Talk:Matupi, Myanmar

Matupi

Matupi is the second capital City, one of the townships of Chin State of West Myanmar, South-east Asia. Matupi formerly known as “Batupuei” or “Batu” village previous to it was endorsed to the category of township inhabits a hefty segment of land and takes account of over 100 major villages in the southern part of Chin State. The Matu Chin tribe is one of the biggest tribes among the Kuki-Chin. From the very beginning all the Chins including Mizo, Zomi, Naga, Laimi, and Asho had lived and hill sides or riverbanks, constituting villages on groups. Among the villages, Matupi (Formerly Known as Batu village) was the biggest and very densely inhabited. The British Gazette mentioned that there were over one thousand and houses including paddy barns in the village Matupi between 1900-1930. Hakha book recorded that during those days “Matupi” was the biggest and most populous village in the Chin Hills. Matupi township is located at the western part of Myanmar, and situated between latitudes 21.36’57.93 North and Longitudes 93.26’21.09 East. And it is surrounded: in the east by Magwe division, in the south by Mindat Township, in the south-west by Paletwa township, in the north-west by Mizoram State of India, and in the north by Thantlang and Hakha township. The mountainous township is bordering with India on the west, Magwe and Sagaing divisions on the east. The whole region is made up of high hills and deep valleys, and there is hardly any plain or plateau. Matupi township is straight-length about 68 miles from north to south, and 47 miles from east to west. The total area of Matupi township is about 2316.8 square miles (or) 1482752 acres. The main roads are from Matupi to Mindat township is 102 miles long and from Matupi to Hakha township is 173 miles long. Under British rule, the township was included in Hakha district Ministry of Home and Religious Affairs issued and ordered to be Matupi township on March 22, 1948. In the township there are five major tribes namely; Matu, Dai, Zotung, Lautu, and Mara (Miram). According to 2009 register, the total population of Matupi township was 50,580 and 6,630 houses in Matupi township. There are four wards as Longvan ward, Ngala ward, Khoboi ward, and Cangbong ward.

Nowadays 98% of the population is Christian and the rest are traditional Animist. Many Matu people have also served as evangelists and pastors, spreading Christianity in places like the United States, Australia, and India. Matu people are evangelizing to unreached people among in the Buddhist. Because of the current situation in Myanmar, over hundreds of Matu are scattered in Europe, the United States and Southeast Asia. Among Christians, Baptists are the predominant group constituting more than 60 percent of the township population. Christian Reformed, Catholics, Revivalists, Presbyterian and Pentecostals are the other Christian denomination numbers. Catholics are found in significant numbers in parts of township. Matupi is the fastest growing up the Christian in Chin State and fastest develop as well. There is one Theological College in Matupi, for spreading the Gospel to unreached people.

January is the coldest month of the year with a mean temperature of around 10-20 degrees Celsius. April is the hottest month at a mean of 37 degrees Celsius. The total rainfall is about 89.22 inches every year. It is quite cold during the winter months. Sometimes, the temperature drops to as low as two degree Celsius. It is also very windy in winter.

Language, Dialect: Matu people speak Matu dialect and they entitle themselves the same as “Matu Ol.” “How are you doing?” in Matu (Na sa ding aa?) or Have you eaten?” (Na caak pawn aa?). Almost all the tribes of Matupi have their own language. The traditional languages do not have any script of their own. The Christian Missionaries used Roman script for these languages.Along with Chin Dialects in Myanmar, Matu dailect is distinctive. Some words are the same with other Chin dialect. Generally, one type of Chin dialects can be communicated with another type of Chin dialect (Haka dialect can be understood by Htantlang, Tiddim dialect can be used to exchange a few words with Ton Zang dialect etc…). For some rationale Matu dialect is inflexible to become skilled at and it is a little bit comparable here and there with all other Chin dialects. The Matu people are of vice-average tallness, having the stumpy facial features, the hairs are straight, black, the color of the skin is brownish yellow. The eyes of the Matu people are drastically of the Mongolian outward appearance.

In general, Matupi Township is a hilly region. There is approximately no plain in the entire region except hills and mountain ranges. Matupi Township is located at 3560 feet high above sea level. In the township, the highest mountain is the well known Awtaraw mountain 9909 feet in height is the highest peak and Lukil 8408 feet in height is the second highest mountain. Most of streams take their sources form the hills and mountain ranges. The famous rivers of the township are Bunglong (Lemro), and Boinu rivers. The streams or rivers are full of rapids and white waters, and thus not suitable for navigation. Only small boats and canoes can travel in certain sections, mostly downstream. The famous streams are Pensong, Kadi, Leatsa, Tilak, Tisi and Vawmpu Streams, Bungtla water fall, the famous water-fall of chin state, is located in Matupi township, Awisi lake, well-known in Matupi township, is located near Rhueng village.

Matupi is rich in plant life and vegetation. About one-eighth of Matupi is under the cover of tropical and sub-tropical evergreen forests—including palm, bamboo, as well as timber and others. While some forest areas have been cleared for cultivation, many scrub forests, high grass, reeds, and secondary dogs, pangolin, porcupines, tigers, leopards, bears, many species of monkeys, and buffaloes thrive across the region forests. The Hornbill is one of the most famous birds found in the forests of Matupi township.

Agriculture is the most essential profitable goings-on in Matupi Township; by means of more than 90% of the population employed crops include rice, corn, millets, pulses, oilseeds, potatoes, and threads. Major occupation is agriculture, however it is not well developed due to the scarcity of large valleys and plains. Shifting cultivation is still prevalent. Terrance cultivation is slowly being introduced along the hillsides. Due to difficult terrain human labor is the main driving force of work done. Mountain rice, wheat, maize, coffee, orange, damson and apple are grown. However, Matupi still depends on the import of rice supplies from the low land. Teak and other hardwoods are found at elevation below 900 meters. Above 900 meters there are oaks and pines. Teak, pines, canes, resin and turpentine are important forest products. Since electricity is not available in most villages people depend on the wood for cooking. Forestry is also an imperative resource of income. Tourism is important, but largely limited due to insurgency. Still the government is not allowed to visit in Matupi area. Travel to Matupi Township is mainly by car on poor roads cut along the mountain sides and valleys. Very rugged nature of the landscape makes travel difficult, and land slides are not un-common. In certain areas cars have to carry shovels and garden hoe to clear the land slide and stones cover. Normal Matu villagers would travel daily on foot from village to village and to and from the farms. The rising and falling place of Matupi is extremely amiable and affectionately beautiful. A home to as several as tribes, the towship has much to explore. The virgin environments of the township are breathtakingly charming. You must visit Matupi Township to experience the panorama of nature, the tenderness and hospitality of people, generous blossoms and bashful rivers making their way through the rugged terrains. If you are the fatality of excited tedious lifestyle and then a tour to Matupi Township. Lovely drive through the Jungles & Villages will take you to the Gateway of the tribals of Matupi.

The people of Matupi village call themselves “Ngala” and they speak of their language as Nga-La-Ol and of their territory Nga-La-ben. This state of affairs should be contrasted with that of among the northern Chin. The undeveloped state of southern political organization traditionally made travel between areas hazardous and difficult, consequently it was rare for any group of people not bordering upon Myanmar to have any direct access to Burmese markets. They had to depend upon what was handed over from one village and from one region, to the next. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.87.144.216 (talk) 15:35, 4 August 2011 (UTC)

Merge from Batupuei

So I just copied the entire Batupuei article and pasted it to Matupi#History. The reason was the first sentence of the Batupuei article:

“Batupuei refers to the inhabitants of Matupi, Chin State, Myanmar (Burma).”

I thought it went against the Wikipedia:Wikipedia is not a dictionary policy—it just defined a term. I was thinking about proposing deletion, but the article had a lot of information that I thought it would be best to keep. Besides, there is already a page about Matupi; it seemed like a good opportunity to put the information where it belonged.

Batupuei went on to describe the history of the peoples who founded Matupi, so I thought the History section would be most appropriate. The text needs to be heavily edited, and maybe not all of the content belongs in the section I put it in, but I think it's a good start. I hope I didn't ruin anyone's day! Cheers. Braincricket (talk) 05:34, 4 December 2011 (UTC)