Hsenwi

The Hsenwi dynasty was the saopha ruling house of Hsenwi, called Theinni by the Burmese and Mubang in Chinese records, the largest of the Shan states west of the Salween. Tai Yai chronicles derive the line from two brothers, Khun Lung and Khun Lai, who are said to have come down from heaven in the sixth century and been hailed as kings at Hsenwi; the predecessor polity of Sivirattha was traditionally founded before 650.

Hsenwi entered Chinese records under the Yuan as the Mubang military district and under the Ming as a native pacification office, while its saophas balanced tributary ties between Ava and the Chinese frontier.

In the early seventeenth century the Toungoo kings of Burma absorbed Hsenwi. During the Sino-Burmese war of 1765-1769 the Qing general Ming Rui seized Hsenwi in 1767 and made it his supply base before marching on Ava.