A muang of the western Sipsong Panna basins, on the tea and salt tracks between the Mekong and the Salween side (the campaign board).
The Chinese Wikipedia gives no history of Menghai before the Ming. The point is the campaign board's (21.962 N, 100.452 E), which agrees with the county seat; the gazetteer's Menghai is about 7 km too far west.
Who holds it
- Title
- Chao of Muang Hai
- Since
- not known
- Born
- not known
- Family
- None named.
- Confidence
- low
Overlord
the lord of Chiang Rung
What the town holds
- The Menghai basin
- The tea hills round it
Allies and rivals
Chiang Rung (overlord); the Wa and Blang hills west.
How things stand that morning
A basin muang under Chiang Rung; no dated event.
Wealth
Rice and tea.
Threats
- None dated
Communities
Tai Lue, Blang and Wa.
Where the sources disagree
- Board (muang-hai-menghai): "contested". Nothing I could read shows a rival claim to it; kept as held by Chiang Rung with low confidence.
Evidence: Late chronicle tradition and Ming records.
On the map: A point; the basin is in the lord record.
Primary sources for Chiang Rung
Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.
- The later Tai, Lao and Mon chronicles of the north, Ratanapanna (Jinakalamali); Bodhiramsi (Chamadevivamsa); anonymous monks and court scribes (the Chamadevivamsa about 1410; the Jinakalamali 1516 to 1528; the Chiang Mai Chronicle in its surviving form 1827; the Nithan Khun Borom 16th to 17th century). There is no text of 1200 for the Mon kingdom of Haripunjaya, the Tai muang of Ngoenyang (Chiang Saen), Chiang Rung, the Yom and Nan valleys, or the Lao middle Mekong.
Sources and studies
- Chinese Wikipedia, Mengla county
- Chinese Wikipedia, Zhao Pianling (list of the lords of Chiang Rung from the Le Shi)
- Wikipedia, Sipsong Panna
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.