The Lisu Hilltribe - Northern Thailand

The Lisu Hilltribes belong to the Tibeto-Burman branch of the Sino-Tibetan linguistic family and are scattered throughout all of northern Thailand in the low-lying foothills of the Himalayas. They are thought to have originated in Eastern Tibet and entered into Thailand from Yunnan, China about 100 years ago. The Lisu, as well as many other indigenous tribes of the region, originally settled along the rivers and streams originating from the ice-tipped Himalayas, ultimately becoming the Salween and Mekong Rivers making their way through China, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam before finally reaching the South China Sea. Without a country to call their own, when the Chinese, Thai, and Lao and Burmese peoples began to create their empires and draw new lines of demarcation for their respective countries, many peoples including the Lisu were rendered nationless, with no citizenship or political power.

Today, the Lisu and many other tribal societies living in northern Thailand are being shamelessly exploited by the tourism industry as Myanmar, China, Thailand, and Laos - through a project known as the "Economic Quadrangle" compete for development opportunities in a 180,000 sq. kilometer region of the upper Salween/Mekong rivers. This project aims to force these highland communities to abandon their traditional agricultural lifestyles and embrace the project's more exploitive pursuits - such as cultural tourism - as an alternative source of income.

Most tourism packages to the hilltribe regions today are being promoted (and from first-hand experience, falsely so) as 'ecotourism' by an enormous selection of tourist agencies ranging from the low-budget backpacker variety to high-end luxury resorts in beautiful natural settings. In the worst cases, 'model' villages are erected and the long-neck Karen tribal women, wearing their traditional multiple gold neck rings, are kept like prisoners in a human zoo for tourist consumption.

As long as the governments of these participating nations, international agencies and the strength of big business dictate these indigenous peoples' rights, cultural tourism cannot sustain itself. Unless the hilltribe communities are empowered to defend their territorial integrity and to determine for themselves their own economic, political, cultural and social lives, there can be no sustainable development and these rich cultures will ultimately be destroyed.