Ngac'ang

The Achang, who call themselves Ngac'ang, are a Tibeto-Burman people of western Yunnan, concentrated in Longchuan and Lianghe in Dehong. They descend from Di-Qiang tribes and were ruled by Nanzhao and Dali, then by the Jinchi pacification offices of Yuan Yunnan.

Yuan-era Achang held the Yunlong valley, where a chief fixed eldest-son succession. In 1383 their leader Zuona submitted to the Ming Hongwu emperor; a Han governor, Duanbo, took over Yunlong, and the Achang drifted southwest into Dehong, losing their old lands.

They speak Achang, a Burmish language without a native script, writing in Chinese and often using Tai Lü in trade with the Dai. Settled rice farmers, they are also smiths, and Husa knives forged in Longchuan were traded across the southwest. Husa villages profess Theravada Buddhism mixed with Taoist and Confucian custom, while Lianghe keeps older animist practice.