East, and National Democratic Alliance Army. It covers territories of the entire Mong La Township, eastern part of Mong Hpayak Township and to the north borders the northern part of Wa State.

The indigenous peoples of this region are Blang, Pyin, Akha, Hani, Lahu and Tai Lue people, etc. while the lingua franca is Mandarin Chinese.

It was established by sent-down youth U Sai Leun (born Lin Mingxian). Since its active involvement into casinos and endangered wild-animal trafficking, it has been an issue for the Chinese government, which closed the Port of Daluo several times. It has its own police force.[16] It also sent police cross border to destruct a casino there, under the acknowledgement of Burmese government. This special region is notorious in southwest Yunnan as they send casino advertisement spam SMS to Chinese cellphones. Organized crime used to be common in this region.

Sai Leun maintained a good relationship with Burmese army (Tatmadaw)[17][18] as the Tatmadaw units benefit financially from it. As of 2025 it still has good relations with the Tatmadaw,[19] while sometimes tensions erupted between the two.[20][21]

Status

Between 1989[22] and 2021 the Eastern Shan State Special Region 4 was one of many Special Regions of Myanmar, the status of the Eastern Shan State Special Region 4 at that time is disputed, while it is mostly seen as a non-autonomous special region, while some other sources refer to it as an autonomous special region.[1][23][24][25] In 2011 the NDAA agreed with the government of Myanmar, that they don't will become Independent.[26] In an article from 2021, it was seen as de facto independent.[27] In 2022 Kyaw Tun, the Shan State Chief Minister Dr. Kyaw Tun attended ceremony of handing over citizenship scrutiny cards and household lists to the local residents in Special Region-4 in Shan State (East) under the Pan Khin Project,[28] the same year, the NDAA had talks with the government of Myanmar, to recognize a "Mong La Autonomous Region".[29] Since 2023 it's again referred by medias as a non-autonomous special region.[30][31] As June 2026, the NDAA still seeks autonomy by the government of Myanmar for the Eastern Shan State Special Region 4.[32]

Name

Mongla, Mengla or Meungla are different Romanization of the same Tai word, both the e and the o here should be pronounced like the Scottish accent pronunciation of u in bucks. Thus, to differentiate Mengla County in China and Mong La Township/settlement in Myanmar the locals call the former Greater Mengla/Mongla while the latter Lesser Mongla/Mengla.

Administrative divisions

References

  1. 1 2 Hnin Pwint, Nan Lwin (6 May 2019). "What's Next for NDAA and Its Border Boomtown of Mong La?". The Irrawaddy. Retrieved 6 August 2025.
  2. ↑ "Shelling by Myanmar Soldiers Forces Internal Refugees in Kachin State to Leave Camps". 28 December 2016.
  3. ↑ "Autonomous Special Region 4 (SR4) in Eastern Shan State". 17 October 2013.
  4. ↑ "Obituary | Mongla Army Founder Dies of Lung Cancer". 9 August 2024.
  5. ↑ "Does Mong La's autonomy claim impact Shan unity?".
  6. ↑ https://www.tni.org/en/article/the-creation-of-new-constituent-units-in-the-myanmar-context
  7. ↑ https://www.cefc.com.hk/article/playing-with-fire-how-engagement-with-illicit-economies-shapes-the-survival-and-resilience-of-ethnic-armed-organisations-in-the-china-myanmar-borderlands/#_ftn2
  8. ↑ https://www.bnionline.net/en/news/over-100-young-cadres-monglas-armed-organization-ndaa-graduate-special-administrative-region
  9. ↑ "'Don't mess with beehive': Wa, Mongla". Burma News International. November 25, 2009.
  10. ↑ https://www.bnionline.net/en/news/over-100-young-cadres-monglas-armed-organization-ndaa-graduate-special-administrative-region
  11. ↑ https://www.irrawaddy.com/news/burma/mongla-armed-group-backs-govts-all-inclusive-peace-policy.html
  12. ↑ "致灾区民众的慰问信(缅、傣、僾尼、英、汉文)" [Statement to all those affected by the disaster (Burmese, Tai, Hani, English, Chinese)]. Eastern Shan State Special Region 4 Government. 2025-03-30. Retrieved 2025-03-30.
  13. ↑ "ရှမ်းပြည်နယ်အရှေ့ပိုင်း အထူးဒေသ(၄) ငြိမ်းချမ်းရေးနှင့် စည်းလုံးရေးကော်မတီ ဒုတိယဥက္ကဋ္ဌ ဦးစန်းပေ့နှင့် အဖွဲ့ဝင်များ နေပြည်တော်မှ ကျိုင်းတုံမြို့သို့ ရောက်ရှိ" (in Burmese). Ministry of Information. 2022-02-10. Retrieved 2024-01-07.
  14. ↑ https://myanmar-now.org/en/news/as-fighting-rages-on-mongla-becomes-shan-states-sole-gateway-to-china/
  15. ↑ https://www.irrawaddy.com/in-person/interview/whats-next-ndaa-border-boomtown-mong-la.html
  16. ↑ https://time.com/17651/burmas-wild-east-is-a-debauched-land-of-drugs-and-vice-that-reforms-forgot/
  17. ↑ https://www.irrawaddy.com/news/burma/mongla-armed-group-backs-govts-all-inclusive-peace-policy.html
  18. ↑ https://www.csis.org/analysis/dilemma-shan-state-myanmars-revolution
  19. ↑ "National Democratic Alliance Army (NDAA) | ISP-Myanmar". 20 August 2025.
  20. ↑ https://www.bnionline.net/en/news/volatile-stand-between-uwsa-mong-la-and-burma-army-along-china-border
  21. ↑ https://www.irrawaddy.com/photo/mongla-rebels-say-full-control-of-region-brings-development.html
  22. ↑ https://www.crisisgroup.org/rpt/asia-pacific/myanmar/299-fire-and-ice-conflict-and-drugs-myanmars-shan-state
  23. ↑ "Shelling by Myanmar Soldiers Forces Internal Refugees in Kachin State to Leave Camps". 28 December 2016.
  24. ↑ "Autonomous Special Region 4 (SR4) in Eastern Shan State". 17 October 2013.
  25. ↑ "Obituary | Mongla Army Founder Dies of Lung Cancer". 9 August 2024.
  26. ↑ https://www.peaceagreements.org/agreements/1582/
  27. ↑ Tønnesson, Stein; Zaw Oo, Min; Aung, Ne Lynn (2022). "Non-inclusive ceasefires do not bring peace: Findings from Myanmar". Small Wars & Insurgencies. 33 (3): 313–349. doi:10.1080/09592318.2021.1991141.
  28. ↑ https://www.myanmaritv.com/news/handing-over-csc-shan-state-cm-attended-ceremony-handing-over-csc
  29. ↑ https://www.bnionline.net/en/news/political-analysts-say-agreement-recognizing-wa-state-and-mong-la-autonomous-region-will-lead
  30. ↑ "Does Mong La's autonomy claim impact Shan unity?".
  31. ↑ https://www.tni.org/en/article/the-creation-of-new-constituent-units-in-the-myanmar-context
  32. ↑ https://cnimyanmar.com/index.php/english-edition/36999-ndaa-aims-for-autonomy-says-group
  33. ↑ "妇幼协会联合卫生局走访慰问勐拉县困难军属". 缅甸掸邦东部第四特区资讯网 (in Simplified Chinese). 17 November 2023. Archived from the original on 2023-11-28. Retrieved 19 November 2023.
  34. ↑ "心系教育 情系学子 南板县政府解决勐康卫理学校用水难题". 缅甸掸邦东部第四特区资讯网 (in Simplified Chinese). 16 November 2023. Archived from the original on 2023-11-28. Retrieved 19 November 2023.
  35. ↑ "色勒县政府召开关于甘蔗种植行业规范化建设座谈交流会". 缅甸掸邦东部第四特区资讯网 (in Simplified Chinese). 15 September 2023. Archived from the original on 2023-11-28. Retrieved 19 November 2023.

Citations

21°39′N 100°03′E / 21.650°N 100.050°E / 21.650; 100.050

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