Presenting the Deang

There is Deang the name of to approximately 17.000 persons, who live in a quite extensive area of the Western area of the Province of Yunnan, who speak a language of the family austronésica, mon-khmer branch, sub-branch wa-deang, and who possibly are progeny of the Pu, one of the original peoples of the Province of Yunnan, who was inhabiting the region of the river Lancang (Mekong) does already more than 2.200 years.

Considering the long history of the Deang, and his wide dispersion for a mountainous and tremendously abrupt area, with isolated vales, mountains and impassable rivers, it is possible that this name only designates a group of peoples with certain cultural similarities.

In fact the name of Deang was not known before 1985, when seles it was calling Benglong, and not in the realized ethnological studies previous or later to this date, he is mentioned like the name that all the considered Deang uses to call him themselves. On the contrary, according to the different regions of China are called themselves: Leng, Rumai, Liang, Bulei, Shaojing, Shaohe, Shaobo, and this way up to 20 different denominations.

As for the name by which they were known previously in China, Benglong, which in the documents previous to 1985 was appearing as the one that most of the Deang were using there was named herself himself, and who keeps a dangerous similarity with that of the Palaung used in Burma, it has been discarded of the Chinese documents, making sure that it was a name that the Dai were applying to them. It is not possible to discard that, on having changed his denomination when the National Army of Liberation Palaung was more active in Burma, it can have stemmed both from scientific and political reasons.

Both the term Benglong and the Deang, they seem to include several different peoples, at least three of them living in China. There were called formerly Benglong Rojos, Benglong Negros and Benglong Floridos (some authors quote also Benlong Blancos), and who at present, perhaps trying that fit correctly in the already established corset of the "56 nationalities" is considered to be them 3 "branches" of the Deang: the Bulei, the Liang and the Rumai.

The linguists in turn, they divide to his language in three "dialects" and a local speech. Unintelligible "dialects" between themselves, by what well we might call them languages. That are: Bulei, the Liang and the Rumai.

What turns out to be clear is that we meet at least three different cultural entities, which we present briefly:

• The Bulei:
  They speak the language Bulei, the spoken one by most of the population (aprox. 50 %) Deang. The Bulei live concentrated fundamentally on the County of Luxi (Prefecture of Dehong). His language is commonly called language Deang. Formerly there were called they Benglong Rojos.
• The Liang:
  They live in Zhenkai and Baoshan, they are those who live more dispersed. There constitute 30 % of the population Deang. His language, called Liang, has certainly seemed with the Bulei, and although they are not understood between them, does not find it hard to them work to go so far as to do it. Formerly there were called they Benglong Floridos.
• The Rumai
  20 % of the Deang, speaks the language of the same name. They live in the area of Longchuan and Ruili. His language is completely different from the Bulei and from the Liang, and for the speakers of these languages it is unintelligible, turning out to be also very difficult to learn. Formerly there were called they Benglong Negros.

All of them live surrounded by the people of other nationalities, Chinese, Dai, Jingpo, Wa, therefore they are at least bilingual, using his tribal language for the matters of the village, and the language of other for the commerce and other relations with the exterior.

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