Rawang, Nung in Myanmar (Burma)

People Name:	Rawang, Nung
Country:	Myanmar (Burma)
10/40 Window:	Yes
Population:	71,000
World Population:	71,700
Primary Language:	Rawang
Primary Religion:	Christianity
Christian Adherents:	80.00 %
Evangelicals:	45.00 %
Scripture:	Complete Bible
Online Audio NT:	Yes
Jesus Film:	Yes
Audio Recordings:	Yes
People Cluster:	Miri-Kachin
Affinity Bloc:	Tibetan-Himalayan Peoples
Progress Level:

Identity

The Rawang have been officially included as part of the Derung nationality in China. Although the Rawang and Derung are related, their languages are inherently unintelligible. The Rawang consist of between 75 and 100 dialect groups in Myanmar, each with a different name. The Derung are the largest subgroup found in China, and so they were granted status by that name. The particular Rawang group referred to in this profile call themselves Zerwang. The Zerwang in Myanmar are located in the Mondam area.

History

When Rawang and Nu people greet each other they say, "In the remote past, we were brothers." They believe that they were separated by the river and then evolved into different groups. In the past, each Rawang clan had a shaman who directed warfare and settled disputes. The clans were "politically separate entities, which formed political alliances in times of danger from other communities."

Customs

Many of the Rawang in China have intermarried with Tibetans and formed mixed communities. Rawang men are renowned for their hunting skills.

Religion

The mass movement of the Rawang in Myanmar to Christ is one of the great mission stories of the twentieth century. It is said that when the Morse family started ministering to them there were no Rawang Christians, but by the time they were forced to leave Burma in the 1960s there were just a few old men who were not believers.

Christianity

Today almost all of the Rawang in Myanmar, and at least half of them in China, are Christians. They have proven faithful to Christ and have taken the responsibility to send evangelistic teams to other groups in the Tibet-Yunnan-Myanmar border region. Largely because of the Morse family's labors, the full Bible exists in the Rawang language and they have their own gospel radio broadcasts.