Introduction

Dulong/Rawang is a Tibeto-Burman language spoken on both sides of the China/Myanmar (Burma) border just south and east of Tibet. In China, the people who speak this language for the most part live in Gongshan county of Yunnan province, and belong either to what is known as the ‘Dulong’ nationality (pop. 5,816 according to the 1990 census), or to one part (roughly 6,000 people) of the Nu nationality (those who live along the upper reaches of the Nu River – the part of the Salween within China). Another subgroup of the Nu people, those who live along the lower reaches of the Nu River (in China), speak a language called ‘Anung’ which seems to be the same as, or closely related to, the Kwinpang dialect spoken in Myanmar, so should also be considered a dialect of Dulong/Rawang. Within Myanmar, the people who speak the Dulong/Rawang language (possibly up to 100,000 people) live in northern Kachin State, particularly along the Mae Hka ('Nmai Hka) and Maeli Hka (Mali Hka) River valleys. In the past they had been called ‘Hkanung’ or ‘Nung’, and have often been considered to be a subgroup of the Kachin (Jinghpaw). Among themselves they have had no general term for the entire group; they use their respective clan names to refer to themselves. This is true also of those who live in China, although these people have accepted the exonym ‘Dulong’ (or ‘Taron’, or ‘Trung’), a name they were given because they mostly live in the valley of the Dulong (Taron/Trung) River.