Měnghǎi

Menghai is a basin in the hills west of Jinghong, in the Tai country of Cheli. Local tradition explains its name through the story of a Tai leader, Zhao Hai, and the basin in which his people settled. A hereditary chief ruled at Menghai, one of several such lords in the wider Sipsongpanna country. The remembered succession includes Dao Hanmeng, who held the office from 1587 to 1590. The basin and its surrounding hills formed part of a landscape of neighbouring communities under their own local chiefs.