Hsenwi

   One of the major Shan States, bordered on the north by China's Yunnan Province, on the east by Kokang, and on the south and west by the Shan states of Hsipaw, Mongmit, and South Hsenwi. In the 1950s, it covered an area of 16,685 square kilometers (6,442 square miles) and had a population of 240,000, including Shans (Tai), Kachins, and other ethnic minority groups. The major town is Lashio, the railhead for the Burma Road during World War II. In the late 1880s, the British recognized Khunsang Ton-huung as (North) Hsenwi's sawbwa, while giving South Hsenwi to his rival Sao Mong, son of the old sawbwa of Hsenwi, who had attempted to overthrow Ton-huung with the aid of the Burmese.