I used an earlier save (Year: 1525) and here is the V2.0 version of the Kingdom of Shan.
Kingdom of Shan
The Kingdom of Shan is located roughly where Burma is in the main timeline.
In 1399 it was a fairly typical quasi-tribal state. In the 1420s, however the Chinese decided to bring what they termed a rebellious vassal (Dai-Viet) to heel and in the resulting war Shan backed the Vietnamese and found itself overrun with Chinese armies and forced to accept the status of vassal to the Chinese.
This did however bring about a much needed improvement in administration as Chinese 'advisers' took over much of the running of the country.
In the 1460s the Kingdom was forced to accept absorption into China as a province and the then king (
Binya-Nwe II) was set up as a provincial Grandee while the Chinese launched an intensive program of Sinification, eventually (Though with much internal upset) managing to pursuade the populace to accept the teachings of Confucius rather than Buddha.
This status changed when the Emperor Xuande decided that a vassal state in the West would be more cost effective than direct rule over the area and elected to reconstitue an expanded Kingdom of Shan, incorporating not only the original regions ruled by the Kingdom prior to its absorption into the Empire, but imperial regions to the west the Emperor considered would be useful in helping to establish a strong vassal to guard the south-western flank.
The new Kingdom of Shan under the son (or Grandson) of the last King (
Binya-Nwe III) came into being in June of 1516 and after some initial difficulties (In the form of a revolt of Burmese peasants put down with the aid of Chinese troops.) has settled down into it's new role as guard of the Empires south-west flank.
The kingdom has sent troops in support of Ming offensives in south-east Asia, but has become increasingly worried about it's western flank, where the explusion of Muslim rulers has resulted in internal chaos with several Hindu successor states battling for domination, chaos that the current King of Shan,
Shengtsaubu I views with concern, especially with the reports of foreigners from the distant West becoming involved in these conflicts.
The attached pictures show the kingdom as it exists on the 14th of January 1560 and the countries rather interesting demographics resulting from the Kingdoms dissolution and reconstitution, with a five way split existing between the original Shan inhabitants, Han Colonists, Burmese, Mon & Bengali (The Han and the Shan tend to stick together...). Basically the administrative caste is dominated by the Sino/Shan members of the Kingdom, the aristocracy is also dominated by this group, though with the absorbsion of the Kingdom of Taungu there are now a few Burmese aristocrats as well (Those smart enough to turn coat at the right moment).
In terms of internal organisation, the country is run as a scaled down version of the Ming Empire (There are three provinces (I have not yet worked out proper names for them). 1: East (The original Kingdom. Name under the Chinese TBD)) 2: West (Added by the Ming Empire when the Kingdom was re-created and originally taken by the Chinese from the Kingdom of Taungu in 1499-1502. Name under the Chinese TBD)) 3: South (The remnants of the Kingdom of Taungu (Conquered with the aid of the Ming in 1548-49), most trade goes either east to China or west to the markets of India.
The kings of Shan are:
Binya-Nwe I 1385 - 1418
Binya Keng 1418-1421
Binya Dhamma 1421-1426
Binya Ran I 1426-1456
Binya-Nwe II 1456 - c.1460
Chinese Interregnum c. 1460 - 1516
Binya-Nwe III 1516 - 1530
Shengtsaubu I 1530 -
The map below shows the three provinces of the Kingdom of Shan (1. 'East' 2. 'West' & 3. 'South')
I do want some help working out what the names of the East/West provinces under Chinese rule would have been.
As with the V1.0 version this might make for an interesting location for fiction.
